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We were sad to leave Tekapo but Bruce was full of anticipation of catching a salmon in the Ohau Canals. We left after letting the dogs have their usual run around in the dog park and headed for Twizel.

The drive to Twizel was only a couple of hours, and we had to cross the Ohau A canal to get there. We stopped to take a photo and a car load of young men were just packing up their gear. They had just finished up fishing and told us they had caught a few good trout that morning, so that only encouraged Bruce’s excitement. The canal water is the beautiful aqua blue green colour.

The first port of call was the township of Twizel, where Bruce had to purchase the lures etc. that he needed, but lunch came first. The last South Island trip we had it seemed to be a contest of where Bruce could buy the best scone (Clyde won that time). This trip seems to be about where Bruce can get the best cream donut. So far Twizel has this prize.

However, having spent the required dollars on the “must have” lures, as well as in depth descriptions by the shop owner of how to set up the rigs, we headed out to the Ohau B canal (NZMCA Park over property) ready for Bruce to start fishing at 3pm, as per his license.

He decided on the best spot and was disappointed when the first few casts he did were without a result. Nevertheless, he continued until tea time. Lets just say it was just as well I had purchased some chicken schnitzel to cook for dinner.

Not only did Bruce have to contend with the lack of fish jumping on his line, he has to protect his back end from the local swan. This swan is not at all shy of people (or dogs) and it appears friendly but as soon as it gets within reach of you it goes in for the bite. Fortunately it only got access to one of my shoes, but Bruce was very wary of bending over to load the boot!

After dinner, Bruce had a few more casts, again without success, but he had high hopes for a pre-dawn fish the next morning. The salmon farm across the canal looks quite mundane during the day, but at night it is all lit up and looks quite pretty with the lights and the reflections on the water.

However, that night weatherman Dan had dire warnings about incoming weather, low snow levels, high winds and rain for the weekend, and not long after we went to bed the wind and rain began. The van was rocking around, although it did not feel unsafe at any time, but not a lot of sleep was had as we tossed around our options. We finally did get to sleep when the weather calmed down a bit, but we slept through the pre-dawn hours and no more fishing was done! So much for a 3 day license!

We eventually decided to head for Wanaka as originally planned for a couple of days time, as the winds had calmed down (even though the rain continued on and off). Our initial concerns about heading to Wanaka were the winds through the Lindis Pass, but as the winds had settled we no longer had those concerns. We didn’t want to stay by the canals as we wanted to stay somewhere with power if there was going to be a 2-3 day spell with little solar energy coming in to the van. So, decision made, we headed out that morning towards Wanaka.

We resumed our visit to Tekapo, after having to spend time in Christchurch getting the gas regulator adjusted, but nothing could be done to fix the satellite dish, despite phone calls to the experts, and Bruce getting up on the roof of the van to look at it. He also took this time to replace the sealant around our big bedroom hatch that had started dripping when we travelled in wet weather. That at least was fixed.

Tekapo put on an array of weather for us – rain, wind and sunny skies thrown in. We were able to take advantage of a fine afternoon for a hot soak in the Tekapo Hot Springs, which was divine.

Travelling with two dogs is not always easy, but we would not have it any other way. Beau has adapted well to the nomadic life, although he steadfastly refuses to sleep in the comfy bed we purchased for him. Anywhere on the floor will do for him.

One of the Tekapo nights was particularly cold and wet and only then did he succumb (albeit for only half and hour or so) to the comfort of his cosy bed.

There is a large dog park adjoining the NZMCA park that we were at. Every day the dogs were set free in this area and they thought it was heaven. A couple of times we met up with Otis, a 7 month old black lab, and Beau thought he was just wonderful – no need for us to exercise the dogs, they did it themselves. The dog park was well planted with conifers and silver birches in their full autumn colours.

In addition to the dog park, there was plenty of lake shoreline for the dogs to explore. The whole area seemed to be a haven for rabbits, and when Hunter happened to see one he squealed loudly – anyone would think we were murdering him. I felt that the rabbits around here are all quite large and look well fed.

We managed to get a particularly nice day to explore the touristy sights of Tekapo, including the Church of the Good Shepherd.

Also here is the statue recognising the value of the sheep dog to the area.

In all, Tekapo was a great place to visit, and a great place to be a dog, but more of the South Island beckons.

