Summer in New Zealand has been terrible this year. So it's a good thing I arrived in late summer, when the weather decided to start settling a bit and offer some seriously hot, sunny weather (with a few exceptions, and actually as I head south and autumn approaches it is getting cooler, but this was true when I started writing this, two weeks ago).

I spent the first couple of weeks (and a bit) staying with my cousin and his wife in Glen Innes. Its abbreviation, G.I., makes it sound a little more like the ghetto to posher Glendowie it is considered to be, rather than a lovely little distillery in Scotland, which it most certainly is not. Most backpackers who come to NZ don't like Auckland, which is fair enough considering they usually come here for the scenery, but it's actually quite nice, as far as cities go. Knowing people who live here and having a car does help to appreciate it, I admit.

Which brings me to the fact that I have a car. I had the intention to buy an old second hand car, with the hope of reselling it on at the end of my trip to recoup some of the costs, an enterprise fraught with risks, particularly considering my knowledge of cars. Luckily, my grandmother is lending me hers, a rather recent Corolla. Yes. Spoilt. I am.

So in that time in Auckland I managed to see a fair bit of my family, with a fair few barbecues involved, which allowed me to meet my two years old little cousin (I've now learnt the actual term is first cousin once removed). I fitted in a brief little tour of the Winterless North, which involved more driving than anything else, but was fun nonetheless.

I then headed and stayed with my dad's friend from university, and spent a few days around Katikati/Waihi Beach, where I went for a few walks and met a very interesting clay worker who makes some rather wonderful sculptures. A particular highlight was a lone dunk in a beautiful, but rather cold, secluded stream at the bottom of his ginormous garden.

Heading south from there I spent a night in Taupo, then worked my way to Wanganui via Tongoriro National Park. I did the crossing five years ago, so thought I'd skip it this time and just do a little loop rather than spend an extra day here - which worked out quite nicely as my 'what a bargain' boots from the Salvation Army store fell to pieces on the way. I thankfully came across someone on the way so that I could mention how I was losing my sole.

Then down to Wellington, where I once again (ab)used family contacts and stayed with friends of my aunt and uncle's, before taking the ferry to Picton, gateway to the South Island. And this is where our story stops for now.