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

Tuesday 2 December Up at stupid o’clock so that Russ could kindly take us to the airport for our 6.10am Jetstar flight back to CHC. Thanks Russ - hope you enjoyed your pre-work breakfast! No delays and we landed in CHC in freezing temperatures (well, almost double figures) and Ella collected us. Got back to Banjo by breakfast time and spent the day trying to catch up with ourselves - several snoozes, food shopping, laundry, gas refill, chatting with John (our POP host) and v

Monday 1 December Our last day with Helen in Auckland - she’s doing so well we are heading back to Banjo’s Odyssey down south soon. Sara popped in to see her before work then we packed our bags and sorted stuff before heading into town around 11ish. Helen was definitely on the mend - the two of us & Amy spent a while with her and she was able to sit in the chair and was manoeuvring herself about the bed with no assistance. Best of all she was taking the doctor’s advice about

Sunday 30 November Same same but different on Sunday. Luke & Yamille swung by Green Bay and scooped us up, we drove out to the airport with them, dropped them off for their flight back to Blenheim and kept hold of the Goldschmidt car for our use again. Sara had a day off from hospital visits so we went straight on in to see how the night had gone and to set Helen up for the day. Generally good news - less delirium overnight, on reduced pain meds and at lunch she sat in a cha

Saturday 29 November No lie in 🦁 for us - up and out around 7ish to pick up James and head north to Mairangi Bay. Not much traffic on the Harbour Bridge at 7.30am on a Saturday. Met up with Ryan and a few other swimmers who set off for a 2.5km swim along the coastline, while I walked along to Campbell’s Bay & back. Several others went out with them - I took Louis’ phone & car keys for safe keeping, Ryan’s keys and somehow the lady with the floaty flamingoes keys… only probl

Friday 28 November Got busy baking Anzacs for Helen’s care team in the morning while Sara and then Auntie Jean took the morning shift at the hospital. We rocked up around 11.30 and Helen had already been out of bed and sitting in a chair for a few minutes. Still struggling to eat, or rather drink, much - she'll stay on fluids for a day or so longer. Jean had been reading to her which she’d enjoyed and she was generally feeling better. With the nurse we got her out of bed agai

Thursday 27 November Sara had the early shift before heading to work so we had a coffee run/doing admin kinda morning at the Fernandi household; Squeak did a very good impression of a one legged cat for my photo - one leg, but too many toe-beans! Was shocked when we left to find just 3 cars, a caravan and a moho on the driveway - usually there are at least 8 cars down there! Swung by St Lukes on the way in to hospital - Black Friday madness in and around the shopping mall -

Wednesday 26 November Another day, another hospital visit… small improvements to report each day now. Sara came in for the early shift, while we did some more laundry, a bit of admin, another coffee run and I baked a quirky chocolate cake for the team looking after Helen - it’s funny how weird it is baking a tried & tested recipe in someone else’s kitchen! We headed in to take over at Helen’s bedside at around noonish, Louis walked down to the Olympic Pool for a swim and Sara

Tuesday 25 November After meeting Helen on the ward at 1am following her second surgery, we staggered home to bed around 2am. Sara was up early and in the ward by 7ish, so we did a few chores and had a bit of a lie in, after news that Helen had slept overnight and was still snoozing 💤 Laundry at the Fernandi’s, coffee run from Green Bay, trip to St Luke’s where we met Amy & Beth, then we rocked up to the hospital to relieve Sara. Helen was definitely more restful but struggl