Newsletter – First Half 2025

Welcome to our Newsletter

Find out what we’ve been up to during the 1st half of 2025 and what our plans are for the rest of the year.

January to March – Te Araroa and Summer

Not long before the New Year was underway, Stephen returned to Ōwhango to resume Te Araroa. Slowly chomping away at the trail 2 weeks at a time. This is possible as the the current portion if the trail Stephen is walking is near where we live. Caroline took the opportunity to visit a good friend and Corgi in Wellington.

The second half of January was spent enjoying of lovely home and the summer weather. The rear window of our lovely new Grenadier also got smashed by a rock flying by.

Early February Stephen was back on Te Araroa to tackle the mighty Tararua’s. And managed to damage his knees a little. With this stretch, half Te Araroa is now complete. The second half of January was more relaxing in the Hawkes Bay.

And you guessed it, as March rolled around, Stephen was back on Te Araroa for the final push to complete the North Island. Stephen walked a day with his cousin and Caroline travelled to Wellington so they could complete the last day together. So nice. Caroline visited Futuna Chapel and other parts of Wellington.

We did a little Lord of the Rings tour and managed to break the windscreen on the Grenadier. We decide to call our Grenadier “Q”.

The garden is growing like crazy and the new 3-D printer is also busy. A friend from America came to visit for a few days, and we showed her and her friend around for a few days. At the end of March we headed to Belgium.

April in Belgium

Usually we leave New Zealand and fly to Molly in the USA. This time we decided to spend some time in Belgium, just for a change. This idea worked out well. April is a nice time of year in Belgium. The blossoms were in full bloom.

The Chandalier from Caroline’s mum house had been restored and the electrician got it installed and wired up. It looks very nice in our dining room. We tried, unsuccessfully to get the green wall installed, and that will be for the next trip in summer.

Mid April to end of June – Heading East in Molly

We got back to Sioux Falls to find Molly in a slightly sad state. The starter batteries were dead, and these were quickly replaced. One of the rear tires was flat and the air compressor fixed that.

We hit the road passing through the south east corner of South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan. We were a little early in the season, with many of the campgrounds still closed and some still with snow. Molly’s starter motor failed on us, but that was quickly fixed. In Michigan we visited an old friend. Finally got to visit Niagara Falls. We weren’t really feeling it, so we made the decision to cross into Canada. This allowed us to visit Ontario and Québec. Here we visited friends 4 different friends. Who knew we know so many people in Canada.

We had plans to get to Nova Scotia, but instead of taking the direct route, we headed North to Newfoundland and Labador. This was a good decision and we enjoy the open spaces and the rod less travelled. Molly developed a slight steering wobble at certain speeds, and we nursed her tousands of kilometers to somewhere we could have to seen and where we could get new tires. She is all better now.

We stayed with a friend for a few days in New Brunswick and that was very nice. It was time to head back to Europe, so we placed Molly into a storage locker in Maine Portland and flew out.

Late June – Belgium

Back to Belgium to celebrate Caroline’s birthday. Stephen did some last minute shopping for his upcoming trip to Iceland.

What’s Next?

Stephen heads to Iceland for his Trans iceland Adventure with Elise and Shirley. Caroline heads to Scotland to complete the Fife Coastal Path. Stephen and Caroline will spend 4 days of luxury in Reykjavik at the end of the Iceland crossing.

At the end of August we return to North America to finally see Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. Likely reposition molly more West and South and hopefully overland a little with Tim and his defender in October.

Mid October sees us back in New Zealand for just over a month, and then we return to Belgium for the Christmas season.

Plans are always subject to change.