Don’t you love it when one of your best mates accidentally buys a bar leaner off TradeMe in the wrong city?
Well that’s what my friend Laura did and it ended up being the best TradeMe stuff-up ever, because we gave him a name (Barry the Bar Leaner), and decided we’d drive him from Christchurch (where she bought it) to Auckland (where she lives).
The amazing thing was that along the way, we had some awesome companies reach out and offer a hand to get us up the country. It soon became the “Travel Show No One Asked For”.
We wanted to take Barry on a tour of this great country, and to showcase the trip in a daily video diary (I roped in my mate Logan Dodds to come film and edit). We wanted to show New Zealanders that with the borders closed – our own backyard is actually the best in the world.
We went Christchurch-Kaikoura, Kaikoura-Blenheim, Blenheim-Wellington, Wellington-Napier, Napier-Gisborne, Gisborne-Rotorua, Rotorua-Hamilton, Hamilton-Auckland. Seven nights, eight days, three tanks of gas, thousands of k’s, a few coffees, two ocean swims, four wineries, lost count of the pubs, zero fights and I ran every single morning in each place we were at! It was such an amazing adventure, and it yet again reminded me of how lucky we are to live in this beautiful country.
But not only that, it truly is the people who make it so special too. Now is the time to make the most of it! I can’t wait for the next one. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the daily episodes!
By Brodie Kane