An early start in the morning we all jumped into the freezing water for a swim. On a mission to do the Blue Pools before it gets too busy. Well we succeed with a beautiful forest walk that made Rowan into a Disney princess. He stopped and a Piwakawaka landed on his finger. We also took a cold dip into blue pools, naked of course. It was to walk back and warm up again.
Onto Wānaka where we op shopped and went to go look at that tree. We saw the carpark full, looked onto the lake and a sea of cameras and people. Germy said, I don’t need another photo of the tree. Jenna barely recognised Wānaka, she was last here 11 years ago. Apart from the lake and puzzling world she struggled.
We left Wānaka and headed to the Lindis Pass the weather was moody and perfect. We ended up in Twizel and we went to the Salmon Farm to grab a few goodies before having some lunch at The Ministry of Works. We headed out to Lake Pukaki and jumped into for a good long swim. Before deciding to head to Herbert.
When we reached Ōmarama I had the idea to go around the lake the way we cycled. We just timed it on a day that the hydro dam was releasing water. It ended up being every dam was releasing water and it was awesome to see.
When we got to Herbert we were pretty tired. Germy loves the place.
Woke up to a bit of rain. The weather is definitely turning. We camped up near the bridge last night after watching the Aurora. We head back to the beach to swim with the dolphins. It is pretty early and they appear to be more interested in eating than playing around us. We still get to watch them which is pretty cool. Today we head out of the West Coast towards Central Otago.
We have a bit of food at Roaring Billy before continuing along the Haast Pass. The weather is very atmospheric.
We go up Wilson’s Creek to look at the canyon. There is so many cars and people here compared to when we came last time when there was no one here. I bet if we come back in a year there will be proper car parks.
We ended up staying on the Makarora River where we have been a few times now. It was a very cold swim and absolutely beautiful.
Another epic day. Rain is coming tomorrow so we are making the most of everyday. An early start with Rowan and Germie new routine of swimming. After that we beelined for Lake Matherson to get some epic photos of Mt Tasman & Mt Cook.
Then off to the viewpoint of the glacier and continuing on to Gillespies Beach. We all had never been there so it was worth the beautiful forest drive to come out at the ocean.
Heading south to find Aotea Stone which comes out of Jacob’s River. There are protections on the river but you can hopefully find it on the beach at Bruce Bay. Well we did find it, I found two pieces of it. One I gave to Germie the first one I kept.
Third swim of the day at Lake Moeraki with some lunch after. Then on to Knights Point lookout and Ship Creek.
Jackson’s Bay our final destination for the day. This photo is pre our swim with the Hector dolphins. A huge high for Germie who hasn’t seen a dolphin in the wild before today.
Here are some attempts of photos.
Then we had a stunning sunset.
Then we had a dancing Aurora. Germie had a day of firsts!
Another beautiful day and an early cold swim for Rowan and Germie. Rowan contacted Willow and Rory who he connected up with on Facebook. They are kaitiaki (guardians) of the Arahura River. They are taking us all onto the river to fossick for Pounamu. There are two other guys with us from Dunedin. They find a nice pale piece of greenstone and Rowan finds the best piece out in the river. They reckon it is a $1,000 piece if you shined up one side.
From our morning excursion we headed to Hokitika. We op shopped of course! Then headed to a couple of the greenstone shops so Germie could get gifts for her family and friends back home. A quick stop at the supermarket before heading to the beach. The day is absolutely stunning and you can clearly see Mt Aoraki (Cook). We have a swim at the beach before heading south.
A must stop at Amethyst Pools. Lucky for us we didn’t need to do any digging as someone else already did that for us. A bit different doing it on a nice day, still enjoyable.
We stayed the night at a spot about 15min north of Franz Josef. There was a small walk down the hill to a refreshing stream which we all jumped into. Another great day finished.
Afternoon pick up of Germie. We got the German safe and sound from the airport and headed out of town.
Lake Lyndon is our first night destination. We all jumped in the lake for a swim, Rowan and Jenna went swimming to the other side while I warmed the place up and made hot drinks. It was super cold. Definitely more winter than summer! Burrr
We are up nice and early, it is super cold and some psycho decides to go swimming. So off Rowan and Germie go back into Lake Lyndon. I am sensible and drink coffee instead. Our first stop is Castle Hill, the weather is pants but a DOC worker tells us it is nice towards the West Coast.
