It was cold last night, maybe the coldest it has been this whole trip. We slept with both windows open and it got chilly!

In the morning Andy closed the windows and turned on the heater, just the second time this trip we’ve had to do that, or maybe the third.

The kiddos played more with Foil Fun, then Uno. As per usual, during breakfast we watched other campers leave one by one until we were the last ones left.

Around 11am we finally started the engine and headed down the pass toward Wānaka. Ani was rather fussy almost immediately and it became clear why after ten minutes when she closed her eyes.

We only had a short 20 minute drive to the hike we had planned so we switched things around and headed to the toy and car museum- adding 10 minutes to the drive..

It’s become clear that if Ani goes to sleep in her car seat, she is likely to wake up pretty soon after the engine turns off and we are stationary.

With this in mind, Miles and Andy went to the museum and Laurie stayed behind with Ani. Unfortunately Ani woke up minutes after and the gals joined the fellas.

Miles wanted to buy everything after Laurie said he could buy something for his birthday. He excitedly met Laurie and Ani at the door and gave them a tour of everything he wanted. He beelined for the wall display of large Bruder trucks and was disappointed to hear that one wouldn’t fit in our suitcase.

We had to tear both kids away from the toys and old school supermarket ride on toys to actually enter the first of 5 hangers worth of toys and cars.

Immediately we were flooded by a mixture of overwhelm and awe. We were surrounded by classic cars, classic gas pumps, classic derby cars, toy cars and so much more. Things were in glass cases, hanging from the ceiling, displayed on shelves and piled in corners.

Andy loved looking at the cars and Laurie chased the kids around looking at all the things.

We walked into the 2nd part of the museum and found ourselves in Lego and Hot Wheels heaven. The man there has a collection of over 10,000 Hot Wheels cars, including some limited edition ones worth 5 figures.

Here were more model train sets that the kids loved because they could press a button and activate the trains. Miles could have stayed for hours.

This was the most impressive area by far and the one the kiddos enjoyed the most. Miles LOVES trains and we spent a lot of time there.

Eventually we went to check out the other hangers, which were full of old cars, planes, ambulances, police cars, tanks and farm equipment. We didn’t spend much time in the last 3 hangers, but once outside we saw the classic pedal cars.

Miles and Laurie made a beeline for them, with Ani excitedly in tow. The three of them jumped into the yellow pedal car and went for a ride with Miles steering and Laurie pedaling.

Once they were back Andy and Ani got into the black car and gave chase to Miles and Laurie in the yellow car.

We had a lot of fun and were exhausted after taking the old beaters for a relatively long lap around two of the hangers.

Once back at the entrance building, Miles looked at more toys while Laurie and Andy played large jenga. Suddenly, Ani declared she had to pee. When Laurie turned around Ani had already started peeing on the carpet.

Laurie was quick to pick up Ani after a second of disbelief and ran her out of the museum entrance. Andy notified the gal at the counter of the accident. She was not pleased.

It was embarrassing but we reminded ourselves that accidents happen. Ani has done extremely well with communicating her toileting needs and is typically very good at holding her pee until on the toilet. In hindsight it was 130pm and Ani had not yet peed today. We chose to take this incident as a reminder that we need to encourage the kids pee before we go places.

Laurie changed Ani’s clothes in the van while Miles looked around a bit more. Eventually he settled on a classic truck camper that resembled our truck and camper. We purchased it for the kids to share and left the museum.

We had a 15 minute drive to Wānaka, with our first stop being a willow tree that lives in the lake. Sadly we didn’t get there.

We parked a little ways away with hopes of a short walk but Laurie got side tracked by a “beach toy library” built out of wood pallets, located under a large willow on the rocky beach. The kids played with shovels and dump trucks while Andy skipped rocks and Laurie took in the views.

Around 3pm we drove to another parking area closer to the tree. Laurie closed her eyes for a few minutes while Andy made and fed the kids tortellini.

Around 430pm we finally left the van to go see the tree. It was cool but there was a tour bus full of tourists that made the experience less special.

It was time to leave town and make our way to camp. But the toilet stunk more than usual yesterday and today so we decided to go to the dump before leaving town.

We had a bit of miscommunication as Laurie declared she was going to shower while Andy stopped to dump the tanks. After expressing his frustration, Andy pulled out of the dump and parked nearby for Laurie and the kids to shower and returned to the dump site 30 minutes later.

Around 6pm we were finally headed out of town. Ani was cranky again, and just like earlier today, within minutes she closed her eyes.

It sure was late to be taking a nap but try as we might, she would not wake up. So we just let her sleep. Unlike Miles, Ani has still been able to sleep at bedtime even if she takes later naps. But this was way later. We’ll see what happens tonight.

Ani woke up just as we pulled into camp at 7pm. Home for the night is at Cameron Flat Campsite, which is within the boundaries of Mt. Aspiring National Park.

The drive out of Wānaka was stunning all the way to camp. We skirted along the shores of Lake Hāwea with incredible mountains surrounding us on all sides before crossing over The Neck and getting more incredible views of more stunning mountains from the shores of Lake Wānaka. It was so pretty in all directions that it was hard to know which way to look.

We stopped for diesel in the town of Makarora, just before entering Mt. Aspiring National Park.

Andy got out to put the screens on the windows once we were happy with where we had parked and how relatively level we were. The sandflies made their presence known immediately.

Once Andy got back inside, none of us went outside again. At one point we counted 16 sandflies just on the passenger window alone.

It’s times like these we are grateful to be in the van and not in a tent. And while better, some sandflies had followed Andy in.

And since it was not breezy at all, we’re pretty sure some of the pesky sandflies got in through the screens as well.

We killed almost two dozen of them from the time we parked until we finished brushing our teeth.

Laurie feels a sense of dread as bedtime creeps in. Will we sleep? Will we be itchy and be up trying to kill bugs all night?

How much will the kids protest and resist every step of the bedtime routine? As stated above, this van offers a lot of comfort but being bitten while sleeping is getting old!

Around 1030pm, we finally turned out the lights. Miles and Andy were out pretty quickly. Andy woke up to Ani crying around 1115pm. She really wanted to go to the top bed and we tried to explain to her that Miles was sleeping and that she wouldn’t be comfortable up here with him sleeping.

No explanation was good enough for her. She cried and expressed her disapproval so passionately she was sweating after a few minutes. Thankfully she calmed down and was finally asleep by 1140pm.

Looks like super late naps aren’t good for Ani either. On shorter driving days we need to come up with a plan to ensure she sleeps at least an hour earlier in the afternoon so she doesn’t crash after 5pm.

But that’s something to think about tomorrow. We are exhausted.