Category: New Zealand

Itinerary

• 2019
• October 20 – 28 – Auckland
• October 28 – November 4 – Parua Bay
• November 4 – 11 – Coopers Beach, Northland
• November 11 – 18 – Taupo
• November 18 – 25 – Oakura
• November 25 – December 2 – Napier
• December 2 – 7 – Wellington
• December 7 – Ferry to the South Island
• December 7 – 16 – Nelson (including one night up in Collingwood, Golden Bay)
• December 16 – 23 – Picton
• December 23 – 30 – Rapaki (Lyttleton Harbour, Christchurch area)
• 2020
• December 30-January 6 – Christchurch
• January 6 – 13 – Dunedin
• January 13 – 16 – Catlins
• January 16 – 23 – Wanaka
• January 23 – 27 – Manapouri, Fjordland
• January 27 – February 3 – Alexandra
• February 3 February 10 – Wanaka
• February 10 – 17 – Omarama
• February 17 – 21 – Queenstown
• February 21 – 26 – Kakanui
• February 26 – 28 – Kaikora
• February 28 – March 6 – Blenheim
• March 6 – Ferry to North Island
• March 6 – 11 – Wellington
• March 11 – 16 – National Park
• March 16 -23 – Gisborne
• March 23-May 15 – Bay of Plenty – Coronavirus Lockdown
• May 15-30 – Whangarei Heads, Northland
• May 30-June 22 – Cable Bay, Northland
• June 22-July 20 – Whangarei Heads, Northland
• July 20-July 27 – Tairua, Coromandel
• July 27-August 10 – Raglan
• August 10-September 15 – Matarangi, Coromandel
• September 15 – October 8 – Cable Bay, Northland
• October 8-October 10 – Bethell’s Beach, Waitakere, Auckland region
• October 10-24 – Oakura, Taranaki
• October 24-31 – Ohakune, Tongariro
• November-Mid-December – Wellington Region (Kapiti Coast, Welly, Martinborough)
• December 14 – Ferry to the South Island
• December 14-21 – Nelson
• December 21 – January 4, 2021 – Rapaki, Christchurch region
• 2021
• January 4 – February 8 – Wanaka
• February 8-15 – Oamaru
• February 15-March 1 – Moeraki
• March 1-15 – Kakanui
• March 15-April 20 – Queenstown
• April 20-28 – Wanaka
• April 28-May 1 – Tekapo, Aoraki region
• May 1-2 – Picton/Waiwaka
• May 2 – Ferry to the North Island
• May 2-10 – Wellington
• May 10-28 – East Cape Road Trip (Wairoa, Tokomaru Bay, Hicks Bay, Ohope Beach)
• May 28-June 25 – Piha, Waitakere, Auckland Region
• June 25 – August 2 – Whangarei Heads, Northland
• August 2-October 12 – Piha (There when Auckland Delta Lockdown commenced and stayed rather than leave on 23 Aug as planned for time in Coro, Waiheke and Kapiti)
• October 12-14 – Wellington
• October 14 – Ferry to the South Island
• October 14-15 – Blenheim
• October 15-18 – Christchurch
• October 18-November 22 – Wanaka
• November 22-December 20 – Queenstown
• December 20-24 – Diamond Harbour, Christchurch
• December 24 – January 4 – Governors Bay, Christchurch (Pet Sitting)
• 2022
• January 5-15 – Rolleston, Christchurch (Pet Sitting)
• January 15-16 – Blenheim
• January 16 – Ferry to North Island
• January 16-29 – Seatoun, Wellington
• January 29-Feb 7 – Petone, Wellington (Pet Sitting)
• Feb 7-Feb 11 – Paekakariki, Kapiti Coast Wellington
• Feb 11-March 2 – Seatoun, Wellington
• March 2 – Ferry to South Island
• March 2-4 – Blenheim
• March 4-14 – Christchurch (Pet Sitting)
• March 15-16 – Waiheke (Pet Sit Eval Visit)
• March 16-30 – Lower Shotover, Queenstown
• March 30-April 13 – Wanaka
• April 13-April 23 – Lower Shotover, Queenstown (Pet Sitting)
• April 23-April 30 – Wanaka (Pet Sitting)
• May 1 – 8 – Caitlins (Pet Sitting)
• May 9-15 – Wanaka (Pet Sitting)
• May 15-18 – Fjordland Road Trip
• May 18-23 – Hawea (Pet Sitting)
• May 23-26 – West Coast Road Trip
• May 26-June 7 – Nelson (Pet Sitting)
• June 7-9 – Abel Tasman Road Trip
• June 9-12 – Hamner Springs (Pet Sitting)
• June 12-16 – Arrowtown
• June 16-July 4 – USA – Family Visit Trip
• July 4- August 13 – Wanaka (Pet Sitting)
• August 13-18 – Cromwell/Bannockburn/Queenstown
• August 18-Sept 13 – Lower Shotover Queenstown (Pet Sitting)
• September 14-26 – Wanaka (Pet Sitting)
• September 26 – October 10 – Kakanui coast
• October 10-19 – Wanaka
• October 19-26 – Wanaka (Pet Sitting)
• October 26-29 – Traveling North
• October 29- November 24 – Taurikura Bay, Whangarei Heads
• November 25, 2022 – Depart Aotearoa New Zealand for Portland, OR, USA

