Exploring your own backyard

By Liz French (article from New Zealand Herald)

"We baby boomers seem hell-bent on dashing off around the world gaining notches in our money belts. Everyone has been, or is going, to Europe or Asia. Every dinner party is dominated by dissertations on Provence or Umbria, India, Annapurna or Istanbul. The latest travel statistics show a significant increase in the numbers of New Zealanders travelling overseas.

All of which served to increase my admiration for a group I met on a catered farm walk near Gisborne. The Pink Hatters are two couples, from Wellington and Hawkes Bay, who have made a deliberate decision to eschew overseas travel in favour of discovering their own beautiful country.

The money not spent on long boring expensive flights buys them plenty of local cuisine and luxury accommodation among the more rugged activities they undertake on their regular holidays.

They've met heaps of wonderful people and many overseas visitors relishing parts of New Zealand that most Kiwis have never experienced."

Click here to read full article on New Zealand Herald.