Articles by Verne Maree

Born and raised in Durban, South African Verne is a writer and editor. She and Roy met in Durban in 1992, got married four years later, and moved briefly to London in 2000 and then to Singapore a year later. After their 15 or 16 years on that amazing island, Roy retired in May 2016 from a long career in shipping. Now, instead of settling down and waiting to get old in just one place, we've devised a plan that includes exploring the waterways of France on our new boat, Karanja. And as Verne doesn't do winter, we'll spend the rest of the time between Singapore, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand - and whatever other interesting places beckon. Those round-the-world air-tickets look to be incredible value...

NZ South Island, Queenstown

I’d been speaking airily of us spending “most of February” in New Zealand, thinking we’d hole up at our apartment at The Oaks Club on the shores of Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown, South Island. But no – the apartment was only available for the second week of February, having already been booked out by the agents for the rest of the month.

Some things have changed since we first visited Queenstown in 2006. Not our awesome view over Lake Wakatipu; and my run along the lake path – either turning right to jog the couple of kilometres to town, or left to Frankton – is still as lovely as ever, though the number of cyclists seems to have increased tenfold.

Looking across the Frankton Arm of Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown – i imagine waking up to this view every morning!

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NZ North Island – Hamilton, Rotorua and Wai-o-Tapu

Bay of Plenty – isn’t that a name brimful of promise! With a few days to go in North Island, Roy and I headed south in our Nissan Tiida rental from Auckland to Rotorua, less than 300km away. For some unknown reason, he made the unilateral decision to spend one night in Hamilton on the way there, and another on the way back to Auckland.

Overnight in Hamilton

Happy as a water-baby in my own cedar spa bath at the Atrium on Ulster, Hamilton

I reckon the world can be divided into two groups: (a) those who are quite happy with a quick shower, and (b) those, like me, who love, need, have to soak in a bath. Not necessarily every day, but at least several times a week. The bigger, the better… and if it bubbles, I’m in heaven. In short, spas make me happy.

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NZ North Island – Puhoi Village and Brick Bay Wines

With Jenny at the wheel of her and Doug’s hired Hyundai Tucson – a little more butch than our Nissan Tiida – we headed off from Parihoa Farm in Murawai to the nearby wine country of Matakana. On an apparent whim (so unlike my own, strictly destination-focused husband), Doug spotted a sign for the historic village of Puhoi – and then actually turned off and stopped the car!

Chauffeured by our kind Singapore friends Jenny and Doug Robinson – bring on the wine!

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Parihoa Farm, NZ

With the sheep in New Zealand famously outnumbering people by about six to one, staying  on a working sheep farm was a superbly appropriate way to kick off our travels. Our friend Matt Chapman has over 400 of these lovely, woolly beasts at his farm (parihoa.co.nz) at Murawai Beach in North Island – about 66 times his fair share.

This is Roy’s and my first visit to the North Island of New Zealand. With only a week to go before we fly to Queenstown, South Island, there’s no way we can see everything – so we’re taking it easy. No point in rushing around, we reckon: we can always come back.

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WA Road Trip: Part Five – Margaret River Vintage Wine Tour

We had two good reasons for booking a full-day tour: Roy was sick up and fed of driving, and I was sorrowful about having been driven past so many vineyards without stopping at a single cellar door.

Glenn, our guide for the day and also the driver of the 13-seater bus, arrived bright and early at our motel on a cloudy, cool morning that blossomed into the most perfect blue-sky day. And, with a total of nine stops between the 10am hotel pickup and 5.30pm drop-off times, our $115 each (including lunch) was good value.

Roy, happily positioned at the passenger door after five long days at the wheel

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WA Road Trip: Part Four – Margaret River

Having travelled west from Albany along the southern coast of West Australia for about three-and-a-half hours, we decided (or, to be more specific, I requested fervently and Roy capitulated) to turn left and south to Augusta*, rather than right to Margaret River. Our destination? Cape Leeuwin, a spectacular spot with a lofty and photogenic lighthouse that dates from 1895.

* You can stop in Augusta for a coffee at the Deckchair (or Café Deckchair Gourmet), as we did, but be warned that if you order only one it might cost you $6 instead of the listed $5 price. That’s what happened to Roy. I needed to check my email, you see, but I was already jittery-full of coffee, and the minimum order for Wi-Fi access was $6. I suppose they’re sick of tapwater-sipping backpackers occupying prime chair-space…

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WA Road Trip: Part Three – Hyden to Albany

Both Albany and neighbouring Denmark (50-odd kilometres to the west) feature picturesque bay after halcyonic headland after idyllic, white-sand beach, with one magnificent vista after another. We’d hardly driven into town before I’d resolved to come back here one day for a longer stay.

How completely different this coast was from the countryside we’d travelled through for four hours to get here, following the route through country towns Kulin, Lake Grace, Dumbleyung (watch out for the Dumbleyung Dunny!) and Katanning to the Chester Pass Road.

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WA Road Trip: Part 2 – Wave Rock, Mad Dogs and Englishmen

I have no experience of mad dogs, but I do of Englishmen (being married to one) – and it’s simply not true that they go out in the midday sun. Not often, anyway, and certainly not by choice.

It was too early to check into the Wave Rock Motel in the town of Hyden (population 400), so, in 36-degree noonday heat, Roy drove straight through  to the site of the famous rock itself, 4km further on.

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WA Road Trip: Part One – Perth to Hyden and Wave Rock

Despite my being equipped with the latest, updated and fully revised Western Australia map book, Roy utterly disrespects my map-reading skills. He sneers when I turn maps sideways or upside–down, and rudely calls me Henrietta The Navigator.

A useful tool – in someone else’s hands, apparently

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Western Australia Road Trip – Prologue

After three weeks with the family in Perth, I was itching to shake off suburbia and make a beeline for the bush.

In order to make this happen, I started speaking, in deeply wistful terms, about the simple joys of camping – how pleasurable it would be to travel self-sufficiently, to be able to stop on a whim, to cook over open fires as our forefathers did, to be at one with the glorious outdoors!

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