The drive northward from New Plymouth to Kawhia would normally not be too long…unless you have a diversion planned. Having been in wetsuits once before and having white water rafted down the Shotover River why not combine the two underground? Such a trip is called 'black water tubing' and we travel to Waitomo caves again. For two hours we crawl through dark wet caves with our guide (who does this four times a day), the eerie limestone formations lit by our la...

Have van will travel. Well, that's after you have ironed out all the problems with the one that you are given. A useful tip when you pick up a campervan/motorhome is to stay within shouting distance of the depot in case you need to take it back…..as we found at Queenstown. This particular van will take us from Christchurch to Auckland, so a leaky water tank and defective driver's seatbelt is not the ideal way to start this longish journey. After one night i...

This small town of Milton is promoted as 'The Town of Opportunities'. It lives a bit in the shadow of its larger neighbour Dunedin up the road so I suppose if you can't make it there then you can try here. Having said that the average earnings are only $ 28,000 reflecting the socio-economic problems. Quite a few streets - and possibly the town - are named after poets but the interesting one is 'Moneymore'. There might also be the opportunity to save a bit on the ...

From time to time Lesley reminds me that since we left Edinburgh we have hardly been out of each other's company. That's fine by me, no gripes there! But duty calls in Twizel, so while she works, the idea is for me to do a bit of travelling and sightseeing in between Invercargill and Milford Sound. Stocked up and self-contained in the van, I get to places we missed in 1984. Highlight is the drive to and wandering around the foreshore at Milford Sound, with a ...

'Last thing I remember, I was Running for the door I had to find the passage back to the place I was before 'Relax' said the night man, 'We are programmed to receive. You can check out any time you like, But you just can never leave!' Appreciation to the writers: Don Felder, Don Henley, Glenn Frey Hotel California. What a name for a blog. With the picture of the van heading up this instalment, are we trying to compare our motorhome to a better establis...