Blogs from Motueka, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 3

Having not been away for a while we decided to make use of the Queen's Birthday weekend and head up to Golden Bay in the Tasman district, an area we hadn't visited since 2005. We booked three nights in a chalet (with a heat pump!) in Riwaka, just north of Motueka. The drive up through the Lewis Pass was spectacular as usual and we had a bright, clear winter's day. We opted for Thai take out in the evening and started to plan our next few days exploring. On Sunday it rained...all day...except for an hour at lunchtime when we re-visited Waikoropupu Springs on the other side of Takaka Hill and then had lunch in The Mussel Inn, one of the best pubs we've ever been to! On Monday, the weather was the complete opposite. Early ... read more

Arrives a Christchurch, nous avons recupere notre wicked campervan baptisee Thickman (pas par nous!) puis nous nous sommes diriges 2h plus au nord, vers Kaikoura. Kaikoura est une peninsule encerclee par de l'eau turquoise des deux cotes et bordee par des immenses montagnes. C'etait vraiment un petit village de toute beaute. Notre premiere nuit en campervan a ete plutot desastreuse ! Il a fait super froid (le vent de la mer?), Dan a ronfle toute la nuit et on s'est reveille raque ! Bref, ca ne pouvait que s'ameliorer ! Le campervan est pratique, meme si ce n'est pas le confort total: le matelas est super mince et pas tres large ni long, mais on reussit a se faire tres bien a manger (des oeufs tous les matins) avec notre petite glaciere et notre bruleur au ... read more

Day 85 (Tuesday 14/07/09, NJJ) Jay made some new animal friends at the campsite which is also a farm. Drove to Motueka and then on to Kaiteriteri but weather not good so back to Motueka. Walked around town. Bored. Checked into campsite. Sat in van. Jay slept. I read. Showers. Dinner. Watched 'Role Models' on laptop.... read more

Glædelig jul til alle! Vi stod sent op i dag til en rigtig slapper dag. Selv Anton sov ”længe” i dag, dvs. til lige over kl. 7. Vi lå og hyggede os med at spille PSP, Mona for første gang, så det morede Anton sig noget over (altså, hvor dårlig hun var!). Anna vågnede først lidt i 8. Der lå et par sokker på border med en stor julestok med slik og en pose med blandet julechokolade (julemand, nissemænd og kugler). Anton var gået lige forbi dem, men Anna var et stort smil, da hun fik øje på dem. Efter morgenmaden var alle i bad, da vi ikke havde orket det i går, og vi således endnu ikke havde fået vasket myggebalsam mm. af os. Børnene drønede på legepladsen og ved 11-tiden kørte vi op i ... read more

We spent the rest of the afternoon driving back to Motueka to get some supplies and to check our email, I wanted to tell mom about what had happened with the seals. We arrived around dusk and pulled into the car park behind the Info centre. We met a couple of hippies, Melf from Germany and Christina from Ontario. I asked them if it was cool to stay overnight in the town and they told us it was no problem except a market was due in the car park in the morning so we’d have to park in the street, but it was no problem. We chilled and drank some beers with them before crashing out when they sloped off to some party, we were just too burnt out to go with them. The next morning ... read more