Suzanne Walmsley

Kruizing Kiwiz

Suzanne Walmsley

4 August, 2012 - Peter and Suzanne, being of the Baby Boomers generation, are now setting forth on the next travel phase of our lives. We met many years ago in Cape Town, South Africa, Suzanne from Oldham in England and Peter from Cambridge in New Zealand, on an overland expedition taking six months to get to London. A year later we then journeyed from London to Australia overland taking 10 months. We settled in Rotorua, New Zealand, had 3 great kids who are now doing their own thing and it is now, excitingly, time for us to recommence where we left off. We have, with much trepidation on my part, given up our steady jobs and are now looking forward to exploring the vast Australian continent at our leisure with no time frame in mind! Our first port of call will be Sydney where we will pick up our recently purchased motorhome to commence this huge circumnavigation. This will be our home on wheels for the next two years and our only mode of transport, apart from 2 bikes that we intend to purchase, plus maybe a kayak. All going to plan we will detour to Asia from Darwin and then to Europe from Perth for a few months. We hope to keep everyone suitably intrigued and curious as we venture out on our travels and look forward to your comments!



Europe » United Kingdom » England » Wiltshire » Amesbury September 7th 2023

Faversham was a brilliant place to catsit as we were close to many villages to explore on foot and luckily for us all had old historic pubs for us to quench our thirst at the end of the trail! We are now settled in our last catsit in Amesbury just north of Salisbury and within walking distance of Stonehenge. We have been there previously but will go again before we leave as the site just has this amazing feeling of mystery and intrigue. At the moment the UK is having yet another mini heatwave and far too hot to walk out in the midday sun! We played lawn bowls at the local club today and it was stopped at 12.30pm because of the heat. It reminds me of when we lived in Darwin! Rugby World cup ... read more
Replica Sarsen stone actual size
Woodhenge.
Winchester city

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Kent » Faversham August 23rd 2023

Back to reality now as we no longer have our rooms cleaned daily and served breakfast, lunch and dinner (plus afternoon tea). We truly had a ball on board ship and made friends with some wonderful people from Canada, Australia and even New Zealand! After Germany, we had stops in Vienna in Austria, Bratislavia in Slovakia and finally Budapest in Hungary. All had very interesting guides to escort groups of us around and a great way to gain local knowledge of the area and country. In Bratislavia we were taken to family homes to talk to them (via our translator/guide) and offered wine, coffee, tea and cake and the experience was really enjoyed by all. Prague, we had been told by many, is a beautiful city and it certainly didn't disappoint. Our next stop was Heidelberg, ... read more
IMG_20230823_190324
Budapest by night!
Budapest by night 2

Europe » Germany » Bavaria » Passau August 6th 2023

Rennes, the capitol city of the Brittany region of France was an amazing place to visit. We did a walking tour to its main areas of interest, winding through the old cobbled streets and it's half timbered mediaeval houses. We were fortunate to be there on Saturday when their huge farmers market, one of France's biggest, was on and what a display! The stalls were bursting with so many kinds of meat, cheeses, breads and seafood! We sampled the local speciality which is a sausage with cheese and onion wrapped in a buckwheat pancake and cooked in front of you. Delicious! During our walk, however, we were approached by beggars at least five times and all of them looked fit and healthy to us. We are just not used to it in NZ. There are literally ... read more
French castle. Very impressive!
Beautiful German village
Carafe of Rosë and a German beer!

Europe » France » Brittany July 11th 2023

Banbury was a great place as a base to explore so many quaint and historic Cotswold villages with everyday taking us in a different direction. We have been very lucky too with the English weather as we have enjoyed some beautiful sunny days. Our next cat sit was in Chippenham near Bath, another pretty historical town with lots of golden honey coloured buildings close to the River Avon. Again there are many more villages and houses to explore. One manor has had lots of filming taken place there such as "The other Boleyn girl" and Wolf Hall, neither of which I have seen yet. Castle Combe village just 3 miles from us claims to be the most beautiful village in Britain and again used for productions such as Downton Abbey and Wolf Hall. After flying to ... read more
Lady Godiva
Typical country road in the Cotswolds
Coffee in the church grounds courtesy CWA!

