Ani woke up smiling and saying “thank you for cleaning my potty.” Where that came from, we don’t know, but these kids come up with and say the strangest things.

At least it made us all laugh. And because it made us laugh she kept saying it, which made us laugh more.

We have accepted at this point that we will leave camp at 10 or 11am every day. And thanks ok because we don’t have anywhere to be, except in two days.

We had booked a boat tour in Milford Sound for tomorrow but the weather called for a lot of rain so we delayed it by one day.

This meant today was going to be an even shorter driving day as we changed our campsite to one closer to town.

We purchased a New Zealand Department of Conservation camping pass for 30 days before leaving the U.S. and having that membership makes it easy to book campsites. But it’s a government website after all so it’s not great and cancelling or changing dates is a hassle, especially when doing so on a phone with sporadic signal.

While today may have become an even shorter driving day, we were going to do laundry so we likely won’t be getting to camp until 6pm.

Miles did some more homework this morning (he did some last night too but when we told him it was getting late he burst into tears and went into full meltdown mode because he was so tired). This morning’s session was short lived though because Ani wanted to help Miles.

But Ani was being a rascal and not helping at all. Instead she would provoke him and then laugh. This made Miles mad and eventually everything was put away after Miles had had enough and poked Ani in the arm with a pen.

After everyone had calmed down, we had breakfast while looking out of the van windows and seeing so many more campers that had shown up after we had gone to bed.

One was parked only 3 feet behind us. And another was about 15 feet to our left. Given there was someone almost nose to nose with the right front of our van, we were almost boxed in. It’s such a different style of camping here in New Zealand.

While everyone seems like they are on top of each other in the popular camping areas, not once have we heard people speaking loudly, causing a raucous after hours or anyone playing music. Everyone is respectful and that matters more to Andy than having people be more spread out.

We hit the road just before 11am. It’s such a different pace than we are used to. On the PCT, we would have hiked at least 10 miles by 11am.

But with the late bedtimes, the kids wake up around 9 am. It is not the schedule that we would choose but it is the schedule that we have fallen into and it works (except for when we get to camp late and the kids are hungry and have to wait for dinner to be made).

The drive today was another spectacular one. Rolling green hills, lakes and dramatic mountains on all sides. Half way to town we passed 2,000km of driving on this trip!

The van drives well and handles reasonably well for what it is and how much it weighs.

When we got to town, Andy was ready to take the clothes to the laundromat and wanted Miles to go with. But he couldn’t even convince Miles to go in by bribing him with candy. And that’s when Andy gave Miles the nickname Chief Homebody.

We were all getting hungry and once back at the van, Andy mentioned he was craving a burger. It sounded good to everyone so after dumping and filling our tanks we went to The Ranch Bar & Grill.

The burgers were pretty good but the we could have done without the fries. And Miles’ burger from the kids menu was the same exact size as ours except it was served on a square plate and ours were on rectangle ones.

After we ate, Laurie took the kids to Sputnik Park nearby while Andy went to retrieve our clothes. They weren’t dry yet so he added another $4 to the machine and ran the dryer again.

Andy drove to the park and saw Laurie squealing on the zip line. She was having so much fun she did the zip line more times than Miles.

The kids weren’t really feeling the vibe of the park so we went to a bike rental place nearby and rented quadricycle- 2 sets of pedals, 2 steering wheels (although only 1 works) and seats for 4.

It took some getting used to but Laurie and Andy found their groove and pedaled the family along. We rode down the side street and eventually turned onto the beachfront road.

Miles handled the steering wheel from time to time and the hand brake. We giggled as we veered to avoid potholes. Our rental was only for 30 minutes, which was plenty with our butts sliding off the seats.

After dropping off the bike, we packed into blue wave, drove to the laundromat, then topped off our water and headed to camp, 20 minutes out of town.

We got to the Henry Creek Campground around 6pm as predicted. It was windy, which kept the bugs away.

After Andy parked the van at the end of the dead end road in a spot designed for a much smaller vehicle, he let the kids drive while he went down to the water.

We have seen this while driving last week, but this was the first time we have come close to this type of beach.

It’s unlike any beach Andy has ever seen. The large, magnificent trees we are camped under give way to smaller, scraggly trees that grow out of the rocks on the beach, with small shrubs growing in the water.

When Andy returned to the van to cook dinner, Laurie and kids went on a nature walk through the forest behind our van.

Miles was the leader and directed Ani and Laurie to follow him wherever he went, which included over and around logs.