After getting the fridge fixed we made our way out of Christchurch and headed south firstly to Ashburton and then on to Tekapo. A compulsory stop along the way was to Fairlie, to the famous bakery cum pie shop there. Following our friend Dianne’s recommendation, we did not get a pie, but Bruce could not resist the cream doughnut. He enjoyed every bite.

And this was the result

Tekapo was in fine form when we got here, and we spent the remainder of the afternoon exploring the lake edge. There was some snow on the mountains, and the autumn colours are gorgeous.

The expected temperature for tonight was -3 degrees and on dusk it was starting to get a bit cool, so we turned the heater on – no result. Bruce tried all the fixes he could think of (bar the angle grinder) to no avail. It was clear our gas pressure was down, and by the time we decided we were not going to be able to fix it ourselves it was heading towards midnight, and there was no chance of a powered campsite at this stage. We dressed the boys up and snuggled them down.

Then we did the same for ourselves, and snuggled up for a long cold night. Fortunately the -3 degrees did not happen, it was a balmy 2 degrees, so we survived the night.

Bruce made the decision that he wanted our expert repairman to look at the problem so he was on the phone to him first thing the next morning, then we up anchored and headed back to Christchurch. This time we pre-booked a powered site in a Christchurch motor camp so we could at least have a warm night tonight.

The next morning Martynn the repairman came back and fixed the gas regulator and everything was back working again. However, this was when I made one of the worst decisions of my life – I decided to get my hip seen to. Bruce dropped me off at a 24 hour medical centre at around 11am, and I was finally free just before 7pm. Xrays confirmed that there was no bony damage in my hip, so time and drugs are the cure. However, what a long day. At one stage I had sent Bruce a text saying he should go on to Tekapo without me, that I thought I was in for life. He very nicely said that he would stand by with the angle grinder to cut of my ankle bracelet when they finally released me.

We got the van ready to roll again the next morning and decided to head back to Tekapo, stopping at Burke’s Pass for a look. It really has a lot of character, and a lot of history.

We arrived back in Tekapo in time to give the boys a good run around the dog park and an explore of the lake edge. There was great excitement whenever rabbits were spotted and it was lucky I had a tight hold of Hunter’s leash because he would have gone otherwise.

However, Tekapo is still not without its problems. The TV satellite dish will not go up now, and Bruce can’t fix this either. Not sure what we will do about it, but I suspect not a lot. Oh well, a few early nights in bed with a book coming up

We were sad to leave Hanmer but we had a few problems to deal with. Firstly, the fridge had decided that the repairs done by Nelson Motorhomes were nothing but temporary, so the temperatures inside the fridge and freezer were rising and things were starting to defrost. It was a relief to be able to park over at Sharon and Chris’s house and hook up to power, and also to put our frozen food in her freezer. It seemed the fridge went well on power so it was evidently a gas issue. No-one could see us over the weekend, but we had someone arranged to come to us on Monday at 10am.

Another problem was that I lost my footing on a steep gravel slope in Hamner, just before we left, and my hip gave a “clunk”, then hurt, a lot. I needed to rest up a bit (and take some pills) to get over that.

As usual, my cousin Sharon, and Chris were wonderful, lending us their old Rav to drive around in, and keeping their gates shut so the dogs could wander around the section.

On Saturday we took advantage of the car and drove to Birdlings Flat. We had been there before, and it would be grandson Theo’s idea of paradise, being able to fossick on the beach for gemstones. We had a great time, but did not linger too long and my hip did not like the loose metal or the repeated bending. I had packed a picnic lunch, so after having that we had a quick tour of the gemstone museum and then returned home.

The motorhome repairman duly arrived on Monday and it was clear from the start he knew what he was doing, so all was fixed fairly promptly. We had confidence that it would stay fixed this time so we loaded up the freezer again and headed south to Ashburton.

A compulsory stop for me is always Ashford’s mill craft shop where I purchased the yarn for my next project and we made our way to our park over property for the night, Donegal Downs. This is a charming place, complete with chooks, miniature ponies and big tame black sheep. The owners warmly welcomed us back.

As predicted, the rain came in during the afternoon, but this property was sheltered and solid under our wheels.