We’re now in our 21^st month here in Aotearoa/New Zealand and still absolutely loving our time in this amazing country.  Although we stopped posting a weekly journal when COVID hit, we continue to live in a state of constant wonder at the beauty of both the land and the people embracing us here.

So why did we stop weekly journal posts?

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We have an abundance of goodness to be thankful for this year.  Near the top of that list is our gratitude for our family and friends who have been so supportive of our decision to undertake full time international travel and then of our further decision to stay here in New Zealand during the global pandemic. 

And in this socially distanced year, what could be a more fitting way to express our appreciation for you than a set of scenic New Zealand videoconference background images?  Or if you are fortunate enough not to spend hours in meetings, these can be used as desktop wallpaper for your computer screen.

You can use virtual backgrounds in Zoom, Skype, Google Meet or Microsoft Team meetings.  (No such joy for Facetime.) 

And it is even easier to swap out your Desktop Wallpaper with an image or even a slideshow of images.

We have appropriately sized some of our blog favorites from our first six months here in Aotearoa and provided them for you to download. 

Continue reading “New Zealand Screen Backgrounds for You”

First, let’s get this out of the way…

It hasn’t been the year we expected to have, but that is true for everyone in the world.  The first five months proceeded relatively as planned, with just the early 2020 lack of tourists from China foretelling the massive change to all our lives.  Since then, everything has changed around the world.  Although not the focus of this reflection, it can’t be ignored.

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It goes without saying that the world is vastly different than it was six months ago. Here in New Zealand, things are also vastly different than they were four months ago when I last wrote about COVID so I wanted to provide an update on our lives here in this country that has managed the pandemic so very well.

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Long beach walks, daily at both sunrise and sunset were my lockdown rituals. These added beauty, certainty and variety to an unsettling time when those things were so hard to come by in a world rocked by COVID-19.

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How incredibly fortunate we are.  We magically started our next chapter of life in one of the few countries that has been able to successfully control the COVID outbreak thus far.  Strong leadership, belief in science, a community-minded citizenry and a people who are used to being the underdog taking on great challenges, all combined to make New Zealand’s response “hard and fast” and supported by the overwhelming majority of the population. 

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Clearly we are several months behind on updating this blog, but rest assured, we have kept a good journal and plan to catch up someday.  Our problem is choosing from all the thousands of beautiful pictures.

In the meantime, I wanted to post a quick update for anyone with whom we’re not in regular contact.  We are still in New Zealand and are in full lockdown in Papamoa, on the Bay of Plenty, on the North Island. The beach cottage we had rented for the week has turned into an indefinite stay through the kindness and unbelievable good will shown to us by our host.  We have been treated like whānau (extended family) by a family we have only spoken to on the phone.  We’ll never forget their embodiment of the national directive of “Be Kind” that so many New Zealanders are practicing in these challenging times.

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Gisborne, on the central east coast, is the timber capital of New Zealand and has been suffering since the timber trade with China was severely impacted by China’s shutdown.  The beach-strewn coast here lies on Poverty Bay (named by Captain Cook because he was unsuccessful collecting food here, despite its abundance.) It is located just south of the East Cape, which is a very rural part of NZ jutting out into the Pacific to form the bottom arm of the Bay of Plenty (our next destination.) 

Wainui Beach itself is a small settlement of about 1500 people just north of Gisborne and is well-known as a surfing mecca.

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As we were planning our trip to New Zealand, I was torn whether to do all our visiting of Tongariro from our time in Taupo or add additional time closer to the park.  I chose the latter to buy some insurance for good weather to enjoy it but decided against a full week there. 

You will recall that we had a wonderful day in the park hiking Tama Lakes back in the spring while in Taupo and that increased our anticipation for this visit. We chose to stay in a small farm town with easy access to multiple parts of the park in order to take full advantage.  Unfortunately, that plan didn’t quite come to fruition beyond day 1.

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