Dinner tonight was rice with chicken, carrots, onions and asparagus. We are proud of ourselves for cooking most of our meals thus far on this trip and only eating out a handful of times.

After dinner we played Uno. Ani won both rounds and then it was off to bed, which was around 9pm.

But going to bed doesn’t mean falling asleep on this trip. Both kids wanted to be on the top bed with Andy. Miles has been sleeping up there pretty regularly and Ani had a routine too.

She’ll come up, then want to nurse and go down. Sometimes she does this twice but we try not to let her. It gets to be too late and disruptive to everyone’s sleep. But we weren’t successful tonight.

Upon returning to the lower bunk, Laurie agreed for Ani to nurse. Ani excitedly called to Miles and Andy, “She said I can have bootie, she said I can have bootie.”

After a good laugh we all said goodnight to each other and went to sleep. It was still windy when we went to sleep. And it’s supposed to rain. We’ll see what nature has in store for us.

We enjoyed good sleep in a quiet camp with only one tent camper and a motorhome that seemed to belong to a local farmer.

It was very buggy in the am when we awoke. Laurie found it quite satisfying to see the sandflies on the opposite side of the glass.

Under sunny skies we eventually left camp and drove back on the dirt road past the sheep and cows. From here it was 1.5 hours to Queenstown. The drive continued to be beautiful.

We drove by fields of hops and other lower to the ground agriculture. The lush green fields gave way to more dramatic hills and then snow capped mountains as we approached Queenstown.

Laurie said the mountains around Queenstown reminded her Switzerland and Alaska combined.

Andy found that description pretty accurate. But driving in constant traffic on the narrow, hilly roads reminded him of San Francisco and he couldn’t wait to get out of there.

But before we could leave there were town chores that needed to be done. Laurie attempted to shower the kids while Andy shopped at New World supermarket but couldn’t get any hot water. After a few tries she gave up.

Andy was in the store for a while. It was a major restocking day for us and just as Laurie texted Andy about his eta because Miles was getting hungry, Andy opened the side door of the van with 3 bags full of goodies.

Andy asked for the family to help put away groceries and neither kid replied. He explained that we need to work together and being part of a team means helping with shared tasks.

Still, neither moved. So he said he would eat all the yummy snacks ask by himself and they darted off the bed to see what he had bought.

Ani saw cherries and immediately wanted them. Andy tried to get her to wait until we could wash and pit them but she wasn’t having it.

Miles and Laurie were working together putting things away, with Miles getting distracted and wanting everything he pulled out of the bags.

Ani was now shouting for cherries and Miles turned to try and explain that we needed to wash them. He was really sweet with her and very calm too. Until he tried to take the cherries, at which time Ani doubled down and predictably they all fell on the ground.

Andy could tell Ani was tired so he took her out of the van to the French bakery for bread and the butcher in hopes of finding lunch meats without preservatives.

Almost immediately Ani gave dada a koala hug and rested her head on his shoulder. By the time they got back to the van she was almost sleep.

Andy tried to switch her into a horizontal position in hopes of transitioning her to the bed at the back of the van but Ani didn’t like that and opened her eyes. Once she saw the van she perked up and wanted cherries.

Thankfully Laurie had them ready and waiting for her. The kids snacked as we drove clear across town to fill the propane. Andy feels it’s still pretty full, but since we’re not getting any hot water, this was the low hanging fruit he wanted to start with.

The clerk only filled 1.5 gallons worth and confirmed that the tank was still pretty full. Laurie got on the phone with tech support while we drove back across town to the post office which was close to the gas station with a dump site.

They mentioned something about resetting the circuit breaker, which Andy did and just like that we had hot water again. We were parked on the street at rush hour but when Laurie and the kids returned from dropping off their postcards, they all showered.

Laurie tried to convince Andy to shower too. His gut told him they were low on water but Laurie insisted he try since it felt so good and we were about to dump and fill. Sure enough we ran out of water while he was partially soapy.

Using our drinking water bottle he finished his shower and it was time to go dump the tanks. It was full blown rush hour in Queenstown and trying to get into the gas station was really tricky. Andy was going the right way but was in the wrong lane so he missed the turn into the gas station.

Thankfully there was another dump station only minutes away so Laurie directed Andy to that one. This gas station was big, not that busy and the dump was easy to find.

Unfortunately when Andy opened the lid to the dump it didn’t look so great. Given the time and necessity, Andy went ahead and did what he always does, hook up the grey water first.

Almost immediately he heard the water backing up. He looked and saw the water rapidly rising and shut off the valve to the van’s grey tank before it overflowed.