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Oxfordshire » Banbury June 23rd 2023

It was so great to see my brother and sister in law on arrival in the UK! Also my other family members plus my good old friend from my high school days. What a reunion. Pete and I had an absolute ball and definitely drank and ate too much but who cares! The weather to date has been brilliant so all going well so far. Our hire car is great and we have been cruising around the country from Manchester to Mablethorpe to Banbury. Mablethorpe is like a mini Blackpool with it's funfair, sandy beach and bingo and brought back childhood memories of my family holidays as a child! Banbury is a historic town in Oxfordshire with a canal with many narrow boats cruising through the centre. There are also heaps of little villages dotted around ... read more
Nearby village pub
White lady on a white horse. Banbury!
Petersborough Cathedral

Europe » Iceland June 6th 2023

Toronto is a lovely city and people so friendly. We went up the CN tower to the observation deck to see the amazing views. Today we took the train to Niagara Falls but the got stuck in a 2 hour traffic jam on a bus attempting to get back.😐. The falls were very impressive from the Canadian side as we could see both the horseshoe falls and the American ones quite clearly. Hundreds of tourists there but still worthwhile. Weather has beeb great so we took a ferry over to Toronto Island and walked right to the other end to get another ferry back. We happened upon a "clothing optional beach" and saw more than I wanted to see! We then moved out of Toronto to another Airbnb where the Canadian hosts were so welcoming that ... read more
View from the CN Tower
View from Toronto Island
Horseshoe Falls, Canada

North America » United States » New York » New York » Brooklyn May 30th 2023

Washington D.C. is such an interesting city as there is so much to see and do. Naturally we saw the White House, the Washington monument, the Lincoln memorial. The US Capital, the very moving Arlington Cemetery and several of the Smithsonian museums. Being Memorial Day we watched their huge parade with many, many high schools from all around the US marching with their brass bands, drummers and flag twirling girls and guys. Pity it rained but it didn't deter the thousands lining the streets as Americans are very patriotic with everyone waving their flags. We had a wonderful time staying at a friend of a friend,'s home and it was so nice to relax and not have to constantly eat out for every meal. We are now near the end of 4 days in New York ... read more
Washington monument
Statue of Liberty
Lincoln memorial

North America » United States » Nevada » Las Vegas May 26th 2023

Thankfully I wasn't bumped off the flight to San Diego but neither was I upgraded! One day maybe! San Diego was so interesting with the USS Midway aircraft carrier to explore which took several hours as there were many ex naval guys to show everyone around. We then headed for the Gaslight area of the city with it's many bars and restaurants to partake in a cold beer and wine! Second day was a trip to the San Diego zoo which was massive and needed a bus to go around plus a cable car. We stopped in a park later to watch some lawn bowlers and were invited to join them but it was too late in the day unfortunately. We then took the Amtrak train to Los Angeles where we met up with Dave, an ... read more
The Excalibur
The Venetian Hotel
Grand Canyon

North America » United States » Hawaii » Oahu May 20th 2023

Well, 2022 saw Pete and I spending 6 fantastic months in Australia after being stranded in Rotorua during the cold winter months of 2021 with Covid creating havoc in the country. So, 2023 sees us once again travelling overseas but this time to the US and Europe and it has been suggested by several people that I do a travel blog once again. Naturally you have the option to just hit delete when it pops up in your email and I will not be hurt as I will be none the wiser!. We leave on 16 May and all going to plan will spend nearly a month in the US and Canada before moving on to Europe for 3 months. I hope that you will enjoy the ride with us and that I keep you all ... read more
Diamond Head, Waikiki
Hawaii surf
Waikiki

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1 June 4th 2019

Pete and I, it would appear, still have itchy feet so this time we chose to explore some Asian countries that we have never visited before, opting to do it our own way rather than an organised tour. (There were some days when we both thought it would have been better to be herded around by a tour guide and especially when we seemed to be spending too much time organising internal buses, flights, trains and accommodation but on the whole we think our way was better as we could stay as long as we wished and move on when we were ready.) Hong Kong was amazing with its neon lights everywhere and hundreds of people on the streets which made me feel very much like a sheep being moved along! We visited the major tourist ... read more
View from Victoria peak on Hong Kong Island.
Bronze Buddha,  Lantau Island.
Fishing village on bamboo stilts




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