We all slept hard last night, especially Ani. When she got out of bed this morning, she looked at herself in the mirror of the bathroom door for quite a while.

She saw the bandaids on her face and touched them numerous times. When Andy asked her if she remembered what happened the night before, she didn’t reply. She just kept touching the bandaids.

Her focus was broken by a huge gust of wind that shook the van the hardest thus far this morning.

The forecast called for rain today with winds gusting to 75 kph in the morning. The forecast was spot on.

We’re not sure when it started raining but at 6am Andy got up and closed the open window on the passenger side.

Throughout the morning blue wave was pummeled by heavy rain and intense winds.

We were in no rush to be anywhere as we were supposed to be at this campground for tonight as well. We have hopes of going outside sometime today and will likely leave since the weather is not supposed to improve much tomorrow either.

We ate breakfast while waving goodbye to all of the vans and campers leaving throughout the morning.

We spent the morning snuggling in bed listening to the rain, finger knitting and reading Richard Scarry books. Then Andy played with the kids while Laurie organized, cleaned and washed last night’s and this morning’s dishes.

Soon after, Ani took a nap and Laurie and Miles beaded until she woke up around 2pm.

The wind had mellowed out a lot since morning but the steady rain persisted.

When Ani woke up she and dada beaded while mama and Miles rested for a bit before playing with Legos.

Around 4pm, after Laurie had longingly looked at people walking in the rain all day, we all put on our rain clothes and ventured outside.

Laurie packed the kid’s rain suits and rain boots for situations like this. Even if we only use the rain suits this one time, it will have been worth it.

Once outside Miles made a beeline for the deepest puddle and Ani followed suit. Laurie had hopes of going on a hike but that was not in the cards. The kids were outside and they were enjoying stomping in puddles. We were content with the fact that we had gotten out of the van.

After 15 minutes of stomping and jumping and kicking, the wind picked up and we retreated to blue wave. We put up a makeshift clothesline inside the van to dry all of our clothes, put on dry clothes and are got ready to drive someplace new.

When we were out in the rain we could see patches of blue sky, particularly in the direction down valley from which we had come.

Within minutes of driving out of Hooker Valley, we were greeted by blue skies, sun and ferocious wind. It’s as if we had entered a different world.

And it goes to show that what our neighbor Paul had said about New Zealand when we were at Whites Bay is rather accurate. One only has to drive a short distance to see new weather and landscape. Compared to the States, where we have larger amounts of scenery but further dispersed.

We stopped to take pictures of a rainbow and drove the 45 minutes to our freedom camping spot looking out over Lake Ruataniwha.

This is the type of freedom camping Andy loves. An open area that stretches for about a 1/2 kilometer. Park where you’d like and enjoy your camp.

Andy parked the van in an orientation that allowed for lake views when the rear doors were open and excitedly went to open the rear doors when the van was relatively level.

Laurie and the kids appreciated the view and sunshine for about 30 seconds until a gust of wind came out of nowhere and shut one of the doors.

Andy quickly shut the rear doors and parked the van the opposite way, with the nose into the wind. The forecast called for winds gusting to 100 kph. It sure felt like it outside.

Nobody wanted to go outside so the kids and Laurie played while Andy cooked dinner: teriyaki chicken and broccoli.

Ani ate well yesterday but for most of this trip she really hasn’t eaten much at all. And she has nurses exponentially more. Sadly today was no different. I guess we have to find another Indian restaurant.

After dinner we finally went outside despite the wind and the dark clouds coming in from the west. It was almost 9pm at this point but the air was cool and refreshing. Perfect for a dance party!

We danced. We ran. We chased toddler Crocs being blown away by the wind. We really had a fun time together. All of us were laughing and light hearted.

In the back of our minds we knew that bedtime might be challenging tonight given how late it was for shenanigans, but lighthearted moments like these don’t come often so we just enjoyed it and figured we’d deal with what comes.

Around 930pm we finally corralled the kids into the van. The meltdowns began almost immediately.

Miles was a real doozy. Laurie had to tell Miles at least a dozen times to stop or to not hit or to listen. She was getting really frustrated. Andy offered to step in but it didn’t help. He ended up getting even more frustrated with him.

Sadly our lightness and moments of connection from earlier seemed like a distant memory.

Eventually we all calmed down and were able to get the kids dressed, their teeth brushed and their bladders emptied.

Miles felt the need to connect with Andy after how things went at bedtime so he came upstairs to sleep.

Ani nursed in the bed below and we all fell asleep to the sounds of howling wind and rain crashing into the side of the blue wave.

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.