09/08/2017 is a date that will live in my mind for the rest of my life, after many years building up James Blond Ltd our rental car and truck company we had sold it and ownership had passed to the new owners. Retirement had started! When we started James Blond Ltd the slogan was Licenced to rent (sic) and the company named after our middle son, named James who had snow-white hair when he was young. So it seemed obvious that with the sale of the business the van and this blog should be called Licenced to retire.

This blog will be dedicated to our travels around New Zealand and whilst I realise that there are many other blogs already out there I hope that we will be able to bring a slightly different perspective and offer some insights into some of the best and worse parts of the country.

In 2002 we purchased a 1995 6 berth Mitsubishi Canter and joined the NZMCA (member 18180). Initially, we spent a great deal of time getting away at weekends and school holidays with our three boys but as they got older and work commitments got more demanding the camper got used less and less. But we have always keen to make more use of it and with retirement come new opportunities and a new motorhome. We took delivery of our Dethleffs Globetrotter XLi in early October 2017 to start our travels.

To view the places we have visited click here to see them on Google maps. You can click the links to read the blog about that area.

To view the Ratings we have done for camping grounds we have stayed at click here