I board the bus to Queenstown and am greeted by gold tooth Dave. For once the rules are missing and instead we just get on with our journey. Dave does give us the route plan and he gives us rough timings for arrival at various stops along the way which are 'down to driving conditions'. Hey Dave, there's virtually zero traffic on the road, it's a glorious sunny day, what driving conditions were you expecting to disrupt your schedule exactly? Think Dave needs to try driving in Iceland in winter to see how driving conditions can effect schedules. The the landscape has very quickly become a lot more hilly and I notice that we drive for mile upon mile with virtually no human habitation. Sometimes the road is climbing so steeply our bus struggles to get ... read more

We set off in a full minibus and Rebecca, our German guide introduces herself. She's completing her PhD in marine something or other at Otago University in Dunedin. She's assisted by New Zealander Donah who knows everything there is to know about the Royal Albatross. As we're driving through the outskirts of Dunedin we find out a little bit about the town and its surrounds. Dunedin has a population of 126,000 people of which 26,000 are students at the university. The town was established in 1848 by the nephew of Robert Burns, Thomas, who was the spiritual leader of the region. The university was set up 21 years later and is the oldest in New Zealand. Most street names in Dunedin have Scottish origins because of the high proportion of Scottish people who first settled in ... read more

I wake to a gloriously sunny day so get out early to explore Christchurch. I'm hoping to join a free walking tour, or failing that hop on and off the old trams. I've time to have a spot of breakfast first so find a cafe with an unusual setting. As I'm tucking into my poached egg on toast and milky tea in a kind of arcade area - indoors - a tram squeezes past me literally inches away! I mooch on over to Church Square to see if the walking tour is on and notice the poor cathedral, badly effected by the earthquakes of 2011. It's so sad seeing this and other old buildings either half fallen down and waiting repair or seeing just photos of buildings that used to be there but have been totally ... read more

I'm sitting on the bench outside my youth hostel in the dark at 5.45am! This ridiculous state of affairs actually has a reasonable explanation. Today I'm trekking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing come rain or shine and I'm waiting for a shuttle bus to take me to the start. After about an hour's drive being inflicted with 'Shite pop music punctuated with inane small-talk babble Morning Show, Taupo 97.6FM' we are dropped off at the start of the trail. But first I have a geocache to pick up. With the massed hoards waiting to set off I'm surprised no-one else is searching. And so I set off along the trail trying to work myself into a gap between groups of people and their incessant chattering. Can you pick up a theme here? I absolutely detest small-talk, especially ... read more

Today I say goodbye to Rotorua and catch my bus to Taupo. I almost miss it despite being at the right spot really early. Instead of the green Intercity bus I was expecting it's a white bus with another company's name on the side and just an Intercity sign on a board in the front window. Lucky I checked and red faced Ray welcomes me on board. It's only a one hour ride so I'm very soon settling into my next hostel, the Rainbow lodge. It's a bit more rough and ready than the previous one (linked to the international YHA) but the reception girl is really friendly and helpful even helping me phone to arrange a switch of days for my Tongariro Alpine crossing shuttle - the weather forecast seems better in a couple of ... read more