The second excursion is Cave Stream. I have never done it before. Rowan told me later that he has never done it when it is this high. Don’t worry not so high it is dangerous. It was still below where they tell you not to enter and no heavy rain on its way. So off we went, we got down to the entrance when Rowan realised I left one of the torches back at the camper. So he goes back to get it for me. The water is pretty cold but my sharkskin wet suit thing is amazing at keeping me warm. I was a bit panicky at the start but then got into the swing of it. There were two really tricky spots that I failed at getting up the first time. Rowan helped me but I lost my footing and he had to let me go. So I got a good dunk and had to go again. There was another spot where Germie had to put her knee up so I had somewhere to brace my foot, with Rowan’s help I wedged myself through the crevice above the water. It was three bad spots where the water pressure was too much so had to try stay above the water in order to get through. I climbed the ladder at the end and was proud to have made it through. Rowan went up the waterfall, I played photographer. Germie had a lot of fun, she rock climbs so had no problem at all. After we had some lunch and enjoyed a bit of sun to dry off and warm up.
Through Arthur’s Pass and the weather really started improving. The Coast is having a stunning lot of summer. At Serpentine Beach I find a piece of Marsden Jade. After walking the beach we headed to Goldsborough to stay the night. Not a bad first day!
Well what can I tell ya? We have been trucking along. The weather has been making it a bit tough, have lots of exterior jobs to do and it hasn’t been my friend. A bit of a funny story, the two motorbikes Rowan purchased from Jim next door he has actually ended up buying/ swapping back. Now the proud owners of a very nice Royal Enfield Himalayan.
Jim has now paid us for our tree planting services with two huge loads of firewood. Which took some time to stack and put away. We now are well stocked with wood. I knew my hairdressing skills wouldn’t go to waste. Here I am trimming our rainbow flyscreen that was too long.
This beautiful fern has turned up on our pond. It has nearly covered it in its entirety. Now if it turns red it is endemic water fern called Azolla Rubra. If it stays green it’s an Australian one but is considered to have been here a long time and probably came on its own. It is also known as a mosquito fern. It reduces mosquitoes by 95%. As you can imagine Rowan and I are very happy to have it here.
Our ducks have been rowing up nicely so far this year. Rowan and I are off to Christchurch on Monday to get Camele a fresh WOF and to pick up our German Shepherd, aka Jenna, aka Germie from the airport. Germie travelled around with us when we found her stranded in Picton when we were hiking. She has come back over to visit us. So soon you will have a month work of adventures to read about.
We head to Christchurch early in the week to ensure our camper is all serviced and road legal. She passes her WOF and we have a few great days catching up with Rick and Liz. Before we left home I put off a lot of jobs that I didn’t need to do specifically there at home on the back burner. Which meant one of the days was spent getting Camele ready for her road trip.
We had a great bbq with Jo and Paul one night. Catching up on all the latest. Their son is coming to visit soon. He sails around the world for a living on those big super yachts. Rowan and Jo stayed up until 3am debating the world. Paul went to bed at a reasonable time and I wasn’t far behind.
On the Friday night we stayed with Michael. Michael cooked a great roast meal with most of items being grown in his garden. His place is on a small plot of land but he sure does get a lot out of it. It was good to have a proper catch up with him as normally we don’t get a very long time together.
It’s that time of the year again when you reflect on the year. It is so easy to feel like it has gone by so fast and I am definitely guilty of feeling like not a lot happened. I find this post very cathartic. Sure there was a lot of downs but there were huge ups and over all I thinking we did great. So it’s time to appreciate just how far we have come over the last 365 days.
January started with a bang! Rowan and I had an amazing time on the coast with my cousins. It was great to spend some quality time in the first few days of the New Year with Nellie and two of her boys. The hardest part was saying goodbye!
Once we got back into the mainland we got into the swing of things with getting the house frames up. The pond was created in Herbert and we had our 5 year anniversary since we went to Antarctica and celebrated it over zoom with our fellow shipmates.
February, improvements happening at Herbert. It feels like years ago we did this not just earlier this year. Bette is becoming liveable.
Houses get roofs on.
