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  • Mhari May
  • Callum Kitcher
  • Mhari May
  • Callum Kitcher

New Zealand

An open-ended adventure by Mhari & Callum Read more
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  • Trip start
    August 10, 2025
    New Zealand

    Christchurch

    August 10, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 0 °C

    WE'RE BACKKKKK!!

    After a sad goodbye, we started our journey to New Zealand!

    We landed in Christchurch, headed to pick up the camper, and before we knew it, we were on the road!

    All I can say is, Arthur's Pass, you're gorgeous. Bring on tomorrow!Read more

  • New Zealand

    Arthurs Pass 🐦‍⬛

    August 11, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

    One word to describe our first wake up in the camper.......baltic!!!

    Once we eventually managed to get ourselves up and out of the blanket, we attempted to put the kettle on and do some eggs. Attempted being the word......the water pipe was frozen so we couldn't turn the tap on for the kettle 😂

    First stop, Arthurs Pass Village for a coffee and a pie. Wow, the pie was incredible!

    2 minutes up the road was Devil's Punchbowl Waterfall, this was surprisingly a harder walk than we imagined, but once we got to the top it was very well worth it, as the waterfall was beautiful!

    Today was due to be a chilled day without loads of stops and walks, however due to our morning not taking as long as we thought, we decided we'd add another stop in. Lake Brunner in Moana was the decided option on route, and we were very happy this decision was made, because it was magical!

    After a little drive we checked in and parked up at our first paid campsite. As soon as we were all plugged in, we went straight off out along the beachfront for a walk to see the Hokitika sign and shipwreck.

    Dinner cooked, washing up done, glow-worms seen, firestick plugged in so into bed we go for the night!    Read more

  • New Zealand

    Hokitika - Franz Josef ⛲️

    August 12, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 6 °C

    Good morning, Hokitika!

    We woke up, got ready, and headed towards Hokitika Gorge as recommended by the lady at the campsite.

    The Gorge did not disappoint! The water was so cloudy blue it didn't look real! We've honestly never seen water so beautiful.

    After we finished off at the Gorge, we started our journey towards Franz Josef. We stopped off at Dorothy Falls and Lake Kaniere, took in the views, and stopped off for a picnic.

    We got into Franz Josef at around 5:30pm, so we had a little explore of the campsite, enjoyed a bottle of wine, made our famous yellow curry noodles and then tucked ourselves up for the night😊    Read more

  • New Zealand

    Franz Josef 🧊

    August 13, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 3 °C

    It's Heli Hike day!!!!

    To say that we were excited would have been a massive understatement. Thankfully, the weather was on our side, it was blue skies with not a cloud in sight!

    Before we knew it, we were checked in, and all kitted up, ready for our 3rd helicopter ride since leaving home. The views on the way up were spectacular, but nothing beats the jaw-dropping backdrop that greeted up as soon as we landed.

    We spend the next 2 hours walking around the glacier, taking in the sights, and most importantly, trying not to slip over!

    As the trip came to an end, we enjoyed our helicopter ride back down to the base camp where we continued our journey.

    We stopped over at Lake Matheson and enjoyed a 4km walk around the reflective lake and then carried on until we reached our stop for the night in Haast.    Read more

  • New Zealand
    111

    Haast - Wanaka 🚌

    August 14, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C

    We were up and out this morning, ready for our drive down the Haast Pass to Wanaka.

    We stopped off at the Blue Pools, which thankfully have recently been reopened! The views were, as you can see, absolutely gorgeous.

    We then made our way to Wanaka, where we had some lunch and soaked in the mountain views. After we had eaten all we could for breakfast/lunch, we made our way to the Secret Sauna. This stop did not disappoint. The views were to die for, the plunge in the lake after each cycle was questionable, however soooo refreshing!

    The free spot to sleep tonight was absolutely incredible, shout out to Callum for finding this gem!💎    Read more

  • New Zealand

    Wanaka ⛰️

    August 15, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Another free camp stop, we were so lucky that no one else decided to park up for the night as we had the most beautiful view all to ourselves.

    The 3.15am alarm went off and we got up and ready to tackle the 3 hour uphill hike to Roys Peak which was ahead of us! As we adventured off with our head torches on, we were completely unaware of what we were in for, because my goodness when they say uphill hike, they meant it! No rest for the legs that's for sure!

    8k later, we made it to the top! Wow the view was postcard worthy, it was insane. We ventured off round the side of the highest peak, where it was all snow capped mountains in view. I sent the drone up (only a little bit as it was very windy) to capture the gorgeous view.

