Friday 24 April Another cold night but not as frosty as the day before - I had my morning chat with the menagerie and picked some frosty strawberries for breakfast. This morning 2-3 blck swans had joined the ducks, geese and shags hanging out on the lake - so elegant. We took our time packing up then had long farewells with the birdies & beasties before popping in to see Yvonne & Will’s amazing home-built motorhome parked next to us, which even has its own wood burner 🔥 Fro

Thursday 23 April Glad we’d turned off the water pump and emptied the pipes last night - as we awoke to negative temperatures and a hefty frost! Our thermometer recorded -4.5*C but we think it may read 2degrees colder than reality - regardless, we were still in negative numbers! But there was glorious golden sunshine over the pond by early morning and I braved the cold to say morēna to the birds & beasts (and share a wee handful of snacks with them!) Emus and apples don’t wor

Wednesday 22 April A lazy morning as we packed up Banjo and then trundled out of Scottland around noon (making sure to add some fruit leather roll-ups to our bill as they are so delicious!). Rather sad that this POP closes for winter in about a week - we will just have to wait until springtime for our next visit. Our departure was carefully timed so that we could stop at Black Rabbit in Bannockburn for lunch 😊 - blue cod for me and a lamb & mint pie for Louis (plus he ate m

Tuesday 21 April A quieter day after Monday’s wonderful drive along half of the Nevis Road. We chilled then got the bikes down and set off for a wee bit of exploration on the bikes. Quartzville Road continues up past Scottland and from our vantage point at the upper end of the camping paddocks we’d see many vehicles heading up along the track. So we hopped on our bikes to see what was up there. About 500m along we stopped at the gate which opened onto the Carricktown track up

Monday 20 April Perched up on the hill at Scottland, we look north up Lake Dunstan and south into the Nevis Ranges… so with patches of blue sky & sunshine luring us in, we packed a picnic and set off along the Nevis Road on an adventure! The Nevis is a 4wd, largely unsealed route from Cromwell in Otago through to Garston in Southland, up and down, across fords, through Ben Nevis Station, 77km from start to finish… and the scenery is EPIC! Starting out on the Nevis Road - surp

Sunday 19 April It was all a bit grey and grim again as we packed up at Lowburn before we outstayed our three-day welcome, and headed into Cromwell. After a supplies top-up at New World we managed to find a parking space over at the heritage precinct and popped into the Sunday market. Lots of crafts in the old Masonic hall and we bought a cool ANZAC poppy from Helen's Whimsical Creations, and a lovely pair of earrings. Everything Helen makes is recycled - the poppies from old

Saturday 18 April With wet weather in the forecast, we’d hopped onto BookMe.co.nz the night before & picked up tix for the Highlands Motorsports Museum for just $5 each! So despite the grey, blustery day we got a wiggle on, threw on our warmest clothes and went to check out "Highlands - Experience the Exceptional" with its cool motor racing circuit and accompanying museum & attractions. Loads of fab cars & motorcycles, mostly with local connection, fascinating autosport fact

Friday 17 April Wild weather was in the forecast and the clouds were certainly pretty extraordinary when we awoke at Lowburn. Louis captured the purple skies and red tinged clouds before dawn and then as the sun rose it lit up a wild cloudscape which definitely indicated a weather front heading our way. The geese came visiting and we soon saw why as another camper came out with handfuls of bread for them and the ducks! Before the weather could close in I strapped on my Spider

Thursday 16 April Always hard to leave Glendhu Bay - but when you awake to such perfection it feels almost impossible. Our lakeside rain had fallen as snow on the mountains around us again, looking fabulous in the morning sun ☀️ The golden glow on the snows of the Treble Cone range behind the campsite reception block was so beautiful. We packed up in a leisurely fashion and cruised out of the campsite shortly before 11am. Mt Aspiring was signposted to our right, but we turne