Laurie woke up around 1:30am and said she was being bitten. Andy woke up and turned on a flashlight, saw the mosquito and killed it, which was full of blood.

We’ll spare you the details but Andy was up until 430am killing at least a dozen mosquitoes.

We are puzzled as to where the mosquitoes are coming from. It seemed too windy in the evening when we were coming and going for this many mozzies to make it inside.

And if they did, why would they wait until the middle of the night to start biting us? Mosquitoes are not sophisticated or tactical in that way- at least we don’t think so!

We closed the netted windows thinking maybe they are contortionists and were getting in through there but they still appeared. The constant appearance of only a few mosquitoes makes Andy feel like they are coming in from somewhere during the night.

But where? Today’s the day to investigate. But it’s raining and it’s supposed to rain for most of the day. Andy wanted to get underneath the van and look for open gaps where they could be coming in. But that likely will not happen.

Where we had camped we were partially protected under a canopy of trees so we didn’t feel the extent of the rain until on the main highway.

Rather than driving 45 minutes to our next campsite we headed back into town for service, to get more bread (the kids are loving bread, butter and honey for bfast) and to shower, dump and fill and do anything else that catches our eyes.

It was a gray and dreary day. Miles practiced writing letters on the fogged up windows of the van from the showers.

Both kids showered today. We are being very cautious with Ani and not getting her face or hair wet to avoid the possibility of getting her chin wet.

In a blink of an eye it was 4pm. The dump was on the way out of town so we kept that task for last.

With that done we drove to camp in the rain. Visibility was fine but all views were blanketed by thick grey clouds.

Even with the cloud cover, we could tell this was a special place and imagined how pretty it must be when the sun is shining and the sky is blue.

We drove into Fjiordland National Park and through Eglinton Valley. The many pull offs through Eglinton Valley made Andy want to come through here again another day when the weather was clear but alas, we get the experience we get for a reason. and perhaps the many waterfalls that are only visible when it rains is what we were supposed to see.

We pulled into Cascade Creek Campsite around 515pm. This is the largest camping area we’ve been to. Online there are 100 reservable spaces, but the way Kiwis like to camp it can accommodate 3 times that many vehicles. Ok that’s a joke, partially.

The last 20 minutes of the drive we passed fields and fields of lupine. Even in the rain the lupine are stunningly pretty. Their vibrant pinks and whites and deep purples really pop against the surrounding green brush.

The kids were both asleep, taking late naps since we started our drive later in the day. Andy made soup while they (plus Laurie) slept so it would be ready when they woke up.

It rained hard all evening, only breaking for a few moments around 8pm. We really wanted to get out and run around a bit but also wanted to prevent another bug riddled night. Our theory was that if we didn’t open doors or windows and taped up any places we saw light coming in (and thus maybe bugs could get in), then we could get some good uninterrupted sleep.

The kids slept until 6pm so they were half tired and half awake at 10pm, and fell asleep around 11pm.

We’re not letting them take late naps again. We have said this before and fall into the trap of not wanting to disturb their peaceful sleep. But in the end it doesn’t serve them at all. Maybe they can take a cat nap, but no 45 – 90 minute naps after 4pm.

We have an early morning tomorrow (it is all relative but 8:30 is early for us on this trip!) Fingers crossed we have a bug-less night and the kids stay asleep too.