June 16, 2023 The clock says it all. Checked in and on board by 7.20 am, and 12 hours later, almost to the minute, we arrived at Auckland Strand station. Long, yes, but boring, no. If it had been long distance air travel, it would have been punishing, but on the Northern Explorer — a … More Northern Explorer
June 6, 2023 Well. It’s nearly nine months since I posted anything. So long that I’ve almost forgotten how to do it. But here we are, finally back into writing. There’s been no particular reason for the absence other than lack of motivation. Even my garden blog has suffered, though I’ve managed a few more … More Moving on
September 24, 2022 It seems an age ago now, our travels across Canada, down to New York and back across the States to San Francisco, all by train. It was back in 2015, and at the time we fully intended to do the trip again, or at least the Canada part, in reverse order and … More Remembering when …
April 18, 2022 Easter Monday, and what better way to spend it than a trip to Castlepoint. No particular reason other than it is a great place to visit, whatever the time of year. Today it was fine and warm (17 degrees) but extremely windy. There has been some big weather recently which has taken … More Castlepoint
December 29, 2021 It’s easy to overlook what’s on the back doorstep, and that’s the case with Trelissick Park in Ngaio Gorge — we’ve walked it only once before. So we decided we’d walk into town through the park. We still had a fair bit of road walking to do, but the park provided shady, … More Trelissick Park
December 26, 2021 We started our Wellington staycation with a walk to the Baring Head lighthouse in the East Harbour Regional Park, accessed from the Wainuiomata Coast Road. As it turned out, we didn’t make it to the lighthouse but instead opted to walk to the river mouth — this to avoid the worst of … More East Harbour Regional Park
And suddenly, it’s Spring. On the calendar at least. And yesterday we had the most brilliant sunny calm day to mark the new season. Warm enough even to have coffee outside. Yesterday also marked the move down the Covid levels to level 3, at least for those parts of the country south of the Auckland … More Heralding Spring
That’s what a week of level 4 lockdown seems like — a week of Sundays. We are now into the second week, with level 4 having been extended till midnight Tuesday. All going well, all the country except Auckland and Northland will then move to Level 3. This won’t, in fact, make a great deal … More A Week of Sundays
Here we are again, in full Level 4 lockdown as a result of a community outbreak of the delta variant of Covid-19. Most of the current 51 cases are in the Auckland region, but there are also, worringly, five in the Wellington region. The good news is that those investigated so far have a genomic … More Retrospectively . . .
No, actually, I’m not referring to the person above. Rather, this blog is a work in progress as I try out different themes. If you are a visitor to this site and you notice tryouts of different themes, I’d love to get your feedback. The current theme is called Cubic, one of the free themes … More A work in progress
So, are we likely to buy a campervan or a house bus? The jury remains out and probably the longer it remains out the less likely it is that we will buy a self-contained live-aboard vehicle. Much as I liked the past six days and enjoyed once again travelling with my bunk in sight (this … More The man in the blue hat #2
Here we are back home after our little jaunt away. An easy ride home over the Remutakas and back to Plimmerton along the northern side of Pauatahanui Inlet. We woke to a bit of fog in Greytown but by the time we’d picked up coffee to go and were heading towards Featherston, the fog had … More Home again
We had something of a social day today, preparation for our reintegration into society back home tomorrow. First M came over the hill to meet us for coffee at the French Bakery followed not long after by K & D for lunch. So, a nice change of pace today and good to catch up with … More Catching up with friends
22 June 2020 We left the lovely Castlepoint this morning. The day started with the promise of sunshine and to begin with the view to the lighthouse was clear. But by late morning, when we headed out, the lighthouse was shrouded in mist. Easy run through to Masterton and, after a quick stop for a … More Moving on
21 June 2020 Here we are, Sunday morning, the shortest day. I know the coldest weather tends to come after the winter solstice but, ever the optimist, I feel buoyed by the thought that from tomorrow on, the days will get longer and nights shorter until, before we know it, it’s the summer solstice. Last … More To the lighthouse
21 June 2020 Well here we are, day three of six living in a campervan. So far it has been better than I expected, and that’s not just the weather. The van is a Mercedes Sprinter. These have been around since the mid-nineties, though I think ours is a second-generation model (2013 on) with the … More The man in the blue hat #1
Saturday 20 June Main event today was our walk along the Deliverance Cove walkway, which goes from the carpark above the cray boats through some pines and along a ridge above the lagoon to the bottom of Castle Rock. From there, you can walk on up the steep bit to the top of the Rock … More Deliverance Cove
19 June, 2020 So here we are again, back in Castlepoint, post-lockdown. We’d spent a night in a cabin here on our trip a few months ago, just before the country went into lockdown. This time we are back in a hire camper van for the night. All went well with the pick up and … More First stop: Castlepoint
