We’d continued our theme of good luck with the weather on this trip, and with another week of sun forecast things were looking up for the often wettest part of any NZ trip. Apparently they’d had a terrible Christmas and New Years in Fiordland with major flooding, endless rain and paths and huts closed but it looked pretty sweet to me currently and the endless hills stretching west from Queenstown were calling. As with the Tongariro crossing the Routeburn is ridiculously overhyped and much written about and once again it turned out to be completely justified and I’ll try to let the photos do the talking. Safe to say it’s one of my favourite and most enjoyable (if hard work at times!) days in the hills. It was so nice in fact it was actually really hard to come down from the final summit for my dinner! About 21 miles and 7500feet in total which took about 8 hours including lots of long breaks to swim in lakes and absorb spray from waterfalls etc. Kind of like a 12km trail run followed by the Aonach Eagach a couple of times over and then a descent down Sharp Edge with a final hilly 15km trail run to finish. The views get better as you go west so keeps you motivated. WARNING-ridiculously scenic photo overload apologies….

A quick hitch from the Divide got me to Cascade Creek campsite, the closest you can camp to Milford Sound and set us up nicely for a few days exploring this beautiful part of the country. Such a contrast with Queenstown, here you are camping in atmospheric forests, with lakes and waterfalls and mountain vistas in all directions replacing noisy tourists, cars and gondolas. Milford Sound really does have one of those epic scenery, car advert worthy, drives that it is worth taking your time over and soaking up the views and we had a great paddle on the sea with giant mountains in all directions. I’m running out of superlatives and adjectives but again was one of the best paddles we’ve done for scenery for sure, only negative was we started a bit late and on attempting to cross the sound to get to the obvious waterfall we were forced to turn back due to the afternoon strong onshore winds making waves that were not very child friendly. The sheltered basins and islands made a much safer and more pleasant alternative and children’s brief sobs of fear were replaced with happy giggles!

Not to be defeated we drove round and attempted to walk to the waterfall instead but sadly the path was gated and locked, so we went with plan c) an expensive boat trip to the waterfall, this was laughably short at 1 minute in the boat for 30 bucks plus 20 bucks parking, swimming might have been a better option!! Milford is the first place we’ve visited which has gone tourist crazy prices since my last visit. Though it was a nice waterfall there are plenty of nicer free ones all over NZ. Ethan (normally the politest member of the family!) summed it up well as we left telling the poor boat driver who’d already had cutting comments from Em and I, “Thanks for nothing!!” We felt bad as Ethan had been excited by all the fancy cruise ships coming in and then our tiny dinghy boat arrived! Oops, next time wee man, we’re broke now after weeks of travel!

Final day in Fiordland was an epic daddy daycare (you’ve guessed it – probably the best one ever!) while Em went up to tackle the Routeburn++ route I did a couple of days earlier – only her version started in the Holyford Valley and required even more climb to join the Routeburn, she’s tough that girl! With so many choices of walks and sights in the valley I couldn’t decide what the mini team would like best so we just did them all to compare! First up after dropping Em off at the well named very steep Deadman’s Path, was the Hollyford Valley, which has a great swimming hole with rocks to jump off, two impressive suspension bridges and a waterfall.

See what I mean about paying for stuff when it’s nature’s playground out there and all totally free. Next up was back through the Homer Tunnel which the kids love to the Chasm (should have done this yesterday with Milford but actually the views on the drive are good enough for a repeat) – this is a bit touristy and the path takes you over a mini gorge with a raging torrent under you, so so but not the usual epic scenery standard. We were walking out and noticed a track down to the river which we thought we’d investigate and were rewarded with a great swimming hole complete with deep blue pools and big jumps for daddy to do some acrobatics off the cliff. (Aka showing off)

I know certain phrases are getting rapidly overused in this blog but honestly I keep being very pleasantly surprised on this trip! NZ really does deliver scenery on a grand scale and though you miss the culture and architecture you get in cities like Edinburgh and Paris if you’re into the outdoors in any way you can’t fail to love the wild open spaces, snowy mountains and rugged beaches here…anyway I’m rambling again, back to daddy daycare. Got back to the campsite with time for one more adventure before dinner so walked through the scenic woods behind the camp to Lake Gunn which was windier than we’d hoped for a swim and SUP so changed the plan and had a fun float with four of us on the SUP across the lake and down a slightly spicy grade 1 river back to camp…time to get cooking Daddy, best part was Em returned safely from the mountains during dessert so we could sleep well after all of that!

