Friday 9 October A quiet night in Ross - just three of us at Pete’s POP. We packed up fairly early and headed down into Ross itself. Spent a pleasant morning wandering & exploring in the spring sunshine. The blossoms in town were glorious against the blue spring skies and while Louis was dumping our overnight grey water, I tootled over to check out St Patrick’s Catholic Church - built in 1866 to service the spiritual needs of the largely Irish Catholic miners who flocked to

Thursday 8 October Lulled by the crashing of the waves, we slept well in our cosy Banjo. I popped out to the beach just before 8am, met a cheeky weka, marvelled at the snowy Southern Alps and watched the waves. Wow! 🤩 A tārapuka, black billed gull, flew down and landed by the weka - who rushed at it, squawking and all puffed up - very territorial! Wish I had been quick enough to record that encounter. An hour or so later we walked out along the gorsey dunes behind the beach

Wednesday 7 October Our last morning in Ōkārito and we decided to try the trig walk - even though the skies were grey & unappealing. However we met a Dutch couple coming in off the beach who’d been photographing a kōtuku, a white heron out there. Louis continued on up to the trig but I diverted down to the sands with long lens in hand… ever hopeful! And there he was, not far from the campground, just wading in a stream caused by the incoming tide - absolutely stunning. Sadly

Tuesday 6 October Our alarm call was the two campground HonkWah ducks pottering around outside Banjo. We pottered gently, hoping that the sun would break through - which it did briefly, then faded away. Around 10.30 we headed down to the boat ramp by the old wharf, inflated the Razor kayak and set off up the Ōkārito River towards the lagoon. It was a couple of hours before low tide so the water wasn’t super deep in places, but on the other hand there was less chance of us be

Monday 5 October Weather forecast has got cloudier overnight so we pottered in the morning, giving the sun a chance to break through. Didn’t look hopeful, so we packed a picnic and set off to walk along the beach to Three-Mile Lagoon as low tide was approaching. Left the camp at around 11ish and promptly spotted a sign for Russell Street - was Louis’ dad named after the street? Was the street named after Louis’ dad? Or is it all a coincidence?!? It was just over 4km along th

Sunday 4 October Strap in… this is a long day with far too many photos - sorry! It kicked off at 6.30ish with a kea tap dancing on our roof which woke Louis, then letting out an ear piercing shriek which woke me. Fortunately we didn't seem to sustain any damage but Louis' wetsuit and swim cap hanging on the Ute to dry got a few pecks! We spent the next half hour watching its antics as it tried to peck at Louis wetsuit, unpick the guy ropes and remove the groundsheet from Ash

Saturday 3 October Glad we’d got our gumboots out of the Ute - a night of rain had drenched the ground around us, especially the spongy moss, so it was super soggy out. The clouds took an hour or two to lift - but by 11ish it was a glorious day. Check out the triptych below - the lake at dawn, midday & dusk. Mid morning, Louis got the Razor kayak inflated and we set off to explore Lake Mapourika. Absolutely stunning out on the water - so lucky! It was a perfect day for kayak

Friday 2 October After a busy few days at Franz Josef NZMCA, it was almost time to leave. Chilly, damp morning spent packing up Banjo, doing the laundry at the coin wash on Cron St and topping up our fridge & pantry supplies at Four Square before lunch. Slightly unimpressed that I got charged a surcharge on a surcharge for paying online at the laundry as requested - $6 wash, plus 60c service fee PLUS 13c payment fee! Louis went out for an early morning cycle but hit the col

Thursday 1 October We’d seen the signs and read the warnings - Roberts Point Track was never gonna be easy. I found an awesome blog called WalkMyWorld.com which had a fabulously detailed description of the track, complete with photos, cautions, distances & personal experiences, so we decide to pack a picnic and tackle the first “easy” half of the track. Had a lovely chat with some of our fellow NZMCA campers before we left - Adventure is Out There NZ, Mike & Pam and long-tim

Wednesday 30 September What a day!!! Early risers under so so skies; a call from Inflite Franz Helicopters to say it was too cloudy for a 9.30am flight, but 11.30am looked good. Wrapped up warm and took only the bare essentials (sunnies, phone & camera) and checked in at 10.45 with 2 other couples… given the all clear at 11am and we were off!!! Our guide marked our hands after consulting with the numbers on the scales - the two lightweight youngsters got a star indicating th

