June 2 Kia Ora. Our plane home from NZ did not divert to Siberia nor did we decide to go for an impromptu side trip to Tahiti, much to Mitch’s disappointment. Our reason for the delay in sending this last blog is we’ve simply been sucked back into our humdrum, ordinary American lives. We’ve been …
May 22 That’s Māori for Goodbye. We drove to the airport and the weather seemed fine. Not too windy, but it was raining. We checked in and Air NZ put us on an earlier flight to Auckland just in case. The flight from Wellington was great. No issues. The views were beautiful as we flew …
May 21 As American Pulitzer Prize winning scientist, historian, and author Jared Diamond said, this place is other worldly! We have felt what he observed many times over throughout our time in this great country. Today, we spent the morning at Te Papa. What an extraordinary museum, this “container of treasures” (Māori translation). Located steps …
May 20 Sooooo our great dinner last night left both of us not feeling so great today. I think all the fried food finally caught up with us. That didn’t stop Mitch from ticking another Wellington coffee shop off our list. This place was one of our favorites of the trip. Swimsuit coffee was a …
May 19 It was a bit of a transition, being back in a big city after spending so much time in quiet, small towns these past few months. Peoples Coffee was our first stop of the day. From there we strolled around the Sunday market on the waterfront. It was a good weather day (no …
May 18 Jenny delivered an outstanding breakfast of homemade crepes with warm apple compote, coconut yogurt and raspberry jam. The apples came from the orchard on her property. We packed up, loaded the car and headed to Whanganui’s Saturday market where we grabbed coffee and a too sweet French macaron from one of the vendors. …
May 17 Happy USA Birthday Mitch! One of the best things about being a day ahead is that you get to celebrate the great things twice. Those in the States celebrating Mitch’s real bday started texting and calling when we woke up. So today was the second day celebrating his birthday. We had a great …
May 16 Happy NZ Birthday Mitch! 🎂 Lucky for him, he’ll receive celebratory wishes on his NZ birthday today AND his American one tomorrow! It’s time to celebrate with a three-hour drive to the West Coast. We hadn’t planned on spending three hours in the car today, on Mitch’s birthday of all days. Since we …
May 15 The 6:07 a.m. train was right on time this morning. Chugga chugga boo hoo. It was a beautiful fall day and the leaves have changed. Many are gone or starting to fall off the trees with some trees still showing their fall colors. The drive was a pretty one. We seem to say …
May 14 6:07 a.m. That was the time the first train rumbled behind the apartment. At least that train didn’t blow its horn. Lookin’ at you with the stink eye, 7:03. Can you imagine being woken up by that every morning? This apartment is only for people who say they can sleep through anything. Jake! …
May 13 We walked outside to put our luggage in the car and saw the Tongaririo Crossing shrouded in clouds. Boy were we lucky! We checked the forecast and it’s calling for rain. Time to hit the road Jack. We caught some nice photos on the drive out of the national park. The clouds were …
May 12 Happy Mother’s Day! Mitch gifted me a 12.5 mile hike over a few volcanos. It’s a pretty scorching hot gift! 🤔 Apparently, while we were sound asleep trying to rest before the big hike, this solar storm was going on outside. We were getting messages from friends back home to see if we …
May 11 A lemon friand from Industrie French Kitchen was an excellent start to the day. Aratiatia Rapids dam release was our next destination and we needed to arrive at a certain time. Eighty thousand liters of water are released three times a day (four in the summer months) from the Aratiatia Dam, creating a …
May 10 With the car all packed up, we headed to Lake Taupo with a side trip to Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, a place of stunning thermal activity. It was other worldly, a similar thing we’ve felt about so many other places in NZ. This steamy spectacular showcase was an artist’s palette of color and unique …
May 9 How many showers does it take to stop smelling like a rotten egg? I’m on my third and the smell from the thermal bath yesterday is just beginning to fade. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. Despite the beautiful sunny day, today was really windy. We wanted to do the forest loop …
May 8 The weather definitely feels like fall. Crisp air, fallen leaves and bright blue skies. I’m so lucky to experience my favorite season twice in one year! We went back to the Redwoods Treewalk to get a daytime view of the forest. Our birds-eye perspective of the forest floor and treetops above was peaceful …
May 7 We did not sleep well. Apart from the uncleanliness, I couldn’t put my finger on what was bugging me about the house. It was just a feeling. We called Airbnb and told them we wanted to check out. They contacted the owner who said they would send the cleaners back over. We thought …
May 6 Lucinda stood outside and waved goodbye to us this morning. We had a wonderful visit with her and Michael. Meeting people as kind and hospitable as they are has been a definite highlight of the trip. An excellent açaí bowl and coffee from Soul Boul in Hamilton started our day. We got some …
May 5 The gateway to the Central North Island, Hamilton, is called Kirikiriroa in Maori, and is NZ’s largest inland city, straddling the Waikato River. Kirikiriroa means long stretch of gravel and refers to the area on the west bank of the Waikato River, which was home to several Māori villages, including Kirikiriroa, Te Parapara, Pukete, …
May 4 Travelers we met in the South Island highly recommended the Spellbound Glowworm and Cave tour in Waitomo. We originally planned to do the more popular tour of caves in the center of town, but they swayed our opinion to make a change, so we pivoted. We chose the Explorer tour, which visited a …
May 3 That’s the Māori translation for Mount Maunganui, our current location. To the locals it’s called The Mount, and to the Māori people, Mauao. No matter the name, it’s a dormant volcano cone that is very sacred to the local Māori tribe and prominently features in local mythology. The hike to the summit of …
May 2 It was a go for our Ocean Leopard boat tour today. The swells died down overnight, so the seas were favorable for our two-hour trip. We’re fortunate that we have the flexibility in our itinerary to push the tour to today. We departed the Whitianga Wharf and entered the marine reserve to start …
