Andy woke up to the sound of rain around 11pm. The roof vent and two windows were open but the rain was short lived so he went back to sleep.

He woke up again to the sound of rain again around 2am. It was coming down harder than before and not knowing how long it had been raining, he climbed down the ladder and closed the vent and windows.

Just before he climbed down he had heard Ani lightly crying. When he went to go back up the ladder and into his bed, Andy noticed Ani sitting upright in her bed with her hands over her eyes.

He asked her what was the matter, to which she responded, “mama won’t give me bootie.”

Andy offered for Ani to sleep with dada, which she accepted.

Once interrupted, sleep didn’t come easy for Andy once more. He was up until 4am editing blog posts. While he was awake he heard Miles talking in his sleep. His speech was not intelligible but made him wonder what Miles was dreaming about.

Just before Andy fell asleep, he heard Laurie and Miles blissfully snoring away with Ani tucked in close to his side. These are some of the sweet moments of family life!

Checkout was at 10am but we enjoyed another slow morning. We did have hopes of getting to our camp earlier to enjoy the views and perhaps hike before the weather turned but it was nice to just enjoy each other and the quiet town.

To our surprise it took some convincing to get Miles out of the van to go to a bakery for breakfast. He is a total homebody. It is comforting that this van now feels like home. He has said many times “this feels like Idaho.” He’s also 5 and his knee-jerk reaction to everything is ‘no’ until he thinks about it. Funny enough Ani does this a lot as well, but she’s two.

When we reminded Miles what they sell at bakeries, his eyes lit up and he was on board.

The bakery was somewhat underwhelming but next door there was a cheese shop (with samples!) and a fun souvenir shop so the outing was still worthwhile.

We returned around 945am. Laurie took the kids and the bakery treats to a picnic table near the laundry, leaving Andy to clean up and pack things away before he could drive the short distance to the dump site.

Andy was dumping the tanks and filling up our fresh water at 1015am. Luckily nobody seemed to mind our late check out. Miles ran over to help and then recruited Ani after seeing there was mint growing nearby. Just so we’re clear, the mint was growing at the potable water filling station, not by the dump station (:

After dumping and filling we moved the van to an empty site near the showers in hopes of Andy and both kids taking showers before departing.

We may or may not have bribed them with candy if they showered. Miles would have likely showered anyway but was now totally on board and went in with Andy with no hesitation.

Ani took a bit more convincing but eventually she elected to shower with Mama. But in true Ani fashion, once both Laurie and Ani were naked, she changed her mind and wanted Dada. All credit to her though, she got in and even though she was glued to Andy the whole time, she took her shower and even seemed to enjoy it.

Andy took the time to talk to her and sing to her. He also went at her speed. He got her hair wet and scrubbed her body with soap and it all went well.

Andy feels what’s challenging about these showers, including the one in the campervan, is that they all have fixed heads. This is fine when you’re an adult, but as a kid the fixed head sprays water all over their faces and Ani especially does not like this.

Around 11am we finally hit the road. We wound through rolling hills and farmland, but with more trees in the landscape.

In the town of Fairlie we stopped for diesel, then went the to Alpine Alpaca farm where we all got to feed alpacas, ponys, two sheep and a horse.

Miles was apprehensive at first but after seeing Laurie feed the alpaca, he found his grove quickly. The ponys were too aggressive for him though.

Ani really liked the idea of feeding all of the animals but ultimately did not. She giggled long and hard though watching us feed them. She also loved Bobby the 3 month old lamb who weaseled his way through the fence and ran toward us numerous times.

Bobby was really cute and rather small. His mom died when he was 2 days old and the farm owners hand fed him so he is very fond of humans and loves to interact with them.

After 45 minutes of feeding the animals and enjoying the tranquil farm, we headed back on the road.

As we made our way to Lake Tekapo, the farmlands gave way to rolling hills with expansive mountain views. We were entering one of the darkest sky areas of the entire world.

Lake Tekapo is described by the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve as “one of the quietest spots on the planet yet one of the busiest night skies in the universe.”

Perhaps on the way back we will camp near here and have good weather for stargazing.

After about an hour of driving we stopped at Pines Beach on the shores of Lake Tekapo for lunch.

Along this section of the drive we were mesmerized by expansive fields of lupine – purple lupine, pink lupine and white lupine, all intermixed and on full display. There were a few pinkish red ones too sprinkled in. Laurie was loving the flowers.

