Our holiday started with a drive to Napier, via a diversion to purchase loo cleaner...needed for one of the many "daddy" jobs!! Napier was fun, especially the great playground on the beach. Lucy and I loved pretending to be crabs.
Our first "sleep stop" was beside the Clive River where we were entertained by rowers in the evening and a waka the following morning.
Our bedroom is big enough for a story for me and a movie for Jack!
The next sleep stop was beside the sea. We had a play on the beach with Daddy, and then watched a vid while dinner was cooking.
Lucy has a unique yoghurt holder...
After trying three public pools and finding them all closed, we cooled down with an ice-cream and then headed west into the country. Our first stop being the hotspot of Dannevirke. This proved to be a winner as the pool was open and it had a big slide. We tried out our first POP ("park over place" for those not familiar with the NZMCA terminology!). So instead of having water as our dinner view, we had a tractor, a bull, a magpie and some sheep!
Given the pool was about all Dannevirke had to offer, we left early the next morning and did a wee side trip to Ballance to find Grandad's old cheese factory. We had a ride on Grandad's old tractor and a wander around the factory. It was fun but we couldn't find any cheese Grandad!
We took "d" all the way up up up to the Te Apiti wind farm. It was so windy and the turbines were huge!
"watch out Jack, your face will stay like that if the winds changes!!'
By this time, we were missing water and so we headed to the Kapiti Coast. We spent the night at Waikanae - a beautiful beach and we had it pretty much all to ourselves! We went for a walk after dinner, and of course the walk turned into a swim for jack! The next morning was beautiful and we spent a few hours running, swimming and digging on the beach. bliss!
After a bad first night where Lucy didn't get to sleep until 9 and woke hourly throughout the night, we have both settled into our new beds. Lucy has fallen out of few times though, this shows you why...
After a diversion to Otaki to buy a boat (more on that next!) and to check out the historic Otaki train station, we headed down to Wellington to stay with Uncle Steve and Aunty Roshanna.
We has so much fun in Wellington. On Saturday, we went to Lowry Bay and tried out Daddy's new toy - the porta-bote. And it worked, and even Mum has had to admit that it is actually very cool!! It took Daddy and Uncle Steve about 20 minutes to assemble (and then another 10 for Daddy to work out how to start the motor!) and about 20 seconds for them to fold it up again!
Assembling...
It works...well!!
Folding up...
And on Sunday we went to Zealandia, a wildlife sanctuary. We saw tuis, a kea, 3 tuataras and some wetas. It was lots of fun. Thanks Uncle Steve and Aunty Roshanna. We had a great time with you.
Strike a pose Jack!
