Our first homesit for Winter 2015 is drawing to a close. 2 weeks in a beautiful warm sunny home right on the beach at Rarangi, 10 minutes’ drive NE of Blenheim.   I never tire of the view from the back deck …. (That is a bit of tree stump, not a person!) That’s the bottom… Read more

It’s now a month since we arrived back in Christchurch and settled in at the chestnut orchard again. Some of the old crowd have moved on but some remain. Less dogs (one prefers our ‘doorstep’ to his own) but slightly more people. It’s quite a little community, the men even have a Men’s Shed get-together… Read more

Penny the foxie seemed happy enough to enter the Kennels where she was to spend 24 hrs while we attended the air show. Did she remember her last visit? We warned the staff about her escapologist tendencies which was just as well as she tried to climb the wire fence of the exercise yard not… Read more

After the excitement of Horse of the Year we had 4 days to get down to Wellington to catch the ferry back to the mainland (for non-Kiwis, that’s the South Island). We headed back to Marton for one night then down to Wellington and the usual Petone POP site, not particularly salubrious but handy to… Read more

After the excitement of WOMAD and a night at the Transport Museum camp, we headed down south again to Marton (near Palmerston North) where we spent a few days in a pleasant new NZMCA park. Newly landscaped and unlike many others it had a large communal hall where besides the usual book exchange and noticeboard there was… Read more

It was a wonderful sensuous swirling mix of music, colours, smells, smiles and sunshine. On Brooklands Hill next to the New Plymouth racecourse, the entrance was a very steep downhill then an equally steep uphill walk with some sidetracking along the way to view various art installations and an infinite array of delights along the… Read more