Happy Waitangi Day. This is a National Holiday which is celebrated with mixed feelings, as some Maori are not happy about the treaty signed with the British in 1840.There were some clouds this morning, but had a partial view of snow topped mountains as we left Kaikoura and headed toward Marlborough. I heard it mentioned on the radio that this is early for snow on the mountains, after all it is still late summer, even though we are relatively close to Antarctica....

It rained all night and Bob actually had to turn on the heat in the middle of the night, quite a change from the past few days and nights. The clouds lifted this morning and we enjoyed some beautiful mountain views as we left Hanmer Springs.  We passed a "thrill seekers concession," with bungee jumping, jet boats, 4-wheeling, and other exciting ventures. We drove through rural mountains and villages and crossed many one-lane bridges. There are several ski area...

Today we successfully traveled back over the pass from Okain's Bay - in the rain, no less. Bob did a great job of keeping us on the road.  I think these roads are one reason why the locals are such thrill-seekers. After growing up in this small country, traveling these roads all their lives, they are looking for greater thrills, such as bridges to jump off of using bungee cords.Our campervan is working out pretty well for us. We'd LOVE to have more roo...

Today we went to the beach, specifically to Okains Bay, which is located on the north east side of Banks Peninsula. To get here from Akaroa required a treacherous, steep, scary drive up and over a volcano or two, driving on a narrow, winding and, did I say, extremely steep road. I'm not exaggerating when I say it is like a cross between Independence Pass and the road up Pikes Peak. Remarkably, when we arrived we found two 40 ft motorhomes parked here.  T...

We had a great day on Banks Peninsula.    We started by driving to Barry's Bay so we could visit Barry’s Bay Cheese Company and watch them making cheese the 150 year old "traditional way." There we met a couple, Park and Jill Sims, who used to live in Palmer Lake, CO, when Park taught Physics at the Air Force Academy. They live in England now, and are in NZ with a group of Jaguar owners who shipped their cars here so they could drive around the Sout...