The North, Abel Tasman...a kind of perfume and sound of Provence & the Malborough sounds before reaching the North island!

Dear all,

Here it is, our visit of the South Island is coming to an end....And what a treat to be here in the North. Blue sky everyday, morning swim almost every day, bluer and warmer water, great coast walks with great views....+ the smell of the Provence, the sound of the musical crickets & cigales...What a joy....! Also personally I felt my first spleen about home, our family & friends, our trip...travelling from one place to another is slightly less exciting that what we have done so far and we knew it...But C'mon, lets not complain and make the most of our trip...(actually I was starving and exhausting when I felt this...)

We will now spend one or two more days in the North before taking a ferry to reach Wellington. And what a final stay: we went in the Malborough sounds, enjoying the scenic routes with Nicky, the swim in the sounds, fishing with Nick & Courtney....the ferry at night & Wellington at Stan's & Carol's. Check the pics out at New Zealand, Foodies & Portraits. By the way, the goal of our trip in the North Island is to visit the Hawkes Bay & its vineyards (we will try to work there), its volcano region, its surfing coasts, its Bay of Islands (where Agnes booked skydiving without telling me...arghhhhh) and Auckland...And do not forget to send us emails...we love this!

A few nice surprises on the East coast...

Dear all,

After having had a great time in the Catlins (extreme south), we took a bit of time to enjoy the East coast. Eating proper fishes & seafood, catching myself the famous green lips mussels and cooking them with the Mariniere style (butter, celery, oignon, creme fraiche and white wine), visiting the touching and in construction Christchurch, fishing and trying to get fishes (without success), enjoying some nice short treks, the fur seals & penguins, and  getting used to Nicky, which showed once again some strong characters as the front left tyre went flat once...Fortunately, it was only an issue about the valve and we did not have to change it...Furthermore, we spent some nice time with some French and Belgium couples, David & Emilie and Xavier & Sophie...and are now heading to the North, Nelson and Abel Tasman. For more pics, go to: New Zealand, Foodies and Portraits.

Terrific wildlife & scenery in The Catlins!!!

Dear all,

After our experience at Pam's dairy farm, we headed South to visit the region called "The Catlins"...where the wind is stronger, the sea wilder....and where we could enjoy some of the best wildlife such as yellow eyed penguins, sea lions, hector dolphins etc....Life with Nicky is great even if nights are sometimes tough ;-) and even if her battery failed once ;-) because of us...Anyway The Catlins is a terrific region. We are now heading North (via the East coast) to reach Christchurch, Nelson etc...Happy Valentine's (dixit Agnes ;-) Check out the usual sections: New Zealand, Portraits and Foodies.

First farming experience in New Zealand: at Pam's dairy farm, surrounded by cows, chickens, lambs...

Dear all,

After one day of being on our own after the wonderful week with families, we met a nice Kiwi chap, Vic, who was working at the campsite on behalf of the local council...What a nice and funny guy...Thanks to him, we found work at a dairy farm owned by Pam Williams....work in exchange of accommodation (what a bed....) and of food (how nice to eat local bacon, eggs, lamb....vegetables...on a daily basis). We did not really work with cows as the farm is managed by experienced people and they use big automatic machines to milk the cows...So we ended up working on the chicken & hens' field, preparing the glass house's ground for the next veggies and fruits' seasons, mowing the giant field owned by Pam etc..etc...What an experience to do this....to be surrounded by all these animals and to spend some wonderful time with Vic & Pam. We will add more pics on the farm, the animals, Vic & Pam shortly but feel free to have a look at the downloaded pics on the usual sections: New Zealand, Portraits and Foodies.

On the road again, on our own..again...not really...we now have Nicky!

Dear all,

Don't panic (especially Mums), we did not get a baby...but we are so pleased to announce that Nicky is now sharing our life...We adopted "Nicky" (the 1995 Toyota Estima Lucida Luxury van) in Queenstown from a very nice Scottish couple, and started to head South to start our road trip. We had the chance to introduce Nicky to Matteo & Ines (my niece and nephew) and what a delight to see them enjoying a camping van...No need to tell you that they really wanted to leave their parents and join us for our trip ;-)  It is also a delight to stop whenever you want, wherever you want...nice freedom...+ Nicky is very comfy...See its pics by clicking on the usual "New Zealand" section.

Family week in Queenstown, New Zealand!

Good'day all...here we are in Queenstown, New Zealand!! We started our trip here with my sister, Caro, Jordane and the two kids, Matteo (6 years old) and Ines (2 years old) who is Agnes' god-daughter.They live in Singapore and decided to come to NZ to spend time with us. How cool was that!..We stayed all together in Queenstown and could enjoy the fantastic landscapes, the fjords (Milford sounds), the lakes, the bike rides, some nice food etc. How lucky we were to spend such a nice time with them...All pics are available under the usual sections: New Zealand, Foodies and Portraits.