Tag Archive | Blogging

Hi Honey! I’m home!

Here we are – back in the land of blogging again, who’d have thought it.
But here we are in January 2021 (we’ll just gloss over 2020 for now – eek!) and the blog is back up and running because… we have bought a new campervan 🙂

This beautiful thing came into our lives last October….

the Kiwi Blog Bus campervan at Ohawe Beach

We (the royal we that is The Hubbie and myself) decided it was about time to get back into the campervan lifestyle again – especially seeing as we currently CAN travel around New Zealand and currently CANNOT travel to…. anywhere else!

The bus we used to own was obviously a reasonably large vehicle so I wanted something a little more compact (this van actually isn’t *that* much shorter – but definitely feels smaller), I was keen to find something with a rear lounge and back doors/windows, and something newer with more up to date facilities (such as solar panels, and air con in the cab), plus a few other preferences and upgrades from the bus.

We found a preloved 2/3 berth (more on that later) VW Crafter – all officially self-contained (a big requirement here in New Zealand so you can freedom camp or park at low cost in many amazing locations) with a very handy two-bike rack on the back door, a large solar panel, two house batteries, and just enough of everything else we were looking for to make us say, “We’ll take it”.

Kiwi Blog Bus Campervan parked near rocky foreshore at Cape Palliser
We’ve already been adventuring….. I’ll be sharing all about our New Year travels soon
The Kiwi Blog Bus Campervan parked up on a campsite with awning and furniture out
Our set up when we’re in full ‘relax and put your feet up mode’
washing up views from the Kiwi Blog Bus Campervan parked up with views out to the sea
You cannot complain when washing up with those views!

The Hubbie and I both currently have fairly busy work lives so during the first three months of ownership we only managed a grand total of ONE night away together! I did get to use it on another occasion with the teenage daughter – which was a great opportunity to see if I could drive and manage it by myself… and I can! So if our promise to get away together at least once a month doesn’t happen – I can just disappear for some campervan ‘me’ time if I need to!

However our intentions are good and solid – we bought the van to use it and both intend to make that happen as regularly as possible. In fact, we’ve only just returned from a nice 10-day break over the New Year which I’ll be blogging about soon.

So that’s it… we’re back in the world of campervanning again and how could I not turn back to my trusty Kiwi Blog Bus blog to share some of our tales, photos and adventures from time on the road. New Zealand has a seemingly endless supply of amazing destinations to visit and our intention is to discover them! The blog will bring you more details on campervan life too, and I’m sure include some pics and tales of these two pests….

Jess & Pip the Kiwi Blog Bus dogs happy to be travelling again
Jess & Pip the Kiwi Blog Bus doggos

See you again very soon – and do write and let me know if you have any questions, comments or ideas about what you’d like to see on the Kiwi Blog Bus part II.

Hello again

So SO many apologies are owed to my long time committed readers of this blog.

I abandoned you.
I’m sorry.

The belated news is that just over a year ago we actually sold the Kiwi Blog Bus 😦

We were all sad to see it go after having many happy holiday around New Zealand and enjoyed the wonderful convenience of travelling in a bus / campervan.

However – we were still travelling, but in another direction.
We moved to a lifestyle block.
We are the very proud owners of a tiny two bedroom cottage on an acre and a bit of prime NZ land.

Slowly but surely, aided by funds from the sale of the Blog Bus, we are doing up our do-er upper with the addition of some KiwiAnnison favourites: a huge veggie garden, a tractor shed (full of tractors!), a paddock for the miniature horse, a field full of Christmas trees and chooks… etc….

So for all those that may be interested in following the tales of our “Kiwi Good Life” – you can now do so via the new blog I have started 🙂

And for Kiwi Blog Bus fans – I may still dip in here and write up a few travel stories from the good old bus days, or just general NZ travel tales I think you may just be interested in.

I won’t finish with a goodbye as hopefully this is the recommencement of something that lots of you will stick by my side on.
See you soon
Vicki

Kawakawa and disappointment

On our approach to the Bay of Islands I noted that we were to drive near Kawakawa.

