Esther's take on the first week.

From Esther:

Hi,

Day 1, The first day of our travels.

We started in Christchurch packing up then setting out. It was good weather and we expected it to be easy driving. It was quite easy driving until the caravan started wobbling, since we are inexperienced we didn't realise the problem until we drove round a corner and the caravan started fish-tailing. Mum quickly got it back under control even though we were all yelling. We found out we lost a tube out the back so it was good we pulled over. We carried on with Dad at the wheel slowly till we got to Cheviot and had lunch.
We carried on to Kaikoura and did the waterfall walk where the young seals play in the winter. We saw one seal pup there, it was showing off diving and spinning and coming close to the rocks where we were sitting. Dad did his seal call and it lifted his head looking around like his dad had found him, the other people watching were amused. We then drove on to Koromiko, but there wasn't any room so we drove onwards to Picton to have tea and meet relatives (Rebecca and Lindsay, Morm and Ian) then we carried on past Waikawa bay to a DOC camp. It is still the most beautiful DOC camp we have been to so far(day 1 - so it doesn't really count).

Day 2, The day on the ferry.

We woke up to the beautiful view in Marlborough Sounds. We went straight back to Picton to get our ferry tickets and we spent the rest of the morning at the park. For me it was a good time to sit and read my new book while James and Abigail played and Mum and Dad visited again with rellies. Then we boarded the ferry, since we were on the 1 o'clock ferry we were in line at 12o'clock and ate lunch in the caravan while we were in line. The interislander ferry we were on was the Kaitaki 'Challenger' it is their largest ferry. We had a fun time while we were on the ferry in the Marlborough sounds once we were in the open ocean, it was a different story. I felt sick and woosy, but dad says I wasn't sea-sick since I didn't throw up. After the ferry we travelled to Upper Hutt to see one of mums friends (Lisa),we met at a park there and we played after we had fish'n'chips. Then we continued on to Featherston to stay at another DOC camp The ground was very  bumpy but Dad found the flattest place to park the caravan. It was also windy but nothing compared to the next day.

Day 3, rest day

I woke up at about 5:15 am to howling gale-force winds with the caravan wobbling. We got ready to go, then dad checked MET service to find severe weather warnings from Eketuhuna to Hastings -there was strong gale-force winds it recommended not driving. We decided to stay though James wasn't happy he thought the winds would be fun. There was enough wind in the valley for the caravan to shake like a continuous earthquake in the 3-4 region of the Ricter scale. With the earthquake in Canterbury at least we were accustomed to shaking. It was a rest day with a small play at the river. Only dad swum deeper and jumped off the rocks. The majority of the day was resting. We planned to leave the next day as the wind had calmed.

Day 4, up to Hastings.

When I got up the winds had died down enough for us to travel so we packed and prepared to leave. We ended up at Dannevirke for lunch and went to a laundromat for the first time. A kind pak'n'save lady told us where to park and have lunch. The place was a small reserve type place with a small stream, there were heaps of ducks and among them some chickens and doves. There was also a deer farm but there  were none in the closer paddocks. Also there was an aviary with a large variety of birds. One of the baby finches had escaped from the aviary. A person who looked after the birds came and we helped her try to catch the bird and mend the mesh. After all our attempts the small finch eluded us and perched high out of the reach of the nets. So we finished up there and carried on our way to Hastings. We drove through Hastings to Chris's house and got the corner steadies for the caravan. He let us stay in his back-yard, which was good since we were still wondering about where we would stay for the night. They were very nice and let us girls use their shower. I wasn't looking forward to using the caravan one. We slept well nothing bothering us.

Day 5, Busiest day.

When we got up in the morning we got ready. I helped dad fill up the water tank  since Chris let us use his water-he gets it from a well it is pure water good enough to be bottled and sold, or so he says. We agreed with him in the end it did taste like bottled water only fresher. After that we were off heading to Napier. We just stopped for a short while but nothing interested us so we kept going. We went around to the Marina instead of through the city and got some fresh strawberries and chocolate dipping sauce before morning tea at Bayview. We headed off up the windy road between Napier and Taupo. It was amusing that we passed our first vehicles though they were big trucks carrying heavy stuff. We also had a bit of a scare when the car and caravan slowed to 30-40 kmph up some steep hills even though dads foot was flat on the accelerator. We skipped around Taupo on the new highway having a bit of worry finding Huka falls. When we got to Huka falls we were a bit disappointed to find it massive rapids instead of a proper waterfall. Though I liked the beautiful ice blue and white water and I was amazed by the water power. At an info centre their mum bought me a necklace (plastic greenstone) that was the sign of eternity to remind me continuously of what God has in plan for me, eternity. After that we went to the Honey Hive a honey place with a bee hive and a shop. It also had heaps of different creams and lotions, fun to try on. We could also taste different types of honey. I tasted the Lavender first and I liked it a lot. My other favourite was the Pohutakawa it is very sweet. Did you know Pohutakawa is the whitest honey? We then had ice-creams, I had vintage strawberry and cream. Abigail had poached peach helene, James had pohutakawa honey ice-cream. The parents had, Gingernut for Mum, Dad had some of James's ice-cream and Manuka Honey and Chestnut ice-cream. We then drove to the campsite. It was next to lake Karapiro along the Waikato river. We parked under some trees and got tree sap on our feet then walked it into the caravan and got dirt stuck to the sap so everyone had black feet mainly James though. I went to sleep after I wrote my first letter to Grandma.

Day 6, nearly there.

I woke up exhausted wanting to stay in bed but we had to get up at 7:00am to hit the road. I ended up cooking the toast and I did it quite well, until I set one on fire. I turned off the gas straight away and mum was impressed with the way I handled the situation. I didn't cook any more toasts after that though. The day was good traveling mainly on the freeway or motorway. We stopped at Dad's Uncle Deans for lunch it was our first time meeting him. We continued on to Port Albert to camp near the waterfront.  James and I went swimming in the sea. James got in first then I went in I was amazed by how buoyant I was in the sea. James got his legs scraped by barnacles on the jetty posts and was bleeding a lot once he was out of the water. I had only 3 little slices on my thumb only one deep enough to draw blood and one small cut on my knee. Once we had finished swimming, two people came to fish off the end of the jetty a man and his son. Dad and James went over to talk to them. The son caught an eel and James helped bring it in he got eel guts all over him-remember this is where I was swimming. Dad also spotted a small jellyfish there, I wasn't going into that water again. A person came with dogs and played some music while I tried to get to sleep eventually I got to sleep.