The south Island tour Day two 2nd January 2015

Our crossing on the ferry was for the next day at 8.30am so we had contacted Wendy's neice to see if we could stay at there place near Upper Hutt. This was all good. They said that their son would be there to look after us but that they were traveling up North. All we had to do was text when we would be close to arriving.

We started the day by saying farewell to our friends in Turangi and drove through The Desert Road. Beautiful sunshine and a clear view of mount Ruepahu. We didn't stop until we got to Taihepe and had a bite to eat at the Soul cafe. I had a raspberry and apple tart and an Iced chocolate while Wendy had herself a half strength trim latte. All rather pleasing to the palette. I recommend a stop there if it suits.

We then drove onto Foxton whereby the infamous book began to come into action. We stopped at the shop called the Dutch market. I say shop as I thought there was a dutch market on. The shop is full of dutch food and reminded me of the Christmas box we used to get from Holland when I was growing up. We scored ourselves some Pumpernickel and some cheese ready for lunch. Next we had a look around the Foxton Market that was on near the beach. Picked up myself some new sunglasses. We then headed for the beach forest near the camping ground where we had our lunch. Enter the book. Wendy read out the article about Foxton estuary and all the bird life that can sometimes be seen. So we took a walk around the estuary.

Foxton Estuary.

Once we reached Wellington we decided to take a 3 and half hour walk to Pencarrow lighthouse. These next few photos are part of this trip.

 The view from the top was quite spectacular and you could walk on further but we decided it may be time to turn around and text our next hosts that we would be arriving later than expected.

The goats were quite impressive. Big horns. The time we got back from this walk meant a quick bite a Macdonalds and then onto Wendy's neices in Upper Hutt. Got there about 10.15. A quick chat to their son and again another soft pull out couch to lay a weary bones after the long walk. Day two complete.

When you walk places you get to see a lot more and when you are not rushed you can talk a lot more in, so the two worked good together. Something I have to remind myself when I get back into the day to day life. Slow the pace down and enjoy the moment no matter what moment it is.

The 2015 South Island gettaway Tour Day one 1st January 2015

This trip came about because I wanted to take a trip whereby mostly nothing was booked. A road trip. A chance to make some opportunities and to take opportunities. Every situation is an opportunity to find the positive.

It did have some ground rules that we had to agree on. The first one, which was going to be a challenge, was to do it on a $50 a day budget excluding petrol and the return ferry crossing (The Cook Strait). It would not be impossible.

Wendy(my wife) had a hidden agenda though. She had her 1001 things to do in NZ book which actually became the crucial element in this trip and turned out to be very handy, even though it was not planned, it gave us unlikely opportunities for free attractions. So with her book in her hand and her shoes on her feet Wendy was ready to rediscover the South Island. I on the other hand did not make for myself too many expectations. I went into this excursion with an attitude that I was going to spend some quality time with Wendy and see some more of New Zealand and because we were doing it on a small budget I immediately excluded any of the tourist activities, which in my book is a good thing.

So what transpires is an account done after the event rather then real time. I have started writing this the day we returned back to Hamilton. It is my reflection of the trip, the experiences shared, the things we saw and the people we talked with. I have discovered just this morning after transferring the multitude of photos from three sd cards and two cameras that I accidentally deleted 4 days of photos from one of the cameras. Therefore some days do not have as much visual aides. Sorry Wendy.

In this diary there may be notes or reminders for myself or even personal feelings of opportunities that came and went. I do hope that it can be of some use to others, but most of all it gives me a chance to recount what we did.

Bags packed, car fueled. First stop Turangi to visit the work our friends have been doing on their batch and stay a night with them. Turangi is situated 50 km south from Taupo in the centre of the North Island. It was a great place to break up the trip to Wellington where we catch the ferry across to the South Island.

We arrived in Turangi at around 5.30 and the gang there were just shutting up shop with the work they were doing building a deck. We shared fish n chips from the local takeaways. We had to return to the takeaways as soon as we returned as they had only given us half of our order. No worries, they were very apologetic and it made the food taste better. Played some card games and then went to bed on the pull out mattress couch. Day one done and dusted.

 Foundations are very important with any type of building construction and time spent here can make a huge difference down the track. A bit like a marriage or a family. I'm so thankful for the relationship I have with Wendy. We work hard on being open and honest with each other and this has also developed with our kids even though at times I think they wish we weren't so open. Wendy is not a big talker but when she does it is foundation-ally solid.

My first of many selfies over the course of the trip.