TREAD the Globe

TREAD the Globe Full-time overland travels, we share expeditions around the world. Beyond borders, slow travel, remote places, cultural connection, food and more.

Our next challenge is: NZ -> UK (home) in our Toyota Camper "TREVOR"

Follow along for real stories!

As we headed further south down New Zealand's west cost we arrived in the town of Franz Josef and headed straight to the...
11/08/2026

As we headed further south down New Zealand's west cost we arrived in the town of Franz Josef and headed straight to the car park for the nearby Franz Josef glacier. It was almost dark but luckily it was only a 10 min walk each way so we made it !!

Apparently the glacier has receded a lot over the years and it was quite hard to see - lucky the cameras have good zooms nowadays

The glacier is locally known as tears of the avalanche girl

According to the legend- Hine Hukatere was an adventurous Maori woman who loved mountaineering.
Her lover Tawe wasn’t so fond of climbing but Hine would often persuade him to go with her. On one such adventure at the top of this valley he slipped to his death. Hines tears filled the valley and were frozen by the gods as a memory to her grief

As we headed further down New Zealand's south coast we found a lovely DOC campsite on Lake Kaniere. After a very peacef...
05/08/2026

As we headed further down New Zealand's south coast we found a lovely DOC campsite on Lake Kaniere. After a very peaceful night we headed into Hokitika which is the main town to get Pounamu, also known as New Zealand greenstone or jade. It is a precious in Māori culture. Traditionally carved into tools, weapons and jewellery, it is valued not only for its strength and beauty, but also for its deep spiritual significance and connection to the land.

Traditionally you don't buy pounamu for yourselves so we bought some for family back home. Then we had a quick lunch before continuing further south.

30/07/2026

The ultimate New Zealand Gift !!

We spend the night just outside Saint Arnaud in a DOC (department of conservation) campsite. They cost around $15 NZ pe...
28/07/2026

We spend the night just outside Saint Arnaud in a DOC (department of conservation) campsite. They cost around $15 NZ per person (£7.50) They all seem to have pit toilets of long drops as they call them here !!

It was -5 C when we woke up and we actually had ice on the metal frame behind out beds. In fact there was a outdoor ice rink !! It was a cold start to the day with no heating in the cab apart from a 12v tractor heater we bought. On our way south we stopped at Maruia Falls and we were greeted with a rainbow - must be a good sign

We left Kaikoura and back tracked north because the roads south were all closed. We were greeted with the most beautif...
23/07/2026

We left Kaikoura and back tracked north because the roads south were all closed. We were greeted with the most beautiful snow capped mountains - New Zealand definitely delivers the most epic views.

We drove over the top of the South Island and arrived in San Arnaud. Home of the stunning lake Rotoroa. We spotted lots of long finned eels under the jetty - they are the largest freshwater eels in the world and can live up to 50 years. Excited to share our journey down the west coast so more posts coming soon.

22/07/2026

With 2 of our friends being hacked over the past couple of weeks it's so important to make sure you are protected. We previously attended an online security course and it taught us a valuable lesson as you will see in the video

Go to https://surfshark.com/treadtheglobe or use code treadtheglobe at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN.

It seems like only yesterday that our friends Frankie and Alex from Fna F & A Life got their channel hacked now our frie...
22/07/2026

It seems like only yesterday that our friends Frankie and Alex from Fna F & A Life got their channel hacked now our friends from Nick & Mathilde - Next Meridian Expedition. have had their YouTubechannel hacked and taken down. If anyone is on X (twitter) please post and tag in on X to try and get their channel back. Image is from their post

To all of you with a Youtube channel. NEVER click on a link in your emails and make sure you always use a VPN.

After arriving on New Zealand's South island we took the road south. Amazing views and we even spotted a large seal c...
21/07/2026

After arriving on New Zealand's South island we took the road south. Amazing views and we even spotted a large seal colony. Arriving in Kaikoura we found a park up on the peninsula next to the most amazing seafood truck. I had an amazing crayfish fritter - If you come this way then you must check it out.

In the morning we headed into town to find another park up as all the permitted spots for campervans say you can only park up for 1 night and have to leave by 7am - that's a bit harsh right !!

So we were just settling into our second night we got hit by a big storm and severe weather warnings were issued. From nowhere the rain and wind started blowing us about and with horizontal rain we were forced into a motel.

That night the weather warning was upgraded to a red warning for the next few days. The next day we woke up to emergency evacuation alarms on our phones. The river had burst its banks and we were smack in the middle of the evacuation area.

The lovely motel owner was a young Irish women married to a Kiwi - he was in hospital and she was home alone with 4 kids under the age of 6 !! We decided that we were high enough. The lady was running around trying to save her bee hives and chickens so we babysat and looked after the kids. The husband discharged himself to help.

Sadly the bee hives were washed away but they saved most of the chickens

It rained solidly for 3 days and they had 2 months of rain in 48 hours - crazy !! The road south was washed away, so we had to completely change our route and go back north to go down the west coast - Never a dull day on the road.

This was a few weeks ago so don't worry we are all safe but sadly many peoples houses were flooded.

We arrived on New Zealands South island at midnight as it was the only ferry we could get as others were full and we did...
20/07/2026

We arrived on New Zealands South island at midnight as it was the only ferry we could get as others were full and we didn't want any more delays. But finding a camping spot wasnt that easy and we went to a few carparks that all said no campervans.

We eventually found a campsite in the dark at 1am. In the morning we woke up to a bird noise that we'd never heard before - it felt like we'd entered jurassic park LOL !!!! It was a lovely camp site with great fews. I have a feeling we are going to love the South Island.
On the way south we met up with Aunt Julias sister in law and family - it was lovely to finally meet and was surprised to see a lemon tree full of lemons. I never would have guessed they would grow here - everyday's a school day right

Today is a special day as 9 years ago today, my amazing wife donated a kidney to save her friend Kate's life. A act t...
19/07/2026

Today is a special day as 9 years ago today, my amazing wife donated a kidney to save her friend Kate's life. A act that most people would never do. The fact that she risked her health to save someone else's says it all. At the time Kate was given just 18 months to live and I am delighted to say that 9 years later and she's doing great. She'll probably kill me for posting this but I think it deserves a post :)

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