Monday 22 December Another busy but quiet day in and around Woodend Beach - Louis emptied out the Pajero and took it into town for a thorough cleaning while he had a swim and did some Christmas shopping; I pottered around cleaning up and keeping the hoodlums amused. I straightened all the sofa cushions, but Jessie was having none of it and refused to move! After lunch I headed to the laundromat (it was busy as - somebody was washing tablecloths from a wedding in most of the m

Sunday 21 December An early morning - up and out to pick up Ella & Josh then deliver them to the airport for their flight north to Christmas in Matarangi with the Whitefields. By chance, Abby & Jez were on a flight to Auckland an hour later so we grabbed airport breakfast (sushi for me - nom nom!) whilst waiting to see them and wish them “Bon voyage!” too. Back at Banjo we packed up, hitched up and dragged Banjo over to Woodend Beach to park up in front of McIntosh Manor (aka

Saturday 20 December Christmas celebrations start here! But first, my job was to try and dye Ella’s hair back to a slightly more subtle tone. In the middle of all this - a call came in from my sister Linus who was at yet another Christmas gig in London with the CdP Ladies - I think this was the Old Dirty Brasstards with their rendition of a Christmas 70s classic by Slade or Wizard or similar! Then a bunch of friends came over to their place to work on the big declutter ahead

Friday 19 December Friday chores day in Ōtautahi Christchurch - up early and off to DCB to get our new inverter installed in Banjo (yay - will be able to use microwave and coffee machine off grid from here on in!) then popped to Hornby for a coffee & an exciting visit to a Japanese supermarket where we were bamboozled by the packages of foodstuffs, but happy to stock up on cheap Kewpie salad dressings! On to Papanui - Louis went for a swim at Graham Condon pool and I trawled

Thursday 18 December Only a week until Christmas - so we are taking a leaf out of Chris Rea’s songbook, heading slowly towards Woodend Beach. (When I wrote this, I did not know that Chris Rea was to die just 4 days later, making this rather poignant) Watched the racehorses galloping then walked down to U-Bake to get coffee and a pie for Louis - I was still too full from Saikou to contemplate any of their delicious bakery offerings. Louis decided to have a go at clipping his o

Wednesday 17 December Still rather disappointing weather for summer - but we got out for a walk along the northern end of Kakanui Beach before any further rain fell. We followed in the footprints of a family of Canada geese for a while, they were taking their goslings for a dip - though TBF it looked like they were trying to drown them!!! See separate video on our FB page. From the sandy shore you could see the damage to Beach Road as it collapsed into the sea - no wonder it

Tuesday 16 December Wet and windy night - though we avoided a big battering in our sheltered wee corner at Old Bones. Walking outside in the early morning it was wall to wall grey clouds except for a small gap allowing the sun to turn the paddock in front of the next door farm a vibrant golden yellow. The sun broke through strongly as the morning progressed, so Louis got the bikes down early as more greyness was forecast for the afternoon, and we whizzed down the old Beach Ro

Monday 15 December Set an earlyish alarm so I could help out with the morning farm duties - and grabbed my Red Band gumboots as this was bound to be dirty work. After saying hello to Monkey the horse, the first job of the day was bottle feeding Caramello & Twix, the lambs again. On to the various different aged calves next - the youngsters got warm milk in a high trough with teats to suckle from, then a few scoops of dry nuts; the older calves had to make do with cold milk in

Sunday 14 December Benjamin Franklin famously said that guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days… so it was time to move on from Jonny & Debs’ place before we outstayed our welcome! After an impossibly stressful Arsenal game, we packed up, checked around the house 3 times so hopefully we haven’t left anything behind this time, and slowly pulled out onto McArthur Road where I took over the driving all the way into Alex - my longest & fastest towing drive yet! We took

Saturday 13 December Up with the lark, the skylarks to be specific, they fill the skies around Springvale. Louis got the bikes down, popped them onto the back of the Pajero and we convoyed down to Lauder with Jonny where we joined the Otago Central Rail Trail. The route took us over bridges, through tunnels, under water pipes and between old railway cuttings for about 10km to the Ida Valley and then back again - lots of people cycling towards us on the return as most people c