At Pines Beach we sat on the rocks next to a patch of lupine and enjoyed leftover Indian food for lunch. The turquoise water of the lake and the cool breeze made for a memorable and picturesque dining experience.

The kiddos threw rocks in the water for a few minutes and then we left. After a short drive we stopped at Lake Pukaki with Mt. Cook and the stunning mountain range of Aoraki/Mt. Cook National Park on full display.

Laurie spread some of her mom’s ashes (what the kiddos call fairy dust) at an overlook. It was a short stop with a strong headwind and with the kiddos asking for snacks we quickly got back in blue wave and ventured on.

We didn’t get very far because we chose to stop along the road so Laurie could go down to the lake by herself to spread some more of her mom’s ashes. The turquoise water, alpine tundra with wild rose bushes and lupine plus distant snow capped mountains felt like a perfect resting spot for Sue.

This would be our last stop. With 45 minutes left to drive we headed for camp. Ani closed her eyes again only 15 minutes before getting to camp.

She would have likely closed her eyes even earlier had they not been watching. We heard her crying shortly after we parked at camp. Andy noticed Miles doing something to her to cause her to wake up.

Laurie went to Ani and picked her up in hopes of consoling her and Andy looked for Miles who was hiding from us. This is usually a clear indicator that Miles did something he knows he shouldn’t have done.

We have a family rule that Miles knows all too well. You get in less trouble if you tell the truth.

After being reminded of our family rule, Miles admitted to pinching Ani until she woke up. We reminded Miles that it is important for us to let little kids sleep without disturbing them. And that we certainly should not be pinching one another.

We left our campervan to register for our stay, then went back to the camper and dilly dallied for an hour. Andy played with the kids and Laurie packed a backpack for our “hike” this evening.

Eventually around 645pm we finally left the van. It was a bit chilly and somewhat windy but the views were very pretty along the Hooker Valley trail.

The cacti along the trail with snow capped mountains not too far away was very baffling to Andy. New Zealand truly is a country like no other.

The trail was gentle and wide and very inviting for the kids to run, run, run. Seeing the joy in their eyes as they are out exploring, running, climbing, chasing and laughing fills our hearts with joy and reminds us why we are out here and why we choose to do this.

We rounded a corner to a lookout and felt the full brunt of the wind for the first time. The kids were shivering but refused to put on their warm puffy jackets that Laurie had thoughtfully packed for them.

They were ready to head back but Laurie really wanted a picture. A friendly couple offered to take our photo so we took them up on it, hoping the kids would smile more for a stranger than they do with us!

While returning the favor, Miles tried to photobomb the couple but fell and skinned his knee. He was crying hard and there was a little blood. Scuffs hurt more when they are bloody, at least that’s true for Miles.

We put a bandaid on Miles’ knee and carried them both back down the trail. Laurie had packed the trail magic in hopes of finally using it on this trip. She gradually got Ani into it but she was not a fan. Both kids prefer the feeling of our arms rather than straps.

We saw one bunny when walking up the trail and 4 bunnies on the return trip. These bunnies aren’t shy or skiddish.

Back at the van, Andy continued to play with the kids while Laurie warmed up the last of the soup and then made carrots and onions for Ani.

Andy wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and when they saw him eating that they wanted the same thing, except with butter instead of peanut butter.

The kids were eating, playing and laughing. We were having quite a nice evening together. And Ani was doing her balancing exercises that she’s been doing for the past few days on the armrests of the back seats.

Today though, she slipped almost immediately after putting her hands too far down on the armrest and went face first into the ground.

Andy picked her up thinking she may have hit her mouth, but it was her chin that as bleeding.

Ani was beside herself, crying hysterically. Laurie came over, took Ani who immediately wanted to nurse and applied pressure on the cut to stop it from bleeding.

Ani would nurse, then stop and cry, then nurse again, all the while Laurie tried to look at the cut while applying pressure.

Andy went in search of the first aid kit and Andy and Laurie were trying to formulate a plan but Miles kept wanting to talk to both of us.

Our sweet boy wanted to be helpful and tell us from his perspective what had happened. We calmly tried to tell him that this was serious and we had to concentrate on Ani, then he could tell us what happened.