    After a few photos, Mhari suggested we do a little video, so once I clicked the record button and put the remote down, it was the perfect time to make the most of this once in a lifetime scenery, so yes.....I got down on one knee and asked the big big question.....luckily Mhari said yes 😅

    It really was the most special moment together ❤️

    Once we eventually got down back to the bottom, after the most horrific 3 hour hike, all down hill with intense stress on the knees, we got straight back to the van and continued with the rest of our day. Thankfully this entailed very little as we were so excited yet so exhausted, so it was a nice lazy day in the van for us!

    15/08/2025 - Roy's Peak - A very special day ❤️    Read more

  • New Zealand

    Queenstown🍔

    August 16, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    OUCH! Those are the first words both of us heard this morning. My goodness, ALL the muscles in our bodies are SORE!

    The memories, however, will last a lifetime💍

    We classed today as a rest day, so we headed into town for a famous Ferg Burger (look at the size of the one that Callum chose!!!), and had a wonder around the front and the shops.

    After we'd stuffed our faces and attempted to somewhat walk it off, we decided to have a game of disc golf. It was soooo satisfying seeing the man who boosts his natural talent with playing all sports crumble under the pressure! We did, however, give it our best shot!

    To finish off the day, we used our free vouchers to the ice bar, had a cocktail, and frosted ourselves even more!🧊    Read more

  • New Zealand

    Queenstown 🚤

    August 17, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    After a so called rest day yesterday, it was back to us having an adventure/ adrenaline day (this was all Mhari's doing).

    Luckily we managed to watch the boxing this morning, all of the 1 and a half minute it lasted, but we were successful, so it was a good start to the day!

    A 10.45am pick up time for the first activity.....Shot over Red Jet- the most exciting jet ride in the world apparently. This did not disappoint, 90km/h through the gorge doing 360 spins and close call crashes to the side of the big boulders was great fun!

    Next, unfortunately for my sake, it was time for the next pick up, the Shot over Canyon Swing! Once, we were all weighed, checked in and signed our lives away, it was time to choose the way we did the jump.

    Luckily, this decision wasn't a hard one to agree on, we both chose the chainsaw dismantle from 109m high. Although, this really wasn't my idea and I was regretting my decision to go along with it, it actually was great fun in the end (yes I know my face doesn't look like it, but it was).

    After a nice spot for lunch and a little bit of shopping, we walked back to the camp site and had a nice chilled evening in the van. We're back on the road tomorrow!    Read more

  • New Zealand

    Queenstown - Ta Anau 🚐

    August 18, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 4 °C

    Today we had a travel day in preparation for our Milford Sound cruise tomorrow.

    Hello snow!

    Once we arrived in Ta Anau, we had a walk into town, mainly to get Mhari's steps up and then headed back to the campsite for an early night 😊Read more

  • New Zealand
    1

    Milford Sound 🏔

    August 19, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    An earlier morning than usual for us, as we were up and out, driving to Milford Sound for our cruise at 10:45am.

    The drive to the port was gorgeous, looking at the hundreds of snow capped mountains, which were topped up with fresh snow landing as we were driving past.

    Before we knew it, we had safely made it to the port, checked in, and were boarding the boat. Although we only saw a few waterfalls due to a lack of rainfall, the views were beautiful. Who knew that waterfalls could be so tall!

    After we'd soaked up the sights, we headed to the cafe for some lunch as we wanted to continue with Callum's new life moto 'a pie a day keeps the doctor away'.

    We had a look through our itinerary and decided that we would squeeze in a hike today to save us a whole day tomorrow. That being said, we made our way to Lake Marian, for what we thought was an easy 6km walk around a lake.

    It didn't take long before it dawned on us that this was no easy 6km walk. This was a full blown uphill hike, consisting of 10000's of loose rocks and tree roots coming out from everywhere. I'd confidently say that both of us rolled our ankles and stubbed our toes at least 1 thousand times each.

    After 1.5 hours of uphill hell, we made it to the lake, and all our worries and pain disappeared. It was gorgeous! The next problem... getting back down.

    Thankfull the downhill hike was a lot quicker than the uphill. However, we did cop some nasty ankle rolls and a booboo to Callum's right knee!

    We made it to solid ground and made our way to the campsite for the night, which was a hefty 3 hours away. The roads were pretty daunting at night, but thankfully, we didn't have to worry about any kangaroos or koala's in the road this time around!

    We arrived in Kingston, parked up, made some dinner and then were out like a light!    Read more

  • New Zealand

    Kingston - Lake Pukaki 🏔

    August 20, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 5 °C

    After a restful sleep, we were up and out!