We have some visitors from the north. Nana & Mum come down for a week, we loved having them here. I think it may be time for them to come back for another visit.
March gave us an unforgettable trip to Jackson’s Bay. Swimming with the hector dolphins, wet West Coast weather but plenty of sunshine too. Adventure and relaxing all in one
Bette was finished in time for our visitor from across the ditch. It was great having a space for Rowan’s dad David to stay.
The houses got some cladding. I also got stranded while Rowan head to Australia for a few days to see Bette after her having to fractures in her back ouch! I quite liked the time alone especially the fun day at Macraes Mine.
April, just typical that Jo arrives from Christchurch a couple of days after David leaves. She needs a good clean after evicting those rodent tenants.
Some house progress too!
A quick trip to Auckland to put my grandpas ashes into the earth. It was a great day of celebrating such a special man!
A busy summer with more visitors, Rene & Johanna from Germany.
May, our little houses have become weather tight! We even got to do some very fun Tetris with the insulation. Why waste the off cuts when it can be used on the internal walls on the bathrooms to help with noise pollution.
Rowan was an egg and nearly lost the tip of his finger. I think he just wanted to get some time off work.
June, a quick Jetset to Sydney to see the family.
We came back to a plastered house ready for us to paint. Rowan has skills on the sprayer. The services got connected and the flooring got started.
July was pretty much all work and no play. On the go, a heck of a lot achieved. The house is so close to being finished.
August, we did it. We completed a house! Code compliance signed off and on the market for sale. What a great achievement.
Now a much needed couple of weeks away! Heading to the Wild West.
September, oh our couple of week holiday turns into a couple of months. We forgot we got to go there Whanganui for a glass course and then be in Fiji. I know it is crazy to forget something like that, it’s not that we fully forgot we just lost track of the days and weeks. Luckily we had our passports in Camele and not back in Herbert.
What an amazing experience, if you’re up for something different I can highly recommend glass blowing.
Fiji Baby!
Well Fiji for the weekend. Which we can totally laugh about now but at the time not so much. My Nana decided to get sick which was very rude of her, kick kidding. It did cut the trip short but Fiji will still be there when we are ready to visit again.
October, time to head back south. Lots of visits with family and friends. A bit of sharp shock to come home to the cold including snow! My poor garden and plants are in dire straits, I got to start again with a lot of it. I guess that is what happens when you piss off for two months haha.
November, takes us to Sydney for a couple of weeks. It is great to see the family and just have a change of scenery.
December, the last month. First of all our Christmas/NY plan left when we sold the yacht. We had a plan to head to the sounds. Jim got Rowan to drive the tractor to Herbert. Rowan then used it to mow our field and then Jim’s. Jimmy and I followed on our bikes. Rowan swapped one of his bikes for this near new Royal Enfield Himalaya, which is actually for me to try out. I have only been out of twice but have enjoyed it. Just an adjustment, it is quite different to my little TU. We had an easy breezy Christmas at Silvija and Jim’s. Ate way too much!
After many ideas on what’s our next step we have made the decision to head for the ocean. We will be getting some sails and heading towards the horizon.
Rowan and I would like to wish everyone a great year ahead and we hope the best for you and your whanau! Bring on 2026!
Since I last blogged (yes, I know it has been a month!) we have been getting organised and doing quite a bit of dreaming.
I know we have been saying we will work out what we are doing next when we reach that point, well that point is not here but we made a decision anyway. We are going to do the liveaboard cruising, oceanic nomadic, salty skin drifting with the winds and currents (whichever is stronger) adventure next. That’s right we are buying a yacht and setting sail. There are some ducks to line before the fruit is ripe however that is just life.
I am dreaming about where we will go, the experiences we will have. I can’t wait for this next adventure and I hope you guys will stick around to experience it with us. I want to have the simplicity of waiting for the winds and the right weather. Learn the complexity of sailing. Have my to do list filled with catching the next meal and keeping up with boat maintenance. I want to get into photography more and take some incredible underwater pics. I miss the simplicity of hiking Aotearoa and the freedom that it had. I am lucky that Rowan has an incredible amount of sailing experience and qualifications, I just get to be the rookie and learn the ropes. It may be time to join scouts to learn my knots, haha.
Starting to change our logo, whatcha think?
