Dutchnouky

Aaaaand we're almost off. I've been looking forward to this trip for what seems like forever! Now that it's finally here I feel surprisingly calm. ? Suitcases are almost packed, trains are booked, and lovely Chris is picking us up tomorrow morning to take us to Geilenkirchen station, for which we are forever grateful. Thought it might be nice to do a blog again, let's see how far we get. Now, how to add photo's.... ?... read more

My last blog for this year! And just in time! After our night in Wanaka we drove to Queenstown to fill Bertha up, and then over Crowne's Pass, which might be the highest pass we've taken this holiday. It was hairpin bends all the way down to Arrowtown. We had a little mosey there(lovely little town but far too crowded, mostly with asian tourists). So onwards to Te Anau! We spent 2 beautiful days in Te Anau, and went on a GORGEOUS boattrip to Doubtful Sound. Which isn't as easy to get to as Milford, by the way. We were collected from our holiday park by bus, driven to Manapouri, to take a ferry across Lake Manapouri, to a small jetty next to a big power station(and nothing else), to then be loaded back on to ... read more

It's been a while! We were either quite busy or nowhere near a halfway decent wifi connection, so I'll do some catching up. The day before our boat crossing we 'roughed' it in Kaitoke Regional Park(roughing it might be a slight exaggeration, our Bertha is well equipped for at least a couple of nights without power, but still. No internet. Gasp.). The park was amazing, we did a nice walk there, and went to see the Rivendell site, which was unrecognisable but non the less very cool to see, especially for a LotR geek like me. :) Staying in the park was fun, the campsite was absolutely gorgeous. We were there on the Saturday that all the local kids started their holidays, so there were groups of drunk-ish and loud-ish youngsters(I sound like an old fart!!) ... read more

Just a quicky: On Sunday we drove from the west coast of Northland past Auckland to the west side of the Firth of Thames. A lot of kilometers, but mostly easy driving as the roads were flat and wide. We spent the night at a campsite in Orere Point, and it was really lovely. Hedges in between the sites, hardly anyone there(which isn't always a good thing but in this case it was), lots of gorgeous trees and birdsong everywhere, and a beautiful beach about 5 minutes down the road. Monday we drove all around the Firth of Thames, up and across the Coromandel. When you leave early in the morning there's not much traffic around, only the odd motorhome. When you pass them going in the other direction they usually wave at you, which makes ... read more

We made it! After the stepmother of all journeys we finally made it to New Zealand. 11 hours from Amsterdam to Hong Kong, 6 hour stopover, another 11 hours from Hong Kong to Auckland. It was long and uncomfortable and tedious and loooong. But so worth it! We arrived in Auckland on Monday morning, and had 3 days to acclimatise here. The first day was mostly spent walking around like zombies and trying not to fall asleep on park benches. Needless to say we went to bed early and slept like logs. The second day we walked to Auckland museum via Parnell(lovely, quaint little area with artistic people and artistic shops). Auckland museum was pretty impressive, from the Maori exhibit to the Maori cultural performance(I saw a haka being performed live!!!, didn't think I would get ... read more