10th July 2023 My first thought in Newfoundland is how friendly the welcome is. We’re queuing at the airport to collect our hire car when a man from a rival company offers to help us as he can access their system from my desk. He’s friendly and chatty. First time on the island? He asks, […]
A Whale of a Time
Few sights in the world are as awe-inspiring as that of a spout of water gushing into the air from the sea, followed by the knobbly lump of cetacean flesh that caused it rising through the waves. I’ve seen whales a few times and each time is like the first, the thrill of seeing something […]
Toronto (Yes, we CN…)
Seeing unfamiliar place names when I arrive somewhere new always sends a thrill through me, tinged with a frisson of fear. It’s an awareness of the unknown, that I could so easily be lost and never find my way home, but also the excitement of so much to explore and so many new things to […]
A to B
The week before travel in our house is a mix of excitement at the upcoming holiday and mild panic that swings between what we have to do before we leave, and what might possibly go wrong before we arrive at our destination. If I’m honest, there’s little we in the latter and it’s fully I. […]
Walking in a Winter Wonderland
Although we’re rarely sitting-on-our-arses-doing-nothing types, we’re not always up for a long walk at this time of the year. We might do a quick blat around the block or a shorter walk up the mountain, but if the weather isn’t particularly good we’re just as likely to look out of the window and think, nah, […]
Hauraki Rail Trail – Te Aroha
November 2022 Another day, another set of squally showers, this time accompanying us to Te Aroha, a small town alongside the trail. Not sure what I expected but it wasn’t a tidy place with well-kept public areas, including a heritage precinct and some lovely parks and gardens. Sculptures made from scrap metal dot the main […]
Hauraki Rail Trail – Waihi
November 2022 A Supertramp song is my earworm of choice this morning, It’s Raining Again playing round and round in my head. Between the lack of sun and the surrounding trees it’s dark enough to be a midwinter evening rather than a spring morning and I huddle by the heater. By lunchtime the deluge blows […]
Hauraki Rail Trail – Karangahake Gorge
November 2022 I like hills. Both cities I’ve lived in have been on and surrounded by hills. Flat land bores me, both to look at – nothing to see except sky – and to walk on. I even like hills in the sea; crashing stormy waves are much more interesting than calm water. Only time […]
Hauraki Rail Trail – Thames
November 2022 The northern counterpart to the Otago Rail Trail is the Hauraki Rail Trail. You know the type, used to be a railway line but now a safe place to pootle along on your bike without fear of being mashed by a truck or skittled off the road by a car. We planned to […]
Tree Trunk Gorge
About an hour’s drive northeast of Ohakune, deep in the Kaimanawa Forest, the Tree Trunk Gorge track leads off a narrow road and into the bush. It follows the line of an old road associated with the Tongariro Power Scheme and is mostly wide and straightforward, albeit shared use with mountain bikes. Neil rode it […]
Tracy Annenberg 