Well who would have thought it. After multiple trips into the depths of Africa and remote mountain journeys in and above the jungles of South America, I end up getting what has felt like my worst ever ‘travel bug’ here in the civilised, clean and pleasant land of New Zealand!  However, what better place for Read more

Woke up feeling glad that we’d not gone sea kayaking! Then groaned a bit, rolled over and went back to sleep. Had an extra long lie-in before attempting a bit of breakfast. We’ve decided to head further north to ‘the end of the road’ and a climbing area called Paynes Ford, then maybe go for Read more

It was a pretty spectacular drive over the hills to get out of the Marlbrough Region. Eventually the road came right back down to the seaside at Nelson, where we stopped briefly to fill up our water tank. From Nelson, we continued along the coast to Motueka. We stopped for ‘Kafe und Kuchen’ by the Read more

Happy Birthday Pappa Martin!  Given our poor nights sleep, we were quite glad to be having to get an early start today. The morning was quiet (at last!) and fresh. We boarded our water taxi at 7.30am and sped off across the sound. It took over an hour to get round to ‘Ship Cove’ where Read more

The day dawned bright and blue again. The wind had dropped and we were woken by the sound of local surfers turning up for morning session at our campspot – ‘The Meatworks’. This time we were happy to spectate as we had our breakfast. There were some good guys to watch! They were both good Read more

Another day and another dolphin sighting! Well our brief brush with overcast skies seems to have ended. The van was filled with light this morning as we woke and pulled the curtains aside to check the surf. There really are some pretty impressive looking mountains behind us! The Kaikoura Range, I’m told. They seem so Read more