The Story Behind Kiwis Off Course: From Carefree Backpackers to Adventuring as a Family of Five
From cheap flights and questionable accommodation to renovating a house, raising three little adventurers and discovering that the biggest adventures don’t always happen on the other side of the world.
If you’d told us ten years ago that one day we’d be living back in New Zealand, renovating a 1970s house, raising three little humans and planning our adventures around nap times, snack breaks and whether we’d packed enough nappies, we probably would have laughed.
Back then, we were two young Kiwis, fresh out of university, living overseas, chasing adventures and making the most of every opportunity to see the world. Our biggest worries were how much money we had left in the bank, whether we could squeeze another country into a long weekend and how on earth we were going to get to the airport for a 6 am Ryanair flight.
Somewhere along the way, those adventures turned into a little corner of the internet called Kiwis Off Course.
And while our lives look very different these days, the reason we started has never really changed: we love exploring, making memories and proving that you don’t need to have everything figured out to go out and experience the world.
So, here’s the story of how it all began.
Two Kiwis, two different countries and a whole lot of long-distance love!
Although we both grew up in New Zealand, our overseas adventures began on slightly different paths.
Bianca headed to Switzerland to visit family before embarking on her next big adventure: a new life in London. Fresh out of university, she was ready to see the world, experience life overseas and find out what all the fuss was about.
Meanwhile, Brett was working in the Australian mines, doing the hard yards and saving money.
We’d grown up in the same town and somehow life had taken us in completely different directions. There we were, trying to make a relationship work across countries, time zones and busy lives.
Long distance wasn’t always glamorous. There were missed calls, goodbyes, expensive flights and plenty of moments when we wished we could just be in the same place. It was tough, and at times pretty gruelling, but looking back, it taught us a lot about patience, commitment and making the most of the time we did have together.
Eventually, Brett finished up in the mines and made his way to London to join Bianca.
And that’s when things really got going.
Our London years: the best of times
We still look back on our two years living in London as some of the best years of our lives.
Brett had studied film and television and landed a job at a film agency in Soho, while Bianca was working as a merchandising assistant for M&S — Marks & Spencer — which, in her eyes, was pretty much a dream job.
We lived in a flat with fellow Kiwi friends, surrounded by people who were all in the same stage of life: young, a little bit clueless, earning just enough to get by and determined to make the absolute most of being on the other side of the world.
London became our home base, but we were rarely content with staying put for too long.
Bank holiday weekend? Where could we fly?
A few weeks of annual leave? Which countries could we squeeze in?
A ridiculously cheap flight on Ryanair or easyJet? It would have been rude not to.
We’d spend our weekends exploring new cities, wandering cobbled streets, trying local food and seeing just how much we could fit into a short trip. When summer rolled around, we’d save our leave and head off on bigger adventures.
We were experts at travelling on a budget, although expert might be a generous word for some of our accommodation choices.
We learned to travel light, live cheaply and appreciate the experiences that mattered most. We didn’t need fancy hotels or expensive tours. Give us a cheap flight, a backpack, a good walking route and a vague plan, and we were happy.
Looking back, we were incredibly lucky to have that freedom. No little people to organise, no school calendars to work around and nobody waking us at 5 am asking for breakfast.
Although, to be fair, we probably woke ourselves up at that time for those early flights anyway.
Two years went by far too quickly. We knew our time in London was coming to an end when Brett’s visa ran out, and we weren’t ready to head straight home just yet.
There was still so much of the world we wanted to see.
Europe, Cuba and the beginning of our biggest adventure yet
Before leaving London behind, we spent another couple of months ticking off the European destinations we still had our hearts set on.
It was that final push to see as much as possible before closing the London chapter and beginning something completely different.
Then came Cuba.
From there, we embarked on the Gringo Trail, travelling through Central America and down into South America over the next five months.
This was the kind of travel we’d dreamed about: a little unpredictable, often challenging, sometimes completely ridiculous and always full of stories.
We were backpackers in the truest sense of the word, making our money stretch as far as possible and saying yes to experiences that took us outside our comfort zones.
We stayed in hostels, travelled overland, met people from all over the world and embraced the slower, less polished side of travel. We learned that some of the best moments happen when things don’t go to plan — even if they don’t feel like it at the time.
We were also figuring out how to travel in a way that suited our budget. We made the most of opportunities like work exchanges and volunteering, including hostel work in Nicaragua, where we could contribute a few hours of work in exchange for a place to stay. We’d also couch-surfed around Europe, meeting locals and experiencing places in ways we might never have otherwise.
