Kia ora, all. North Island over... Let the South Island madness begin. Being back on the bus was oddly reassuring. Despite the fact it has the feel of a school trip it's also just a super easy way to meet people and see as much as NZ as you can without even needing a guidebook. It's definitely a lazy way of traveling - far from the traditional idea of a wondering explorer - but it's just so much fun that I wouldn't want to change it either. In no time we were on ...

I've not meant to be so useless with updates but it's actually ridiculous to think just how much we've done in the last week which makes the lack of blogging pretty damn fair! We're in Wellington now, basejumping (as they call it- nothing remotely as dramatic as it sounds- the hostel chain are base and we've stayed in them all over north island... the jumping!) and we'll be catching up with an old schoolteacher of ours Will (Jesus?) Struthers over a couple of bee...

Our last day in Welly was super chilled after the comedown of losing our busmates and the after effects of a week of crazy partying was taking it's toll. We did at least hang out with Katz and it really gave us the chance to have a proper catch up which was great. However the real highlight of a very uneventful day was the food. At lunchtime we went to a traditional kiwi restauran called Kapai which made the most awesome jacket potatoes. I ordered the works and I...

Wellington was up next and that meant a reunion with Katz and South Africa vs. The All Blacks to look forward to. The only shame was that our three night stopover meant that we would have to get on a new bus in a few days time and start over on getting a group of mates. Effort! Waking up early after our group's antics should have been hard but after stubbornly refusing to rent a blanket for NZ$3 I was in and out of sleep from shivering. It definitely didn't help ...

I'm writing this on the 31st July and it just seems so long ago... it's crazy how quikcly life goes when you're constantly moving around and nights and days blur into one long coach journey with stop-off to check out the views every once in a while. We left Taupo, atfer our first two-night stop-off, refreshed after finally having a lie-in the day before and ready for a night in River Valley lodge... one of a very few extar places that the Kiwi Bus goes to that o...