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In: 4WD, Jude's Post, Motorhome

We camp at Peel Forest DOC camp, a beautifully maintained camp with excellent facilities. Do a hike to the Acland Falls, picturesque 14mt falls nice to stretch the legs! A beautiful late afternoon we enjoy a cold beer and socialize with a lovely couple David and Deirdre from Clarksville, Canterbury. The following morning we pack a picnic to spend the day exploring the Rangitata Gorge, first stop is the Mount Peel at the Church of the Holy Innocents, built by the Acland Family in 1869, built from hand cut boulders from the Rangitata River, a stunning sturdy church. Surrounding the church are gravestones which tellRead More →

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Leaving Southland on a wet day, well one could say how many dry days did we have in the six weeks we were there…mmmmm we did get a week of glorious weather in late October! It was one of the wettest spring’s I’ve ever experienced wet cold and windy! With rain pouring down we said goodbye to family here’s hoping some decent weather returns to the south! Our first stop Lowburn, Lake Dunstan, sun shining for now! We spend 2 nights here, we start back into our fitness, as we have been pretty slack and not doing our usual walks or biking, we must beRead More →

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In: Biking, General, Jude's Post, Location, Motorhome, Photography

After leaving the Waikato where we spent time with Alan and Linda, riding part of the Te Awa trail Cambridge to the Velodrome a pleasant 11 km, of course great coffee at the Bikery cafe.Onto Tamahere where we stay with Jeremy and Annie, ride from Hamilton Gardens which are fabulous “note to one self go back in the spring!” We follow the Waikato river via the Te Awa river trail a well maintained trail on the banks of the river being early winter the trees losing there leaves a beautiful starkness. It was easy ride with some undulations we rode 15 km to Pukete thenRead More →

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In: General, Motorhome, Shane's Posts

While staying with Harry and Tui, Jude and I have been earning a bit of extra spending money for our trip to Canada. Working for NZ Fruits in the Packhouse is hard out physical work that is focused on absolute speed. Packing kiwifruit into single layer boxes never sounded hard until you have to do it yourself. The fruit comes along a conveyer belt from the sorter and as they come out you check them for softness, damage, labels, double check they are the right size, and after making sure they are straight in the box, you then wrap the fruit and close the boxRead More →

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In: Biking, Location, Motorhome, Photography, Shane's Posts

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 →

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In: Hiking, Location, Motorhome, Shane's Posts

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 →