Tuesday 10 February After two rather lovely days, the “weather watch” hit, with rain, rain & more rain! Had a lie in 🦁, did some blogging 💻 and just chilled 😎 all morning then after lunch, packed up, left via the supermarket & the dump station (what goes in, must come out! 🫢) then hit the Milford Road again - this time through cloud & lashing rain. 🌧️ Set up at Cascade Creek in a fairly unswampy space and had a sneaky snack of toasted buns & marmalade because the day d

Monday 9 February After lots of packing, checking, rearranging and caravan logistics we were off! Daypack for us and three large packs for the Fernandi. They have 3 overnights in huts and a 60km walk - we were just accompanying them on the first 5km to Brod Bay. A lovely day to start the walk - blue skies, sunshine and the gentlest of breezes. Met these two lovely American (?) ladies and took their Kepler Track start photo for them - turns out we are all breast cancer survivo

Sunday 8 February Sometimes you don’t need to go to Milford Sound - you just need to take a road trip along the Milford Road on a beautiful (if chilly day) and enjoy the amazing sights in the sunshine. So much to see - we packed a picnic and set off at 8am, with clouds low and drifting up out of the valleys. Te Anau Downs, where Nickie & Russ will catch a boat to start their Milford Track walk next month, was the first stop, then on via a few small DOC camps, pausing at Totar

Saturday 7 February A quiet day after the long drive - lots of rain and grey skies so we chilled all morning, headed into Te Anau just before lunch to check out the Hospice op shop and a few other stores. Louis found a pie shop that was apparently Miles Better... so that was lunch sorted for 3/4 of us. On the way back we went to visit the Takahe at the bird sanctuary and met one family with their chonky brown chick. Then we swung by the "Three Wee Bookshops at the End of the

Friday 6 February After 4 nights at Albert Town and with Russ on leave for Waitangi Day, we were set to board our whare-waka and set sail southish on the long journey to Manapouri. Louis and I popped into Scroggin again to stock up with amazing croissants for lunch 🥐 (Pembroke Patisserie was closed for the holiday but somehow Scroggin had a fresh delivery of their amazing pastries!) then we said sad farewells to Albert Town and swung by McKeowns to fill up with diesel befor

Thursday 5 February Red sky in the morning - kayakers warning! But it all seemed fine… We hitched up Banjo and towed her carefully to Wānaka Auto Services as one of her brake cables had come detached. Fortunately the other three were all good and our anti-sway kit was compensating for this failure, but fixing it was beyond our skills! Popped down into town for brekkie at Scroggin; it was warm inside so we moved outside and watched the sparrows helping clean up the dirty plat

Wednesday 4 February Finally! It may have been a chilly morning, but the sun was out, the skies were blue and the day promised greatness! Took a cheeky stroll up to Pembroke Patisserie for a late breakfast, breaking both my low-carb & intermittent fasting rules 😳 - but boy was it worth it?! Delicious pastries all round, and Nickie struck up a conversation with the girl behind the counter all about open water swimming - based on her sweatshirt! We posed by the Albie Tavern in

Tuesday 3 February Working day for Russ so the rest of us kept ourselves busy for the morning… Louis & his swim wife Nickie swimming several kms at the Recreation Centre and me stocking up at New World. Swung by the best bakery in town on the way back, to pick up a crunchy, crumbly, perfect croissant 🥐 from Pembroke Patisserie. The ducks and a few sparrows and chaffinches joined us for lunch back at Albert Town. Louis & Russ set off cycling to Hāwea after a siesta and I too

Monday 2 February Started the day with a shock - as a dedicated Wordler with a streak of over a year and player since pre-NY Times days, I was horrified to find they had reused a word… and not just any word, but the first ever Wordle! That’s just not on!!! With a nasty weather watch in place for the West Coast and the Southern Alps, we hit the road early and convoyed down to Haast through cloud & wind & rain. At Haast I hopped in with Nickie & Russ and Louis went ahead with

Sunday 1 February A fabulous dawn chorus at Jackson’s Retreat - we woke to speckles of sunshine and single digit temperatures! Got a wiggle on and we were heading west again by 8ish. Out to Kumara Junction then south on SH6 first to Hokitika (breakfast, wild pies and biltong) then retracing our route back to Franz Josef via Whataroa where I was finally able to buy some more pounamu earrings from my favourite carver. Back at Banjo we wished Nickie a very happy birthday with a

