http://www.backpackingnz.co.uk Freedom to explore Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:46:47 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The alpkit Gourdon 20 might be the ideal day pack. Its light, durable and cheap. But the main thing is that it is waterproof. Alpkit have taken a 20 litre dry bag and added a decent suspension system to it - padde shoulder straps along with a chest and waist ... http://www.backpackingnz.co.uk/2008/11/15/alpkit-gourdon-20/ To anyone who visited in the last week: The links present on the front page of this site were not put there by me. I was running an out of date Wordpress install and paid the price. Its now secured and the links / spam comments have been removed. Mark http://www.backpackingnz.co.uk/2008/11/15/site-hacked/ http://www.backpackingnz.co.uk/2008/01/05/2-weeks-till-big-day-out-2008/ Alas, I am now back home after 12 months in New Zealand. In a nutshell, yes, you should go! Over the next couple of months I will be adding lots more content into this site - it was too busy when I was travelling. All the seasonal fruit work and ... http://www.backpackingnz.co.uk/2008/01/05/back-home/ In the process of traveling round New Zealand, I seem to have neglected this site badly. I arrived in New Zealand with my backpack 6 months ago and I have travelled most of the country - Northland, Auckland, down the North island via Taupo, Waitomo, Rotorua, round the East Cape ... http://www.backpackingnz.co.uk/2007/05/05/whoops/ Magic Bus have fares that look pretty good - but only for the next 6 days. They go up on Novemeber 1st as the new high season approaches.Personally I am going to book the North and South trip - at $459 (~£160) to do the highlights of both islands it ... http://www.backpackingnz.co.uk/2006/10/25/magic-bus-reduced-fares-for-next-6-days/ Another Travel Pod Fouding Member, ScottWoz has written an excellent blog so far. Hes been in New Zealand for over 2 years now, and is about to move onto Oz...Highlights inlcude many excellent tramping posts, wonderfull photos and more. Just beware that its a very long blog with over 200 ... http://www.backpackingnz.co.uk/2006/10/23/travel-bloggers-2-scottwoz/ Life is Short and the World is Wide is written by a regular poster to the backpackerboard.co.nz site - Rich.Rich was in New Zealand from Feb 17, 2005 to Feb 27, 2006, with some trips to Oz along the way.This is one of the best travel blogs to read if ... http://www.backpackingnz.co.uk/2006/10/14/travel-bloggers-1-life-is-short-and-the-world-is-wide/ Backpacker Board is the best forum I have found for Backpacking in New Zealand. It is fairly big and packed with travellers that have either been there an done that, are out there right now or locals who are involved in the backpacker business. Its a great place to look ... http://www.backpackingnz.co.uk/2006/10/13/great-sites-2-wwwbackpackerboardconz/ Following on from yesterdays posts about keeping that iPod charged while you are away, I thought I would mention keeping your Nokia phone charged.Not everyone seems to realise that there are 3 Nokia Chargers available for the vast majority of phones, and that these chargers differ quite a bit in ... http://www.backpackingnz.co.uk/2006/10/11/nokia-phone-chargers/