We thought of little things he could do but he rejected them all, only wanting to talk to us. This was certainly his way to dealing with the stress of the situation but it wasn’t helpful in the moment.

Ani calmed down after about 10 minutes. Given that the cut was small and didn’t seem too deep, it was 9pm on a Saturday and the closest hospital was over 3 hours away, we used steri strips to pinch the cut closed and covered it with 2 bandaids.

Miles grabbed his headlight to shine light on the cut while Ani layed down on the bed on her back and Andy put on Ms. Rachel to distract her. Laurie did a good job bandaging up Ani’s wound.

We let the kids watch a bit more so they could do be at ease and we used the time to decompress and thank each other for staying calm during the whole ordeal. We are grateful Ani didn’t hurt herself any worse and that she seems to be in good spirits now.

We are all exhausted and ready for bed. Hopefully we all sleep well, especially Ani.

The cool weather and wind made for a bug free night. We all slept well and slept hard!

With a goal to be on the road by 10 am, Andy wrestled with the kids while Laurie cleaned up and washed dishes. It is in moments like this that we play to our strengths – Andy is present and fills the kids’ buckets while Laurie gets things done.

Miles turned the key to start the engine at 10:10am – not too shabby. Laurie had assumed that the b&b came around the campsite to collect camping fees in the evening but that wasn’t so.

We stopped at the front and Andy went to pay while Miles pretended to drive. He loves to steer, give the engine some revs, turn on the blinkers and headlights and honk the horn. Usually Andy allows him to do most of those things except honk the horn and high beam others.

Andy returned to the van to find the kids already asking to watch cartoons but we distracted them by giving them sticker books and strawberries.

Today was going to be our longest driving day yet with just over 4 hours to our next destination. Andy had mapped out some potential stops to allow us to stretch our legs if needed.

Usually when we make too many stops though, the drive feels like it takes much, much longer. Today we just took it kilometer by kilometer and let the drive unfold.

The road hugged the beautiful coastline for about 30 minutes. We drove through 3 narrow tunnels and spotted many seals. Laurie even thought she saw a penguin. We’re not sure if it was one or not but Ani was falling asleep so we elected to keep going.

The road turned inland and got very twisty for the first 20 minutes as we drove up and over a pass. This stretch of State Highway 1 is called the Alpine Pacific Touring Route and is very picturesque.

Eventually we turned off of State Highway 1 and on to flat roads through farmlands. The rest of the drive was rather uneventful, except for when we passed slow moving tractors.

Ani took a lovely 2 hour nap and Miles was entertained by sticker books, coloring and listening to music.

With 1 hour to go we stopped at a playground to stretch our legs. We are pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness of the parks and playgrounds in New Zealand. It’s quite lovely and reminds us of the parks in Idaho.

Ani drove a “taxi” while Miles offered rides to the apple orchard on the tractor. We love seeing their imaginations at work. Jokingly Andy says he’s always glad to see they still have imagination after watching cartoons on the drives because when they are watching they look like completely immersed zombies.

Around 3:30pm we arrived at the Geraldine Top 10 Holiday park, our home for the night. We choose this spot to have access to laundry.

Interesting how we got to camp earliest on our longest driving day. Just goes to show that stops really do add up!

We also wanted to get there before 4pm as we were told there was a Christmas parade that evening and we would encounter road closures if we got there after 4pm.

The price difference of a non powered site (often called a tent site in these types of holiday parks) and a powered site was only $5. Andy figured most people with campervans would elect the powered sites. He assumed that if we chose a non powered site it would be less crowded in that part of the park.

He was right. Every campervan was at a powered site and the non powered section was pretty empty.

After registering, Miles drove on Andy’s lap to our home for the night while Ani rode on Laurie’s lap. The looks people gave us made Andy smile. But Andy’s smile couldn’t match Miles’ smile when he got to pretend drive a bit after we parked.

Laurie got our laundry together and made a bee line for the facilities. We were burning daylight and feared that our air dried clothes would not have sufficient daylight to dry. We also wanted to get laundry done so we could have dinner before the Christmas parade began.

Andy took the kids to the playground across from the holiday park while Laurie did laundry and chatted with Lucy, who is thru hiking the South Island portion of the Te Aurora Trail.

There was another tractor at this park and at first the kids were excited and playing well at the playground, both on the tractor and on the other structures. But then the sun came out and the kids got hot. So we returned to the van for water and snacks.