Andy went inside to see if there was something he could use to unclog the drain but was told by the clerk that the counsel maintained the dump and that he would email them.

Andy put away the grey tank hose, giving up on dumping today. We moved the van, filled up on fresh water and drove out of town the heaviest we would like be. Blue wave was full of fresh water, almost full of grey water and full of diesel fuel.

We headed south along Lake Wakatipu for about 20 minutes, hopeful to find a camp for the night at the first available camping area outside of Queenstown, where they have banned all freedom camping.

Laurie mentioned numerous times how she could live in Queenstown and Andy couldn’t get outta there fast enough. Our desires for where to live are as diverse as the ever-changing New Zealand landscape.

We pulled into Kingston Beach camp and were pleasantly surprised by how big it was. Not surprisingly all of the spots by the water were taken but there were plenty of spots on the grass. We chose a spot that was relatively flat and away from others.

After dinner, Laurie and the kiddos went down to the water with their sand toys and Andy took a moment to sit in the quiet and decompress before joining them.

The beach and mountains are just stunning here. Everywhere you look is so incredibly picturesque. Add to that the sound of the waves crashing into the beach and it makes for quite the soul quenching experience.

The kids dug and ran around until 9pm. Upon returning to the van we were surprised to see more vans parked around us. Apparently we are not the only ones taking full advantage of the long hours of daylight.

Predictably, meltdowns ensued trying to get the kids to brush their teeth. We agreed that we need to have a hard stop at 830pm for the kids no matter what they’re doing because they just get so tired.

At 1015pm, the van was finally quiet. And bug free.

**For anyone who has commented on our posts, we appreciate each and every one of them. We have read and tried to respond to them, but for reasons unknown we are unable to respond.**

We woke up this morning to temperamental skies and occasional gusty winds.

We slept well in the shelter of blue wave while the blustery, angry storm passed through. While it doesn’t seem like it rained much, the wind howled all night long.

It started spitting on and off as we ate breakfast and watched rowers on the lake far below us. We also wondered what the drive up and over the pass would be like. We’ve heard it’s really pretty and that we should take our time, so we’re hoping for good weather.

Eventually we rolled out of camp around 1030am. We were only 5km from town and our first stop was the supermarket – if you can call it that.

Most of the small towns have markets called Four Square Supermarkets. They are small markets that offer what most people need but lack the variety and quality of foods we like.

They did have really good artisan bakery bread so we bought a loaf, along with bananas and headed out in search of the post office to buy stamps for the post cards the kids have been working on.

Andy spotted trash cans so he ran back to the camper to get the trash that’s been collecting since we haven’t had many opportunities to throw it out.

We’ve learned it’s better to have multiple little bags of trash compared to larger bags because the larger bags don’t fit in this country’s small rubbish bins.

Laurie and the kids went to the playground while Andy went to go dump and fill. There we met 2 boys with familiar american accents (it is still weird to think that we have accents to people here). They were 8 and 10 and had spent the past 3 years sailing from Florida to New Zealand.

After playing at the park for about 30 minutes, Laurie and the kids went searching for dada. They found him as he was finishing up dumping the contents of the cassette toilet.

Finally done with our town chores it was time to drive over the pass. But before we drove outta town, Laurie wondered if we should go to the medical center in town and consult the doctor about Ani’s chin.

We both agreed it was a good idea to go since we were still a day away from Queenstown.

We were assured by the nurse that steri strips were the way to go and if we can keep them on Ani’s face for 7 – 10 days that would be ideal.

Feeling reassured, we finally began driving out of town. It was now 3pm. The partly sunny skies and little wind filled us with hopes for a pleasant and scenic drive up and over the pass.

The road wove past more fields of purple, pink and white lupine lining the creeks and hillsides.

Ani slept as Miles and Laurie stopped to spread some more of Sue’s ashes. They had to climb down a rock wall to reach the riverbed but once there they were surrounded by a large patch of lupine. Miles scattered flower pedals and Laurie poured out the remainder of the ashes we had brought on this trip.

The drive up and over Lindis pass was incredibly picturesque. We didn’t stop to take pictures but instead took in the alpine scenery with our eyes.

We turned off the main road and backtracked on a dirt road for about 20 minutes to camp. Miles took out his camera to snap some pictures of the cows and sheep we passed along the way.

The kids enjoyed running around the old hotel ruins with Andy and playing in the lupine while Laurie took a power nap.

We then switched so Andy could cook. But the activities with Laurie were short lived as the wind died down and the sand flies came out. Having retreated to the van, we all stayed inside the rest of the night.