    We decided that we couldn't go past Queenstown without another Fergburger, so we stopped in our favourite town and indulged ourselves. YUM! Ferg, you have our hearts🍔

    We soon left and hit the road again, soaking up the beautiful views. We dont need to say much more as the pictures speak for us!

    If we were not speechless already, we certainly were when we got to our free camp for the night... WOW!

    We sat in ore before Callum got ants in his pants, so we had a little walk and played some ball golf to keep him entertained!

    What a day🤍    Read more

  • New Zealand

    Lake Pukaki - Lake Tekapo 🥾

    August 21, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 6 °C

    After watching a gorgeous sunrise from bed, we slowly got up and prepped for our next hike... thankfully, we are somewhat rested and recovered from the last one!

    Today, we were taking on the Sealy Tarns trail, which, after some research, consists of 2200 steps. Rip our legs!

    We arrived, full of spirit, positivity and repeating our new life mantra... slow and steady wins the race. With that, we started the steep ascend.

    After multiple stops, countless 'ouch', 'my knees', 'my legs are on fire' and each of us questioning our life decisions, we made it to the top. I spent some time taking in the views, whilst Callum made a game of throwing snow balls off the top, waiting for the sound of the snow ball hitting the ground below and then laughing... we're all different!

    Thankfully, the downhill was not as painful as Roy's Peak, although we did have very shaky legs by the end! We had some lunch and then made our way to Lake Tekapo.

    I'm not sure how I did it, but I managed to get Callum out for another walk down to the town. We had the delight of remaking Ben's selfie and photo from 11 years ago and brought some more stickers for Callum's bottle.

    On the way back we decided to give the hot pools ago, so on go the togs! For the first time in 2 weeks, we were both warm!! The pools were beautiful, and the sunset made it even better!

    We walked back to the campsite and took in the night sky as Tekapo is famous for stargazing. After so much adventure today, it wasn't long before we were both out for the count!    Read more

  • New Zealand

    Lake Tekapo - Kaikoura ⛳

    August 22, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    Breakfast, showered and cleaned up ready to leave all before 9am for what reason you ask.....there were 9 holes of golf to be completed 😍

    Wow, the views were absolutely stunning! Once the first couple of holes were out of the way, and I got used to the fact that the greens were like landing on concrete, it was so nice to be back swinging the club again!

    Also, I may add with how nice it was that mhari got involved and was determined to finish a full hole, which she also managed to do by sinking a 25ft put (not that it's hard but she's better at putting than me).

    Once all the fun was complete, we unfortunately had a long day on the road ahead! 5 hours of driving was complete and we arrived at Kaikoura just in time before the reception closed.

    After all of the research about the seals and the positive feedback from Nan & Grandad, we very much look forward to exploring into town tomorrow and seeing the wildlife!    Read more

  • New Zealand

    Kiakoura 🦭

    August 23, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 9 °C

    Admin & adventure day today! This was the first time since Queenstown where we could allow the van to stay parked up and not move it for the whole day....how nice!

    Once a nice deep clean of the van was completed, we put the bedding and clothes in for a wash, and sat down at our living room table catching up on some sports highlights!

    Corrrr, how nice did it feel to have all of our clothes, bedding and towels washed and dried, without having to hang it all up and make the van into a launderette.

    Due to the fact that today was a celebration of Tom 🤍, it would have been very rude not to head to the cafe and have a nice breakfast/lunch!

    A very well known tradition for a Tom day, is that we have chocolate cake or something related to chocolate, which means one thing also, we have to earn that with a nice long walk and many steps.......well that's exactly what we did!

    Although the hike was a lot longer and tougher on the legs than we originally expected, we got to see soooooo many seals sunbathing on the rocks, as well as some beautiful views on route.

    In no coincidence at all, we somehow managed to end up on 'Tom's Track' which made the walk and afternoon that little bit sweeter 😊

    Wine was poured, beer was opened, dinner was eaten, and we were all tucked up in bed ready to eat our well deserved chocolate whilst having netflix on! What a beautiful day!    Read more

  • New Zealand

    Kiakoura - Wellington ⛴️

    August 24, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 10 °C

    Goodbye South Island, Hello North Island!

    Today, we started our trip early, driving up the coast to Picton and then getting the ferry over to Wellington. Of course, we couldn't resist another seal lookout, so we spent some time watching the pups jumping around the water and playing IT.

    The ferry was super slow, but after a little nap and Callum reading half a book, we made it!

    Onto the next stage of our adventure!    Read more

  • New Zealand

    Wellington - New Plymouth ⛰️

    August 25, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    The north island adventure officially begins.

