The Abel Tasman National Park is New Zealand’s only coastal national park – and its golden sandy beaches and clear turquoise water makes it popular. The sheltered bays are popular for cruising, sailing and sea kayaking. On land, the Abel Tasman Coast Track follows the coastline through lush native bush, over limestone cliffs and along golden sandy beaches. Walking the length of the park requires … Continue reading Abel Tasman National Park

Picton is a town in the Marlborough region of New Zealand. It is close to the head of Queen Charlotte Sound near the north-east corner of the South Island. Picton connects the South Island to its northern counterpart by sea, the Interislander and Bluebridge ferrys both leave for Wellington on a regular basis. One of the coves in the sound is Ships Cove and is … Continue reading Queen Charlotte Sound and the Marlborough Sounds

Unless you’re a migrating whale, you don’t go past Golden Bay on your way to anywhere. Imagine a region with endless variety, breathtaking scenery, where golden beaches, alpine valleys and tranquil fishing rivers share a close proximity with the sea. At the north eastern edge of Able Tasman, the well known national park, Golden Bay seemed the perfect place for a short while. Firstly, New … Continue reading Golden Bay – Jan 29 – Feb 2

The Cook Strait ferry sailed us to Picton on the South Island on January 21. Picton is the port city for arriving ferries from the north and where we stayed before driving to Christchurch the next day. We hurried to Christchurch to enjoy the fifty five acts performing in the 2014 World Buskers Festival. There were performers from ten countries in indoor and outdoor theatre … Continue reading Christchurch – January 22 – 26, 2014

Hawke’s Bay on the eastern coast of the North Island had many bike trails. We bicycled thru Vineyards, along the Esplanade, and thru an estuary. As usual, paper maps are confusing to us and we got a little lost. We knew we were close to home but how close. We saw a police car at a Bakery (some things are universal) and decided to make … Continue reading Wandering Lower North Island – January 14 – 21, 2014

Ten years ago we had BALL rolling down a hill, at that time called Zorbing. We remember it well and knew it was not our last time. It was like rolling down San Francisco’s Lombard Street in an inflatable ball. We sought out other Zorbing sites in the world and returned to NZ to do it again. This time it was called H2OGO on a … Continue reading Hamster for a Day! Rotorua OGO

Part go-cart, part toboggan we raced down the mountain. First run on the slower scenic run. The second was on the intermediate run and the only reason for not taking the advanced run was cause it was closed after a serious accident. Continue reading Rotorua Luge

Rotorua is a place to get your adrenalin juices flowing then get a massage and relax in mineral pools. Rotorua is one place where the turbulent forces that formed New Zealand are most evident. This city, on the Volcanic Plateau, has one of the world’s most lively fields of geothermal activity and sits squarely on the Pacific Rim of Fire. This town on the North … Continue reading Pacific Rim of Fire – Rotorua

A “severe” magnitude 6.2 quake has damaged homes and closed roads in the lower North Island, toppling walls and chimneys and sending rockfalls across roads. No worries it was centered about 75 miles northeast of here. But just a few days earlier we were about 20 miles from where it hit. Little damage here in Wellington. The severe rated earthquake occurred at 3:52pm on Monday … Continue reading Shake, Rattle and Roll

Air show – David HAPPY! Traveling north on the Coromandel we took a break from sun, sand, surf and bicycle riding and went to Whitianga Warbirds and Wheels. This is an event with roar of Warbirds aircraft performing aerobatics and precision flying displays right with stockcar demos. Continue reading Warbirds and More

It was difficult to leave Hobbiton and knew it would be difficult to match the sights that we had just experienced. The Coromandel Peninsula combines beautiful beaches and stunning coastlines with lush forests and a dramatic mountain range. Thames (pronounced Tims) is a small coastal town, gateway to the Coromandel (one of NZ’s best-loved holiday destinations) and three hours northeast of Hobbiton. Thames was our … Continue reading Coromandel Peninsula

One for the bucket list. I loved JRR Tolkien’s trilogy:The Hobbit. Everyone knows it is filmed in New Zealand and the original set for hobbit town still exists in its entirety. We got to go there! It was incredible. There were no hobbits and my feet did not become large and hairy bit it was great, the guides bring parts of the movie we all … Continue reading “Not all that wander are lost” – JRR Tolkien

A couple of hours north of Auckland is Paihia and the fantastic Bay of Islands. Our primary reason for enjoying this part of the world is New Zealand Cycle trails. The Twin Coast trail has 14kms of rail trail converted but it was so cool. The location is near several Maori tribal areas and the community blessed the trail with statues of their own. One … Continue reading Bay of islands for New Years Eve

I weighed my suitcase the night before we set sail from Sydney, thank God there is no weight restriction in place for all the crap we bring. Sitting on a cruise ship feels so comfortable now. Drop the bags out front with a porter, unpack into drawers and closets, and sleep in the same bed for 12 nights while traveling between two wonderful destinations, it … Continue reading Cruising from Sydney to Auckland

We departed Sydney, Australia on December 11th via a 12 day Princess Cruise. Track our location and the Diamond Princess at: http://www.cleancruising.com.au/ship_location.asp?ship=PRIDIA Continue reading New Zealand bound via the Diamond Princess

Arriving in Sydney with 4 days before would make you think we had plenty of time. Not in this city, bustling with things to do (jazz concert at the opera house); places to go (the beach, where else) and people to see (Serge and Gerry — our table mates from the repositioning cruise). On a beautiful blue sky day, we found ourselves at the Sydney … Continue reading Sydney

Folks that know David know his love for flying. He got a second opportunity to fly in Australia, this time over Melbourne in a Cessna 172. Although not as scenic as the flight over the Great Barrier Reef it afforded both of us to view this great city by air. Continue reading Flying over Melbourne

We flew to Melbourne from Sydney and rented a car to drive The great Ocean Road in the state of Victoria. We put another 700 km on a rental car during our 4 day trip to Victoria, one of the southern states of Australia. We drove the great Ocean Road, which is comparable to the Monterrey coast in California. Each turn is a ohhhh and … Continue reading The Great Ocean Road

We set off from Abel Point Marina and sailed straight out to Hook Island to anchor for the night. Mr Go Go Gadget (David) had the ipad and app for stargazing at night with the rest of the group, it is something unseen and remarkable if you are used to the American sky. The Witsunday’s are beautiful. We were privileged to be sailing where next … Continue reading Sailing the Whitsundays on a Blizzard