It wasn’t always comfortable, but that was part of the fun.
We weren’t travelling to tick off luxury resorts or photograph perfect hotel rooms. We wanted to experience places, meet people, get a little lost and come home with stories we couldn’t wait to tell.
And there were plenty of those.
So, how did Kiwis Off Course actually begin?
Somewhere between the backpacking, budget accommodation, work exchanges and endless bus journeys, we started sharing our adventures online.
We created our Instagram page, @kiwisoffcourse, and began documenting what we were up to. It was a way to keep our families updated, especially our parents back home in New Zealand, who could follow along without having to ask us every other day where we were or whether we were still alive.
It also became a place to record our memories. The photos, the mishaps, the incredible places and all the little moments that might otherwise have disappeared into the depths of our camera rolls.
We started sharing our experiences on our blog, too, at kiwisoffcourse.co.
Then something unexpected happened.
We went viral on the Daily Mail.
Suddenly, more people were following along with our adventures. Our little page grew, the blog gained more readers, and people seemed to genuinely enjoy coming along for the ride.
It was pretty surreal. What had started as a way to keep our parents in the loop had turned into a community of people who were interested in what two young Kiwis were getting up to around the world.
We never set out with a grand business plan or a strategy to become travel creators. We were simply sharing our lives and hoping to inspire others to get out there and experience a little more of the world.
And, honestly, that’s still what we’re trying to do today.
The long journey home — with one very big surprise
After five months travelling through Central and South America, it was finally time to head home to New Zealand.
We wanted to do something special for our families, so we planned to surprise them by arriving home on Christmas Day.
After months of travelling, countless memories and a fair few questionable nights of sleep, we made the long journey back across the world.
There is something pretty special about coming home after a big adventure. You appreciate the familiar things, the people who have been waiting for you and the feeling of being back where it all began.
But we weren’t quite ready to put our passports away for good.
From backpackers to working with tourism companies in Asia
The following year, we headed off again — this time to Asia for three months.
By then, we were starting to explore how we could combine our love of travel with creating content. We worked with tourism companies to share the beauty of the places we visited, creating content that helped showcase destinations and experiences to other travellers.
It was an exciting new chapter. We were beginning to see that our passion for travel and storytelling could become more than just something we did in our spare time.
But eventually, real life back home came calling.
We returned to New Zealand, bought a house, got married and began building the next chapter of our lives together.
And naturally, we bought a house that needed work.
Because apparently, after spending months travelling through unfamiliar countries on a shoestring budget, we decided the next sensible adventure was to renovate a 1970s house ourselves.
What could possibly go wrong?
Then came the house, the wedding and three little adventurers
Life started looking a little different.
We swapped backpacking hostels for home renovations, cheap flights for mortgage payments and spontaneous weekend trips for making sure we had enough groceries to feed ourselves for the week.
We spent countless hours working on our home, learning as we went and trying to turn our old 1970s house into somewhere we loved being.
Then came Florence, our first little adventurer.
Followed by George.
And finally, Harry — our newest addition, completing our family of five.
These days, our adventures come with three small children and our much-loved dog, Bonnie.
Florence is four, George is two, and Harry is eight months old. Our days are full of big personalities, little milestones, endless snacks, toys everywhere and the kind of chaos that makes you wonder how such small people can create such an extraordinary amount of washing.
Our definition of adventure has definitely evolved.
We now measure a successful outing by things like whether everyone has eaten, whether we remembered the spare clothes and whether we can get through an entire car journey without someone needing something immediately.
We’ve learned that leaving the house with three children can sometimes feel more complicated than crossing an international border.
And the packing? Let’s just say we’ve gone from fitting everything into a backpack to needing an entire boot for a day trip.
But here’s the thing: we wouldn’t change it.
Watching our children discover the world is one of the greatest privileges of our lives. Seeing Florence’s excitement over something new, George charging headfirst into an adventure and Harry taking everything in with those curious little eyes reminds us how magical ordinary experiences can be.
We used to travel to discover the world for ourselves.
Now, we get to discover it all over again through theirs.
Are we still Kiwis Off Course, or are we Kiwis On Course?
It’s a fair question.
Our original adventures were about freedom, spontaneity and seeing how far we could go with very little money and a backpack.
