We moved from Canada to New Zealand. Then started taking the long way around.
The Scenic Route is our family learning a new country together, one road, track, cave and unexpected discovery at a time.
Four people, one new country and a lot left to explore.
Everything was new. That was kind of the point.
Moving countries gave us a pretty good excuse to start looking more closely at where we had landed.
We knew some of the famous names before we arrived. What we did not know were the strange little roads, caves, tracks, coastlines, histories and landscapes sitting between them.
The more we explored, the more we realised that the places we had never heard of were often the ones we talked about most afterward.
The fastest way there is rarely the whole story.
The name became a pretty accurate description of how we travel.
We like the famous places too. But we also like the road that suddenly turns to gravel, the sign that makes us stop, the track we had never heard of and the place that turns out to have a story hiding underneath it.
Sometimes the scenic route is beautiful. Sometimes it is weird. Sometimes it is a terrible road. Usually it gives us something to talk about.
Four people means four different versions of the same adventure.
Which is part of what makes this work.
A family adventure channel first.
Not a tourism brochure. Not a checklist of places we were supposed to like.
The experience comes first. If we have not been there, we cannot tell you what it felt like for our family.
Wrong turns, changing weather, sore knees, questionable decisions and unexpected discoveries are part of the trip.
A great view gets our attention. The geology, history, wildlife or strange detail behind it usually makes the story better.
The website is where we add the practical information that helps somebody else decide whether the adventure is right for them.
YouTube is the adventure.
That is where you come with us. The drives, reactions, uncertainty, conversations, scenery and payoff belong in the episodes.
The website helps you follow the road.
This is where we add track information, access, context, things that surprised us and what we would want to know before going ourselves.
The family channel has a professional production side too.
Brad and Kristine also run FrameTheory Visuals, where we build websites and create professional video, photography and ongoing content for businesses.
That experience helps with the cameras, editing and storytelling. The family adventure still comes first. We just happen to know our way around the gear.
We are not trying to be the perfect travel family.
We are four people figuring out a new country together. Some adventures go exactly as planned. Some do not. Usually the second kind gives us the better story.
We still have a lot of New Zealand left to get lost in.
New roads, new places and probably several things we have never heard of yet.