The travel log of Vic and Steve

It was a beautiful day-after-boxing-day today. Sun shining, 24 degrees and light breeze. We have been talking about the 11km Southern Walkway for a while now, not sure we knew what to expect so here is our review.  Wellington has a fabulous town belt system. There are walking / mountain biking tracks throughout so we are quite lucky to have that kind of access. The Southern Walkway goes from Oriental Parade, around Mt Victoria and follows the ridge line from there all the way to Island Bay.  I would describe it as steep/steep, followed by Wow view, discovery of a new park we didn't know existed, followed by more steep/steep - as a continuous loop. There are wee down bits too but much of this track is up! Not much is flat.  The town belt isn't spectacular. The track starting at the Mt Vic end weaves through a pine forest, so heavy with roots to navigate and feels like it's primarily a mountain biking track. You certainly can see great tree stumps and ledges Hobbits hid under

Photos on my iPhone just can't do this beautiful coastline justice. Only 3 hours drive north of Auckland and 30 minutes beyond Whangarei the Tutukaka Coast is warm, accessible and spectacular.  We have rented a gorgeous beachfront Bach which overlooks a sheltered wee bay used by moored yachts and weekend kayakers. The Tutukaka Coast is a mixture of stone and sand beaches, this one is stone with clear water. Imogen and I enjoyed a fab swim yesterday, was warm and remained shallow for about 50 metres or so.  It is just so much warmer and humid than home, loving it. Our vegan gluten free bbq's are awesome too although Steve did sneaks some chops into the mix.  Today we walked the Whananaki Coastal Walkway. A fascinatingly diverse track with spectacular vistas along the way.  The track itself crosses private farm lands, through forests and follows coastline both on rocks and beaches.  The track quality is excellent. There are gates and styles to navigate and as we moved from farmla

When you fly into Wellington from the south (meaning it's a northerly and likely a tad bumpy) you see this fabulous lighthouse standing on a headland out the window.  It was pretty still this morning so we thought - great day for Pencarrow, one of the many walks on our summer list. Well by the time we mucked around with domestic chores, found we had no food so shopped and drove to the end of the road in Eastbourne it was midday before we set off.  The track for the majority is flat and gravel driveway like. It follows the shoreline with a steep steep sheer hill on the other side. The round trip walk is 4.5 hours according to the sign and I would describe 4 hours of it as easy walking, with 30 mins up to the lighthouse and down more steep and definitely watch your feet territory.  The views are spectacular. If the wind hadn't come up it would have been awesome to stop at the top a while but by then it was steady and we could hardly see Khandallah across the harbour for dense clo

Missing our massive days of walking in Europe, and excited about the warmer weather in Auckland a day walk in Piha was a fabulous idea.  October is spring - so it rained, was sunny and windy all within minutes on a constant cycle.  First up we took the KiteKite track to a lovely wee waterfall. We were impressed with both the track itself and the number of people walking it. The Piha end of the Waitakari's is popular with a range of day walks and entry to tramping tracks.  Some of our walk was wide & flat like the pic above. Some was clambering down to the river or crossing on rocks so good variety.  The waterfall was pretty cool.  Next we walked along the beach. It's not as expansive as Muriwai Beach but similar characteristically with looming cliffs at one end, massive waves and many rocks for fishing off. The wind and waves definitely like on the rescue show so we could see how people might be swept away.  The rocks Imogen is standing on are very cool. You can see the dif

Italian drivers have a reputation for crazy behaviour and on the surface of it this would seem to be true but once you join their driving system you realise it is a system and it works! I am writing this because we struggled to find blogs for Kiwi / Ozzie drivers who would be hiring a car and would be dealing with driving on the wrong side of the road plus learning Italian road rules. There is loads of content out there for US drivers or Brits who take their own cars - all of whom have different challenges to address than we do.  First up. How to choose a rental car.  After reading many many reviews and automobile club style advice we elected to hire from a global firm, Budget (operated by Avis) - and that did work well for us getting (virtually) what we ordered, limited waiting time and paying exactly what we expected to pay. We also made a decision to hire an automatic. This cost us more but we (I) felt with the need to overcome other driving challenges constantly reach

I have been gluten free for over 10 years now and my reactions are more severe and debilitating than ever if I accidentally injest any. Barley continues to be the thing I am most allergic too with couscous and wheat next. So you can imagine my trepidation at the thought of travelling to the land of Pizza and Pasta. Gluten free is awesome in Italy. Their products are beautiful. In NZ we have an increasing range but nothing is close to what is offered in Italy. Pasta with the taste and texture of wheat based pasta. Pizza bases that you would never guess are gluten free. My favourite has been the Senza Glutine cones and gelato stores where everything is gluten free - why does ice cream need wheat anyway? There has been one incident where the waiter told me what I ordered was gluten free then after I started eating came and said "sorry that has bread in it, only a little bit" and walked off - their TripAdvisor review will be harsh, what if I was anaphylactic!

Final day in Roma! And my final day with Don! So sad.  Steve and I walked to meet Don closer to his end of the city today. Google said 34 minutes, Google exaggerated. The undulating ground, uneven stone paths and 3-5 minute wait at every traffic light meant closer to 45 minutes. We enjoyed another lovely basilica before eating breakfast across from the coliseum- pricey but met the requirement.  The queue for the coliseum was already crazy so we headed to the Roman Forum and Palantine Hill. Don remembered he is an EU citizen and under 25 to gain cheap entry - British passport first outing yay.  Really interesting seeing years of history and ruins that are thousands of years old. Loads of people but moving around was ok if we avoided the tour groups. Water stations were fabulous, every city should have free water like Rome does.  Before I forget. This photo is for you Mike. Remember the scaffolding 25 years ago. Looks like they have a continuous scaffold maintenance thing going on now so