We’re somewhere south of Rotorua having already visited Bay of Islands and Waihi Beach. New Zealand is gorgeous, if a little rainy. 

Highlights so far include New Zealand ‘long black’ coffees, pristine long stretches of sand and geothermal wonderlands. 

Rotorua is described by the Lonely Planet as subterranean sexiness at its most obvious and I can’t improve on that description. The town smells of eggs and the clouds of escaping sulphurous gas does nothing to put off daily life. It’s quite simply crazy!!


Our campervan site tonight resembles the set of Jurassic Park. Geothermal steam is rising from behind the undergrowth, which combined with mist gives the place an eerie feel. 

All of that geothermal-ness is put to good use. We’ve just been for an evening dip in the thermal baths. There are 6 all of different temperatures and Baby Barrett loved frolicking in the water. 


Time for our campervan dinner and I’m feeling like Floyd. Beaker of wine in hand I whip up some microwave sweet potato, ready cooked salmon and packaged slaw. Yummy!

It must be a perfect night as the bubba went to sleep easily and I’m typing this with a glass of New Zealand red nearby. Here’s hoping he stays asleep! 

We’re kidding ourselves if we suggest our jaunt to the East coast is for baby Barrett…wine tasting here we come!! We’ve based ourselves in Napier, self declared ‘Art Deco capital of the world’. I’m no expert on such things but I can’t argue – it is gorgeous, they’ve even managed to make the local Masonic Lodge look cool!

Anyhow onto more important things – our afternoon of wine tasting. We tried and failed to do some tasting on Waiheke Island but Baby Barrett had other ideas as the poor bubba was still getting over jet lag. 

Excitement was building but also nerves were surfacing. Here are the issues…

1. I have a rubbish palate. On the plus side all wine tastes generally good. On the down side I struggle identify floral notes of any kind. 

2. I hate to waste wine. Showing me a wine tasting spittoon feels like sacrilege. 

3. Baby Barrett. A 5 month old is not the most natural companion for wine tasting. 

I need not have feared. We were off season so we had the tour guide to ourselves. The spittoon was deemed optional and Baby Barrett charmed everyone by flashing his blue eyes at all who looked in his direction resulting in tasting glasses being filled more generously. Result!

We visited Esk Valley (part of Villa Maria), Moana, Mission and one other. We’ve wracked our brains and we can’t remember the name of the other one. 3 reds and 3 whites at each and I think I know why!!

The great revelation of the trip is that I have rediscovered Chardonnay. Turns out I do still love the buttery taste and the grape is recovering from the uncoolness of being a popular girl’s name for a while. I’ve wracked my brains as to why I stopped drinking the stuff and I’ve had to blame peer pressure, specifically Anna Rowley (yes you!) as I am sure she was the one that nudged me towards Sauvignon Blanc – cruel lady 😉. 

The sun was shining, the cheese plate was generously large and we had rosy cheeks. I forgot my poor palate embarrassment and declared at the final vineyard that the Pinot Gris tasted like Sauvignon (at this point everything tasted like Sauvignon). I felt bold and creative in sharing my tasting thoughts…mistake. Apparently it does not! I’m not alone as I can clearly remember John declaring he knew the grape variety of one glass without looking – nope!

It was a stunning afternoon and our campervan is a little heavier following our purchases. We even procured a bottle of port (that can’t be called port because we are not in Porto) which should warm our cockles on those cold South Island nights. 

Note – no babies were hurt in the making of this blog. JB often took my share of wine but as it happens Baby Barrett slept well that night too!

22 hours later we consider ourselves relative experts on flying with a bubba. So what did we learn?

1. 22 hours on plane is a very long time. With a baby it is a v v v long time. 
2. Babies do not sleep in the lovely bassinets provided by the airline. They do however make wonderful mini bar storage systems.
3. On the plus side air hostesses seem amenable to dishing out wine on demand in sympathy.  
4. The schmuck that designed the Airbus A380 did not have kids. Thanks for the high res. TV screen above the baby seats. Here’s to a wired bubba!
5. Queue jumping seems to be perfectly acceptable when you have a baby.
6. Attempting to watch a film on the in-flight entertainment system when travelling with a baby is futile.

Anyway, we made it to Auckland without any major meltdowns and only slight crankiness from the jet lag. So with a good nights horizontal sleep (as opposed to being bent double in an economy class airline seat) we’ll be all set for exploring Auckland tomorrow.