When I was nine my oldest brother Darren graduated from high school and hopped on a plane to New Zealand. This was before email or cell phones. We would get these postcards and handwritten letters filled with stories and drawings of adventures he'd been on. Hitchhiking around this magical country, met with kindness and hospitality everywhere he went. His stories have stuck with me my whole life and it became a dream of mine to see and experience some of what he had described to us.

On a last minute whim we booked a home on wheels for a month and hit the road. This is a bit of the magic we experienced on the North Island of New Zealand.