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 for travel companions and to get advice on everything.
They also have a range of original articles and a notice board which is good for picking up cheap cars, lifts and flats.

Start by visiting the forums.

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 power and weight.

ACP-7x
The ACP-7 is the older charger, a heavy square lump that was supplied with most older nokias – 5110, 3210 to name a couple. These are the heaviest, slowest and most common charger you will see. They are also the least ideal for travelling because of this. Its also fixed voltage, which means UK ones will work anywhere the mains is 240v – Europe, Oz, NZ etc, but NOT the USA.

Output: 3,7V/355mA

ACP-8x
The ACP-8x is nokias earlier lightweight travel charger, and was standard with newer and more expensive phones – eg the 6310 series. It supplies more current and a higher voltage, which can drop recharge times significantly – 4 hours to 2.5 hours on some phones. A neat feature is that you can remove the power cable, which has a velcro tie on it to keep it orgainised while travelling. It is also multi voltage, so works worldwide. All in all, a much better choice for travelling than the ACP-7x.

Its possible to buy this charger of internet sites for around £7 – eg at mobilefun ACP-8x.

Output 5.7V/500mA

ACP-12x
The ACP-12x is the newest charger, supplying more curent than the ACP-8x for charging the newer high capacity phones faster. It is also light, multi voltage but lacks the removeable power cable of the ACP-8x.

Its possible to buy this charger for £2! at Amazon.

Output 5.7V/800mA

I have had no problems mixing chargers, but it may be wise to see which travel charger nokia reccomends for your phone – find you phone on this page and look at the suggested enhancements.

The Gear4 Firepower World Tour iPod Charger (Formerly made by PodGear) is a worldwide mains charger for all dock connector iPods and and device that chages from USB.

It comes with plugs for The UK, Europe, The US and Austrailia / New Zealand, and works with 100-240v systems. Once the plugs are removed, it gives access to a standard figure 8 power input, so you can use this anywhere. Its also useful as most camera chargers come with a figure 8 lead, which will at least double the reach of the charger.

Beware of other versions of this that do not come with the Oz/NZ plug – liek the one sold by ipodworld.co.uk.

The device has worked flawlessly – it charges my Video iPod without complaint and seems well built. Its also pretty light to carry around.

I would get it here at Amazon

This is a series of posts that will highlight great resources for travelling / backpacking and also for resources on places to go.

Travel Independent is a site which provides a guide to travelling – with sections on what to pack, where to go etc etc. There is a huge amount of information there, covering the whole world and clearly written by experienced people. I highly reccomend you take the time to read through the site.

The Big Day Out 2007 is to be held on 19th January 2007 at Aucklands Mount Smart Stadium. Tickets go on sale October 19th. Theres also 5 dates in Austrailia after the Auckland gig, so no need to miss anything if you are over there right now.
Acts listed so far include:

Tool
Muse
The Killers
Jet
Minuit
Shapeshifter
Violent Femmes
Peaches
My Chemical Romance
Spank Rock
Eskimo Joe
Evermore
Scribe
The Veils
The Tutts
The Mint Chicks
Opensouls

Visit the official website for the full run down.

My mate, Matthew Fergusson just flew out of Heathrow – hes doing exactly the sam thing as me, just 4 weeks earlier. He’s got a site here – www.matthewfergusson.me.uk which should be all wordpressed up soon and serve as his travel blog.

Matt decided to jack his job in and just go – then he told me his plans and I thought it was such a good idea that I ought to do it as well. We should be meeting up in Auckland for a few beers in about 4 weeks or so , 12000 miles away from where I am typing now.

Somehow seeing his flight go has brought it home to me that I go pretty soon, Nervous but exited!

Well, I fly out to NZ in exactly 4 weeks. I am getting slightly more prepared than I was, I now have my Rucksack (Karrimor Global 70-90l, review to follow), and my flight info.

I am flying out with on the BUNAC group flight package – along with 27 other travellers. We Fly November 2nd, and hit Hong Kong on Novemeber 3rd at about 7am. Then its 2 nights in Hong Kong, with various tours and a meal orgainised. Finally, 17 of us (the others are of to OZ) are on an evening flight over to Auckland, leaving me in New Zealand on Novemeber 6th, probably with much jet lag.

I still need to pack, but some clotes and some other bits and bobs and sort out my travel Insurance – I have decided on World Nomads now. Oh and get a hotel booked at Heathrow – attempting to travel from here (Liverpoolish) to London is frought with oppotunities to be 6 hours late, so I am going down the day before.

Some of the Ski venues in New Zealand will be open to the end of October – such as Whakapapa and Turoa in the North Island are open until October 29th.

I get there just a little too late, so I will be waiting till the 2007 season, but if you are out there right now, why not head off for a couple of days in the snow before summer hits and its beach time?

Check out snow.co.nz for the full story.

I fly out to New Zealand on November 2nd – will be spending 2 nights in Hong Kong with a group of 27 other travellers – all going out on the BUNAC program. After that, 17 of us are off to Auckland, and the other 10 are Oz bound.

This site should see some more content adding to the guide as my departure gets closer, and guides to the various locations and activites will come as I make my way around both Islands.

Just created a lens on Squidoo – Backpacking in New Zealand. Drop me a line in the Comments if you have other links to suggest – please bear in mind this is a work in progress (just like this site)