I know I’ll miss the van. Three or four times the size of my tent. No set up required. Able to cover large distances in under a day. Doesn’t snap […]

I wake up in a bed bigger than my van. I open the curtains to find the city of Wellington has disappeared. The harbour obliterated by cloud. The nearest hills […]

My van life adventure began in the Hutt Valley, at Kaitoke Regional Park. Dark and cold in the late afternoon. I find myself not far away with overnight temperatures threatening […]

Drizzle beats a now well known tune on the roof of the van. Getting up in the rain is much easier when someone is paying for you to do it. […]

Four months is the longest I’ve spent anywhere, with anyone, since I arrived in New Zealand. My planting crew mates supported me in the beginning, pushed me through the middle […]

I pass through three different shops in Napier as I prepare for the last of the Great Walks; Lake Waikaremoana. I do things differently for the fist time in a […]

After almost two months of getting away with it, I have to fill up the water tanks on the van. The sink foams, reminding me I’d only done half a […]

There is no room in Waihohonu Hut tonight. Nor is there any room four nights from now. Neither way around Ruapehu will work if I leave today. I remain unconvinced […]

Once again I find I have travelled halfway across the North Island in a day. The Central Plateau reminds me of the Scottish Highlands, of the Welsh Mountains. Of something, […]