As this was the infamous home of the Hundertwasser Toilets, I duly prodded the driver and requested (for his benefit of course) that we take a driving break in the locality of this tourist attraction.

Kawakawa

I wish I hadn’t bothered. Read More…

Well, that was Christmas – Hello summer holidays!

Just a brief post as we’re almost ready to set off on our New Year trip.

The Kiwi Blog Bus is stocked up and groaning under the weight of all the Christmas leftovers.

The togs, towels & jandals are loaded. The body boards are strapped to the roof.

We’ve purchased a Read More…

It’s Christmas Time…

##Misletoe and wine##

or… Pohutakawa flowers and beer!

I wish all my fans and followers the most happy of Christmases.

I hope you get a little something from Santa that brings a smile to your face and that you get to share the special time with close family and friends that are dear to you.

Here in New Zealand, Read More…

It’s blogging bizarre!

It never fails to amaze me where my blog is read around the globe. These are the reader stats from this morning alone!

20121020-081434.jpg

We’re about to head off in the Kiwi Blog Bus for the Labour Weekend and I will be bringing you a post just as soon as possible.

Stay tuned!

The official medal chart (Kiwi Blog Bus style)

In the spirit of the Olympics ….

(or just because I cannot think what else to blog about today!) this post is about the best of The Kiwi Blog Bus and the winning entries to date.

The positions for most popular post:

Gold medal goes to Waterworks: surely the best fun you can have with recycled objects?! Read More…

Happy half birthday to the Kiwi Blog Bus

I just looked in my diary and I have a note that it is exactly six months since I first posted on this blog!

So…. 107 posts later…. 14,213 hits…. visitors from 104 countries … 460 followers… and …..

I’m still totally addicted to it all !!

I love travelling, seeing new places….. seeing old places, taking photographs
I love writing and sharing my (often useless) banter with you all
I love how so many of you like to get back in touch with me about anything or nothing in particular

I love my Kiwi Blog Bus and long may it continue.

Thank you to all my readers, followers and one-off visitors

I hope you found something here that you liked or were inspired by
I hope that something I wrote about has helped you make a great decision of your own
I hope that you can travel to wonderful places, see beautiful sights and meet amazing people

“The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”  ―  Dr Seuss

100th post! (and an explanation)

I’ve made it to 100 blog posts!

It is 19 weeks today since I first pressed that big blue “Publish” button and launched the Kiwi Blog Bus on the big world-wide web.

If you have followed me since early on then you’ll remember my amazement when the blog quickly took off and established a (small and friendly!) readership around the globe!

The blog stats became the first thing I checked online each day and the flag counter was closely monitored as it ticked its way upwards (it’s currently on 92).

I love to blog about our travels in the Kiwi Blog Bus and have managed a few short, brief posts while we’ve been on the road; tackling the longer more detailed descriptions from home at a later date.

Winter has snuck up on us now in New Zealand and we may not be out on the road quite so much until it warms up a bit (having no heating at all in the bus!).

I will continue to post from The Kiwi Annison Archives as we’ve still quite a selection of trips to tell you about and heaps and heaps of photographs to work through.

Kiwi Annison and Pip the dog

But the other reason for this post is to mention that I have now graduated (Diploma in Journalism) and found full-time employment (yay!) so I have to admit the free time I had for blogging is beginning to dwindle a little!

I hope to still get a post up every week and perhaps you’d like to become one of my blog ‘followers’ just to make sure you don’t miss it!

Thank you and hope you stay tuned.

Whatever the weather

I read in the news today that here in New Zealand we have apparently just experienced one of the warmest Aprils on records.
(April’s record breaking sunshine. )

I must admit we had a pretty crappy summer this year but I can vouch that Autumn has so far made up for it.

New Zealand is supposed to have a temperate climate with four distinct seasons – but the weather can be very changeable and we often get four seasons in one day.

As in this well-known kiwi song by Crowded House…

Read More…