All posts tagged: North Island

Off The Grid

Without sounding spoilt, The Koala and I love to have long holiday outside of New Zealand once a year. But over the last few years, we have not left New Zealand, instead we have taken small holidays within New Zealand. I still yearn for foreign lands for new perspective and culinary delights, but there are world-class destinations within an hour from home. This is a story about one of them. Hidden in the remote hills behind Waiuku on the southernmost west tip of Auckland, is a secluded glamping gem. For the uninitiated, glamping is short for glamorous camping. Will and Kate (of the royal variety) went glamping in Uluru, Australia this week, so I think it is fair to say that glamping has reached the mainstream. The Koala and I stayed at Castaway’s glamping last Friday to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary. Expensive for camping, inexpensive for luxury, glamping is a careful balance. Our stay was paid for in full with real cash so this is an honest review, not an advertisement. Saying that, I must warn you I …

Happy meat makes me happy

I’ve always wanted to buy meat direct from a farm, but I thought that was reserved for people with chest freezers in the basement. We have neither chest freezer or a basement. We are really lucky here in New Zealand to have many independent farms who offer meat to the public. If you follow Bunny Eats Design on Facebook, you might have noticed me recently gloating about the 20 or so kilos of beef we have in the freezer. The skinny Steve and Pip delivered the meat from their 1300 acres in Wairarapa direct to our home. It really doesn’t get much easier. Eketahuna Country Meats raise their own deer, lamb and Angus beef. Eketahuna Country Meats offer: Angus beef (whole $1300, 20kg packs $300, half or quarter*) Lamb (whole $220*) Pork (whole $600, half $300*) Someone who has been buying beef this way for years gave me a wise tip: Don’t eat all the steak first. With 9 packs of mince and 7 packs of sausages in our lot, I can see why. The …