Andy woke up around 6am to his feet itching like crazy. After rubbing the sleep out of his eyes he noticed a few dozen sand flies circling the vent, which is essentially right above where his feet are in his bed.

As we mentioned yesterday, the holes of the mesh of the vent are large enough that the sand flies can weasel their way in. And boy had they done just that this morning.

Andy shooed away as many of them as he could, then killed as many of them as he saw. Thankfully the early morning clapping and slapping the wooden surfaces of the van didn’t wake up the kids.

Laurie woke up around 630 and Ani around 7am. We had hoped for an early departure given our 3 hour drive to the upper reaches of Abel Tasman National Park but Miles slept in until 8 am. We rarely wake our children from sleep because the silence is so magical!

Around 840am we were on the road with breakfast ready and blue wave packed up and ready to tackle the curvy, mountainous roads.

We were determined to get to town and find a hardware store but we have learned that the roadside viewing areas are worthwhile stops and many include short walks to viewpoints and are good opportunities for us to stretch our legs.

We pulled off the smooth highway and onto a short, pothole ridden one lane road with overgrown trees that took us uphill for a short distance to the parking area.

We then bribed the kids out of the car with a muffin Andy had purchased yesterday at the bakery in Hanmer Springs.

A lovely trail, cooled and shaded by the canopy of trees above led to an open viewing area with peaks holding on to the last of the snow before it all melts away in the summer heat.

Miles declared himself the muffin czar, rationing everyone’s portions as we enjoyed the 360 degree views.

We quickly put an end to the tyrant’s antics, reclaiming our muffin, but the history lesson was cut short due to a visit from two weka birds. We had not seen these creatures before. They were not afraid of humans and approached us in hopes of scoring food.

Miles wanted to feed them but we explained to him why we should never feed any animals. He seemed to understand and proceed to chase them away when they came too close.

After enjoying the views and running back to blue wave through the shaded canopy, we winded our way to the town of Matueka for a resupply.

We found a hardware store and bought bug netting and painters tape to make bug screens for the driver and passenger windows. We are really excited and hopeful this will increase airflow in the van.

We also purchased a usb charged fan and a 12v phone charger as the van has only usb-c ports and us still-stuck-in-the-olden-days folks have usb-a charging cables.

Other items on our list included chord for drying laundry, gloves for when Andy dumps the tanks and hand sanitizer.

We found everything we needed at this hardware store and were incredibly grateful. But we weren’t done yet.

Miles found the toy aisle so we also got an off brand LEGO forklift for him and sand shovels for Ani.

We had lunch at a restaurant that gave off all kinds of hippy and wellness vibes and then restocked our kombucha, veggie and yogurt supply at the grocery store. The kids love kombucha and the cold fizzy is so satiating in the heat

After Andy dumped the tanks and topped off our potable water, it was time to hit the road again and conquer ‘the hill’.

A friendly worker at the hardware store told us that the road up and over Takaka Hill has over 2,000 curves. Andy was excited.

The road was pretty and the curves were sharp and steep. Almost at the top of the hill we came upon a sign for a viewing area.

Without hesitation we pulled in, parked and were greeted by another weka. We’re getting the feeling this birds are ubiquitous to the area.

A dirt path gave way to a boardwalk that led us past unique rocks shaped by rainfall to a very scenic viewing platform. The kids loved the boardwalk. They ran to the viewing area and back. Ani loved it so much she walked the whole thing twice.

After having our fill we got back into the car, crested the hill, and while tempted by caves and another viewing area, we descended the hill and into a beautiful valley with lots of grazing sheep.

As we kept driving, the farmland gave way to coastline and before we knew it we were on a tight, curvy road that twisted its way between the beach to our left and cool rock formations to our right.

It was getting late once again and we still had an hour of driving ahead of us. We have a habit of arriving at camp between 530 and 630pm on this trip. This doesn’t serve the kids as they are usually hungry by then, but as we found out today, this can also lead to late naps. In fact, they both took two naps today. One in the early morning around 10am and now again around 4pm.

The road climbed and climbed. Soon we weren’t near the coast any longer. Then the road turned to dirt. We realized we should have booked a campsite in the southern parts of Abel Tasman National Park and explored that area instead of heading out to the most remote part.

We will hopefully take this as a lesson for later this trip, but for now we have to safely navigate a 25ft campervan through a mostly one lane dirt road with many sharp curves.

Thankfully the road was in good shape and we saw only had to squeeze past one car as we climbed the dirt road.

After cresting the road, we encountered only 1 van but this was at a blind corner and Andy had to brake really hard to avoid a crash. Thankfully Andy is comfortable driving large vehicles in reverse so he backed up to a wide spot in the road to let the van pass.

Around 530pm we finally descended to the remote campground where we plan to stay for two nights.

We drove both arms of the campground, debating where to park blue wave. Eventually we settled into a spot away from other campers but not too far from the beach and ocean.

While the kids were still asleep, we took the bug netting and cut it into the shapes of the windows. We applied the masking tape and in no time we had screens on windows we could open without sand flies getting in!

We are beyond excited.

Without any fans it’s still quite hot in the van, especially when we cook, but with the small usb powered fan and the open windows, it’s much better than it was.

We also taped a piece of the screen above the mesh of the vent as a second barrier. So far no sand flies have come in through the windows or the vent. There are way less sand flies here than our camp yesterday, but they are still out and we hope to keep the out of blue wave.

Miles was getting restless before dinner so we told him to go run around outside and explore. He didn’t want to. We explained to him that exploring is fun and that once outside he would create games.

He doubled down and huffed and puffed harder and louder. Andy decided to sweeten the offer by offering Miles a purple New Zealand bill, which is a $50 note, if he went outside and caught a bird.

Miles, being the smart boy that he is, asked if it would count if he just touched it. Knowing he likely would not even be able to get close to any of the species of birds here, we said yes.

Miles put on his shoes, recruited Ani and went into chase mode. Watching Miles give chase unsuccessfully was comedic and cathartic to us. He was certainly trying though and we commended him for it.

After dinner, which was around 830pm, we went for a walk on the beach. The sand is very coarse and there are shells everywhere. Miles and Ani collected shells before Miles put his feet in the water and didn’t bring them out for over 30 minutes.

He was giggling and jumping as the waves came in. And Ani was running around on the hard sand as happy as a clam.

It was a special moment and one that reminded us that this is why we make the effort to get outside. These experiences are priceless. And ones that they’ll remember for a long time.

Or at least we hope.

Around 930pm, we made our way back to blue wave, after washing our feet at the nearby water fountain. We went inside and settled in, but not before Miles gave one last chase in hopes of earning his $50 bill.

Better luck tomorrow Miles.

Around 11pm, Miles finally fell asleep. But Ani, she was still rowdy and hitting Laurie and giggling. Laurie was getting more and more upset, which made Ani giggle harder and louder.

Eventually, after nursing her a few more times out of sheer desperation, Ani finally fell asleep.

Lesson learned. No more late naps!