Had a a quiet last day in Auckland. Went for a short walk in the rain to check our lottery ticket (we didn’t win), finished packing, then just chilled before the long haul began. Our friend Helen’s sister and husband picked us up and drove us to the
We left Rangiputa on Monday morning after saying our goodbyes to Tony and Lou and headed south to stay with our friends Tony and Helen in Auckland. Got there early afternoon, and after unloading the car and passing on our food items into the Bacon family pantry and fridge, it
It’s been a very eventful few days! We were closely watching a big slow-moving sub-tropical low that was forecast to dump a huge amount of rain on the country, starting with northland, where we were headed. The rain started Wednesday night, as forecast, so we got an early start
Our last stop south of Auckland for this journey around New Zealand is at Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula. We’ve been on the west side of the Coromandel a couple of times before, but never the east. The Coromandel is a very popular tourist spot with easy access from
The first thing we noticed when we got to Raglan was the real nuts and berries vibe. Stopped at both grocery stores on our way to the AirBnB and it hit us immediately. Very laid back, barefoot kiwi kids and adults roaming around, and generally easygoing. The place we’re
The stack on the waterfront of New Plymouth was once the tallest structure in NZ. Built in the 1970’s to house 5 flues from the coal fired power plant (decommissioned in 2008), it’s an industrial icon and was built to last. It is estimated that it will remain
We spent another few days visiting our friends Penny and Spencer in Palmerston North. We again booked an AirBnB close to their place, and while we knew from the listing is was on the small size, we weren’t prepared for how small. It was set up well for one
Due to “operational reasons” the Bluebridge Ferry Connemara was 2 hours late leaving Wellington and, surprise surprise, we were 2 hours late leaving Picton. The official reason was due to southerlies on the Cook Strait all week, but there was no issue on Saturday, lovely calm crossing. Oh well… We
If you’re stopping in Blenheim for a few days, it’s a pretty safe bet that you’re going to visit a winery or 2. Cathy and I like good wine and the Marlborough Region of New Zealand is noted for some spectacular wines, mostly white but also Pinot
It was a beautiful day when we left Dunedin for Timaru, the last sunny day until we left Christchurch as it turned out. Got to love NZ weather! Canada gets arctic outflows, NZ gets Antarctic blasts, still no snow where we’ve been and the weather is getting warmer. Our
We had 2 full days during our second stop in Dunedin and we tried to see as much as possible. Of course, day 1 overcast but the rain was light and intermittent so it wasn’t going to stop us. We headed out to Port Chalmers, the main container port
Armed with information from Kate and Jono on places to stop, and where to find a good bakery, we headed up the east coast. First stop was Evansdale Cheese. We pulled in at the same time as another couple, who turned out to be from Winnipeg and are travelling in