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Newhaven Holiday Park, Surat Bay, South Island, New Zealand 5825km

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A beautiful sunny day in the Catlins began with the knowledge that we won’t be driving too much today. After a hearty breakfast with the grandparents, we took 10 steps from the campground to the beach and went to look for the hooker sea lions that inhabit the area. (more…)

Newhaven Holiday Park, Surat Bay, South Island, New Zealand 5755km

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The last 2 days were well spent mostly on the eastern coast, in a region known as Otago.

Kurow yesterday morning was bleak, cold and cloudy. Nonetheless we went on a river stroll right behind the campground, just to say we got our morning exercise. We drove along the Waitaki River towards Omaru, stopping once at "ancient" Maori Rock art from the 1840’s. It was hard to disagree with mom who said that her 4 year old grandson could draw better. (more…)

Kurow Holiday Park, Kurow, South Island, New Zealand 5325km

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Yiddish Word of the day - Shpatziren — To travel. That’s what my grandparents and parents did before they learned to speak Hebrew.

We spent the last 2 days in the Southern Alps, enjoying the views and the sunny warm weather. Yesterday we woke up to a damp and gray morning in Fairlie, but as we drove eastward the sky cleared up until we saw only blue. We stopped at Lake Tekapo for a breather and tasted the first glimpse of turquoise glacial water. At the second stop in Lake Pukaki, we stopped for lunch. The long and narrow lake is the terminus of some of the glaciers starting at Mt Cook and we could see the snow capped peak clearly from our vantage point. (more…)

Fairlie Top 10 Holiday Park, Fairlie, South Island, New Zealand 4990km

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My parents, Abraham and Rachel, arrived from Israel yesterday afternoon and will be traveling with us for the next 3 weeks! Oh what joy for them to see the grandkids. And what glee for Paola and me, to have some adult company and also  to help with the kids. (more…)

Top 10 Holiday Park, Akaroa, South Island, New Zealand 4654km

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Happy New Year!

It’s hard to believe that a year has passed so fast, and that we have been on the road for most of it. Time really does fly when you’re having fun.

The last few days have been blessed with dry weather and we even enjoyed some nice warm days with short sleeves (even Paola). (more…)

Top 10 Holiday Park, Hanmer Springs, South Island, New Zealand 4230km

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Shabbat Shalom!

The last few days we have covered quite a lot of km in the north western part of the south island. We started on Tuesday morning when we left Golden Bay and headed back to Motueka area. It had rained all night, but by the morning patches of sun became more and more evident. Close to Takaka Point we stopped for a short stroll to Hawkes Lookout, which Shir and Orr did all by themselves. (more…)

Pohara Beach Top 10 Holiday Park, Pohara, South Island, New Zealand 3565km

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Season’s Greetings to all our friends in the US!

We spent the last 2 days in the south island’s northwest corner called Golden Bay. Part of the time it was Grey Bay, due to the rain. Nonetheless, it is a beautiful corner of NZ and we had a nice time. (more…)

Old McDonald’s Farm, Marahau, South Island, New Zealand. 3340km

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The weather has improved considerably in the last 2 days, especially today. We left Nelson yesterday and reached Marahau, a tiny town on the border of Abel Tasman National Park. Abel Tasman was a Dutch Explorer who was the first European to discover this country a century prior to Captain Cook. He called it Neu Seeland. (more…)

Nelson City Holiday Park, Nelson, South Island, New Zealand. 3270km 

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We have not been too fortunate with the weather in the past few days. We got up to a bleak Tuesday morning and crossed the Cook Straights to the south island with poor visibility and rain for most of the 3 hour journey. The ferry itself was huge and impressive, with a little play area for kids. Lucky for us, because that is all the running the kids did on Tuesday. (more…)

Te Papa Parking Lot, Wellington, North Island, New Zealand. 3140km

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Maori Word of the day: Te Papa — Our Place. This is the name of Nz’s very impressive museum of art, history, and science.

The last few days have been spent in Wellington, New Zealand’s very small and relaxed capital. The city has only 100 thousand inhabitants, and the entire area only 400,000. Which means we never saw a traffic jam, had no problems finding a parking spot, and in general enjoyed our time here. (more…)