Motueka is like a magnet to Jude and I, it has been a year since we were last here and here we are back again. We arrived at the NZMCA Park yesterday (Friday 4th) to beautiful hot weather, just as we remembered it last January. Went down the Main Street and being a Friday it was as busy as, with people everywhere, lots of traffic heading either to Kaiteriteri or over the Takaka hill to explore the Golden Bay area for the weekend or possibly they just got their Xmas leave after working the holiday period. It was a hot afternoon and the walk backRead More →

It’s now day three into 2019 and it’s up early for the hike up the Matiri Valley to Lake Matiri. This involves about 6km of 4WD track before walking 5 km up the Matiri River to the Matiri Hut. This lake was formed approximately 300 years ago and I would say coincides with the last big alpine fault movement that dropped a massive side of a mountain across the valley to block off the river, hence forming Lake Matiri. The first part of our journey was up the Matiri West Bank Road before we got another test for our Suzuki Jimny as the 6km 4WDRead More →

Woke to a fantastic warm morning with another day of exploring the local surroundings arranged by Jude, the first part is the Upper Matakitaki to cross over the Maruia Saddle to Burnbrae where it meets Hwy 65 where the Lewis Pass comes out exits heading west. As per the day before it was what Jude and I considered a easy road which at this time of the year can comfortably be done in a average car… give or take the odd pan strike from one of the very few small rocks that may have strayed from their historical resting place to the middle of theRead More →

As per usual I love perusing our map book looking for roads tracks we haven’t been on. We leave Murchison in Jimny heading up the Mangles Valley road that follows the Mangles River, a lovely river with many deep pools that looked very inviting. We head up the Braeburn track classed as 4WD but was pretty easy to drive with 4 small creek crossings along the way, we then drop down to Lake Rotoroa a long narrow lake completely surrounded by native beech forest, a lovely camping area and quite a few holiday cribs, popular for families and I bet the fishing is great too.Read More →

The West Coast has one of New Zealand’s best coastlines and some of New Zealand’s earliest history and hardships. It’s true that the coasters are a tough breed… and they’re proud of it. Although they’re protective of their patch they’re a welcoming breed and keen to point you to some good locations. Jude usually does our research to select the adventures and she does a great job. We parked at the NZMCA pop at Westport which to our surprise… we’ll maybe not that much of a surprise we bumped into John and Anna, friends we wrote about in our previous post. Later while going offRead More →

Well Reefton is a place where you may think WTF can you do in Reefton… well what an amazing place at this time of the year, sunny, warm, MTB trails and good cafe’s. Is that it you may say to your self as you read our blog but no… if there is one thing that I have enjoyed in this Moho lifestyle is the people you meet. Over the past two nights we have got to know Karen and Nick Schouten who have been living on the road for just over two years, covering in our discussions everything from Moho life, cycling, track and hikesRead More →