    Unfortunately today was another longer travel day, with a total of 4/5 hours driving. The scenery on route, was completely different to the South Island. The snow capped mountains had suddenly taken a rest, and were replaced with constant hills, greenery, cows, sheep and the occasional alpaca.

    We were on schedule for another big difference in terms of hiking, we were going for more of an afternoon hike, which was looking likely to end up with us returning in the dark. Therefore, the head torches were packed.

    Off we set, from research, we were fully aware that we had steps ahead of us.....a lot of them. However, fortunately for us the trail was very well built and had a wooden track to follow from start to finish, so we were very happy and impressed.

    We absolutely smashed the way up, beating the expected time by half an hour!

    Let's just say that in classic Callum fashion, I was a little disappointed by the view we got from a hike that took 2hrs! The photos we saw online, showed a really cool reflective lake in front of a big solo mountain peak......well let's just say I've seen bigger puddles in Southampton!

    Hayho, the disappointment aside, it was still beautiful! As of late, we have been predicting the time we are going to get back to the van from our hikes (Mhari is winning 2-0), and unfortunately Mhari won this one again, as we flew back down!

    Tonight was a free camp stop for the night, so we parked up in a small council car park, had some dinner and read a few chapters of our book before getting some sleep!    Read more

  • New Zealand

    New Plymouth - Waitimo ♟️

    August 26, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Today, took a slight change of plans due to the fact that the Waitomo Glowworm Caves didn't have any availability for us, so we took the time slot of 9am tomorrow.

    This allowed us to slow down a little and have an explore around New Plymouth. The sun was out, jumpers were off and were fully taking in the warmer weather.

    Another day, another successful pie for Callum. After a review to Mhari each an everytime, I'm still unfortunately competing for a pie to take over top spot at Arthur's Pass (all the way at the start of the trip 🤦).

    Once we finished having a nice stroll around the town, we got back onto the road and headed to our campsite for the evening. Of course we can't just sit and relax doing nothing when I'm around, so we walked over to the big game of chess, which you will all laugh at but I'm very proud of Mhari for having the patience to participate in the whole game and finish it (she didn't really know what she was doing, but we got it done!).

    To finish off the evening before we cooked up some dinner, we decided to use the facilities and jump in the hot tub, which was a lovely way to relax before we settled in the van for the evening!

    Glow worm cave tour tomorrow!    Read more

  • New Zealand
    2

    Waitomo - Taupō 🐛

    August 27, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Glow worms, here we come!

    We packed up and headed to the Waitomo Caves. We had our first taste of Māori customs and culture, learning about the first explorers of the Waitomo Caves, as well as everything glow worm or should I say glow maggot.

    Following this, we were back on the road, heading towards Taupo.

    First things first, the most scenic McDonalds in the world... what else? Unfortunately, there were no veggie options. However, it would be rude not to explore the Maccers airplane, which was part of the restaurant!

    We stopped off at Hukka Falls and were mesmerised by the speed of the water! FYI, you'd be very dead if you decided you wanted a dip.

    We had some boring life admin to do, so we headed to the shops to do a food shop and then parked up at the free camp for the night.    Read more

  • New Zealand

    Taupō - Rotorua 💨

    August 28, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    After a slow morning, we started our journey to Rotorua. Before we get into it too much, I'd like to make an official apology to Alison Jewell. Mum warned us about what we were going to experience in Rotorua, but I completely ignored it and put it down to her overreacting ways... but no.

    The warning you ask?! THE SMELL!! I have never in my life been to a place that smells so horrendously of farts mixed with a side of poo and rotten eggs. Yuck!

    We did, however, manage to get on with our day, as there was lots of fun activities to get on with. I managed to cope with my sensitive sense of smell by sticking vick up my nose and carrying round a vick tissue.

    Our first activity of the day was a walk at Redwoods – Whakarewarewa Forest, where we walked up to the lookout (much to Callum's disgust). Callum had the next pick, so we were soon driving to the golf course for a game of football golf. Although it was a close game (I wish), Callum won and won bragging rights for the rest of the day.

    After football golf, we headed to the campsite and had a relax as we had booked to do a Māori cultural experience this evening.

    We were soon on our way to Mitai Māori Village for our cultural experience and dinner. We were shown how they traditionally cook, which relies on the hāngī, an earth oven where food is steamed over hot stones. We then watched warriors paddling their war canoe down Wai-o-Whiro stream before watching a show, which included the Haka as well as them showcasing Māori dances, songs and games. After all of that, we went to eat all the food that was cooked in the hāngī - yum!

