Category: 2017 New Zealand

Two firsts: 4 weeks exploring New Zealand and in a camper van, to boot.

Plunging Mercury

Today we left Queenstown to head east across country to Moeraki. Where? Moeraki as in the Moeraki Boulders. The Moeraki Boulders are large, marble-like lumps of rock on a beach, much beloved of landscape photographers and are one of Francine’s

Posted in 2017 New Zealand, 2017 The Antipodes

Stable Doors

We are spending two nights in our sardine can of a campsite near Queenstown. Francine was interested to see Arrowtown, another old gold mining town which is only about 20kms away. In fact, it used to be where the Top

Posted in 2017 New Zealand, 2017 The Antipodes

Carry on Glamping

After early morning on board the Milford Mariner, we disembarked to retrieve Busby from his overnight car park. (Actually, it was a coach park so his personal space was accordingly larger.) We headed back along the road towards first, Te

Posted in 2017 New Zealand, 2017 The Antipodes

Milford Sound Overnight Cruise

Our Milford Sound overnight cruise was one from Francine’s bucket list. She’d booked it back in February. At 16:00, our check-in time, the nice folks opened up the bus parking area (the buses now had departed) for overnighters car parking.

Posted in 2017 New Zealand, 2017 The Antipodes

Off to Milford Sound

And so we approach the main event. Francine booked our overnight cruise aboard the Milford Mariner on Milford Sound way back in February; some dates were full even then. The cruise was tonight. Today we made our way from Te

Posted in 2017 New Zealand, 2017 The Antipodes

A Famous Tree

Our Wanaka Top 10 campsite left a little to be desired – all soap dispensers in the washrooms empty, for example – but it was quite well situated as we left to visit the shores of Lake Wanaka itself. We

Posted in 2017 New Zealand, 2017 The Antipodes

Constant ‘Copters

Franz Josef Glacier Township must be one of the noisiest places on the planet. Living under the flight path of Heathrow is mere drone compared to Franz Josef. We awoke to a beautifully clear morning, the campsite being overlooked by

Posted in 2017 New Zealand, 2017 The Antipodes

West Coast Drive

Today we planned to drive down the west coast road from Carters Beach (nr. Westport) to Franz Josef Glacier Township. There was an initially threateningly black cloud bank above us but this cleared to sunny intervals as the morning progressed.

Posted in 2017 New Zealand, 2017 The Antipodes

Cape Foulwind

‘T was time to move on. Three nights in one place on a touring holiday? Ridiculous. We had to make tracks towards a reservation for an overnight cruise in Milford Sound boarding the coming Monday afternoon. To do that, we’d

Posted in 2017 New Zealand, 2017 The Antipodes

Kaiteriteri on Foot

My crossed fingers didn’t work; the morning dawned just as grey as yesterday’s evening. “Bother!”, said Pooh, crossly. We’re at this campsite for two nights to give us time to say hello to an old acquaintance from Australia 16 years

Posted in 2017 New Zealand, 2017 The Antipodes