See It Do It Live It

From Christchurch we drove across Arthurs Pass, towards Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers. The scenery on the route was stunning, and we stopped frequently to take photographs. This area is home to the kea bird. The kea is known to be a bit cheeky, and often steals food from unsuspecting tourists. We were lucky enough to spot one strolling past our parked car. The sun was shining during our time on the east of the island, but as we crossed the mountains towards the west the sky filled with clouds…read more

Our next point of call was Christchurch, where we were to spend a couple of nights staying with friends of Graham’s family from their days in Indonesia. We stopped on the way to take some photos of the beautiful drive. The McKenzie family had sadly lost their home in the earthquakes a few years ago. They now live in a lovely house on the outskirts of the city. It was very interesting to hear first hand accounts of the disaster that affected so many people in this part of the…read more

It seemed a shame to neglect our upper bodies after yesterdays intensive lower body workout, so we decided that a few hours of sea kayaking was in order. Ross’s friend Charlotte decided to join us today. She had gone one better than our hike up Mount Taranaki, and had done the same walk but overnight. They reached the summit around midnight before descending in the dark. Charlotte apparently lives by the philosophy that sleep is for wimps!! We hired two double kayaks and paddled out to sea. The weather report…read more

“When life brings you mountains, you don’t waste your time asking why; you spend your time climbing over them.” ― A.J. Darkholme, Rise of the Morningstar The second stop of our New Zealand adventure was in New Plymouth. Grahams old work colleague Ross moved out here a few years ago, and offered to show us why New Zealand is known as the adventure capital of the world. We set up camp for the next few days in a caravan in his garden and agreed to get up at 05:30 the…read more

Kia Ora! We are in country number 15.5 (if we count Zimbabwe and Qatar as 0.25 each). New Zealand, the land of kiwi fruit, kiwi birds and chocolate fish. Oh, and it’s the adventure capital of the world too. We had just one afternoon to spend in Auckland. We managed to squeeze in a hike up Mount Eden to see a panorama of the city, followed by an evening in the pub sampling the local beer and wine, and watching Djokavic overcoming Wawrenka in the semi-final of the Australian Open….read more