    After all that fun, and escape from the smell, we went back to the campsite, shut all the windows and dreamt of roses and sweets!    Read more

  • New Zealand

    Rotorua - Auckland 🏉

    August 29, 2025 in New Zealand

    Unfortunately waking up this morning, the horrific smell hasn't disappeared. The nostrils being treated to the smell of rotten egg whilst emptying the toilet cassette and dirty water, is not exactly what I pictured for our exciting NZ adventure!

    This morning we had a tour around a workshop where we were shown the process of making the different shapes and designs of Pounamu (Jade). This was a very good insight to how the development of machinery and equipment really has helped develop the speed of this process.

    Tonight was the night, we were continuing on our love for the NRL and watching the Warriors play in Auckland!

    Once we stopped off at the Blue pools and completed a few hours on the road, we parked up at our free camp for the night (recreational ground car park), cooked up some dinner and got ourselves ready to get public transport to the stadium.

    Wow, the atmosphere, stadium, game, everything was exactly how we would have wanted our last live NRL game to be. UP THE WAHS 🏉    Read more

  • New Zealand
    1
    1

    Auckland - Coromandel 🚐

    August 30, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Well well well.....we started the day off with a surprising run (all Mhari's idea). Once we finished a few laps around the recreational ground we were staying on (2k), we got ourselves ready and hit the road.

    Unfortunately the weather couldn't make up its mind, whether it wanted to rain or sunshine, however once we finished a few hours worth of driving, we checked into our caravan park and decided to take a stroll into town whilst it was dry.

    On our walk, Mhari decided to do Mhari things and say.....there is a walk I noticed on the way I wanted to do! So as you guessed it, we headed to the track and started the walk. Our bodies really aren't our friends after all the hiking and then the run this morning, because on the way up to the top of the hill for the viewpoint, we were feeling the burn!

    After having to walk back in the rain, we dried ourselves off and done all of the washing that surprisingly piled up, had some dinner and read some of our books for the evening!    Read more

  • New Zealand

    Hot water beach 💦

    August 31, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    Wow, what a miserable morning it was!

    As we got ourselves all packed up and ready to start the day off, we both agreed that we weren't going to let the rain affect what was originally planned.

    We headed off to the Driving Creek Railway. This was a railway track that was built years ago to originally transport the clay they got from the rainforest mountains, which then was transformed into an attraction.

    Fortunately for us, as soon as we boarded the train, the rain stopped. So happy bloody days!

    As soon as we got back to the van, the heavens opened up. Although we were determined to stay busy and have an adventurous day, we just couldn't, the rain was constant all day!

    We did all the driving to Hot water beach and decided to wait until tomorrow, fingers crossed for a dry day!    Read more

  • New Zealand

    Cathedral Cove 🪨

    September 1, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    Thank the heavens above, the rain has stopped!

    You are only able to dig for the hot spring water at low tide, which happened to be at 6am today. Thankfully, you have 2 hours each side, so we had some time to come round before heading off. There were people up and at it much earlier than us as there were already beautifully dug out holes of hot water for us to bathe our feet!

    After we spent some time amazed by there being boiling hot water at the beach we walked back to the van and made our way to Cathedral Cove. It was a short but steep walk down, but we made it to the cove at a slow and steady rate. It was absolutely beautiful and so worth waiting the extra day!

    We had planned on going to a waterfall as well today, but it would have added on another hour onto our already 4/5 hour drive, so we gave it a miss.

    After a looooong journey, we made it to Whangārei, where we parked up and were soon asleep!    Read more

  • New Zealand

    Wangārei - Russell 🏝

    September 2, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    We were up early to drive the last of the journey to Paihai to catch a ferry over to Russell.

    On our way, we stopped off at Wangārei Falls, which is probably the best waterfall we've seen since being in NZ. What made it even better was that it was only a 5 minute walk down and up!

    We managed to arrive in Paihai just in time to get the passenger ferry over to Russell. Once we were there, we grabbed some brunch and explored the historic town. We saw the oldest church in New Zealand and did one of our favourite pass times (obviously wandering around the cemetery).

    There wasn't too much more to see, so after a couple of hours, we headed back over to Paihai, where we did a food shop and headed to our campsite.

    We've got a cruise around the bay of Islands tomorrow - Mhari's level of excitement = 8/10, Callums level of excitement = 2/10!    Read more

  • New Zealand

    Bay of Islands 🏝

    September 3, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    The time had come to relive the boat trip that nearly killed Leah and Mum over 20 years ago... here we come hole in the wall!

    Thankfully for us, the water was calm, so we managed to go all the way through the hole (twice), with no near man over boards.

    After all the fresh air, we decided to have a chilled rest of the day... in the van, eating, drinking wine and living the best life✌️    Read more

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