Rotorua, New Zealand

Yes, it's time for a smug travelogue.

I'm writing this in the middle of a cyclone in Rotorua, which means we are housebound and can't indulge in any typical Kiwi activities such as throwing ourselves off a high building or hurtling down a concrete track on a tray. We have an afternoon lined up of Maori exhibits in the museum and a long session in the hot pools of the Polynesian Spa. We are staying with Nicki, my mum's best friend from primary school, who has useful contacts with the local Maori chief and can get us good discounts at hangi concerts. We spent yesterday inhaling sulphurous steam and admiring spectacular geysers, where a guide was keen to show us weaving using flax, wood carving and then to make us sing the Hokey Cokey in Maori when we might have preferred to hear some scientific facts on geothermal activity instead. Everyone here is very laidback about the pit of molten rock that forms the city's formations... "These were the basketball courts, but they erupted" said Nicki earlier as she drove us around.

The weather in Auckland was rather better when we arrived. We spent a lovely three days with Boris and Mel, friends of my aunt's, who nursed us off our flight (screaming baby for nine hours solid, say no more) by plonking us straight in a hot tub on their deck overlooking the sea and a garden full of cabbage trees and banana palms, kingfishers and tropical flowers. Boris plied us with Kiwi Sauvignon and Otago Pinot Noir, and played us the blues on his guitar. He also drove us out to viewpoints at Achilles Point and the dormant volcano of Mount Eden. We spent time exploring their posh suburb of Parnell, full of cafes and little art galleries, whilst also looking at the main Auckland art gallery, going up the Skytower (and watching others throw themselves off it), strolling through Albert Park and the University and taking the ferry over to Devonport. It was life at its best, so easygoing and fun. We also met up with ex-Intelfaxer Lena and her boyfriend Barry who drove us out to Bethells beach on the West Coast, where they filmed Xena Warrior Princess.

Singapore had proved an interesting stopover. I was glad to have finally seen a bit of Asia, though those of you who have seen proper Asia might think I'd made do with a kind of Disneyland version of the real thing. It's very clean and very sanitised and there are signs everywhere warning you that you will be fined thousands of dollars for stepping out of line, which instantly makes you want to start chewing gum and carrying durians (smelly spiky fruits) onto the MRT trains. The only place with any litter was the floor of the Long Bar at Raffles, which was covered in foot-crushed monkey nut shells. But we still stopped in for the obligatory Singapore Sling. The food in Singapore was uniformly wonderful and as the first day was rainy and therefore cooler we managed to see a lot of the ethnic areas - Chinatown, Little India and the Arab Quarter - as well as the harbour, the central business skyscrapers and the Colonial District. The second day was swelteringly hot and after a trip to the aquarium on Sentosa we crawled from air-conditioned train to shopping mall to office to hotel.

Looking at the forecast, the sun is shining brightly over the South Island at the moment, which I have a horrible feeling will last as long as it takes our ferry to dock into Picton on Saturday. Until then we have plans to go to more geothermal sites at Wai-o-tapu, to see the turquoise Huka Falls and Taupo, and then to do some Hawkes Bay wine tasting and art deco admiring in Napier. We plan to stop with Dave's friends Ben and Amanda in Wellington for a couple of nights at the end of the week.