Clearing out the muck. Well not muck, but loads of stuff. I have made connections with a couple of shops in town who are happy to grab a few things off our hands. Also been utilising the market place to get rid of a few things. The bigger the item it is the more keen I am to get it gone. One place in particular is wanting loads and loves our collection. They want about 20 banana box lots of goodies. There are a couple of places I can get the boxes for it and I am hoping we can organise that soon. It will be great to have a good clear out. It is a shame to have such cool stuff sitting in the container not being used.
The lady who purchased the house we renovated last year took us to the dispute tribunal for misrepresentation. Which obviously we argued we didn’t do. Anyway cut a long story short, just like we expected and heard through friends the tribunal cuts it down the middle. So we have $19k to pay. The most annoying thing about it all was how long it took.
On the to do list is a few tidy up jobs down in Palmerston. Birds have been getting into Brough St via the vent holes, so once they have left the nest I will do a good tidy up in there. Also all those cluster flies that went there for the winter are all over the place so will sort that out too. I have the last coat of paint to do on the exterior. The container needs to be reorganised. Joanne has asked for us to bring her stuff on our next flight to Sydney. So we will start to bring extra luggage for her. There is definitely a bunch of furniture we don’t really want anymore. So if you’re in need of a shop counter or haberdashery let me know.
We are in Sydney for a couple of weeks visiting Joanne and Bette. Bette is doing pretty well, she is really just living in her bedroom. A nurse comes three days a week to shower her and take her vitals. I did manage to kick her out of her room for a full day to do a deep clean. We ended up talking for hours and Rowan watched TV with her.
On a hot tip from our friend Paul we went to Fairfield Pickers Market. A huge place where we found a bargain or two. I picked up some Pokémon cards sealed in a pack for $10 my plan with them was to give them to my niece and nephew who collect. Later on I discovered their worth and sorry kids but $450 Pokémon cards will need to go on trademe. I will find something else. there were lots of interesting things and it was a lively experience.
Rowan’s childhood friend Tynan has opened his bar, three years in the making. It is doing extremely well and it was plenty of awards already. So if you’re into Whiskey, (he has a large range including vintage collectables) or just love a bloody good cocktail go to Silvers Motel in Enmore. It is a bit of a hidden gem with no signage out the front. We tried four cocktails, once had cacao nibs, another had burnt mandarin, two were sours that had unusual items like marigold flowers and poached quince.
We did quite a few different things this time in Sydney. Joanne and I went to the Opera House and saw Sleeping Beauty Ballet. Joanne has season tickets and I was great fun to come along and see a show. For the many times I have been in Sydney I have never seen a show at the Opera House. The stage, costumes and props were fantastic. Of course the dancing was too. It was great, I really enjoyed it.
All three of us went to see Tim Minchin who started the show with a hilarious song to get us all to turn our phones off. Rowan and I had just been discussing how many people we could see on their phones and how much we rely on them.
Random side note, very interesting article here that Joanne sent me. Scary predictions like students are destined to spend an average 25 years of their waking life their phone eek!
Any way back to Tim, he was entertaining, funny and showed off his great skills with a piano. It was a great evening.
The three of us spent a fun morning at the Museum. I didn’t take many photos sorry but loved seeing in the Australian Geographic Photographic Awards with our friend Marley Butler winner of the Astrophotographer category up on the wall. We met Marley and Catherine in Tapawera when we first transitioned from foot to bike. They had just done the same! He took an amazing photo with the Aurora and Western Arthurs in Tasmania.
Rowan and I went down the road in Aussie terms but a bloody long way in NZ terms. We set off on a roadie to Coffs Harbour 6ish hours north. We did it in a day with an early start. I baked a cake and we headed to Dean (Rowans school friend) he just had is 40th Birthday and we couldn’t make it to the party however we made it the next day. It was a surpise and it was great to see him and his family. We also did a quick drop in on his Aunty and Uncle while there too. Unfortunately we couldn’t meet up with Heather and Katie on our way back in Dungog. Next time! Quite a long day, we started at 4am, left Coffs at 3pm and got back at 9pm.
Rowan’s cousin Justin has joined the Navy and is posted out in Mosman while he trains to be a diver. We got a chance to hang out a couple of times and we had a good snorkel out at La Perouse. We saw a lot of different fish and Rowan mistook a catfish for a sand shark. It promptly put a spine in him while he tried to get it out of its hiding spot. Silly sausage!