Tuesday 29 September A bit of a lie in 🦁 then an easy morning, popping down to the beach, making plans for next year, blogging and gradually prepping Banjo for a late morning departure. The sun had risen over the Southern Alps by 8am and was busy casting long shadows down at the beach. The wild west coast was certainly living up to its name with blowing sand, crashing seas, pounding waves & sea spray almost obscuring the end of the beach. Watching the waves was hypnotic as

Monday 28 September After the best sunset, a rather dull sunrise - followed by a cloudy, rainy morning. Blue light around dawn - and misty spray off the pounding waves - but this soon turned monochrome. However this didn't put off our neighbouring moho’s family who were out having fun on the beach regardless. We got on with admin and blogging until lunchtime when we had expected the weather to improve according to our forecasts, but it took its time! At 2ish we wrapped up i

Sunday 27 September A rainy night turned into a rainy morning at Fox Glacier Top Ten. We packed up and left pretty close to the 10am deadline - not bad given we’d lost an hour overnight! Grabbed a few expensive supplies from On the Spot, then hit the road (mostly gravel) out to Gillespie's Beach still in the rain. Parked up in our prebooked spot at the DOC camp as the sun came out and blue skies broke through, then went for a walk out along the beach. It’s a stunning, classic

Saturday 26 September A gloomy old morning at Lake Paringa so we just hunkered down inside Banjo as the rain beat down outside. Our overnight companions all left early so it was just us. The clouds never cleared so we'll have to return to take the kayak out on a clearer day! Packed up in a leisurely fashion and after an early lunch, hit the road up to Fox Glacier. We’d hoped to stop at Bruce Bay on this trip as it always looks so lovely when the Tasman Travels guys go there,

Friday 25 September A lazy morning at the lake - we had a lovely vista with light cloud at 9am but the rain & cloud rolled in so we hunkered down in Banjo, Louis working on a video & me updating our website. We met a lovely couple mid morning - Julie & Peter from Perth who have an SRC22 over there and were amazed at how many Snowy Rivers they have seen over here. Had a great chat and hope to stay in touch. Early afternoon the rain stopped and the sun popped through giving us

Thursday 24 September Well, if you came here looking for keas, you’ll be as disappointed as we were! Despite the comments in the NZMCA App enthusing about the naughty keas waking people up and hopping all over their vans at the Blue River (Moeraki) FC, it seems like they don’t perform to order! No kea, in fact hardly any bird song at all. PS - proud of our new hanging arrangement for our hiking boots by the door - previously only used the hooks for summer shoes, but realised

Wednesday 23 September No penguins last night and none this morning… disappointing! But we did get a gorgeous golden sunrise and a calm blue skies kinda morning. Given the confusion over whether or not we were camping illegally, we packed up early on a glorious morning in Jackson’s Bay, decided to take a quick stroll along the Wharekai Te Kou walk to the bay on the Tasman Sea side of the headland. The path goes through the Okahu Wildlife Refuger, over a low saddle connecting

Tuesday 22 September An early misty morning at Cameron Flat soon burned through to be a glorious day in the Haast Pass. Lilac mists as the dawn light crept over Banjo at 6.30am giving way to cloudy grey and then blue light flooding the valley. We packed up Banjo in glorious sunshine at around 10ish and hit the road through the pass, following in yesterday’s tyreprints. First stop was Wilson’s Creek chasm again - glowing in the midmorning sun. Sadly this small amount of suns

Monday 21 September A glorious start to the day in Cameron Flat… but not for long! Blue light over the valley just before dawn; then the sun blasting through between the mountains an hour or so later. We got out on the road earlyish to explore along the Haast Pass highway before the rain set in. First stop after a misty drive was Wilson’s Creek chasm - without the sun it was rather dark & dank but still eerily beautiful. We watched the clear but freezing cold water tumble out

Sunday 20 September Beautiful morning at Albert Town - we packed slowly, joined a video call & singalong with my sister at a Thompson Twin gig in London (Hold me nowwwww, whoa hold my heart 🎶), had a chat with Steve & lovely Kika (a German wire haired pointer with the best eyebrows!), from the new Hilltop parked just along from us, and pulled out 11 minutes before the official but largely unobserved checkout time. Over the Clutha and into Three Parks shopping are to complete