All in all another place to very sadly leave and continue our adventures south, rapidly running out of island to explore southwards and will have to turn back North soon enough but still plenty of summer left for a few more great Kiwi adventures, watch this space…

Our two favourite places (if you haven’t guessed!) are beaches and mountains and we’d had plenty of stunning beaches so now time for some stunning mountains and a visit to Wanaka and Queenstown. We spent two nights camping at the lovely Albert Town campsite near Wanaka which is how campsites should be, right by a clear sparkling blue river under the pine trees (like Tentsmuir, Fife before they destroyed all the trees), loads of space, camp anywhere you like and basic toilets. With only one day to play with in Wanaka we of course packed in as much fun as we could, after borrowing a bike from an old climbing friend “Kiwi” Steve, I drove ten miles down river and cycled Steve’s boneshaker bike back along a very scenic mountain bike track which gave me a chance to recce the rapids and enjoy some alpine views next to and high above the river. More suited to a bike with fatter tyres, front suspension and brakes and gears that work but I somehow made it in one piece! Steve always did like to get full value out of any equipment he owned!

This set us up nicely for a paddle along the river back to the car, again equally scenic and with plenty of grade 2 rapids to test our skills. Found a lovely beach for lunch en route and a quick swim in the icy water, adults only this time due to the swift current and chilly temps. Definitely the highest volume river we’ve paddled, an air of seriousness and moving at a fair old pace, by the end we were all sat in quite a lot of water as we got hit with lots of waves and were relieved to safely reach the red bridge end point.

A quick drive back to Wanaka town to meet up with another old friend Carolyn (from camp Thoreau) and her son Dusty and a very relaxing few hours were spent on the shores of Lake Wanaka chatting, eating and of course the standard swim and SUP combo, might have to buy another SUP, hard to get a go with all these enthusiastic young people taking over, Sara especially is very keen and skilful on the board. The action packed day ended with another great BBQ at Steve’s house and plans for the mountains for next few days.

Bit of a slow start (aka a massive lie in) and we drove over the Crown range road to Queenstown and then up the slightly bonkers ski road to the Remarkables, Em went off to tackle the famous alpine ridge of Single and Double Cone aka the Grand Traverse and the kids and I went on our own alpine adventure up to scenic Lake Alta which starts out fairly average walking through ski car parks and past lifts but gets better and better the higher you go and once we found some climbing and snow to make a snowman we were converted. Very proud of little Iona aged 3 walking all the way up and down on her own steam. Sadly mummy bailed on the ridge as a bit serious without ropes and other gear but nice to see her safely back down.

We were staying in the heart of Queenstown right under the gondola and this turned out to be our least favourite NZ campsite by far, packed in like sardines with noisy backpackers in vans (party buses) all around and not many families. Still you can’t fault the location being a short stroll from town and the gondola and luge though expensive is great fun. Daddy’s day off was a trip back to the Remarkables this time for some rock climbing with Steve, great to be back in the hills and remembering what I loved about climbing, the amazing views from belay ledges and the extreme positions you get yourself into, the wild last pitch was especially memorable. We finished with the Grand Traverse which made for a great day out, much easier with ropes and gear though we didn’t use them and a second pair of eyes to find the route, could see why Em sensibly backed off, a committing line for sure. We all loved swimming in the chilly blue waters of lake Wakatipu and Em enjoyed an ascent of Ben Lomond high above town and down a dramatic ridge line to finish.

After three sleepless nights it was time to move on from busy campsite and now we decided to part ways, Em and the kids drive round to Fiordland via Te Anau and I took the scenic bus ride to Glenorchy and the start of the famous Routeburn Trek – a three day walk that I’d always wanted to run in a day. Reading some climbing guidebooks back in Wellington I’d also found a harder variant involving some scrambling along high ridges which Steve confirmed should be a goer. How did it go? You’ll have to read the next blog post to find out!

So after some great adventures on North Island we caught the Interislander ferry over to South Island. I had billed this as awesome, amazing, Scotland on steroids etc so was hoping it would live up to my hype! We opted for an early start to have plenty of time at the other end and this worked out well as after an amusing magic show on board and epic double fry up, we enjoyed the views sailing into the Marlborough Sounds and had time for a cheeky swim in the Sounds in the sunshine – surely the best way to see the Marlborough Sounds if short on time? Also on a scale from 1 flattish water to 5 sinking boats we were only a 2 so no sick children to worry about! The windy drive west from Picton to Havelock is worth taking as great views of the sounds and most of the traffic seems to go south via Blenheim.