Around 530 we started thinking about dinner. Andy had looked up the town of Geraldine the night before and had settled on either burgers or Indian food. Laurie asked a staffer at the holiday park who highly recommended the Indian restaurant so we went there.

Royal India had a small play structure and toys in a designated kid area inside the restaurant that kept the kids entertained while our food was being prepared. In fact it was hard to tear them away once the food was ready and Andy got to dine alone for a few minutes. It has been at least 2 decades since Laurie was at a restaurant that had an indoor playground (McDonald’s) and the food was most certainly not this good!!

Everything was very delicious. Ani ate a lot of chicken tikka masala and Miles ate butter chicken.

We had thought we might watch the Christmas parade while eating but when we heard the band we decided to go out to the street and join the hundreds of other people lining the sidewalks.

One of the first groups in the parade were holding up a sign that read, “tamariki = children, the greatest gift of all.”

Tamariki in Māori means child or children. Andy really appreciated this message as it spoke to him on a deep level and set the stage for how cool and kid focused the parade would be.

But even he couldn’t predict just how cool the parade ended up being. Classic cars, tractors old and new, including steam powered tractors, floats from many schools in the area, nuns on scooters and a tank!

The kids were loving it as well, especially when participants tossed candy their way. Miles’ pockets were full by the time the parade was over.

After the police car went around again, thankfully not blaring his siren this time, it marked the end of the parade so went back into the restaurant to finish dinner.

Naturally all Miles wanted was candy so we told him he could have a piece if he ate 5 more bites of food. He’s never eaten faster in his life, except for other times when candy or ice cream or some other sweet treat was waiting for him.

After dinner we walked back to the holiday park with negotiations around candy fully underway – how much of it could they have, when they could have it, etc.

We finished laundry and went back to the campervan. Miles wanted soup and ate a bowl and a half while Ani had fun using the rear seat armrests as balancing bars and exploring her strength by lifting her legs off the ground and having her arms hold her up while she swung back and forth.

Miles had not napped today and Ani had taken a longer nap but earlier in the day so they went to bed with relative ease.

It’s cooler here in Geraldine and the bugs aren’t that bad. Earlier in the day we purchased bug spray and sprayed the DIY netting in hopes that this combo would really keep the bugs away. We shall see.

Planning a trip on a computer has its challenges because there are things you can’t factor in, such as topography, weather, road conditions, closures, etc.

Planning a trip with kids is even more challenging. At home a 2.5 hour drive takes 3.5 or 4 hours. How much longer would a 2.5 hour drive take in another country? How would the kids do sitting in a vehicle for that long day after day?

There are lots of unknowns but as long as we are willing to make changes on the fly and roll with whatever comes our way we can still have fun and enjoy our trip.

Knowing we had a longer drive yesterday and how remote we would be, we had chosen to stay at Tōtaranui campground for two nights when planning our trip at home.

We had hoped to use this non driving day to play in the sand, enjoy the water and hike a very small portion of the Abel Tasman Coastal Track.

Andy woke up at 520am and felt very rested, even though he had gone to bed at 1145pm the night before. He looked at the vent screen and only saw 2 or 3 sand flies compared a dozen or so the morning prior.

After laying in bed enjoying the birdsongs, he got out of bed and sat on the driver’s seat (which spins around to face the inside of the van when stopped) next to the open window to finish a few blog posts and look at attractions and drive times for the days ahead.

The cool morning breeze and continued birdsongs were joyful and incredibly relaxing. He was in his happy place.

Ani was shifting and coughing a lot by 630am and could only be comforted by bootie (this is what she calls boobie and what she says when she wants to nurse).

She coughed and coughed and nursed and continued to sleep. Meanwhile Miles slept like a corpse during all of this. Eventually Laurie and the kids woke up around 9am when the cutest old man you’ve ever met came around to collect our number plate for registration purposes.

Miles was grumpy at first and blamed Andy for waking him up when Andy came back into the van. His mean-muggin face was really cute. Even though Andy had walked with the man about 20 feet away from the camper, the opening and closing of the door were enough to wake them up.

We had a relaxing and slow morning, taking time to just play and do what the kids wanted instead of hurrying them into their car seats.

Around 1030 we had a breakfast consisting of eggs, jelly and bread with butter. An hour later Laurie and the kids went outside to dig, run around and play before we all headed down to the water.

