Annemarie has been an excellent tour guide, figuring out logistics for our travels and fun places to check out. After she made us both eggs and toast for breakfast we caught the bus to Stoke where we had a tour of Pic’s Peanut Butter factory. Annemarie made peanut butter by riding a bike and we…

Today Annemarie and I got to experience some of the Abel Tasman track! The Abel Tasman is one of the Great Walks of New Zealand, and a backpacking trip I have wanted to do for decades. It’s a 4 day trip and I only got to hike 2 hours of it, but it was wonderful!…

It was an early start to Boxing Day for us. Annemarie’s friend, Taz, picked us up at 5am and dropped us off at the Interislander ferry for the first leg of our trip to the South Island. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for a ferry ride – no wind or clouds, which is amazing…

Meri kirihimete! (Merry Christmas in te reo Māori) I’m sitting in Annemarie’s backyard with the sun on my back, listening to Bob Marley singing No Woman No Cry while her flatmate, Rewi, gathers plums for a crumble he is making for dessert tonight. The flat cat, Beanie, keeps coming over for cuddles. Not a bad way to…

Today is Christmas Eve! I had a lazy morning, my main effort involved walking to Shelly Bay Baker to pick up a load of seeded sourdough to have with our Christmas dinner (I may have also bought a couple of cinnamon rolls…) After that I took it easy, hanging out with Rita and packing up…

I discovered that Rita is a very early riser, at 5:30 this morning she was meowing next to the bed wanting to have a treat. Luckily, I knew this was a possibility so I got her the treat and went back to bed for a bit. I hung my clothes up to dry, first time…

Today was my last day in National Park, and I was lucky enough to be up early and enjoy a gorgeous dawn. There was the tiniest sliver of moon visible when the clouds cleared briefly. On my walk to the coffee cart I heard a helicopter flying back-and-forth, I wondered it was some kind of…

Today was the second summer solstice I’ve had this year. Since I’m in the southern hemisphere the seasons are reversed and today is the longest day. I think I could definitely get used to this! This morning I took the local shuttle to Whakapapa Village to do some hiking. My first stop was to the…

I started the day watching a beautiful sunrise from the comfort of my hotel room. Today I hiked the Tupapakurua Falls Trail. On my walk to the trailhead, I passed the National Park volunteer fire brigade station where there was a large sign thanking the employers of the volunteer firefighters – nice!  The trail started…

I started the day with a final walk around the Orakei Basin near Courtney‘s house, this time early in the morning as the sun was rising. It is such a wonderful neighborhood, and I even found a free little library there! David dropped me off at the train station for the next leg of my…