We drove through a busy Nelson with it’s packed beaches and headed on to Marahau and Abel Tasman National Park, this was somewhere I’d remembered fondly from fifteen years ago and could only hope it was as I remembered it and not destroyed by tourism. The campsite was a good start, being right on the entrance to the national park away from the water taxi/kayak mayhem further south and was well equipped with slack line, hammocks, play park, trampoline, etc etc, looked a great place to spend four nights. Abel Tasman truly fulfilled all expectations and more with some excellent paddling and swimming in clear blue waters to golden sand beaches on remote islands, shared only with giant seals and even some caving, climbing and snorkelling for giant fresh mussels thrown in for good measure. The park seems to absorb the tourists no problem, we had space galore to swim, run and paddle. Kayaking definitely more fun than late night running, the hard packed tracks are grim work on ageing joints and knees and I finally set out once the kids were asleep without a head torch so had to run quite a lot back in the dark! Sadly no Mussel Inn this time as they’d run out if mussels! Easily remedied by finding your own at low tide…

Reluctantly we left Abel Tasman and Golden Bay, but as they say you can have too much of a good thing, and headed on westwards towards the wind and wave lashed west coast. This didn’t disappoint as our first stop at Buller Gorge Swingbridge (the longest in NZ) involved torrential rain and pesky sandflies attacking. Despite this the sun came out at times and Ethan loved whizzing across the river on the flying fox…

Second stop after a nightmare 45 minute wrong turn by Dad Chad (my excuse was whole car was asleep and I took a 50:50 guess and got it wrong) was the super scenic Punakaiki pancake rocks. This one, although I’ve been before and is tourist honey pot tastic, is well worth the trip, especially today with the 15ft swell lashing the coast meaning the blowholes were firing well.

Onto Hokitika, home of the wild foods festival and as quirky and eccentric as I’d remembered, stayed a couple of nights in a 70s decor ex psychiatric hospital (!) with stunning views out to sea, it’s own glow worm dell and we just about found somewhere sheltered enough to put the tent up. The tent now sported some very duct taped split poles from Abel Tasman, despite the glorious weather there had been some really windy nights which cheap Warehouse (think Decathlon but cheaper) £125 family tent found a bit too exciting!). Some stunning driftwood covered beaches to explore round here and we attempted surfing although it wasn’t our finest surfing experience the views more than made up for it…

Our final stop on the west coast after a long drive south was supposed to be a glacier walk at Fox Glacier and in retrospect we should have stopped at Franz Josef as every single access road at Fox Glacier was washed out meaning long walks to get anywhere near the ice. Seeing as the sun was shining we had no excuse not to try so we plodded up the boring forest gravel track and eventually reached some okay views of the glacier, which we made instantly better by ignoring the danger signs and venturing out onto the moraine. (Don’t worry Grannies, we did a full risk assessment of the situation!) This gave proper remote glacier feeling and excellent views and we had a fun adventure following the moraine down and finding a secret trail back through the woods. Sadly the good weather ended as quickly as it had started and we got a proper west coast soaking, which required much cajoling of sad children to get back to the van and dry clothes! Finally we finished our west coast experience with an excellent seafood and buffet meal at the atmospheric Hard Antler pub at Haast before heading over the scenic Haast Pass to arrive pretty late in Wanaka. We were treated to plenty of stunning mountain scenery and were looking forward to some mountain adventures to come…

Em and I had both read up on the famous Tongariro Crossing and we were keen to get up into the volcanic mountain landscape and see it for ourselves, it didn’t disappoint either despite the crowds on the route as stunning views in all directions. We had a very different experience too as I opted to go off piste and add in Ngauruhoe (35 degree scree, painful ascent and fun and fast descent) and Tongariro volcanoes plus two other excellent little hills off the main track, this worked well as I got a longer harder run (approx 17 miles and 2000m if interested, normal route is 12 miles and only 400m climb) and avoided the masses apart from at the start and the end. The higher volcanoes are apparently sacred and shouldn’t be climbed but so are most of the high mountains in New Zealand and kiwis I met later agreed that they’d climbed them too and it’s really just to keep the masses from heading up and destroying the landscape, the numbers on the crossing are frightening and lots are ill prepared or foolish (carrying a baby in a high mountain environment, really?) The following day Em was shuttled to the start as I had been to be told it was too windy and they weren’t allowed to start. Being made of stern stuff she was dropped at the finish and ran nearly the whole route twice as an out and back half into the headwind. (Umm this would have been easier mr bus driver with a tailwind but hey ho??). Anyway I’m rambling, I’ll let the pictures sum up a walk that truly lives up to the hype, even the standard route has some epic views….

