We're moving to Motueka: 10 reasons we chose the top of the south

We are movinnnggg!!!! (or more like NOT moving around…)

The secret's out, we have a home in Motueka, and we move in two weeks. (Yes, we did JUST get back from Africa, it's been a wild time ok.)

10 years ago I landed in Auckland. 18 years old, kinda annoyed that I had to go to uni at this tiny little nation at the ends of the earth, while my friends had been applying to universities in Europe, England and the USA.

So I decided I'd get my degree, and get out of this dinky little country in 3 years. I could "put up" with it for that long.

Well, long story short… it grew on me, it healed me, and now it's home.

And since we started our vanlife adventures in 2020, every small town we visited, we thought, "could we live here?" So I guess the top of the south won that competition…

Perhaps you knew before us, if you were following me in 2023-24 when we spent 6 weeks in the top of the south (right after I quit my job!) and then gushed about how much we love the region for a whole hour on this podcast episode.

Or perhaps you guessed when I had a couple of Nelson-based stories on the podcast in recent weeks: Emily in the Richmond Ranges and Till building NZ's first via ferrata.

And in case you missed it, I announced this move on episode 200 (!!) of the Aotearoa Adventures podcast, recorded from Cape Town, South Africa.

We are back in Auckland now, packing up our meagre possessions, and jetlag is still kicking me in the butt because I woke up at 2:30am and couldn't get back to sleep 😭

Soooo why Motueka?

Well… here's 10 reasons (for 10 years I've lived in NZ).

1. Kahurangi National Park
2. Nelson Lakes National Park
3. Abel Tasman National Park
4. Richmond Ranges
5. Rock climbing at Paynes Ford
6. White water at Murchison (for Isaac, not me)
7. Still under 30 mins to the airport
8. Via ferrata at Takaka Hill
9. Canyoning (no, I haven't done this yet, I'm promised it's good)
10. Real fruit ice cream

Oops, that just doubled as 10 reasons why you should visit this summer 😉

Got questions? Send me a message, I'd love to hear from you if you're in the area. I'm excited to get stuck in and involved in the community, to put down roots for the foreseeable future.

Until then, keep adventuring :)