Wed 21 March - Otorohanga to Urenui We stopped for lunch at Tongaporutu beside the river and arrived at Mike's Brewery in Urenui about 2pm. There was a lot of roadworks as we've been travelling south. We parked beside a motorhoming couple from Southland who were going on to do the Forgotten Highway. We went over to have a beer and cider tasting ($15 a tray) later in the afternoon. The apple cider was quite pleasant; one beer smelled of old socks but apparent...

Tues 20 March - Ngatea to Otorohanga Whew - the waiting is over! All loaded up and on our way...... (Who knows why this blog site says we are at Rangitoto Island????!!!!) The caravan needed a WOF so we headed off to Kopu VTNZ first thing this morning. No problems with that so by 10.30am we were finally on our way! The Bakery at Turua looked a good spot for morning tea to keep us going. It was an uneventful drive from there through the Waikato to Otorohanga ...

Hi folks - as you can see we are still at home! Bruce had a medical emergency which put him in hospital and it's taking a while to get his energy back. However every day is a better one. An update - we plan to leave next Tuesday for New Plymouth to have our caravan annual service done. From there we'll make our way to Wellington and cross over on the ferry on Good Friday 30th March. We are in no hurry and have no deadlines so all good. Hopefully we'll meet up w...

Yesterday we waved goodbye to our travelling companions as they headed off on the first stage of their trip down south. I must admit to being a tad envious but it won't be long before we'll be off and catch up with them. There's things to do and places to go to before we set off.

It's been so hot lately we can only work in the garden before lunch. No way can we work outside in the afternoon sun. The other day I cleaned out the freezers prior to shutting one down - a great job on a hot day! We've had a good crop of tomatoes so the air con has been on while I made relish and chutney. We aim to harvest the garden produce before heading away on our trip south.