It’s hard to keep Sarah and I out of Northland it’s close enough to home that I don’t have to drive all day and night to get there. Once there the diversity of what’s on offer makes us keep coming back. In the second half of 2019, we came North several times with the first… Read More Journeys of 2019 Part Two.
With Mum’s funeral out of the way and family on their way back to parts afar. It was time for Sarah and I to have a bit of “me” time and spend a few days decompressing. I didn’t really feel like driving all the way to the “recovery ward” AKA Ramp Road on the Karikari… Read More Puriri Bay – Nature at it’s Best
As I mentioned in my last blog, the wind had really begun to get up during our stay at the Te Pua Reserve. With our fellow campers having abandoned us retreating south to Rarawa Beach Sarah and I considered what to do. We had planned to travel right up to Cape Reinga spending nights at… Read More Wind and White Sands – Rarawa Beach
As I mentioned in my previous blog, we had spent a few days at our new happy place Ramp Road on the Karikari peninsula. Now it was time to continue the trip north. With the chance to explore some of the more remote parts of the tip of the country. Our friends John and Gaylene… Read More Te Pua Reserve – Remote Northland
Earlier this year, I underwent another biopsy for my recurrent lymphoma. This involved chest surgery removing part of one rib to access the enlarged lymph node. After surgery and a suitable recovery period, we headed away to what we now know as the recovery ward aka Ramp Road, freedom camping. Sadly during winter, I developed… Read More Well That’s A Neat Party Trick
Just a few km’s back down the road from Elliot Bay is the turnoff to Bland Bay and our usual go-to destination Puriri Bay the DOC camp at the end of the road. This time however without a DOC pass the thought of paying $15 per person per night to park on a bit of… Read More The Beauty of Bland Bay
We left Brian and his boat in Whangarei, heading towards our favourite destination, the Whangaruru Harbour. For once we drove past the turn off carrying on with thoughts of checking out and staying at Elliot Bay a privately owned beach/camping area much closer to Russell than Whangarei on the Rawhiti/Russell Road. The signage is… Read More Elliot Bay – Hidden Away In Northland
Getting out and about around the country gives you the chance to meet various people in all sorts of different places. We had just arrived in Middlemarch from where we planned to ride the Otago Rail Trail as part of our South Island tour. We had pulled in behind a large bus and got chatting… Read More Brian buy’s a Dinghy
Each time we have parked at Manganese Point, we have looked to the other side of the harbour and asked that age-old question “what is over there?” so we thought we would find out. Due to meet our friends at the Waipu Golf Club a little later that day we decided to explore the area… Read More On The Other Side Of The Water
I was thinking 🤔 about the number of times that I must have driven North to Whangarei in my lifetime and realised that it would be quite a large number. Never, however, when visiting or when I lived there in the early 1980’s, have I driven any other way than over the Brynderwyn hills. This… Read More Manganese Point – Park with a View