Saturday 31 January A chores morning - printed off final wedding script after few changes from rehearsal, some shopping in Rangiora, quick lunch at Ella & Josh’s where a working bee was going on prior to putting the house on the market next month, then we packed everything into the Pajero and set off to the Edmonds Factory Gardens for Mickayla & Hamish’s wedding. I took on this lovely couple back in September just as my celebrant licence looked set to expire… their booking en

Friday 30 January Early alarm - both on the phone and from the birds outside. We handed over responsibility for Banjo to the Fernandi and hit the road moments after 8am - heading north then over Arthur’s Pass to Ōtautahi Christchurch. Beautiful day for a long drive - 5 hours plus stops - and first time for us heading UP the West Coast. Paused in Hokitika for diesel then swung inland at Kumara Junction along SH73 up the stupidly steep Otira Gorge... through Arthur’s Pass (stil

Thursday 29 January After a couple of nights in Hokitika, we split our resources and while Russ was working we set off south to Franz Josef, leaving behind a soggy NZMCA Hokitika... going via Ross with it's hysterically kitsch teapot house, Harihari with the most wonderful eclectic mosaic & tile garden, and Whataroa where my pounamu earrings shop was shut but we had a fantail encounter at the local cafe - funnily enough up on the fans! And finally Franz Josef where we nabbed

Wednesday 28 January Time to explore Hokitika - Nickie and I went wandering… through pounamu stores, craft galleries and op shops! Russ was working and Louis was working on a video. In the old Bank of NSW (beautifully restored) we met Ian Phillips of IaNZ Art who creates fabulous sculptures, mainly wetas, frogs, centipedes, spiders and butterflies using old copper pennies and cents. You can commission a special piece with a coin from your birth year if you were born pre-dec

Tuesday 27 January Wooo hoooo! Summer finally arrived - if only for a day! Russ worked, Nickie & Louis swam and I walked around the nature reserve by the quay. A lovely walk around the nature sanctuary lake - spotted mallards, grey ducks, pāpango diving ducks, piwakawaka, tui, gulls and a cone!!! Late morning we packed up and left for Hokitika “a cool little town”, just down the road, where we squeezed into a corner of the NZMCA. We had lunch at the campsite then headed into

Monday 26 January Auckland Anniversary up north so Russ got the day off! We left Gumboot Paradise in the rain, drove down the coast in the rain and set up at Nelson Quay freedom camp… you’ve guessed it… in the rain! However an hour or so later the clouds parted and we got intermittent sunshine for the remainder of the day. After lunch Nickie & Russ spent an hour or two at the Māwhera Pa, Pounamu Pathway exhibition while I did the laundry and Louis decided to cycle a section

Sunday 25 January A spot of sunshine as we left the NZMCA at Westport North Beach (waving a quiet goodbye to the Leopards), and hit the misty twisty turny road south - accidentally forgetting to visit the wild pie shop (nearly had to turn back but that’s too hard with a convoy of 8m caravans!) Trekked down the coast, through Fox River with its busy Sunday Market and Punakaiki with its pancake rocks and settled into Gumboot Paradise, a cute POP in Barrytown - with 5 gravelled

Saturday 24 January A big day on the west coast - we had booked to go on the “Outwest” tour of the Stockton Mine and showed up promptly at 8.45am armed with cameras, packed lunch (including Wild Meat Pies), long sleeves, long trousers, heavy shoes and many, many spare layers! Micky picked up about 12 of us in the Unimog, glammed us all up with fluro vests and safety helmets, and we headed for the hills. This amazing trip is part goodwill gesture, part education and part propa

Friday 23 January Westport = WETport - or so it seemed! I popped out at 8am and loved seeing the sun’s faint rays echoing the shape of the driftwood teepee in the early morning light. Nickie & I walked up to the Buller Estuary pier wall along the beach, inspected the sad memorials to those who died crossing the bar and marched back an hour or so later, sneaking into the caravans just as the rain hit… and stayed hammering down for several hours! Said a quick hello to Max & M

Thursday 22 January Big day - not such big weather, fortunately! Heaps of rain and a bit of a swamp by morning as we walked up to the public toilets - past a lovely hitch-hiking couple who were singing "Tūtira mai ngā iwi” - she was kiwi and teaching this anthemic waiata to her Swiss partner! We met them again later - and we all look odd as we respond with “Hi aue hei!” https://www.tiktok.com/@jeffarcuri/video/7559609349937564958 Nickie and I took a walk down the Black Valley