I've just noticed that I seem to be getting quite high latency to some(?) Spark IPs:

Tracing route to 122-61-211-xxx-adsl.sparkbb.co.nz [122.61.211.xxx]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  2     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  12.7.69.111.static.snap.net.nz [111.69.7.12]
  3    18 ms    18 ms    18 ms  38.27.69.111.static.snap.net.nz [111.69.27.38]
  4   151 ms   150 ms   150 ms  39.27.69.111.static.snap.net.nz [111.69.27.39]
  5   153 ms   153 ms   155 ms  ae9-42.akcr11.global-gateway.net.nz [122.56.127.33]
  6     *        *      151 ms  mdr-ip24-dom.msc.global-gateway.net.nz [122.56.116.10]
  7   170 ms   164 ms   165 ms  122-61-208-1-adsl.sparkbb.co.nz [122.61.208.1]
  8   171 ms   171 ms   172 ms  122-61-211-xxx-adsl.sparkbb.co.nz [122.61.211.xxx]

That's going from Christchurch (2degrees 200/20 UFB) to Darfield (Bigpipe ADSL), but even if it's going the long way via Auckland its still rather high. Here's what it looks like going the other way:

traceroute to 151.210.219.xxx (151.210.219.xxx), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets
 1  125-239-11-1-adsl.sparkbb.co.nz (125.239.11.1)  10.081 ms  9.936 ms  10.908 ms
 2  *  *  *
 3  ae8-10.akbr6.global-gateway.net.nz (122.56.116.5)  24.274 ms  24.817 ms  24.730 ms
 4  ae7-2.akbr7.global-gateway.net.nz (122.56.119.53)  24.649 ms  23.801 ms  24.166 ms
 5  ae10-10.tkbr12.global-gateway.net.nz (202.50.232.29)  25.157 ms  xe-7-0-3.sjbr3.global-gateway.net.nz (203.96.120.134)  149.604 ms  xe7-0-8-10.sjbr3.global-gateway.net.nz (122.56.127.14)  149.204 ms
 6  ae0.pabr5.global-gateway.net.nz (203.96.120.74)  149.207 ms  149.310 ms  xe-0-0-7-3.sjbr3.global-gateway.net.nz (202.50.232.18)  149.311 ms
 7  ae3-10.sjbr3.global-gateway.net.nz (122.56.127.25)  155.646 ms  153.093 ms  153.144 ms
 8  ae0.pabr5.global-gateway.net.nz (203.96.120.74)  153.254 ms  ae-15.r02.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.4.119)  155.006 ms  ae0.pabr5.global-gateway.net.nz (203.96.120.74)  162.946 ms
 9  ae-8.r06.plalca01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.203.41)  160.822 ms  ae-2.a00.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.3.58)  150.010 ms  ae-8.r06.plalca01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.203.41)  157.757 ms
10  ae-2.a00.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.3.58)  150.410 ms  xe-0-0-24-3.a00.snjsca04.us.ce.gin.ntt.net (129.250.200.102)  153.347 ms  ae-15.r02.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.4.119)  160.546 ms
11  ae-2.a00.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.3.58)  155.557 ms  155.833 ms  *
12  151.210.219.xxx (151.210.219.xxx)  171.133 ms  179.767 ms

I get a similar result to spark.co.nz itself:

Tracing route to spark.co.nz [146.171.248.36]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  2     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  12.7.69.111.static.snap.net.nz [111.69.7.12]
  3    26 ms    26 ms    25 ms  38.27.69.111.static.snap.net.nz [111.69.27.38]
  4   151 ms   151 ms   150 ms  39.27.69.111.static.snap.net.nz [111.69.27.39]
  5   153 ms   153 ms   160 ms  ae9-42.akcr11.global-gateway.net.nz [122.56.127.33]
  6   147 ms   146 ms   146 ms  spark-sdn-ak1-dom.akcr11.global-gateway.net.nz [203.96.65.198]
  7     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  8     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  9     *        *        *     Request timed out.

I don't suppose anyone else is getting funky results to similar IPs - say from 2degrees to 122.61.211.xxx ? I'll likely throw their support an email either this evening or tomorrow, and some more tracerts wouldn't go amiss when I do so.