Back in the car "Sunny" we set out over the Haast pass. This pass "discovered" by European Haast in the 19th century is reknowned to be a beautiful drive through the Southern Alps of New Zealand. The road wound past Lake Hawea and Wanaka into the mountains. We quickly realized our drive would introduce us to an evil we have heard much about on our journey around the South Island - sandflies. These tiny black insects bite indiscriminately and are intellegent enough to scale car windows closed but for a small crack and invade in search of blood. We have found it often takes more than one hit to kill them (to which our rent a car roof can attest) and they will bite you numerous times that itch for weeks and result in lumps. Despite ... read more

Headed to the Otago Peninsula via Dunedin. We have developed a strange dislike for cities. Not really cities in general but cities in New Zealand. The cities here aren't particularly worth a stop as there is so much scenery that beats the pants off any museum pictures. So we quickly breezed through Dunedin (Celtic for Edinburgh) and checked into our very own cabin (home for the next 2 days!). Headed out to the Otago Peninsula for a chance at seeing albatross and penguins. The winding roads down the peninsula were a bit hairy at times but an amazing drive. An hour later we arrived to find there is a deep injustice occuring in New Zealand. It seems every set nesting sight or secluded beach littered with native sea going animals "belongs" to the Conservation Department of ... read more

Mauri Ora! - "the breath of life". This is the traditional greeting giving by the Maori, the native peoples of New Zealand. Foreheads and noses are touched as the words are spoken. Seen at a bus stop we felt priviledged to see family members wish each other well with this very intimate gesture. Our first feel of Kiwi culture. We were very excited to get to New Zealand as we have heard how beautiful it is. We arrived to Auckland and booked our bus tickets south for the following day. Five hours on the bus helped us determine that we do not want to lose days upon days to the nightmare that is Intercity travel so we promptly hired a rental car for our 4 weeks on the South Island. And funnily enough it was cheaper ... read more

My journey from Coffs to Port Macquarie involved that same mischievous driver named Trevor (classic guy who always wore his nametag upside down - which was really him in a nutshell!) who always anally stacked everyones bags perfectly and thus wasted about 30 minutes at each stop.. meaning by the time we arrived at our destination we were always 1.5 hours late. So we sat at Coffs and waited and waited. When he finally did arrive he proceed to waste another 30 minutes stacking bags blaming the Christmas rush for his lateness. Nice bloke but probably in the wrong line of work. So arrived to Port Macquarie to find everything shut and it nearly sundown. Checked into my hostel and planned to see the town all in the following day. Port Macquarie is a really lovely ... read more

We arrived in Hervey Bay after a rough night on the overnight bus. Early the next morning I set off for Fraser island with my group of 7 and Ev headed back to the UK for 2 weeks. The 8 of us were packed into a 4WD and given directions to the nearest grocery store and the ferry point. Luckily we made our ferry with 5 minutes to spare! It's called a self drive and is basically a tour without a guide. So that means we had to navigate around the island, hit the main tourist attractions and when our 4WD got stuck in the sand on the biggest sand island in the world we had to work together to get it out (what did I sign myself up for). We got to the island and ... read more