The next morning it was still quite gloomy and we were tempted to stay on, but made a move into town. Ashburton has a beautiful domain, with plenty of ducks, presumably because it is duck shooting season. Beau and Hunter were pretty keen to have a go at them, but of course, were tightly leashed.

The middle of town has been done up a bit as well, with a lovely fountain in the centre.

We are now headed inland to Geraldine first of all, then on to Tekapo.

I just love Hamner Springs. The scenery is spectacular and there is lots to do. My cousin Sharon and her husband Chris were very generous in offering us a place to park on their driveway, and access to the house for showers etc. Thanks heaps guys. The house is very central so once we were parked up we could walk everywhere.

On the must do was a walk through the sculpture forest. we had been there before, but this time we did not have Oscar and it was surprising the difference it made. Most of the wooden sculptures are hanging from trees.

When Oscar had been with us previously, he saw all these sculptures and even tried to climb the tree to get at one of them. It seems that miniature schnauzers are not made the same way. Hunter was preoccupied with darting down every trail he could find, while Beau just kept his nose to the ground. The forest amble is a great walk though as there are no bikes whizzing through, majestic trees which make it cool as well as the interest of the sculptures. Beau did well as it was quite a walk for a young dog but he certainly had a big sleep that afternoon.

The hot pools are something special here in Hamner but unfortunately we chose to go for a soak the next day only to find that they are closed for maintenance. It will have to be a quick soak before we leave town.

We also had a wander around the Queen Mary hospital, once a rehab facility for alcoholics, that is no longer used. What a waste of a great facilities that would not need a huge amount of work to do it up. I just wish we could think of a special purpose for the buildings, and had the money to invest. Beau had a hard time walking around the grounds. There were lots of fallen leaves, and every time one would get stuck in his leg fur he would stop and sit, but then he would get more in his bum and tail. We would clear his fur only to have it happen again a few metres on. The next morning he got a haircut from me so there are no problems now. He doesn’t look quite so puppyish though – our boy is growing up!

Tomorrow we head back on the road and our adventures continue.

Sunday was lovely and warm again, and we spent time preparing the van for more travels – emptying and filling, and getting groceries, and then we headed south to Murchison. We take things fairly leisurely on these trips so the 2.5 hours or so travel to Murchison was enough for one day. By the time we got there it was quite overcast and we were in for a dousing overnight.

We remember Murchison as having some old fashioned character, but this time it struck us as being run down and neglected. Probably the most activity we saw was in the NZMCA park and even then there were not many vans there.

The day was still overcast, with some showers here and there when we left Murchison the next morning and headed for Hamner. The weather meant that we had fog in the hills in places and the outlook was moody but still quite pretty in a different kind of way.

First on the visit list was Maruia Falls. Due to the overnight rain, there was plenty of water gushing over the falls. They weren’t particularly high but the amount of water was impressive.

To get to Hamner you have to drive through the Lewis Pass and by now the overcast skies had cleared and we got some great views of the majestic mountains (minus snow), and rocky cliffs. In one place the erosion had left behind clay edifices – why here and nowhere else we can’t explain. I guess eventually they may end up like the clay cliffs at Omarama.

We arrived in Hamner in plenty of time to find my cousin Sharon, and Chris’s property where we had arranged to park up. Hanmer is such a pretty town, with plenty to do so we are looking forward to staying put here for a few days.

Motueka is a lovely place. It has the temperate climate of Nelson, but not the hills, a beautiful coastline and just a lovely feel to the place. It is not a large town, but has most things you would need (although not a Spotlight store for me). The main purpose of our visit here was to visit my Aunty Elma (Ellie) who is getting a little frail. We rocked up to see her on Thursday though, only to find she was out on a bus trip – so still getting out and about a bit which is great.

We stayed over in the NZMCA Park her and it is in a lovely location right next to the Coastal Inlet walkway. I took the opportunity the next morning of getting some sunrise photos, before the man even opened his eyes.

When we finally did get organised for the day, we made our way out to Ruby Bay to spend time with my cousin Dee, her husband David, and daughter Sarah, with two grandies Leah (3 years old) and Bethany (3 months old). They were beautiful little children and I had lots of cuddles, jigsaw solving and book reading.

David is retired now, so his garden is looking pristine. Dee is still working 4 days a week, so it was great that she gave up her Friday to spend time with us. Thoroughly enjoyed the visit.

