When the sun came up we got our first real peek at the South Island and we were very surprised at how different it was from the North; it was more green, less populated and seemed bigger and bolder in everything. There being no rest for the wicked we didn't have a lot of time to comprehend this unexpected change and began the long drive to the east coast, and a small seaside town named Kaikoura. When we reached Kaikoura we drove along the coast for about two mile...

After the excitement of our underground adventure we embarked upon a huge drive day. When I say we, I mean Dan; I slept mostly. We drove south past Auckland, again, and then went west to Taranaki National Park. The drive itself was a slow one as the scenery was unimiaginable and not one hour passed without one or two stops for photos and admiration. The sun was out and shone down, most days, until or after 10pm. We camped at the edge of Taranaki National Park and...

On we went to Rotorua which is just as smelly as they say. The entire city and surrounding villages has the undeniable odour of rotten eggs owing to the overwhelming amounts of sulphur underground which is released into the atmosphere. Still, every cloud has a silver lining and , in Rotorua, that silver lining comes in the form of dozens of geysers hidden among the woodland. It's an odd sight to see: steam rising out from the trees and undergrowth only metres fro...

From Auckland airport we took a shuttle bus to Queens Street where our hostel was situated. In true South American style the driver took our money and dropped us off in the middle of a bustling city, pretended we would find our lodgings nearby and sped off into the smog! Forty minutes, a few cross words and, regretfully, some damning of the bus driver later we found our base. We arrived at 7am and had to wait six hours before we could check into our room so we de...

Within two hours of arriving in Santiago, Dan and I were huddled in a doorway, sitting on our bags, with our raincoats on prepared to spend the next three or four hours sleeping exactly where we were! After leaving the airport we managed, with some effort, to find an ATM and grab a taxi to our hostel. We we had arrived in Chile a day early so had no booking, but we figured we could just book an extra night on arrival. Having succesfully located said hostel we kno...