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Franz Joseph There wasn't much time to hang around. I'd booked a helicopter flight for the afternoon to take us up to the glaciers. The flight we booked was supposed to take us to Franz Josef Glacier, Fox Glacier, Tasman Glaciers, the Southern Alps and the Main...

Hokitika We drove our van into the Shining Star campsite late afternoon on the 27th of March. Apparently, we weren't the first Riverside Drive Marina residents to check in here. Only a couple of weeks before, our sailing friend Jeanne Socrates also checked in at the...

Greymouth We only went to Greymouth to meet Charmaine, one of our Riverside Drive friends who was staying in Greymouth for a while. But we are glad we saw the town too. It has a rugged charm - and some good OP shops from which you can grab a bargain. Hats off to the...

Te Waikoropupū Springs - Pupu Springs This is a special place, both culturally and geologically. The water here is some of the clearest on the planet. And there is a lot of it. Underground springs here produce approximately 14,000 litres of water per second. Māori...

Kaiteriteri Kaiteriteri is lovely in March. It isn't too cold, the sun is shining, and, more importantly, the holidays are over. This place must be rammed full of people at peak summer time. But hardly anyone was around when we visited. Although Kaiteriteri is a...

Blenheim Our first stop on the South Island was a Department of Conservation campsite in Blenheim - a bargain at just $20 NZD per person per night. Unfortunately, there is a different sort of price to pay. Generally, no power is available at DOC sites, so if you don't...

Cuba Street Our destination in Wellington: Cuba Street car park, because I know how to treat a lady. The advantage of having a certified self-contained campervan (certified by a sticker on the van) is that you can park in places other vans cannot, such as our chosen...

Boatyard Bonkersness So far, we have shared where we have been and what we have seen in New Zealand, but not what we have been doing on the boat. And we have been doing a lot of stuff: New cockpit windows New cockpit upholstery Cockpit cover repairs Sail repairs and...

Hamilton Gardens Hamilton Gardens is a gem of a place - 54 hectares of themed gardens, some classical and some stark-raving bonkers. We spent a few hours here stumbling around and coming across these visual treats. There's not much to say here - it's all about the...

Hobbiton "I'm going on an adventure!" - Bilbo Baggins And to get to our adventure, we stepped aboard a coach at the tourist office in Matamata. Our driver, who had the rare privilege of being an extra in the films, provided commentary, and so did Peter Jackson,...

Rotorua The sulphurous pong of Rotorua assaulted our nostrils as soon as we got near the city centre. After parking the car in a relatively odour-free multi-story, we set off on a hunt to find the source of the smell. We found it near the government gardens, where...

Kawakawa Just one week after messing around at the All Blacks Experience, we were off again - this time up north towards Kerikeri. On the way to Kerikeri, just off Highway One (think more A33 than M1), the lovely town of Kawakawa offers a scenic break and the chance...

All Blacks Experience A trip to New Zealand wouldn't be complete without seeing the Blacks, at least in some form. So, after landing at Auckland airport after a visit to the UK, we drove to the city to see the All Blacks Experience through four bleary eyeballs. And...

Christmas in the Boatyard Granted, for some, sitting in a boatyard workshop drinking copious quantities of beer may not be regarded as a great Christmas. But even the hardiest curmudgeon would be hard-pressed not to see this as fun. Every Friday, the staff at...

Coromandel Road Trip One week after our trip to Melbourne, we were off again - this time on a road trip to the Coromandel peninsular, east of Auckland. The drive down there is stunning, almost everywhere in New Zealand is beautiful. Our first stop was at a bed and...

Dogging in Philip Island I've left this a bit late. But, in my weak defence, there is so much to do and see in New Zealand that it's hard to find the time to sit down and write about what we have been up to. It's now May 2024, so this post is a large rewind to late...

Balls up at Denarau Well, that didn’t work out well. Despite several emails and a couple of phone calls, just as we entered the channel to pick up our reserved mooring at Denarau Marina, we were told we were too big. I assume they meant the boat and didn’t aim that as...

We finally make it halfway around the world, and continue west towards Viti Levu and the Manuca and Yasawa islands.