Where's Grayleen?

These amazing “glow worms” look just like stars on the roof of the caves in which they dwell.   They are actually larvae of a gnat and attract flying insects with their lights and then trap them in saliva-covered threads dangling from the ceiling.  Yum!
More photos from our caving and abseiling experience are here.  (Thanks Denise [...]

[Read more →]

Meet Bunny, our campervan! No, we did not name her ourselves, she came with the name.
We’ve received several requests now to see this campervan of ours and to get a better idea of how exactly we’re living these days. Here ya go:
We’re really enjoying the campervan life. We’re free to move about [...]

[Read more →]

The Tongariro Crossing is touted as the best day hike in New Zealand. It’s a 13 miles trip across Tongariro National Park where hikers pass over the top of the saddle between two big volcanoes, Mt Ngauruhoe and Mt Tongariro. As Lord of the Rings fans may know, Mt Ngauruhoe starred as Mt [...]

[Read more →]

We took a break from driving around the top of the North island and spent a leisurely afternoon playing big chess at a winery in Kumeu.  After several hours of careful play, the winery closed and we were forced to call it a draw.
Click here for some more pictures from in and around the Auckland [...]

[Read more →]

As soon as we drove into the Bay of Islands area, we knew we had to spend a few days there. It is absolutely gorgeous, its turquoise waters speckled with islands large and small. Every guidebook and website we encountered said that the only proper way of experiencing the Bay of Islands is [...]

[Read more →]