Crikey - I'm in Aus! But before I get to that, I should finish with New Zealand.

Dunedin was probably one of the larger cities in New Zealand, and it was quite nice to get back to a place which real people lived and worked in. I had a lovely meal at the Scotia restaurant. (I was surprised that much of New Zealand seems to have stronger ties to Scotland than to England, though this is probably me just being a bit blinkered.) I also had a nice drive around the Otago Peninsula visiting Larnach Castle. This was built by William Larnach in 1871 to impress his wife, though apparently it didn't work.

I nearly forgot the Cadbury World tour. It wasn't quite Willy Wonka's, but it is always interesting to visit a modern high volume production facility. To keep the kids attention, they ask questions as you go around based on facts that they've given you, with the rewards for a correct answer being some kind of chocolate bar which you add to your bag, However, the tour I was on had just 4 adults. Nevertheless, we all went away with a bag stuffed full of chocolate:-). Personnaly, I also left feeling a dislike of Cadbury's Purple colour which was EVERYWHERE!

After Dunedin, I decided to push on and head straight back to Christchurch. This then gave me some time to do an all-day Tranzalpine railway journey, and another day to get myself sorted out before leaving New Zealand. Rather than follow the coast road all the way to New Zealand, I turned inland for some of the way to see some more lakes.

I'm not sure that I've really done justice to the pleasure of driving around New Zealand, so I'll have another go. Imagine driving on a smooth, well marked road with no one else in sight. You last passed a car 10 minutes ago going in the other direction, and you wont see another for another 20 minutes. The part of the road you've just been on was straight with magnificent views of snow capped mountains coming towards you. But now the road is starting to climb and begins to follow the contours of the hills with trees all around. You can see a stream in the floor of the valley to your right, and you catch a glimpse of some major construction ahead - it is a dam. As you pull level with the top of the dam, an intensely blue lake appears, and the road continues along its side. You can see folk Kayaking on the calm waters and sheds for other boats along the shore. You pinch yourself, take a deep breadth, and look forwards to what you will find as you turn the next bend. Another stunning mountain? A Vineyard or Orchard? A town at the end of the lake? The GPS says "continue for 80 kilometres" - another 50 miles of more like this.

The Tranzalpine Railway starts in the flat lands around Christchurch and then heads up through Arthur's Pass and down into Greymouth. The 4½ hour journey goes through 17 tunnels and 3 large viaducts with an accompanying commentary from the train staff, explaining what you can see. At Greymouth, you get 1 hour before you turn straight around and get the commentary in reverse on the way back. It is a long day, but you can see why it has been identified as one of the top 6 rail journey's in the world. The views from the observation car where terrific, though only a hardy few could stand the cold for long.

The camping ground at Christchurch included a free film in their movie room - an overhead projector and several rows of comfy seats. We watched "Precinct 9" DVD on the first night I was there. Unfortunately, the set-up wasn't quite right, and cut off the lowest section of the screen. Normally this wouldn't matter, but this film was about an alien invasion, and the lost bit of the screen contained the subtitles for the alien squeaks and squawks. This took something from the film (the story line mainly), but since it was a Peter Jackson film, you could sit back and just admire the special effects.

My last night in New Zealand was unremarkable, except to say that it was so nice to sleep in a warm room, and be able to get up and night to go to the loo without having to get at least partially dressed again. Camping does work well in New Zealand with excellent facilities. I would have struggled to do everything I did without my own transport, and my little Jucy van (just one step up from sleeping under canvas) helped keep the costs down, but after 3 weeks I'd had enough.

On my last day I visited the New Zealand Airforce Museum. It was relatively small, but I paid a bit extra and got an extended tour of their restoration hangers. More to the point, I had a very pleasant hour or so with just me and the guide discussing various details about aircraft, such as the fact that the ejection seat in the Jaguar is more powerful than its jet engines. Good fun.

New Zealand (South Island) is a grown-ups play ground. If you can't enjoy yourself there then you need to seek medical help. It is full of things to do and see, with a strong emphasis on "the great outdoors". Sometimes, with places you've always wanted to see, the reality doesn't quite reach the level of your imagination, but for me New Zealand was even better.

And now I'm in Sydney, Australia - and just managed to arrive before my carrier Qantas grounded its entire fleet. Whew! I'm supposed to fly out with Qantas on 24th November, so I hope that something gets sorted out before then.

In the meantime, Sydney looks like an interesting place to hang around for a little while. I've booked myself into a hotel until Friday to give myself sometime to explore. I'm also trying out a new SIM card, so my telephone number has changed to +61 457 387 672. This has cost me ~£21, but I hope will cover me for call, text and data for all my time in Aus. (PS. With changes in timezones and daylight-savings time, I could be wrong, but I think I am now 11 hours ahead of UK time.)