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

Wednesday 15 April Autumn is well established here in the central lakes, in fact it’s turning wintry with snow on the mountaintops all around. The clear blue skies at sunrise allowed opened up a vista of snow-capped mountains to the north. The blue skies also made it a perfect day for a cycle ride to check out the fall colouring, some of western bays and do a bit of bird spotting. We turned right out of the gate, cycled about 4km along the road towards Mt Aspiring then turne

Tuesday 14 April We were a day late for the colourful sunrise that Leanne had captured - but there was a beautiful pastel light across the bay as we awoke. No sign of the snow capped peaks as the cloud was quite low - but the sun eventually made an appearance. We had a low key morning and said farewell to our neighbours - Leanne & Richard & co were off to Lowburn or maybe Scottland. After lunch we took advantage of the sunshine and drove up to Treble Cone (having learnt that

Monday 13 April With several days of cloudy wet weather forecast and concern over the capacity of our grey water tank we decided to pack up at Kidds Bush and head back to Glendhu Bay again for a few nights on power and the use of a dump station! Early morning light on the hills was stunning as usual, but with the cloud cover it was more golden than russet. The sheep were on the move again around 8ish and at 10.30ish we followed suit having packed up in the rain. We battled th

Sunday 12 April Some days you bite off more than you can chew… this was one of those days! Started serenely enough with a gentle blue morning light across the lake, no wild vibrant flaming sunrise today. The sun brightened up the lake a couple of hours later, but it was a generally cloudy, showery kinda day. It was time for a hair wash, but no power to run a hairdryer… tried a French plait instead and was impressed that a) I remembered how to do it and b) my hair was long en

Saturday 11 April With Cyclone Vaianu threatening much of the North Island and down the East coast of the South Island, we remained sheltered here at Lake Hāwea - but the atmospheric pressures of the storm definitely affected the skies all over the country. We were fortunate to be woken by a glorious fiery sunrise which lit Lake Hāwea in an incredible array of vibrant pinks, oranges, golds & yellows - wow! Louis popped his head out first at 7am and caught the sky aglow like

Friday 10 April A busy day and lots of cow action at Kidds Bush! Woke to a gentle pastel dawn - and a loud chorus of mooing & beeping. I wandered up to the gate to see what was up and pretty much ALL the coos were lined up like a blockade - campers trying to leave were struggling to get out! They were so funny - all standing there looking across the cattle grid and through the gate. As I moved up to take a photo, they all followed the 3m rule and shuffled gently backwards! W

Thursday 9 April Check out time was 11am, but things are pretty casual at Albert Town so I got a few chores done while Louis worked on the new app he’s developing and bought us a new DOC pass for the year. Chores time was quite hectic - stock up the fridge & pantry, do the darks laundry & dispose of the Nescafé coffee pods - recycling bin at the aquatic centre… yay! We packed up and left our little spot on the rabbit warren mound at around noon, swung by the dump station to

Wednesday 8 April After a good night’s sleep, we awoke to seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness… though the mist soon burned away to reveal a patchy day of sunshine & clouds with the odd shower. We cycled into Three Peaks mid-morning so Louis could swim and I revisited Sallies (awesome charcoal grey merino for Abby) and did a top up shop at New World before cycling back while Louis toiled up and down the pool. Love the community beds outside the aquatic centre - growing f

Tuesday 7 April Bit of a down day at Albert Town, in more ways than one as the cold I’d been fighting for 3-4 days erupted into a fuggy head, streaming nose and explosive sneezes so we had a pretty chill day. We hit the shops for some food, hose bits, a hard drive, fleecy blankies and a new inner tube as Louis’ bike got a puncture. I even rescued a bee in the parking lot at the shops 🐝 Louis fixed the tyre and headed out on the bike for a bit but I lurked at Banjo for muc

Monday 6 April We’d shared mini Lindt eggs with our hosts, caravanning neighbours and friends on Sunday - but our focus had been on Warbirds. So Monday we paused, ate a few more choccie eggs and had an Easter video chat with my sister in London. I couldn’t find where I hid last year’s Easter decos so we bought a couple more and had them hanging above our beds all weekend. By now there were just the six of us, three vans, camping on Tom’s field, and mid-morning the others lef

Sunday 5 April Sunday was our ticketed day for Warbirds Over Wanaka - and also clock change, so we got a lie in before packing a picnic, hopping in the Pajero and preparing to join the enormous queues for the Warbirds carpark… but reader, there was no queue! We turned onto SH6 about 2km from the airport and cruised up to the volunteers who directed us to a space and we were through the gates at 10.05am as the Vampire & Strikemasters zoomed overhead in the opening display of t

Saturday 4 April After the fun of the air show, Saturday was a chores day - Louis swam, I went to New World and the Sallies, we filled up with fuel while we still could and we went on a fruitless hunt for a Pembroke Pâtisserie hot cross bun (no pun intended). I had fun at Sallies - the Teletubbies plate was one that Ella and Amy had as toddlers; the sequins were tempting but I resisted; and I nearly bought another bargain Stella&Gemma sweatshirt but feared it was a bit matchy