Across the ranges through newly fallen snow was such a beautiful roadie we all behaved ourselves for the 7hours it took (minus the farting and dab jokes). Blue sky day and breath-taking vistas made for an excellent Sunday drive. Love that Goldberg residence - thank you! This week's education was take care of with a … Continue reading Rock’n’Roll living in the snowy mountains

Landing in LAX we jeeped on out quick smart to see buddy Steph, the grooviest urchin diver up Santa Barbara way. She was a great hostess - we even got to see her Mum! She patiently escorted us on a busmans holiday at the Seacentre on the pier where we got excited about jellyfish and … Continue reading Early Marching up through California

About 15 years ago Roger & Ally went to this musical festival in a national park by the sea and LOVED it. So we wanted to take the kids as part of the NZ leg of The Big Trip. It lived up to expectations - the sun shone the sea sparkled the sounds rolled.....   … Continue reading SPLORE! Ahhhhh….say no more ❤

Te Ngaere Bay was a base for exploring and learning and fishing and laughing and eating. There was a kooky tame shag, the funkiest fish smoker ever and a nonagenarian who had no idea how to drive Beatrice the mussel grinder. It was hard to leave. Day trip to Ahipara on the west coast with … Continue reading Living the beachside dream

Part of being away is about being in nature and watching what goes on with the wildlife and their surrounds over an hour or day or week(s). We were all keen as mustard to visit the biggest tree in NZ, Tane Mahuta Lord of the Forest. The magic of being in the beautiful native bush … Continue reading Treemendous and Flightastic

Over our 8 weeks in NZ we spent about 3 of them all up in Takapuna, Auckland - a beachside suburb in Aotearoa's big smoke. Ally grew up around there so the kids got bored of the number of times she said "Look - there's my old primary school!" It provided a marvellous city base … Continue reading Thanks TackyPooPoo – top place to hang…

Dad / Billy / Grandpa turned 90 on 3rd Feb so family and friends gathered from far and wide to celebrate in Devonport where he was born. Most notably, Barry and Colleen from Canada - Barry, Billy's nephew turned 70 on the same day so the festivities were double happy. Birthday activities continued all week … Continue reading Billy’s Birthday Bash