Laurie woke Andy a little after midnight complaining of being bitten. After a few minutes of trying, Andy finally opened his eyes, grabbed a phone, turned on the flashlight and looked for sand flies.

To his surprise he saw two mosquitoes instead. His first attempt to kill them in his half sleepy state was, as you can imagine, unsuccessful.

So he sat up, shook off the sleep and went after them with laser focus. Two slaps, two kills. Laurie thanked him and quickly went back to sleep.

Sleep doesn’t come easy for Andy once he’s awake so he looked at pictures and edited blog posts for about an hour.

He figured he’d check once more for silent (yes 3 out of the 4 mosquitoes here have not buzzed), unwanted flying expletives before going back to sleep and saw another mosquito!

After killing it he went to investigate where they may have been coming in. The netting of one of the windows had come loose and was partly open to the outside world. Andy shut the window, checked one more time for these biting pests and went back to bed.

Around 3am we were up again because Ani was snotty, coughing and uncomfortable. She felt a bit warm too.

She wanted dada to lay beside her so Laurie and Andy switched. But Ani didn’t settle much and eventually asked to nurse, so we switched back.

We rubbed a kid’s petroleum free vaporrub-like product on Ani’s chest, gave her some nighttime children’s medicine we brought from home and she nursed back to sleep.

Andy was editing posts again while Ani was nursing and just as he was about to turn off the phone, a mosquito buzzed in front of the lit screen. Andy swatted at it and the noise startled Laurie.

Andy had missed. He turned on the flashlight yet again and smacked the mosquito dead. Andy’s hand has never been more bloody after killing a mosquito.

It was now almost 430am and the van was finally quiet again. We are grateful Miles slept through all of this.

Andy and Laurie woke up around 8am because they were getting hot. Ani and Miles were still asleep. The medal for best-sleeper-when-he-finally-does-fall-asleep goes to Miles! He slept for 12 hours, finally waking up around 945am.

We headed out around 10:30 towards the town of Takaka. Our first stop was the dump to discard 3 days worth of trash.

We offered Miles the special treat of sitting in the front with Andy. He took his job of looking for cars around the blind turns very seriously as we climbed up and out of the secluded beach and camp of Tōtaranui.

Unfortunately the dump it was closed but right next to the closed gate was a sign for a labrynthe walk. We spent the following 45 minutes wandering through the narrow aisles formed by rocks and dense and lush forest.

It was hot and the kids were losing interest, so we skipped some of the labyrinth and got back on the road. We drove past fields of varying swaths of green filled with young calves and sheep on our way to Te Waikoropupu Spring.

Here, it was a short walk to a crystal clear spring. Unfortunately the light breeze caused ripples in the water but it was almost like you could peer into another world. This spring is culturally significant to the local Maori people and they ask you not to touch the water. Too bad since it would be like snorkeling in fresh water!

We drove up and over Takaka Hill going the other way. Andy looked it up and it has 257 curves. While not as many as the 2,000 claimed by a local a few days prior, it’s quite a lovely road with great views.

Ani dozed while Miles played a game of building and racing cars on the iPad. We try to avoid the use of screens at home but on trips like this – all bets are off. We do what we have to do to keep everyone going. If there was a third seat in the car Laurie could do more crafts with them but alas, here we are.

We passed our intended stop to hit up a local ice cream spot. Unfortunately the taste and ingredients were a bit disappointing but the experience and excitement on the kids faces was priceless.

From there we drove to Riuwaka Resurgence. It was a pretty and short walk to a clear, deep and COLD pool. Each of the kids dipped their feet in the water and Laurie gradually built up the courage to take a dip.

Andy kindly reminded her “you never regret going for a swim!” He was right. The water was so cold it hurt but the tingles and refreshment was well worth it.

By now it was 330pm.We looked at camping nearby but we didn’t like the camp and we had trash to throw out (which is harder to do than you might think in this country), we were running low on potable water and our toilet was getting full and stinky.

We decided to push on to town of Motueka. There we went to the hardware store for more bug screen and masking tape, then to the grocery store which was next door.

It was now 6pm and we were off to the dump. Andy is getting faster already but the water fill is on the opposite side of the grey water dump and cassette toilet. And filling the water is extremely slow.

Miles was full of energy and was being a total rascal at the dump. He kept throwing things out of the back of the van which irritated Andy because he likes to keep things clean. Miles wanted attention and Ani was constantly asking to nurse because she didn’t feel well. It is moments like this that we ask “is this worth it?”

We feel really bad for both of them and ask ourselves if we’re doing too much. Would being in a hotel or Airbnb in town be any better?

Would staying at a campsite for 3 nights be better? Would they be more relaxed? Would their colds heal faster?

We don’t believe so, but we still ponder these questions many times.

Once full of potable water and free of waste, we drove to the Motueka salt baths which has a free carpark nearby. It is known to fill up quickly and sure enough it was full of campervans all parked like sardines.

Andy made it very well known that he didn’t even want to try to fit, not tonight- not ever! He likes space. He likes to look out and see trees, to hear birds, not people. And, he doesn’t like to impose on others with our noise. So we traveled on.

We drove to our plan B spot and arrived around 8pm. It cost $30 for two adults (kids 16 and under were free) but it was very much worth it. Way less people and right on the beach.

But we couldn’t hear the crashing waves over the meltdowns. Ani was beat and just wanted to be held and Miles was hungry and generally unsettled.

His cold doesn’t seem to be bothering him much but he’s mean to Ani, hits Laurie and intentionally pushes Andy’s buttons. He needs something. He’s seeking connection or comfort. Maybe both. But his actions drive us away and makes us frustrated and angry instead of compassionate and loving.

Add to all of this our discomfort from being bitten by sandflies and mosquitoes and the heat of the van and you have a recipe for disregulation, despair and doubt.

At 845pm we finally ate some dinner. Ani and Laurie took a little walk outside to catch the end of the beautiful sunset.

Andy and Miles stayed inside and had a moment of connection with Andy caressing Miles’ back while explaining to him that we all love him and that he is such a good kid and great older brother a lot of the time.

When Ani and Laurie returned, Ani still wanted mama but dada took her into his arms and she was asleep in less than 5 minutes.

Andy held Ani while Laurie brushed Miles’ teeth and got him ready for bed before reading a book with him.

After lights out Andy transferred Ani to Laurie in the lower bed. Thankfully Ani stayed asleep. Miles stayed relatively calm and fell asleep around 1030pm after a lot of coughing 😦

A long day indeed and one we’re glad to have in the rear view. Now all we have to do is get through the night without another infiltration of mozzies (thankfully they don’t have sand flies here) and kids waking up coughing and uncomfortable. Fingers crossed!