Michael Doran 1934 – 2022

Early in the morning on Saturday 19th November Dad passed away. He’d been at Margaret Wilson Care Home in Timaru for a number of years following a stroke and was well cared for by the staff. I’d got an early ferry and driven down to Timaru on the Friday, there were plenty of tears as […]

Piwakawaka Hut

It was February 2021 when I booked Piwakawaka Hut for Anzac weekend in 2022, its been very popular since becoming available in late 2020. Created by Taranaki Regional Council as an added attraction to the already impressive Pukeiti Gardens, Piwakawaka Hut is easy to reach accommodation for those wanting an overnight hut experience, and it […]

Kapiti Island – Rangatira Point

After our December visit to Kapiti Island we still had a couple of daytrip vouchers to visit the more southern Rangatira Point. Keryn’s parents were staying and Phil had a significant birthday to celebrate, so we decided to all take the trip before Alayna started school. Leave from work was organised and we drove north to […]

Summer Holidays

We spent a lot of time at or near home over the Christmas/New Years break. This was mostly due to uncertainty created by the ongoing Covid-19 situation and staying home just seemed easiest. We had a short 4 night trip to Timaru to see my family but otherwise we’ve been staying in the Greater Wellington […]

Kapiti Island

Late last year (2020) I entered a Wellington region photo competition and won a prize of an overnight glamping trip to Kapiti Island. We finally took the trip last weekend, though it almost got delayed due to the weather the previous week. The south end of the North Island has had a prodigious amount of […]

Atiwhakatu Hut

After our overnight stay at Raukawa Hut early last year we’d been looking for another hut to visit, so many months ago now we booked a night at Atiwhakatu Hut in the Tararua Forest Park. While we were able to book Raukawa Hut for just our party Atiwhakatu Hut is a bigger hut that sleeps […]

Travelling in NZ while the world deals with COVID-19

It’s very strange to have spent a long weekend on holiday away with friends while much of the world is under lockdown and suffering through COVID-19 outbreaks. We’re very aware of how lucky we are in New Zealand to have a community free of COVID which allows an almost normal life. Every morning while we […]

The Urban Hut Club

Five years ago Keryn and I along with a one-year-old Alayna spent some wonderful times exploring Wellington and checking out 7 Miniature Huts dotted around the landscape, put in place by local artists Kemi & Niko. From tiny to large the adventure was as much about following clues to find the huts as much as […]

Overnight at Raukawa Hut

We’ve taken plenty of holidays with Alayna, and done lots of walking, but up to now had never combined staying somewhere new with a tramp in good old New Zealand bush. We’d been talking about a staying a night in an easily accessible hut with friends and finally this became a reality with a walk […]

Nanogirl Brings the Noise

The blurb for the latest Nanogirl Live! show – Bring on the Noise! – said ” In this interactive show filled with experiments, explosions and music – Nanogirl Live! brings science and engineering to life in the coolest ways possible, right before your eyes“. Over an entertaining hour we watched Nanogirl and her trusty assistant Boris, along […]

School holidays trip to Timaru

The school holidays was once a time for us to avoid travelling in New Zealand, but that was back in the days of having a child who wasn’t school aged (or not having a child at all). Now we join the rest of the school-going NZ families in trying to find both things for our […]

Sinclair Head seals

Sunday seemed like a good day to go for a hike. We’ve got a holiday coming up soon with lots of walking planned so we’ve been wanting to get out a bit more and have Alayna get used to longer treks. With a decent looking weather forecast we set our sights on the New Zealand […]

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