Everyone has seen photos of monsoon buckets dangling underneath helicopters, but the opportunity to get up close probably doesn’t happen often. So it was rather exciting to see them being repeatedly filled almost under our noses! But sobering too to think of what they were fighting, and of the damage which had already occurred. We were… Read more

We found the homesit at Appleby without any trouble although we DID hesitate near the bottom of the long narrow twisty drive – having a large caravan in tow makes one hesitate sometimes. Luckily the homeowner saw us and walked down with Katie, our lovely charge for the next week or so. The house was… Read more

Leaving Christchurch and driving north through hills ablaze with yellow gorse, we stopped off in Blenheim for a few days on our way to take up a homesit in Appleby between Richmond and Mapua. Robyn, her backyard and her cat Kassia all gave us the usual warm welcome. We were fortunate to catch the wild… Read more

Two years ago we were in Te Aroha, a small town in the Waikato area of NZ’s north island. T5 was parked in the grounds of a private club which offered a secure site and the use of the club premises for a nominal fee. It was our wedding anniversary and I was determined to… Read more

Just before leaving Christchurch we spent an awesome day at the Hororata Highland Games. This was the fifth year of the Games which started after the Christchurch earthquakes as a project to lift the community’s morale. It has morphed into one of the biggest and best Highland Games in the country.   Last time we… Read more

We arrived back in the chestnut orchard a month ago when the trees were still bare  …. …. and when we left last week the orchard was a field of dappled green grass covered with small white daisies, bright yellow dandelions and thistledown heads which look like a faintly bluish carpet when viewed in the late… Read more