Thursday 18 June We’re off again, this time for a short six-day trip in a hired campervan. Timing may be a little off, given the forecast, but we figured we may as well give it a go now rather than waiting till after the school holidays when the weather could be equally as bad or … More Six-day getaway
Woke up this morning in our own bed, and don’t quite know what to do with ourselves. We’ve had a simple routine for the past 13 days: get up, pack up, get on the road. Now there’s all these choices of things to do. Well, it’s not that hard to decide: there’s a pile of … More Day 14: Reflections
And so we are home. We thought we’d be one more night on the road, but L got the call up for a bowls competition tomorrow, so we thought we’d do the trip from New Plymouth to Wellington in a day. But before we left, we took Chaddie’s one-hour tour of the New Plymouth harbour … More Day 13: New Plymouth to Wellington
We’ve made it to the west coast, to New Plymouth, which has a good vibe. The Forgotten World Highway, the route for today’s travel, is a stunner. There are parts where you truly feel you are driving through a forgotten world. Most of the road is sealed, except for the shingle bit in the middle, … More Day 12: Taumarunui to New Plymouth
Today we took the 32km, 3.5 hour rail cart journey along the disused branch railway from Okahukura to Matiere and return. Come along for the journey. The whole journey in the self-drive carts was fantastic. There were about 7 carts plus a lead cart with our guide Jessie and a tail-end charley with staffer Ryan. … More Day 11: Five tunnel tour
Today we drove from the east coast across to Taumaranui, not quite to the west coast yet, but getting there. We started the day on SH 2, on to SH 30 to Rotorua, SH 5 to Wairakei, across the top of Lake Taupo on a secondary road to SH 32 which took us down the … More Day 10: Opotiki to Taumarunui
Not a lot to report as it was basically an R&R day. We started the day in Opotiki with a couple of coffees, both good, the first at a café in the main street, the second from a small coffee cart that a couple of Australians put us on to. We met them, the Aussies, … More Day 9: Day trip to Whakatane
The day started with a detour from Te Araroa to East Cape so we could walk the 800 steps up to the lighthouse, which we did. It got the heart rate pumping somewhat, but with lots of stops to take in the view (even when there wasn’t one), we both managed. And it was worth … More Day 8: Te Araroa to Opotiki
Actually, it was Tatapouri to Te Araroa today, with a detour back to Gisborne to fill up with petrol. So Tatapouri was where we glamped last night, listening to the sea and the wind as we fell asleep. It was great. But noisy, what with the sea and wind. At times it sounded as though … More Day 7: Gisborne to Te Araroa
Two detours on the way to Gisborne today, and both planned I hasten to add. Before heading north on SH2, we did a quick trip to the mouth of the Wairoa River. Not a swimming beach, but good to be on the coast again. Then on to SH2 for a bit before the second detour, … More Day 6: Wairoa to Gisborne and Tatapouri
Taking you on the ride along SH 38 to Lake Waikaremoana.
Today was a day trip to Lake Waikaremoana, about 60 kms from Wairoa, one hour along SH 38, with sealed road for the first half and shingle for the rest. We stopped along the way at Tuai on Lake Whakamarino, location of the Tuai power station. The road passes through farmed flats and hill country, … More Day 5: Lake Waikaremoana
Here we are in a motel in Wairoa watching the Chase, front door and back door open, and the temperature in the very high twenties, if not higher. And very pleasant it is too. The day started with a planned detour (as opposed to an unplanned-loop-back-to-Masterton-where-we-had-started-from-the-day-before) to Clifton, as close as we could get to … More Day 4: Hastings to Clifton to Wairoa
Stunning landscapes and seascapes abound. Went down to the beach this morning to see Cape Turnagain. Then we drove as far as we could along a no exit road through Pipi Bank Station but when it turned into a track a bit too corrugated for our car, we headed back to Herbertville and along another … More Day 3: Herbertville to Hastings
So here’s some more photos from day two, just because.
This morning, after packing up, it was a walk along the beach, up the steps to the Castlepoint lighthouse, on to the lookout, and back along the rocks. Castlepoint is beautiful, with its grey sand beach and rocky headland. It’s a place we hope to come back to. Then it was back on the road. … More Day 2: Castlepoint – Mt Bruce – Herbertville
A random selection of more photos from day one, because I like them. Some were taken from the moving car window (it is a road trip, after all), others at one or other of our frequent stops along the way.
Great first day on our NI road trip, albeit a long one. Didn’t take long until the first stop – coffee at Gasoline Alley Services in Ngaio. And a second stop not long after in Upper Hutt at the Warehouse, to buy jandals for me – well we are going to be using camping ground … More Day 1: Wellington to Cape Palliser to Castlepoint
With a bit of luck, here’s a blog up and running for our forthcoming road trip. More to come … still have to sort out photos. . . this scene setter photo is in fact of the South Island from the SI Road Trip we did a couple or so years back. I’m working on … More Setting up again: North Island road trip