With sunblock on our skins and beach toys in hand, we all walked to the beach and immediately began to dig or look for cool seashells.

The kids dipped their toes in the cool but not cold water while Andy and Laurie took turns going deeper. Andy can’t remember the last time he was in salty ocean water. It felt very refreshing, until the wind picked up.

Thirty minutes into our outing Ani began asking to go back to the camper. Andy realized she was tired and likely wanting a nap so he carried her back. Within 5 minutes she was asleep. Ani is a trooper. Her nose is like a running faucet today but she’s in good spirits. And thankfully her deep cough is starting to soften.

Miles and Laurie dug and played in the sand for almost an hour before returning to the van.

The sun feels hotter and stronger here. A video we watched mentioned New Zealand being close to the hole in the ozone layer, therefore the sun being more intense. We haven’t looked into this but 15 minutes is the maximum we stay out in the piercing sun without sunblock, especially the kids.

After sleeping in Andy’s arms for almost an hour Ani woke up. We had lunch and played in the van a bit.

Andy was feeling uneasy about our long driving days ahead so we set up the kids in front of the iPad to watch Bluey while we figured out a better itinerary than what we had put together at home. (Turns out we stuck with the basic outline we had created at home with many 2-3 hour driving days and one 5 hour day.)

After 45 minutes or so we resumed playing in the van, then washed dishes and put things away because it was moving day.

Our campsite wasn’t very level so we had decided we wanted to move to a level spot that was closer to the water and to the start of the track.

Laurie sat on the bed with the kids while Andy drove super slowly. We found a spot we liked, parked it and headed out for a walk to Skinner point. The sign stated 15 mins one way to the lookout site.

Powered by too many gummies for the steps walked, we slowly made our way along the trail.

Ani wanted the gummies Miles was eating instead of the dried mango chews she chose so they began negotiating with Miles, who asked for two mango chews for one gummy since his gummies were bigger. It is fun to watch them sort things out.

We took a side trail to a magnificent climbing tree before making the final push to Skinner Point.

According to another hiker, on a cloudless sunny day the water is turquoise and very picturesque, but with the partial cloud cover of today the colors weren’t as vibrant. It was very pretty to us and we enjoyed the view.

At the viewpoint Miles saw rock outcroppings below that he really wanted to hop along. He became excited when we told him that after dinner we would walk to those rocks and explore.

We made our way back and Andy prepared tortellini with chicken, bacon and mozzarella cheese. After a bit of declaration for wanting something different, both kids ate reasonably well.

Ani hasn’t had much of an appetite on this trip thus far, which is understandable given her cold. But it worries Andy since er wants his kids to be well fed and healthy.

With tortellinis in our bellies, Laurie and the kids headed out in search of the rocks with Andy about 10 minutes behind. He appreciated the few moments of silence as being in tight quarters with 2 loud children is very challenging for him.

Laurie and the kids ran along the beach playing games with their foot prints. As long as we were moving the sand flies weren’t an issue. But once we stopped, they attacked and Laurie got really grumpy. Eventually Ani wanted to be carried but luckily Miles was excited and kept walking.

The tide had come in since we were at Skinner point so we couldn’t access the exact rocks but Laurie and Miles enjoyed exploring and looking at the different shells and their inhabitants.

Ani wasn’t as keen on rock exploring but did enjoy hopping from rock to rock just like her brother.

Eventually the sand flies got to Laurie and she declared she was heading back with Ani in hand. Andy and Miles ran around chasing each other all the way back.

We cleaned our feet at the spigot again and strategically entered the van to minimize unwanted flying guests.

Laurie and Andy took turns showering while the kids refused, opting for wet wipe baths instead. Given the amount of sunscreen we had applied in their legs and faces, we really wanted them to shower.

But not even the bribe of ice cream the following day was enough. Miles definitely thought about it though, going so far as getting fully undressed. But at the last minute he changed his mind.

Ani would have likely showered too if Miles had done so, but alas, both refused and we didn’t fight them on it. If ice cream couldn’t win them over, what would?

We turned on Bluey once again after we had both finished showering. Laurie wiped them down and Andy brushed their teeth.

Miles did not nap today and Ani slept for less than an hour so there wasn’t too much in the way of extra curricular activities before both fell asleep.