6 am alarm and a run along the shore of Lake Rotoiti. Breakfast in the van and set off for Greymouth by 9am. It was too cold to take a dip in the lake before we left, quite chilly without the sun. Twisty roads with stunning views around most of the corners. The sun came out and it turned into a lovely day. The road followed a number of rivers with crystal clear water, growing bigger as we got closer to the ocean....
A late start and no longer raining! We had a quick breakfast in the van and then m the kids played on the trampoline while we got organised, refreshed the camper tanks and then got going by 11am. We dropped into the Countdown supermarket in Blenheim to pick up supplies, as there won’t be any big towns for a while. Onward with a 1 hour drive to Nelson national Park through Marlborough Wine Country....
Christmas Day and a 4am start, not due to the children but to catch the ferry to the South Island. The kids opened their presents from Craig and Caitlin (Father Christmas delivered to our home in London) and they were really pleased. Alex got some Lego and Bella, The Game Of Life board game. Cold pizza for early breakfast and then we set off. We drove the 10mins to the ferry terminal and queue to check in....
Christmas Eve! We got up at 7am to the sound of traffic passing on the road nearby. Not that it was particularly heavy traffic, just that it was a contrast to where we’ve been staying over the last few nights. The children didn’t want to get up due to the late night last night but their bed covers the Camper’s table and door so no option but to wake them up to do anything really!...
We woke up early after a good nights sleep and took a swim in the lake before breakfast which was really refreshing. The water was the perfect temperature and crystal clear, the views amazing and it was the perfect way to start the day. A breakfast of fried egg sandwiches in the camper followed by a bike ride along the edge of the lake in the sun shine. We admired the holiday houses which back onto the lake - maybe we’ll come back one day....
Woke up at 6 to the sound of the waves and the sun rise - an amazing place to wake up. Breakfast all together in the van and then the kids went to play on the playground while we prepared the camper. Refilled the fresh water tank, emptied the grey water tank on the grass in front of the site. Diana and I took a walk along the beach - stunning....
We woke up late, it had been a long night. First Alex fell off the bed with a bump, he couldn’t remember in the morning, then the Bluetooth speaker we’d been using that evening ran out of batteries and started beeping which then seemed to be followed immediately by the loudest dawn chorus (The birds, not Bella) I’ve heard in a long time. It sounded like a flock of birds had descended on the van....
We woke up early at 6am, had a quick breakfast, packed, checked out and took an Uber to Wilderness Motorhomes near the airport to pick up the Camper. We arrived at Wilderness just as they were opening and spent the next hour checking out the Camper. We decided to hire mountain bikes as they did us a deal - we’d dismissed it before as too expensive. After the paperwork formalities the lady showed us around the Camper....
The children woke up hungry at 4:30am complaining that they hadn’t had dinner. I plied them with an apple and sent them back to bed. They reemerged at 5:30am and we sat down to a breakfast of Croissants and fresh fruit which I’d bought the night before. Whilst we were getting ready to go out the kids invented “Mum Bucks” ™ which they could earn by doing good deeds with an initial exchange rate of 1000 MB to 10 NZD....
The adventure begins. We had a lie in and a leisurely breakfast, finished the packing and took a Taxi to Heathrow at 11am. We had a delicious lunch at Heston’s The Perfectionist Cafe, a glass of champagne to celebrate and off to board the plane. We flew Air New Zealand Economy to Auckland via LA. The first leg of the flight was 14 hours to LA and seemed to pass by quickly....