The next morning we took a wander down by the waterfront, and once again the dogs got a long walk and some paddling in the sea. The wharf area was quite busy with people and dogs wandering around, having a coffee and enjoying the spectacular day.

We continued along the beach until we got to the wreck of the Janie Seddon.

The ship was built in Glasgow in 1901 and purchased by the NZ Navy. She was the last surviving NZ war ship to have served in both world wars, and it was rumoured that she was the first ship to fire her guns in the second world war. After the war she was purchased by the Talleys fishing group, but as a coal fired steamer, she proved unsuitable for fishing, and also because her size was too big for the shallow Tasman Bay. She was retired from service in 1950, and was moored just off the beach. She sank after coming to rest on top of her anchor on a low tide, which created a hole in the hull, and she has sat there ever since.

There were several boats moored just off the beach, just like the Janie Seddon. One is particular made me smile because it was called Teresa’s Dream. I think if it was me it would probably have been called a nightmare rather than a dream.

We got back to the van to have a quick bite to eat, a cup of coffee and a RAT test each, before going to visit Aunty Ellie. This time she was home, so we had a lovely visit, with a few laughs and lots of cuddles.

We will have one more night here and tomorrow we are off, heading south again.

The Ferry crossing was uneventful and we docked on time.

We watched the process from up on deck and could see this real old timer being loaded onto a truck to be taken somewhere special (I hope).

The dogs seemed to have had a good trip and aside from being happy and over the top excited to see us (in Beau’s case), all was well. We missed seeing Dianne and Gary as they were parked in the secure area ready to board, so unfortunately the timing was a bit off. We found a nice park down by the marina and took the boys for a walk and had some lunch, then proceeded on to a place called Koromiko.

Koromiko is about 20 minutes outside of Picton and is a dedicated Park over Property and a delightful place – just a large open paddock near the golf course. The bird song from there was beautiful and all the people we met very friendly.

Tomorrow we head to Nelson, as our fridge has started playing up again – temperature at 10 degrees C instead of 4, and we were lucky that Nelson Motorhomes agreed to have a look at it. In the meantime we will find a place to park close to them, and arrange to see my ex work colleague from Homecare Medical, Isobel.

It seems like forever since we scurried back from the South Island just as the Covid epidemic began, and although we have done a few short weekend trips since then, this is the first big trip we had planned. Originally we were headed for Warbirds over Wanaka, but that got cancelled, and in the meantime we had a new addition to the family – Beau. We had to wait until he was fully vaccinated before we could travel with him. He was worth the wait though.

We had a super early start on our trip as Bruce had to be in Thames for an appointment at 10am, but we made it on time (JUST), and from then on it was a relaxing drive south. On this trip we want to stay at a few places we have not stayed at before, so our first night was in PioPio at a delightful council park over property.

Good facilities for just $5 a night.

There was a bit of traffic noise but still a pleasant stop along the way. We opted to travel down the west coast to my friend Jenny’s place and have a stop on the New Plymouth area for a night along the way. Me, being the bright spark that I am, wanted to take the dogs for a beach walk. The first attempt at this was a place called White Cliffs. The write ups and pictures I had seen of this walk looked spectacular. It was 11kms down a road from the main high way to the coast. The first half was OK but the second half was one lane all the way. That was fine except we had a line of utes coming towards us. Fortunately they all drove off the road so we could pass. After about 10.5kms we came to a point in the road with a sign warning that if we went any further there would be no opportunities for turning around (hence 500m or so of backing) and no dogs allowed. So, disappointed we turned around and went back to the highway.

Next we found another little road to the coast so we tried that. It looked like it went quite steeply down to the beach so I walked part way down to see what access was like. It looked like there was a little turning bay but the beach was rocky, and the tide was in so not really a place to walk the dogs, and this is what I reported back to Bruce. He decided to go anyway, and so began the next drama. The parking bay sloped to the sea with just a wooden barrier protecting car from dropping over the small cliff into the sea. Bruce pulled in up to the barrier but the handbrake was not enough to hold the vehicle on the slope, and you cannot put one foot on the brake and one on the accelerator at the same time without upsetting the vehicle computer, so every time he went to accelerate to go back he went forward closer to the barrier. It really looked like he was going to end up driving off the cliff! I have never been so scared in all my life. On the final attempt he really booted it and succeeded in going backwards and we were able to get out of there. I was so over it by this time, and really suffering from the adrenaline rush that I no longer wanted a beach walk, so we headed for the Bell Block NZMCA Park .

