Canadian family travelling the world enjoying New Zealand under Covid 19 lockdown

The Patton family are making the most of their time being stuck in New Zealand. Photo / Tyler Patton

New Zealand has always been on the bucket list for one Canadian family who have travelled around the world in just under a decade.

But they never thought they would find themselves here in the middle of a global pandemic - although, no one is complaining.

Chantal and Tyler Patton and their three daughters - Julia, 16, Angelique, 14, and 12-year-old Chloe - have spent the better part of two months in New Zealand after arriving here on a whim when countries started to close their borders due to Covid-19.

"We were in Cambodia in February and all of a sudden things started to shut down and all these borders were closing by March, " Chantal Patton told the Herald.

While in Nicaragua in Central America last year, they met a Kiwi family from Rotorua who encouraged them to visit New Zealand one day.

"We decided to do it. We did this mad dash to New Zealand, through Australia, and it was just before [the Government] implemented the 14-day quarantine.

"We self-isolated for two weeks still and we ended up in Queenstown."

The family hunkered down in Queenstown during the lockdown period and are now in Picton; continuing to enjoy every part of their stay in New Zealand.

"We didn't anticipate to be here this long, but we're not complaining."

She said they had heard a lot of good things about the country, but were still surprised when they arrived to see it for themselves.

"Wow. I guess that's how I think of New Zealand - wow. I didn't expect it to be this gorgeous.

"When we arrived here and we were driving for four hours only seeing mountains and nobody around, it was amazing."

Originally from Ontario and Toronto, Canada, the family have mostly spent their whole lives overseas every year since 2013.

New Zealand is the 100th country in the world that Chantal has visited.

It is the 98th and 99th country her daughters have visited, respectively, while her husband has already passed the 100th-country mark.

'Our family think we're nuts'

They have travelled the world over and this year alone have already toured the Balkans and the Maldives.

Chantel Patton with her daughters Chloe, 12, Julia, 16, and Angelique, 14. Photo / Dad Tyler Patton

They chronicle their adventures on a dedicated Facebook and YouTube channel dubbed, ironically: Living Without Borders

"Our family back home probably think we're nuts," Patton laughed.

"They think we're just crazy. It's very different and it's not the traditional life. But it works for us."

Her children still do schoolwork via online learning and she and her husband run an internet marketing company that helps businesses.

"Ninety per cent of our clients probably don't know we travel the world [while working]. As long as there's good internet, we can work.

"We also do things on a budget."

Asked what the best part of travelling was, she said meeting new people and getting to know people from all different cultures was the most wonderful thing.

"You learn that everybody in the world is the same - raising their families and living their lives."

Next on the agenda for the family is getting to Wellington and then Rotorua to see their friends before heading to Auckland to finally catch a flight out at some point.

Asked where they planned to fly to next, Patton said the Pacific Islands was the next place on the bucket list.

Tyler Patton, wife Chantal and their three daughters Julia, Angelique and Chloe. Photo / Supplied