May 1 We received a text early this morning that our boat tour to Cathedral Cove was cancelled due to 8 ft swells. We rescheduled it for tomorrow. Not having a back up plan, we had a leisurely start to the day. We decided to head towards the town of Tairua (“two tides”) about 30 …
April 30 The sun poked through the clouds this morning so we grabbed our stuff and headed to the beach. We were the only people at Cooks Beach on this quiet Tuesday morning. James Cook landed here in 1769 and set up his instruments to observe the transit of Mercury (when the planet Mercury crosses …
April 28 While some might think the above Andy Williams lyric refers to the holiday season, for us it’s the return of Harmony, our motorhome, to Wilderness HQ. Buh-bye! While it wasn’t a horrible experience, overall we were pretty disappointed with our Fiat Bürstner. If IKEA built motorhomes, Harmony would win first prize. So many …
April 27 Mitch started singing this song in the luxurious RV shower last night and we can’t get it out of our heads as we get ready to celebrate returning our massive motorhome to Wilderness Motorhomes. Their slogan is “Leave the Ordinary Behind.” I guess we just prefer the ordinary. We left Omapere early this …
April 26 This morning we drove to Opononi and Omapere, two towns on the west coast along Hotianga Harbor. We took the short walk to Arai te Uru, the south headland of Hokianga Harbor, where legend has it Kupe first discovered NZ. Also known as the birthplace of the nation, some signatures of the Waitangi …
April 25 We walked down to Taupo Bay Beach in the morning and from the beach, we spoke with Zachary and Jake, who are traveling through Europe together. They’re having a great time. We miss them! It was a quiet day in NZ as the country celebrated Anzac Day, a national holiday in remembrance of …
April 24 We woke up and went for a walk along the boardwalk in Mangonui. There was an awesome reflection of the sky off the bay, so we quickly captured a few shots. We stopped for breakfast at Jesse’s Cafe, walked back to the RV and drove up the road five minutes to the most …
April 23 We booked a tour out to Cape Reinga at the top of NZ to avoid the six hour return drive in the RV. We thought it would be a safer bet and more enjoyable for both of us to experience the scenic drive up to the Cape. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out as …
April 22 Today was our Fullers Hole in the Rock boat tour around the Bay of Islands. The seas were calm after a windy night so it made for a pleasant journey. There are 144 islands in the Bay of Islands, known as the “winterless North” due to its mild winters. In 2006, the Bay …
April 21 We took the 10 a.m. ten minute ferry across the bay to the town of Paihia. Our activity for the day was a visit to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, NZ’s most important historic site, where the British and Māori people came together under the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. It’s considered the birthplace …
April 20 We awoke to 30 mph wind and pouring rain pounding on the roof of the RV. It’s very comforting to be snuggled up in bed, listening to the rain right on top of you. We continue to be impressed with another accurate NZ forecast. We had a lunch reservation at Sage at Paroa …
April 19 Good news! No one knocked on our door last night, so we had an uninterrupted night sleep at Woolleys Bay. And there was no ticket on our window. 🙌 This morning we walked through the bush from Matapouri to Whale Bay. It was an easy 2.5 mile round trip hike with stunning views …
April 18 Bandit called today and told us he missed his mom and dad! He looks so sad. We told him we’ll be home soon. Another four weeks to go! I can’t believe we’ve been here for over 3 months. Wow time flies! We woke up a bit late today but still had a wonderful …
April 17 Happy Birthday Zachary! We hope you are having a great celebration in Amsterdam! We woke up early to get everything locked down and topped up in the RV before our 9 a.m. tour. This included putting everything away that might fall off a shelf when driving, dumping the grey (sink) water, dumping the …
April 16 Whangarei (pronounced Fuhng•uh•ray) is the gateway city to the Bay of Islands, our next stop. The rugby team was quiet at 10 p.m. and for the rest of the night. Shortly after we woke up but before we were dressed, we heard the team chanting a haka, which is an ancient ceremonial Māori …
April 15 We had a great first night sleep in our motorhome. It was comfortable and super quiet at the campsite. We awoke to lots of birds, some new ones again for us that we haven’t yet seen. We got a late check out from the park and had a slow start to the day. …
April 14 Today we began our 15-day journey driving around Northlands on the North Island in a motorhome. We wanted to get a taste of this very iconic Kiwi experience and also get a chance to finally unpack our stuff for a while so we don’t have to move every few days. In the Uber …
April 13 Saturday mornings are busy at the Parnell Farmers’ Market. It’s a good place to arrive hungry, which we did. After browsing the food stalls, we each settled on a gozleme, a stuffed Turkish pancake. To follow up with something sweet, I went for a mini Portuguese tart, one of my favorites. We got …
April 12 The storm in the South unkindly made its way to the North Island and dumped rain and lashing winds overnight. It sounded like that night in the Milford Sound Lodge with the wind whipping around the apartment and rain pounding the roof. We awoke to downed trees and tree limbs on the driveway. …
April 11 We managed to leave the South Island just before a major storm hit, dumping copious amounts of rain and clocking in 50 mph winds. Okārito completely flooded, where we had stayed four nights. And that road we drove several times between Fox Glacier and the town of Franz Joseph — completely under water. …
April 10 We awoke to still no power. No electricity and no water. We brushed our teeth with kettle water and ventured outside to chat with our host Gaye to get the update on the power failure. She said Vector, our Xcel equivalent, was continuing to work on the fault and that power should be …
April 9 Up early, we went to Bobby Franks one last time for breakfast before we headed to the airport for our flight to Auckland. The Nelson airport is teeny tiny. I like teeny tiny airports because they are no fuss and usually not crowded. An interesting thing happened in the Nelson airport after we …