Friday 12 December After the stormy weather, a golden dawn over the Dunstan Range - turning into a generally sunny day over us, but glowering storm clouds coming over the range a couple of hours later. Louis & Jonny did some recording and I caught up with some laundry (peg it out on the line, dries in less than an hour!) Elevenish, we set out on a Lord of The Rings adventure to Rohan - aka Poolburn Reservoir. A stunning, if bumpy, drive across schist studded hills, avoiding

Thursday 11 December A chilly morning, worth running the diesel heater for a few minutes, but not too long! Packed up under the morning sunshine and sadly moved on from the Longslip POP around 10.15am, heading up into the Lindis Pass. Farewell lovely fragrant Longslip lupins - we have loved your company! Lupins accompanied us almost all the way until the final kilometre or two up to the summit, and then picked up again on the Otago side as we trundled on towards Tarras. Oblig

Wednesday 10 December Awoke to the lapping of waves on the stony shores of Lake Ōhau as the wind whipped up the waters. Had scrambled eggs on U-Bake sourdough in Banjo for breakfast - yum! We decided to drive back past the Lodge and take the Parsons Creek track up through the beech forest to the Te Araroa trail along the valley towards Sawyers Creek. The trail intersected with A2O cycle trail so we walked back along there, the wind keeping us cool as the sun beat down. Back a

Tuesday 9 December Maybe not as sunny as the day we arrived, but despite the wind across Lake Ōhau, it was a fabulous day. Day dawned grey and a little chilly but hints of blue sky boded well. My mate Shane from Montreal had packed up his tent and we had a quick chat before he hit the road - wishing him safe travels and no more spills! We downloaded the bikes and set off down the lake to check out the other camping options we had passed on our way in - spoiler alert, there w

Monday 8 December A hazy damp morning as we packed up at Phar Lap, racehorses galloping by intermittently and the custodians setting up for Tuesday’s race meeting. Soon we were out on the road inland first to Pleasant Point for the dump station, then Fairlie for fuel (until we realised we were on the wrong road) and of course, Burkes Pass for coffee - plus a wander up to the old chapel, which is the oldest Union Church in Aotearoa, founded in 1872. The garden was was teaming

Sunday 7 December After breakfast with the horses thundering by, Louis went for a swim and I wandered on to investigate the Sunday Market and shows in Caroline Bay. Arrived just in time to catch “Art in Motion”, a fabulous wearable art catwalk of creative costumes. The themes were varied but each piece was fascinating for its design, execution, choice of materials and high impact. My favourite was “Sew Bee It” in honour of the UK tv show the Great British Sewing Bee - crafted

Saturday 6 December Such a busy Saturday! As usual at Phar Lap we woke to the pounding of hooves as the horses had their daily gallops. I sat out in the morning sun with a cup of tea and my long lens Canon waiting for them to pass me on each lap and decorated my mini Christmas tree 🎄 One of the horses was quite interested and galloped past, watching me all the way! It was cute when they brought two of the young ones out behind us and did some training on the starting gates -

Friday 5 December Lovely quiet morning walking up in the castle grounds. Got chatting with Alan & Cleta who owned the Snowy we had parked up next to. Lots of tales to swap about our vans, our travels and our lives - great to meet fellow travellers along the way. These two are well known in the Kiwi Snowy River community, not only for their cute decal along the side, but for their magnet collection of destinations on the back and also the interesting aerodynamic wing attachmen

Thursday 4 December A peaceful but chilly awakening with the birds singing their hearts out in the bush around us at Peel Forest. We had negotiated a late check out with the Camp Custodian so set off for a hike to the Acland Falls and then on to the Big Tree Walk. There was a lot of uphill and steps which challenged my knees as they adjusted to the new orthotics in my hiking boots. Acland Falls was a little underwhelming with just a single cascade falling through a groove in

Wednesday 3 December So familiar - waking in our bed in Banjo on our first morning back south - but a whole heap colder than Auckland mornings! I had an orthotic appointment in town (part of my ongoing knee issues) so we set off early. Louis had a swim, I got measured up for a funky knee brace, collected some heel inserts for my trainers & hiking shoes, dropped off some op shop donations, resisted a few amusing secondhand treats, bought myself a new T2 TeaMaker for $4 and s