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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.

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.