We went out for lunch at Maroubra right on the beach and our waiter Steven is an Ōamaruvian. He went to Waitaki Boys and said he has been here for 15 years and has only met one other since being here haha. He says Hi to our neighbour who we call Mr Organ, his name is Ron and he tunes and repairs organs. What a small world!
Our flight home is a late one with an arrival of 1.30am. It is making me tired thinking about it. I hope our motorbike helmets haven’t been stolen.
Kia ora whanau, sorry I have been MIA for over a month. I am uninspired to write to you about the mundanity of life. No one cares about us mowing lawns haha.
Let’s fill in the gaps a little… First of all my Nan is doing really well, they are even letting her drive again. The Mrs Independent woman that she is. We are all glad to see her bounce back like nothing happened. Rowan and I had fun traveling home, visiting serval people along the way. We did get to do fishing with my cousin and her boys. Had a week with my mum in Papamoa. A night with my little sister and her family. Another stop in Picton to see the Oliver’s. A longer stop in Nelson to see Kelvin and Co. Before ending up in Christchurch catching up with friends.
Firstly we stayed with the wonderful Rick & Liz, we had a charity quiz event. It was rather good, maybe I am bias as we came second! I got a petrol voucher out of the raffle and Liz ended up with some prizes too. On our walk with Nellie we went to a part of Bottle Lake Forest I haven’t been before. It is an old dump that has been turned into park. Well the views up there are spectacular. You can see the city, Port Hills and all along the ocean.
While in Christchurch we caught up with cousin Leeana and her husband Mayank. We haven’t seen them since new years at the marae in Tikitiki. I think we need to repeat this at some point, Rowan still talks about it. We also got to catch up with Paul & Jo, we stayed with them two nights. Rowan and Jo had some fun debating politics. For me it was like watching a tennis match. Paul showed us how his fantastic hidden gem of a shop is. Shout out to Flipside in Christchurch, if you want a record, or you just want to look at cool stuff check it out! A little background, we met Jo & Paul back in 2017 at a garage sale we put on. I had it up on Facebook and I got a random message from this guy Paul telling me he is coming to take a look and what kind of coffee I like. So I cheekily gave our coffee order and didn’t give it another thought. A few days later Jo & Paul turn up with coffee and donuts to our garage sale. We became friends and the rest is history. It was great to have a good catch up with them.
We found a gap in the crazy windy weather and made it down to Herbert in Camele. Camele was not terrible in the wind but I was very glad to not be in it as the day before and the day after were really bad. We did get snow here which was pretty amazing even though it was slushy more than fluffy. The last week has been pretty busy with getting ducks in rows. The garden needs attention, but I promised not to talk about mowing. The house has yet to sell, from everything we are hearing it has just gotten really quiet out there.
We did take a few nights away and came back on Saturday, we just went to Dunedin then inland through Waipori Falls and central and back. Didn’t take any photos sorry!
My generous mother has shouted all of us four girls and their families for a week in Fiji. That’s 8 adults and 5 kids. We are all really excited and it is great to have a week away together.
An early start for an early flight. We arrive in Nadi, Fiji at 11am. It takes a while to get bags, car all sorted and we go off to get some lunch. it wasn’t great but I think we are grateful that we are fed especially all the kids.
We go off and do a food shop before heading to our Airbnb. It is a whole house with a pool, close to a mangrove estuary in Nadi. The house easily fits us all in. There is even two kitchens, which we only utilise one of but it is handy having an extra fridge and lots of plates and cups.
The kids are straight into the pool. I join in too and it is rather busy keeping an eye on them all. I am pleased with the temperature it isn’t too hot. Sitting at 29 degrees and dropping to 20 at night.
The next morning we get an addition to our group. Keelans (Sarah’s husband) father arrives from America. It is a good surprise for the two kids. He is with us for the week.
A few of us head off to the local markets to get some fresh goodies. Rowan wants to cook a meal with all the stuff you can’t get back in NZ. The markets are huge and we spend hours getting lots of goodies. We end up splitting up so there is a lot of double ups but I am sure we will make our way through it. We got some more exotic fruits like soursop and star fruit. The pineapples are unreal, extremely sweet and tasty. It puts our fruit back home to shame. Rowan grabs enough food for us all for the next two days as a lot of things are closed on a Sunday.
