Typically with Alistar I roam and haven't had any problems with this. When I roam though I will usually lane until level 2 or 3 then begin roaming assuming lanes are pushed enough or I see other opportunities.

I have heard Alistar may be well suited to counter-jungle, especially given the patch with him. I have tried running smite, I use standard runes/masteries but don't seem to have a whole lot of success with this.

Sure I am able to take their double golem camp and get lvl 2, then attempt to gank whichever lane im closet to, but after this I find I'm hopping back in a lane for a few lvls and not needing smite for the rest of the game.

I have tried wriath camp->double golems instead, but find this to be a bit slow and bringing me closer to death near the double golem camp.

Does anyone have tips/counter jungling route that is successful?

Item wise I have tried cloth armor + health pots, but I prefer something that is more suited to roaming, either boots+hp pots or boots+hp pot+sight ward.

First and last bump... any ideas on this? Is it even possible for alistar to be a counter jungler?

well ive never tried it like that i usually roam if there is a jungler and gank/screw up the jungler while ganking lanes. in order to screw up the jungler just run in head beat him and stun the minions taking his xp

Counter-jungling is the least about trying to steal the opponent's camps. Its mostly about screwing up the opposing team's jungler so hard that his early game leading into mid-game is unrecoverable.

Even if you were able to steal both camps, good junglers would just take red and gank earlier.

How do you make someone's early game unrecoverable?
Well there are different ways.
1) Kill him.
2) Steal his BUFFS.

In order to kill him, you need to know the workings of the enemy jungler. You need to know his route, the approximate time he would take per camp and what point in time he would be the weakest.
For example, a jungle Olaf would be the weakest right after red. So if you gank him at that point, not only do you get first blood, you also get both buffs.

If you know the opponent is a high HP jungler (like Warwick) or you suspect hes stronger than you, then you should focus on stealing instead. So try Smiting his red or blue when hes about to kill it/Smite it.

If nothing, you would at least
a) scare the **** out of him
b) know exactly where he is
c) delay his ganking.

You can make alot of junglers unrecoverable just by taking out one or two of their camps. The first couple runs through the jungle, the jungler needs every bit of gold it can get for mandreds and boots. If you can stop the jungler from getting boots and mandreds early, you shutting them down for another 3-4 mIn, which is a long time in the game.

If your gonna take smite, just get the big wraith in the opponents camp every time smite is up and I promise it will make a notable difference in their effectiveness early/mid game.