Three in a boat in Patua
Strictly speaking I cannot say three men in a boat – to be accurate it would have to be three humans in a kayak.
Or perhaps, at times, one human and two dogs – but you get the idea.
We were eager to try out Read More…
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We started at Snells Beach…
Our summer trip was underway.
We had packed up the Kiwi Blog Bus with leftover Christmas goodies and collected our Trade Me buy en route (a double kayak – that’s actually a 2 person plus room for a little one).
And we arrived at our first night’s stopover – Snells Beach just past Warkworth (free camping for self-contained campervans). Read More…
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Freedom camping near Horeke Tavern
Just sharing my view from bed this morning…..
I’ve been out of phone signal lately ( yesterday we went up Cape Reinga at the Northern point of NZ) so I’ll have to do full blog posts when I get home.
Last night the Kiwi Blog Bus freedom camped at Horeke, Hokianga Harbour.
We are next to the Horeke Tavern which has been serving beer since 1826 ( that’s like real old in New Zealand terms!) and I recommend you all should visit this utterly charming place.
I’ve had such a peaceful night with just birds waking me this morning to a stunning view.
I have lots more pics to download when we get home but I’ll leave you with these:
Next on our plans…. We’re actually heading back to the Bay of Islands.
We haven’t been over to Russell yet but an invitation was kindly extended to us from Angela & Don of Russell – Orongo Bay Holiday Park to come and stay there.
We met them at the motorhome show in Hamilton last year and it’s taken us this long to get up here!
The 14 acre holiday park sounds amazing and i’m looking forward to checking out all the facilities. I’m so pleased we can go with our canine friends on board too!
I’m excited to get over there (on the ferry) and explore historic Russell and its beautiful surroundings.
Stay tuned!
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Summers hols continue – Bay of Islands
So we’ve skipped to night 4 at Paihia, Bay of Islands.
(Night 3 was beachside at Pataua, Whangarei Heads, when a blissful day playing in the water was followed by a noisy rain squall rudely interrupting our sleep at 5am).
The day got off to a wet start and we travelled up to The Bay of Islands with low cloud, no views and my disappointment looming.
However Read More…
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Where does the time go?!
Hello Kiwi Blog Bus friends! Sorry to have left you half way through my weekend in the last post .
Time ticks on and I have been super busy at work with a BIG event on at Mystery Creek just recently (Equidays in case you’re interested!)
I last left you in the Western Bay of Plenty over Labour weekend (many moons ago!) and will now pick up where I left off. Read More…
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A long holiday weekend of many parts
We have a public holiday in New Zealand today; Labour day.
To be quite honest, I’m not sure what the history of it is but all I care is that it gets me a day off work and we got a long weekend to go away in the Kiwi Blog Bus!
For the first day we travelled to one of our favourite handy FREE spots: Ferguson Park, Otumoetai near Tauranga.
I relax the minute we drive into the park. Read More…
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Our weekend continued: Wairere Falls
After we’d spent an enjoyable few hours at Firth Tower Reserve we decided it was time to move on, however, the sun was still shining and it was far too early to set off home.
Hence… we ended up just another 20kms or so up the road (North of Matamata) at the beautifully stunning Wairere Falls.
Reputed to be the highest waterfall in New Zealand’s North Island, the falls plunge 153 metres (500 feet) then disappear into the depths of native bush. Read More…
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Dare I tell you about Simpsons Beach?
From the Kiwi Annisons Archives:
There is a beautiful sandy beach in a stunning Coromandel bay surrounded by rolling green hills, where you can camp just a stones throw from the water’s edge (and I do mean that literally) and the payment for this paradise…
Just $5 a night.
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Hamilton Gardens: a collection of paradise and more
Staying local again this week, I shall take you on a trip to Hamilton Gardens – the Waikato’s most popular visitor attraction.
Indian Char Bagh Garden, Hamilton Gardens
Locals and tourists alike throng regularly through the many themed areas, gardens and collections, all open free to the public.
We are lucky enough to be able to visit the gardens on a regular basis; for dog walks, Sunday strolls, Jazz festivals, picnics and more.
In particular we enjoy Read More…
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Sometimes the best things in life really are free
One of the big things we noticed when we moved to New Zealand from the UK in 2008 was the fantastic and plentiful array of kids playgrounds here.
It may seem like an insignificant thing but when you have three kids who have usually seen broken, graffiti covered, litter strewn playgrounds that normally contained a set of broken swings and nothing too adventurous that you could potentially injure yourself on – then it all came as a breath of fresh air.
Thames playground
Before I get jumped on and all the UK peeps shout at me…. yes, I agree there were SOME nice parks and playgrounds for kids. But I am speaking my opinion when I say that while we lived and travelled around the UK I can honestly say that the large majority of playgrounds were either in undesirable areas or visited by undesirables who used for undesirable purposes.
Sad but true.
Another huge difference for us here was the school grounds. Read More…
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Kiwi Blog Bus
Campervan tales from New Zealand
The Kiwi Blog Bus - campervan tales from New Zealand 