At Blockhill, Melisa and Olmec are 8 years into their sustainable, low environmental impact project, and we were bowled over by their efforts to turn a grass hillside into a verdant and bountiful garden.

This trip took a lot of preparation: arranging time off school, travel arrangements, route planning etc. etc. but all that only took us as far as Wellington on the North Island.

Riverside was established in 1941 by conscientious objectors and today describes itself as an intentional community: the intention being peaceful and sustainable.

Time is different here – hits from yesteryear play on the radio (Stevie Wonder’s being superstitious just now), happy hour is practically an institution and blokes hunt.

Here is a wild place, where bold little feathered dinosaurs emerge from spiky undergrowth to steal your olives.

Today we strolled around Queenstown Gardens before sharing first impressions over lunch. Here is a strange mix

After 2 days of ear popping, leg cramping and trundling luggage around giant displays of Toblerone (a permanent fixture in duty free since 1973), we’re now beyond the Orient, in a land isolated on the far side of the world. But despite that, it’s strangely familiar.

Preparing for a trip to NZ is taking time, but now flights and camper van are booked, and routes planned.

Tomorrow we’ll sing auld lang Syne, which isn’t an obvious time to go trail riding around Chichester, but there you go. It could’ve been different, but family got fraught, enough for me to head for the hills.