WELLINGTON TO PICTON: I'm not the best water traveller but have been on a few boats in my time and have been OK. We were warned that the ferry across from Wellington to Picton would not run if the swell in the water was 3 meters or above. The crossing is known for having quite choppy water but I thought we would be fine. We arrived at the ferry station and the swell was 2 meters high - not great, but given how large the ferry looked I was satisfied that we w...

AUCKLAND TO RAGLAN: I managed to get up early for the bus leaving at 08:00, but still, in usual style managed to end up rushing down for it through fear of it leaving without me. I felt that I had seen all I wanted to see in Auckland and I had planned my time on the trip so tightly that I could afford any more days to lose. I had to be on that bus, or the knock on effect would mean that I had to change my flight (again) to Singapore which was not an option. ...

I arrived in New Zealand at about lunchtime after a 3 hour flight from Fiji. The plane journey was pleasant and the staff very courteous, as had been each experience with Air Pacific. Along the way I had met a German guy called Phillip who was also travelling from the Nadi bay Hotel to Aukland, so we sat together on the plane and moaned about how sick of Fiji we were. It was a lovely day in Fiji and I could see the city of Aukland so very clearly from the ...

Got up very early on 11 August in anticipation of my trip to the Yasawa Islands. A couple of days previous, I had spent 30 minutes with a travel agents planning which islands to go to, which resorts to stay at and determining how much it was all going to cost. I decided to go to Tavewa, Matacawalevu, Naviti and Kuata. I was being picked up at 7:50 am. The coach dropped us off at a place called Denarou, where the 'big yellow boat' called the "Yasawa Flier"...

I arrived at Nadi at about 06:00am and Daniel was waiting at the airport for me to take me back to the hotel. He tells me that I only have a couple of hours until the car will be arriving to take us to the boat to the Mamanucas. I have just enough time to repack my big rucksack into something smaller, get changed out of my smelly airplane clothes and get some breakfast down me before the little Fijian shouts out "Mana Island!" We grab our bags and all the ...