Pronounced Doo-NEE-dun, the word means Edinburgh of the South. It was settled by Scots in the mid-1800s and there's a big Scottish Presbyterian Church here along with a statue of Robert Burns. Apparently the town is even laid out to match Edinburgh, which locals call the Dunedin of the North. This kind of humour is one of the characteristics of being Kiwi. One of the Magic Bus drivers mentioned that New Zealand actually consists of three islands: one to the north, another to the south and third to the west that most people call Australia. I caught a guided tour bus [View Full Entry]

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This is a jewel in a sapphire and emerald setting. A charming town on Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand's second-largest after Lake Taupo. It reminds me of some of the ski resorts I've been to in Europe with chic shops, international cuisine and tidy streets. The bus drove through the snowy peaks of the Southern Alps, rainforest on the western side, dry slopes in the lee shadow on the eastern. Sweet as... This is a typical Kiwi expression meaning “nice” or “good”. But sweet as what? It turns out to be an expression common to Kiwis and Aussies. In Australia you just [View Full Entry]

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That title is also from Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, when the shipwrecked sailors are dying of thirst in a lifeboat. Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. In my case it was all drinkable but I didn't want it. I came to the tiny town of Franz Joseph to see its eponymous glacier, named after the Austrian Emperor who reigned from 1848 to 1916. But, like most places here with a European name, there is an earlier name and a story behind it. Maoris call it Ka Roimata o Hine Hukatere, or Tears of the Avalanche Girl. [View Full Entry]

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The ferry across Cook Strait takes two hours and you come down Queen Charlotte Sound through forested narrows and islands to Picton. I didn't stay here as the bus picked me up and drove straight on to Nelson, a couple of hours away. This part of the South Island is less settled than the North Island, so we drove through forested hills and occasional grazing land. Nelson is quiet and you feel the small-town aspect very clearly lurking behind drawn curtains in its houses, most of which are small and nicely-kept with neat gardens and trim lawns. Few people out and [View Full Entry]

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At the southern tip of the North Island sits Wellington, or Wellie as the Kiwis call it. Grey skies and rain, I could not get warm in this city for the first couple of days. On the first evening I met with Laura for our celebratory drink. She was leaving the next day for the South Island but I wanted to stay and see the city. But the weather wasn't cooperative and while I got out to walk around a little, I can't say I really enjoyed it. I spent more time in cafes and at the hostel than out on [View Full Entry]

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At 06h30 the sky is clear, which is good because it's been cloudy with showers for the past few days, not good weather for trekking. The Tongariro Crossing has been closed because of this bad weather, but today it's open. The bus drives us out of Taupo and down the highway for an hour to our drop-off point. Half-way there it stops to pick up more passenger and a lady catches my eye as she gets on. Hmmmm, who's this? I ask myself. She turns out to be Laura from The Netherlands. Like me, she's travelling alone and we agree to [View Full Entry]

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From Rotorua we drove southeast to Taupo, to an airfield on the outskirts of town. At the Taupo Tandem Skydiving hangar I met my jumpmaster, Albert Schurmann from Germany. He told me he'd done more than 10 000 jumps so I figured if he was still alive I would be, too, after this. I was jumping with two others who were on the bus with me: Lindsay from the UK and Erica from America as she liked to introduce herself. We suited up and waited for the weather to clear. There'd been on-and-off showers clouds and showers during the day so [View Full Entry]

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Rotorua is a few hours' drive from Auckland and it's a small town whose principal attraction is its hot springs. The land is volcanic so steam rises in the middle of town from a variety of pools and mud that give off a powerful odour of sulphur. It's been a popular spa town for decades and, just as in other spa towns, there are a variety of hotels and public baths where people come to ease arthritic joints in hot baths and hot mud treatments. None of it's cheap although there's reportedly a free hot spring for skinny-dippers on the edge [View Full Entry]

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At 1.5 million inhabitants, this is New Zealand's biggest city with the highest tower in the Southern Hemisphere. It looms over the city, far above the other buildings downtown. The city has a few attractions and many people use it as a jumping-off point to visit the country. Visitors seem to think it has little to offer in the way of things to do. Even a couple of Kiwis told me this and I have to agree with them. It's not a bad city; it's just that there doesn't seem to be much in the way of attractions and activities. This [View Full Entry]

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Had to hit the brakes and go back to get this photo. [View Full Entry]

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