We actually ended up going to the market twice today. I tried to capture the fruit bats, but they were flying too fast for me. There are heaps of cane toads about. The kids are loving seeing all the frogs and bats. We are keeping on top of the bug spray as there has been an increase of dengue and malaria in NZ from people coming back from the islands.
I noticed smoke earlier and assumed someone was having a fire and thought nothing of it. About half an hour later the Airbnb hosts came by to replace a gas cylinder and I went upstairs and I could see the flames from the balcony. I got everyone to come up and take a look. Rowan switched into gear and got us all to grab our passports just in case we need to evacuate. The fire is a bit close to comfort. Rowan and I end up going for a walk to see what is happening. The fire truck is here but they do not appear to be concerned at all. They are just keeping an eye on it and will only put it out if they need to. It is sugar cane fields that are on fire. It is normal practice to set them alight before harvesting. But unlike Australia where there are fire breaks there is no such thing here. We were all relieved when we saw the fire going in a different direction.
Lazy Sunday. No real plans today, we just hang around the accomodation. Kids are living in the pool. Rowan, Keelan, Fletcher, Lucian and I go out to try fishing. We end up under a bridge near a gated community a short walk away. We are there an hour when security shows up and tells us we are not allowed to fish here. In that time Keelan catches a large Barramundi. They tell us where we can go fishing, so we head that way. It wasn’t an issue at all, they were apologetic and so were we. We ended up fishing with a couple of local kids who we taught how to use a fishing rod. I think they thought we were a bit silly as Lucian got his lure stuck on a boat and they went swimming to unhook it for him.
Our evening changes from easy going happy times to worry. Nana is in the north shore hospital having tests done and mum gets a phone call to say she needs an operation now. There wasn’t really a choice, one was palliative care for a few days or the surgery. Yes the surgery does come with risks especially being 94. It is a huge shock and it was rather nice that us girls were all together when hearing about it. Trying to get our heads around it was impossible when just a few days ago she looked great. The surgeon waited while Nana made a quick decision to go ahead. They operated on her bowl as there was an intrusion that needed to be removed and there was uncertainty that could only be known once they had opened her up. Luckily it was a quick 30min operation that went very well and was better than what was feared. Mum decided she wanted to go home and be there, Rowan and I decided to go back too. I wanted to be there to support mum as well as Nana. My aunties have husbands while my mum doesn’t have that support.
We left the rest of the family to carry on with their holiday while we jumped on a plane Monday morning. We arrived in the hospital midday to see her bright eyed, no bushy tail yet. I couldn’t help but worry this is exactly what happened to grandpa, he came out good, got pneumonia and passed away. Wanting the nurses and doctors to keep a good eye on her and they did. They really kept a look out for infections and a close look on her lungs as she still had build up from pneumonia and already been on two lots of antibiotics for it.
Like taking a pet to the vet, Nana bounced back in true fashion and was out of the hospital after just four days. What a rock star! There is a bit more recovery to go and my mum and her sisters are putting things in place to make sure she is looked after.
Mums cousin Clinton took us out on his beautiful yacht for a few hours on Friday. We all had a great time and I think Clinton loved having an excuse not to go to work.
On Saturday morning we had a catch up with the rest of the Fiji crew to hear about the rest of the trip. I avoided looking at all the photos the last few days as it was hard not to be there. But I am really happy they had a great trip and I don’t regret coming back with mum.
Nana has been at my aunty’s house in Okura for a few nights while all the extended out of town family is in her home. With 7 kids, including three babies and 6 adults it wasn’t a full house but it is a lot when you’re in recovery.
We have been taking a few kids on our early morning walks.
I had a chance to see my bestie Sarah and her two kids at her place. It was great to see her, the kind of friend where it could be days or years since you caught up and it doesn’t matter.
Rowan and I also had a chance to catch up with his cousin Lynne who is out in Stillwater. We ended up having a great dinner and staying the night.
Sunday, Nana is on her way home and we head out of Auckland to spend some more time with family in Cambridge. The boys want Rowan to take them fishing!
Kiwi Hobos 