An overcast day with a little, thin drizzle. After a splendid breakfast at the Neighbourhood Cafe we set out for Lake Wairarapa. The granola was amazing. We followed the signs to Lake Ferry which turns out to be on Lake…

Up at 5:45 for the Wellington ferry. Straight into the cabin and slept another 2 1/2 hours. Hania had a lunchtime appointment so I had a KFC probably the last for a decade. Honestly I couldn’t find anything else in…

Pretty uneventful day. Woke up to this view. Loaded up the car and North to Picton. Whitebait fritters for 11’s. Checked in at the Top Ten.

End of the campervan trip and back to the little car. Then SH1 to Kaikoura. Not the most exciting trip but found time for cake. Kaikoura was hot and sunny and we sat in the sun drinking, not the best…

We left Geraldine in rain and continued north towards Christchurch. I wanted to see Lyttleton and it’s harbour so we drove through the tunnel and looked for a nice cafe. Sadly the town is not large vehicle friendly. However the…

Morning at Lake Opua, the geese flying again, magpies, seagulls, herons, ducks, a bittern (?) and others I wasn’t sure about. It is a great campsite for free camping. The fish were jumping too. On the way out we stopped…

Round Bush Camp was still mozzie central so after breakfast we went to Twizel, the Hydro Cafe and Twizel Bookshop, where else? Having finished 16 Trees of the Somme I’m now reading Bewilderment by Richard Powers. After that we headed…

What next and where to go? We read about Maniapouri but it’s half a day there and another back, with a few days left it didn’t seem worth it. We headed out to Twizel again for coffee and cake at…

A walk in the gardens of Oamaru. I can’t believe they have 12 grass tennis courts here, must be a lot of upkeep. We headed up to Timaru to see old friends Judd, Jenny and Graham. A great lunch and…

Aramoana, a dark name in Kiwi history, but we survived the night and drove to Port Chalmers and the back road to Waitati. We had coffee at Karitane which has a nice sandy beach with rollers coming in from the…