Aotearoa.
The Long White Cloud.
Spectacular.
Picturesque.
Home.
The road to Milford Sounds, Southland
There’s an old saying, ‘don’t leave home till you’ve seen the country’ made famous in a NZ tourism commercial in the mid 1980’s.
I am fortunate enough to have spent a few weeks traveling around both the North and South Island on the back of our motorbike. It gave me a taste of this beautiful country and has left me wanting more.
In May 2019, my husband and I embarked on an adventure – a 6 week trip around Europe.
We ate our way around Italy – I may have over indulged on truffles in Tuscany (but oh so good.) We witnessed Petrucci winning his first MotoGP in Mugello and kayaked through the canals of Venice at sunset.
In Slovenia and Croatia we enjoyed the great outdoors, motorcycling some spectacular alpine passes. I experienced the magical Lake Bled from a paddleboard and walked the city walls of Dubrovnik.
Istanbul was exotic: a cruise down the Bosphorus Strait in a luxury yacht, eating our way across European and Asian Istanbul, visiting mosques and doing a terrible job at bartering at The Grand Bazaar.
My blog is called ‘Exploring the Long White Cloud’ so you may be wondering why I am mentioning my trip to Europe? Here’s the thing; while our trip was amazing (and yes I do mean this, it was wonderful), whenever I am overseas, my thoughts always come back to New Zealand. Why? Because it has stolen my heart. I feel so lucky to call this place home and that I want to experience more of it.
It truly is spectacular.
People travel 1000’s of kilometers to visit NZ and I have it right here on my back door. I want to take advantage of that. When we were in Europe, everywhere we went, the people we met – they all wanted to know about New Zealand. The best places to visit, our top tips and if there were any snakes. And fortunately, we had ‘seen the country’.
Such a diverse land; beautiful beaches, lush forests, spectacular glaciers, breathtaking mountain ranges. It has it all.
Fox Glacier, West Coast 
Waiheke Island, Auckland 
Cathedral Cove, Waikato
Although Slovenia comes in at a close second, I think New Zealand will always be my favourite place. With a desire to experience more of my beautiful homeland, I decided that 2020 will be a year of explorations and blogging.
So click ‘follow’ and come join me on my adventures. Let me show you this beautiful land. I am sure you will fall in love with Aotearoa, the Long White Cloud, just like I have.
Exploring the Long White Cloud 