Hi everyone, We got to NZ on 17th February and so far have bought a van that looks like a cow and driven from Christchurch, around the Akaroa, Banks Peninsular, down to Timaru, Omaru, west into the mountains to Lake Aviemore, up to Lakes Pukaki and Tekapo and are now in Cromwell looking for fruit picking work to finance a mad St Patrick's Day weekend in Dunedin. The weather is hot and sunny although often windy and the scenery is beautiful. It's so nic...

Hi everyone, Happy Valenetine's Day! Samoa is brilliant! it rained the first few days so i made some new friends and we hired a car and travelled around the island of Upolu looking at loads of waterfalls and swimming, so it didn't matter that the weather was wet. We then went over to the other main island, Savai'i, which was beautiful. I walked through the canopy of a rainforest on a bridge suspended from the trees despite my usual fear of height...

This is my last day in Hollywood. i've had such a good time staying with Sharan and Rita, two American party girls who have really looked after me by letting me stay at their place and taking me to meet all their friends. I've done all the sight-seeing stuff but also went to a rock concert, a couple of parties, a strip joint, to the valley to a Superbowl Sunday barbecue, which was beautiful and blagged it into a posh hotel to use their swimming pool. I...

January 31st I\'ve been to Muir Woods which is absolutely amazing. The giant Sequoia trees are fantastic and it\'s a really chilled out cool place to be. The air feels really clean up there. I also went over the Golden Gate Bridge, which is lovely and I took loads of photos as usual. We stopped in Sausalito on the way back which is a weird little town full of nice art shops and houseboats. At the weekend I went to a college frat party at Stanford Un...

Today I have been sight-seeing and doing some touristy stuff. I walked to the water and along the waterfront and ended up at Pier 39 where I had lunch overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and the local sealion colony. After lunch, I went to Coit Tower, which has wicked views over the whole city. My hostel - the Green Tortoise - is located in what I imagine is the Soho of San Fran, that is, between Chinatown and the Red Light district. I've bee...