Kiwi Roaming

Kia ora koutou, welcome to our blog. I’ve written a bit about our year of change on the About page so there is no point in repeating that info.

Last year we had a month in Italy and Greece, our plan then had been to walk Cinque Terre but we made the huge mistake of arriving on April 24th, the day before Liberation Day when Italians went on holidays filling fabulous tourist destinations. We did walk one day, it was single file and there were people everywhere! it was crazy. Worse still the public transport was overloaded and train platforms impossible to move on. So on our second day we took to the sea and enjoyed the fabulous coastline views from a ferry, no more walking sadly but it wasn’t quite as crazy and we loved the views.

The other thing of note about that week in Italy was the cold! Spring is known for the occasional cold snap but this was a serious one, 8-9C most days and when we escaped to Florence we could see low lying snow on the ranges. All of this informed our planning for 2025. Last year we traveled with carry-on luggage only but didn’t quite have enough layers for the cold or extra sets of shoes once they got muddy on the trails. This year we will be traveling in Autumn and Winter so will need warmer layers, extra shoes and our winter coats. So we’ve developed a suitcase system and will have our wee backpacks for walking the camino while our luggage is in storage.

This trip was initially for the month of September only but grew into 5+ months away from home, 153 accommodation nights booked, 20+ train tickets, 8 flights (so far), not many bus rides yet but we’ll add them and metro/tube/tram rides when we’re there. Months of planning.

We’ve also pre-planned and booked our Portuguese Camino as well, selecting the route, daily distances, accommodation (we are happy to stay in hostels but opting for private rooms). Shoes, backpacks, merino, toe socks, raincoats, hours of training walks have all gone into this process as well. It is scorching hot there right now and there are wild fires along the Camino route so we are hoping this all calms down before we arrive mid-September.

Finally planning wise, there is managing life back home while we are away. Organising the house, garden, car etc etc to be looked after. Logistics for whānau and others. Christmas and birthday gifts to arrange, car rego’s, rates bills and other practical activities to set up. But as I write this 3 weeks before we off it’s getting to be very exciting. Lots to look forward to but lots we will miss out on while away.

This is a test blog really, to help me with the site structure. Here to provide some context. Below is Riomaggiore from the ferry.