Best thing about camping on Lake Taupo is after a day of breathing in volcanic dust and getting hot and bothered you can retreat to your campsite and swim and SUP to your heart’s content…

While Em was up in the hills the mini team and I also found some excellent waterfalls north of Taupo and visited the tasty Huka Honey Farm where we gorged ourselves on endless honey, mead and liqueur samples, final night in Taupo we also feasted on BBQed New Zealand lamb, kebabs and plenty more, hungry work all this travelling!

Sadly all good things come to an end and we left Taupo and headed west to Tauramanui and the famous Whanganui river journey, which is anything from a few hours up to 5 days on the river. We opted for the quick fix (3 year olds have short attention spans!) and enjoyed the great grade 1 and 2 rapids on a 15km section of the river near the start. It felt similar in size and difficulty to the River Tay with plenty of interest but the waterfalls and cliffs on the banks were definitely not Scottish style paddling….

A quick run and hitch back to the car and onwards westwards onto the Forgotten World Highway which took us on a remote winding journey through endless hills, it had a few highlights of gorges, tunnels and views but to be honest went on forever (42 year olds have even shorter attention spans!). and we were glad to see the impressive mount Taranaki looming ahead and finally reached New Plymouth where we celebrated a big day of travel with a slap up fish supper on the shore and moved into the next campsite at Oakura start of the surf highway, after days inland it was nice to hear the waves crashing outside the tent again. The Surf highway lives up to it’s name with beautiful remote beaches and some great waves for surfing, all with Taranaki looming overhead which is quite something (though it’s in the cloud a lot of the time being over 2000m higher than the beach!). Paritutu Rock is worth seeking out – a dramatic mini mountain overlooking New Plymouth and the sea which packs more climbing into a 400m walk than you’d think possible!

A big drive south followed after a final surf but we were blessed with a couple of nights at a friend’s empty house in Wellington complete with home brew, pool and water slide! (thanks Lani, you’re a star!) A fun day was had exploring predictably windy Wellington – Te Papa museum is excellent (and free!) and strolling along the waterfront, up the cable car and down through the botanic gardens a nice loop. Friendly locals shouting “Happy New Year” also made us smile, on that note happy new year to everyone reading this far (sorry this post got a bit longer than most! We seem to be packing in the action lately!) and we’ll see you next on the South Island, choppy interisland ferry and no doubt sick children first, wish me luck….

After a slightly silly diversion via the Waitomo Caves we reached the strong Sulphur smells of Rotorua – great campsite near the lake unless you value your children more than I do – hazards at every turn, with scalding steam in the bushes, boiling water rivers, violent boiling mud behind the tent and so on! On the plus side there were unlimited hot showers and some toasty on-site spa pools plus a steam cooker which was great for Christmas dinner, Em wore the gloves and braved the steam. Due to it being summer we found it hard to feel festive but after a marathon of Disney Christmas CDs in the car we got there and it’s amazing how just a little tinsel and some stockings can make the difference. Christmas Day we awoke to torrential rain and had to dash for the kitchen to eat breakfast and this theme continued with more in the evening and into Boxing Day. In between monsoons we did fit in a paddle on Lake Rotoiti searching for elusive glow worm caves and a waterfall walk to the impressive Tutea falls. Other days were spend learning about kiwis at the excellent kiwi sanctuary at Rainbow Springs which built up the tension nicely with some history, followed by meeting a baby kiwi in the hatchery (Sara was in love) before looking for the grown ones in the nocturnal rooms. This contrasted nicely with the Big Splash ride outside. Final trip in Rotorua was the excellent and colourful Wai O Tapu which is an action packed volcanic walk with geysers, and coloured volcanic activity galore and we finished with a dip in the (slightly smelly) waters of nearbyKerosene Creek which had a great natural rapid ride and waterfall though a bit exciting at times as the children got swept down the river and had to be grabbed before the waterfall!

The campsites so far had been a bit too holiday park feeling, in that you could have been anywhere but the next one on the shores of Lake Taupo with views across the lake from the tent, this will be an excellent base to spend a few days…

Leaving Auckland for the last time felt great after too many days here, and once the 36 hours of rain had dried up it was onto the Coromandel peninsula, easy one to skip as looks like a dead end but you’d be missing out, it’s packed with fun things to see and do, first job was an exciting drive up the windy and windy west coast dodging some massive waves crashing over the road and car, we had been informed this drive was millpond flat, but not today!

