We were warned not to eat or drink too much alcohol at altitude as the digestion works that much more slowly. Pisco Sour is certainly in the latter category, around 2am I woke with hangover/headache. A couple of aspirin later I went back to sleep and slept until 7.30am. Luckily, I only had the one… Continue Reading

Our journey to Terminal 2 Heathrow went without a hitch. The M1 and M25 were fairly quiet, probably do to it being a Bank Holiday sunday and that we left Harborough at 1pm. Remarkably we only saw two caravans and hardly any lorries all the way to London. We parked the car in a new… Continue Reading

Since Jamie and I returned from New Zealand the family have met up quite a few times. Charlotte was first to call in to choose which of the two (near) identical Kiwi necklaces I had brought back she was going to have. Sarah, (Lee and Mia) came a couple of days later and collected hers.… Continue Reading

It was a particularly stormy and miserable night. The kind that ducks tuck their heads deep under their wings, to escape the unpleasantness. The RV rocked and shook with the increasing gusts of rain-sodden air. Jamie stirred for the third time and pushed open the sliding door of the camper van, home and sanctuary for… Continue Reading

Before we settled down for the night in our mobile nest we took a walk down to the harbour and spent a few minutes watching a couple of Asians catching fish off the dock. The water seemed alive with fish of all sizes and catching them was as easy as ‘fish in a barrel’. The… Continue Reading

Today we were heading further north, up to Waipoua Forest. It is famous for being the location of NZ’s largest living kauri tree, Tane Mahuta, ‘Lord of the Forest’ and we were keen to see what all the fuss was about. It was around 200km away and as we set off early we were parked… Continue Reading

We ate that evening at a take-away outlet called ‘Roast’. We had seen them nearly everywhere but had dismissed them as being a NZ oddity, for local stomachs only. What an experience! A fast food outlet that specialise in roast dinners, beef, chicken, pork or lamb. Take-aways go in a plastic tub of varying sizes… Continue Reading

A visit to Hobbiton was expected to be a highlight of our trip and it didn’t disappoint. It started well when we woke to a clear blue sky and warmth from the sun. We had a noisy but free nights camping. The occasional sound of a passing lorry disturbed my slumber, but I soon dropped… Continue Reading

It rained all night. It was still drumming on the roof when we rose at 8.15am. By the time I had finished breakfast and had a shower it had started to ease off and blue sky could be seen seaward. It was such a shame that we were heading up the coast and away from… Continue Reading

I guess we have been lucky so far, sunny days and hot afternoons are not the norm in New Zealand in the winter. Last night, as we drove towards our campsite on Ohawe Beach we could see Mount Taranaki just a few miles away standing proud of the surrounding landscape with its snow-topped peak glinting… Continue Reading