These days, we have a house to renovate, a family to raise, work to juggle and three little people whose bedtime routines are considerably less flexible than our old travel plans.
We can’t always book a last-minute flight, spend six months wandering through another continent or stay out exploring until midnight.
And our idea of luxury has changed dramatically. A quiet coffee while it’s still hot? Absolute heaven. A full night’s sleep? Now we’re talking.
But the travel bug is still very much alive.
We’ve continued exploring our own backyard here in New Zealand, discovering beautiful places, getting outdoors with the kids and working with amazing New Zealand brands and businesses along the way.
We’ve learned that travel doesn’t have to mean going overseas. It can be a weekend camping trip, a beach walk at sunset, a road trip to somewhere new or a day spent exploring a corner of New Zealand you’ve never visited before.
Sometimes it means embracing a bit of chaos, accepting that the kids might not nap when you want them to and remembering that the journey is often the best part — even when someone is asking, “Are we there yet?” five minutes after leaving home.
So perhaps we’re not quite the same Kiwis Off Course we were all those years ago.
Maybe we’re a little more settled. A little more organised (debatable). And considerably more likely to have wet wipes in every bag.
But we’re still those same two people who believe life is too short not to make the most of it.
And now, we have three little people to bring along for the ride.
Our biggest adventure yet: giving our kids a childhood full of memories
One of the things we’ve come to realise since becoming parents is that we don’t want to wait until the kids are older to start making memories together.
It’s easy to think we’ll travel more when they’re bigger, when they can walk further, when they sleep through the night, when we don’t need to pack half the house just to leave for the day.
And maybe some things will be easier then.
But we also know that these years are passing quickly.
Our kids won’t remember every destination we’ve visited or every beach we’ve taken them to. They probably won’t remember the road trip where we spent three hours trying to get everyone to nap, either.
But we hope they’ll remember the feeling of adventure.
The freedom to explore. The sand between their toes. The excitement of discovering something new. The family traditions we create along the way. The feeling of being outdoors, trying new things and knowing that their parents are right there beside them.
We want them to grow up understanding that adventure doesn’t have to be expensive or extravagant. That you can have an incredible time without spending a fortune. That sometimes the best experiences come from saying yes to something new, taking the scenic route or being willing to get a little lost.
And most importantly, that you don’t have to wait for the perfect moment to start living.
Because if our years travelling taught us anything, it’s that life rarely goes exactly to plan.
Sometimes that’s where the best stories begin.
Why we’re sharing it all with you
Kiwis Off Course has grown and changed alongside us, and we’re excited to keep sharing this next chapter.
Here you’ll find family adventures around New Zealand, travel inspiration, tips for travelling with little ones, honest stories about family life, home renovations and the occasional reminder that behind every beautiful family travel photo, there’s probably a child refusing to wear shoes.
We’ll share the places we love, the experiences worth trying, the things we’ve learned along the way and the reality of making adventure work with a young family.
We’re not here to pretend it’s always easy. It’s not.
But we do believe that having children doesn’t mean putting your adventurous side on hold. It might mean travelling differently, slowing down, adjusting expectations and accepting that some days the biggest achievement is simply getting everyone out the door.
And that’s okay.
If our story inspires even one family to book that trip, explore somewhere new, get outside for the day or make a few more memories together, then we’re doing exactly what we hoped to do when we started this little page all those years ago.
Thanks for being part of our journey
Whether you’ve been following us since our London and backpacking days, discovered us through our travels overseas or have only just found us here in New Zealand, we’re so glad you’re along for the ride.
From two young Kiwis chasing cheap flights around the world to a family of five chasing adventures closer to home, this little corner of the internet has been part of so many chapters of our lives.
And we’re only just getting started.
Because the truth is, you don’t have to travel far to have an adventure, and you don’t have to wait until life is perfect to make memories.
Sometimes, the adventure is a far-flung country. Sometimes, it’s your own backyard. And sometimes, it’s simply surviving a family road trip with everyone still smiling at the end.
We’re the Kiwis Off Course crew — Brett, Bianca, Florence, George, Harry and Bonnie.
A little older, a little busier and a whole lot messier than when we started.
But still chasing the good stuff.
Here’s to making memories, exploring our beautiful backyard and raising little adventurers along the way.
And if you ever see us out and about in New Zealand, come and say hello. We’ll probably be the ones trying to convince a toddler that, yes, we really do need to leave the beach now.
Welcome to Kiwis Off Course. We’re so glad you’re here. ❤️
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