Coromandel town proved a nice stop to stock up on supplies and fresh mussels and we enjoyed the quirky mountain railway north of town, before driving over the hills and down to our campsite at Kuaotunu Bay. We had this campsite pretty much all to ourselves due to being the end of the school term which was a nice touch. This also meant that the super honeypot tourist attractions of Cathedral Cove and Hotwater Bay were busy but not crazy and both lived up to the hype with stunning beaches, great views and you can’t beat digging your own hole in the sand and soaking in the relaxing warm water. We also explored the remote Opito Bay and enjoyed a walk along our local beach to do some fishing off the rocks using worms we found under rocks at the campsite, a very relaxing place to spend a few days and somewhere we could easily have stayed a week…

We now had our first difficult decision of the trip, to head West to Raglan’s world famous surf break or South to volcanic Rotorua, after some reshuffling of the plans we of course decided to do both with a bit of a zigzag and after a long drive we pitched up at Raglan for some epic surfing at Manu Bay (made famous in Endless Summer) – some of the biggest waves I’ve ever surfed and really satisfying long rides across the bay. Should have stayed longer than two nights in Raglan, nice vibe to the place and evening swimming in the harbour (more like a tidal estuary) and having dinner on the beach was a nice touch. Kids starting to get tired of being on the road and camping I think, definitely a higher incidence of temper tantrums the last few days, hopefully this won’t continue!! Missing our van but large family tent seems to work and saves a lot of money in accommodation…

Final stop on this leg of the journey was the famous Waitomo caves and again we weren’t sure whether we wanted to sell out with tourist attractions so soon but this one is worth paying for, the lighting in the impressive caves is really well done, the tour guide did a great job and the final boat trip past lots of glowworms was a fine finish….next stop Rotorua for Christmas in the sun…onward!

Kia Ora to New Zealand! So we finally made it after an even longer long haul flight to Auckland, this time via Fiji which is recommended as a stopover as they entertain you with live music and free flowers in the transit lounge….

Normal service resumed as we just squeezed our mountain of luggage into the hire car and set about getting immigration medicals, finding a car and most importantly surfboards (Em pretty happy with the blue 9ft longboard and Ethan with his first ever board too). Staying at Ed and Kerri’s house was the perfect start to the trip as they pretty much live in a rainforest and have kids the same age as ours who all got on really well. With the car (more of a minivan with 8 seats and plenty of space for luggage mountain) packed to the max it was time to head north, great to escape the Auckland traffic finally…

…and before we knew it we’d scored an amazing sunny beach with perfect waves at Waipu Cove, Em absolutely loving the new board, finally feeling like a holiday, and less like an endless journey…

Three very pleasant days were had surfing and boating up at the Bay of Islands before rain stopped play, I foolishly said that it only rained a little in New Zealand and of course I was swiftly put in my place by so much rain at the campsite that our giant family tent started floating on water and being battered by strong winds (sadly no pics of the misery!!) and we had to pack quickly and flee back the safety of Auckland and a lovely dinner and real beds Chez Wendy and Peter…

Defrosting the car in Bedfordshire blue skies we wrestled with our twenty pieces of luggage (!) and headed to Gatwick on the train, excitement starting to build….

Turns out this was the best way to get a mountain of luggage and three small children to Gatwick, as station staff and check in staff at Norwegian (check in desk conveniently right next to station) couldn’t have been more helpful and before we knew it we were checked in and on our way westwards, flight mostly okay with endless movies to watch but last three hours were a punishing mix of vomiting Ethan and Iona unleashing her full temper tantrums about having to be strapped in for landing. Instantly hit with the heat and humidity of LA (certainly not winter here) and with tired eyes on stalks (really need to take up coffee drinking for late night drives) I quickly adjusted to LA driving, basically drive bumper to bumper at all speeds and be prepared for exciting 8 lane changes to make your exit! Finally we reached Newport Beach and our beachside apartment and could relax…

Spent five busy days seeing the sights of LA, and was a lot of fun despite reeking of rampant capitalism at times, somehow seems wrong to pay 25 dollars for parking at Disneyland when it’s only 9 bucks for a Botox injection. In fact Disneyland at 150 dollars for adults and a bargain 140 for children was eye watering prices, and snapping a hired long board with a big pacific shore dump wave was also an expensive start to the trip! Great to see Sam and Sam for the long weekend though I think the mini team may have tired them out! I’ll let the pictures tell the story, next stop Fiji…

Well as the saying goes all good things come to an end, and after a very busy week packing up the house and cleaning out the mountains of kids toys the sun finally set on our time in Scotland. We said our farewells to our lovely home in Brewery Close and set off South to begin our adventures, next stop Los Angeles en route to New Zealand. Will definitely miss South Queensferry’s friendly community and local events like the Ferry Fair and Christmas Lights turning on , the local beaches on our doorstep and the “worlds finest cycle commute TM “to work via Dalmeny Estate and Cramond prom but definitely excited for whatever fun adventures lie ahead….

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Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

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