There was really heavy rain that night, but the park was all gravel, so no worries there, and now recovered from yesterday we decided again on a beach walk for the dogs. This time we went to Oakura which has a wide surf beach, and no dramas with parking.

We ended up in Wanganui about half an hour before Jenny finished work, and had a lovely weekend with her. We got to deliver, and hang her mosaic which looks lovely alongside the previous one I had made her.

As usual the dogs made themselves comfortable, and Bruce and I were treated to gourmet meals. Sad to leave on Sunday but also looking forward to the next adventure.

On Sunday we drove south to Paraparaumu to stay with friends Brendon and Helen. Once again we received a very warm welcome and the dogs had lots of cuddles. It was a great catch up. Helen cooked us lovely meals and there were lots of stories told. They have sold their motorhome and are waiting on the delivery of a new one from Zion, but that will be a year away or so.

It was an early departure on Tuesday to catch the Ferry across Cook Strait. This morning we even had to get the dogs out of bed (payback Beau), but made it to the ferry terminal in plenty of time. We were hoping to meet up with Marina (from Abano days) but that did not work out unfortunately. I went out to the main entrance to meet her, and by the time I decided she was not there they had locked the gates. I was on the outside and Bruce and the dogs were on the inside. Bruce meantime, was told to proceed onto the ferry, so he told them he couldn’t because he had lost his driver, so they hustled him off to the side. I managed to get them to let me in through the office so caught up to the motorhome and we drove on, but that was a bit chaotic, and more adrenaline flowing through my system. This holiday lark is hard work!

The crossing was lovely in Wellington Harbour, but outside of that it got very rolly for a while before it settled down. We had a cabin that looked out towards the bow of the ship and the view through that was lovely, but we also went up on the viewing deck from time to time.

Overall a good crossing and the next stage of our holiday begins.

It was sad leaving our friends Dianne and Gary at Mt Maunganui, but also nice to be travelling a bit closer to home and to our boys, Oscar and Hunter.

The trip over the Kaimai Ranges was uneventful, and the view from the top was as lovely as ever, but as usual, the Waikato was hazy and a clear photo would not have been possible. Our first stop on the trip was in Matamata.

While we were in the camp at Mt Maunganui we had seen another motorhome with an impressive bike cover made by Matamata Saddlery, and our bike cover was falling apart. We decided to stop and see what they could do for us. Peter Gates was the ultimate salesperson. We spent ages there talking about electric bikes (including Bruce having a go on Peter’s bike), bike racks, windscreen covers and in the end bike covers. We ended up purchasing one off the shelf that Peter believed would cover our present bikes as well as electric bikes in the future, should we choose to go that way. The cover was certainly 150% better than what we had.

Peter was also keen to make a windscreen cover for us to trial. We were not sure about purchasing one at this stage, but will happily trial it and see where we go from there. Peter is keen to have a pattern for every motorhome out there, and he had not yet done one for our era of Fiat Duccato, so he was wanting to give it a go.

From there it was a leisurely drive to Thames where we pulled in to the Pak n Save carpark and met up with Emma and Elodie for a while. Maia was at gym during that time and Emma said she was not happy to be missing out! All too soon, Emma had to go and pick up Maia and we decided that rather than park over in Thames, we would head up the coast and try and find a seaside park for the night and that turned out to be Waioumu Bay.

The beach itself is fairly small but the freedom camping area is delightful – in a park area, well off the road, with a magnificent old pohutukawa tree with large clumps of aerial roots hanging off it.

There was also a toilet block, electric barbeques and a cafe across the road. What more could you want! The sunset was beautiful.

We had a leisurely start the next morning and ambled up the coast towards Coromandel town. I was surprised to see a seal lazing about on the rocks.

We stopped again to look at the view from the top of the ranges.

And we stopped to mosy around Coromandel town. However, the whole Covid situation seemed to be treated very casually there with little in the way of social distancing and poor mask use. You would think that after the initial scare they had there that it would be taken a bit more seriously! It actually made me feel a bit uncomfortable so we carried on, over the hill to Matarangi, our next stop for the night.