Half way up to the Bay of Islands

We are currently in Hastings after 4 days on the road.

On Friday when we left Christchurch, we nearly had an accident after less than half an hour when the caravan started to sway violently from side to side, causing us to veer into oncoming traffic. Fortunately the driver at the time managed to get the car under control, but she didn't want to drive any more after that. It gave us all a bit of a scare. We re-arranged the load inside the caravan a bit, and I drove the remaining way to Picton. The car-caravan combination still felt a bit unstable over 80km/hr, so we were pretty much the slowest thing on the road all day.
We made Picton in time for dinner, and met up with my Mum and her husband Lindsay, and my grandmother and her husband. They had all come over from Nelson to see us off. We spent that evening in the DOC camp about 10km north-east of Picton. It's a lovely spot right on the waterfront in a quiet bay - a great first night for us all.

Saturday dawned magnificent, and we leisurely made our way into Picton to spend the rest of the morning with my family before embarking on the ferry at 1pm. We travelled on the largest of the interislander ferries, the Kaitaki, which conviently has an entry at both ends so when we berthed in Wellington, we could simply drive straight off without any tricky u-turns in the middle. I've already had a couple of scrapes in the caravan - one on both sides. Though I am getting used to backing it now. The nor-wester was screaming through cook straight making for an exciting viewing on deck, but the sea was relatively mild.
We passed through Wellington to met a friend of Carolyn's in Upper Hutt, before tackling the Rimutaka Hill in a strengthening wind. We spent a quiet night in a DOC camp just north of Featherston.

Shortly before dawn on Sunday the nor'west wind woke us all with its ferocity howling through the nearby trees. A quick check of the metservice website alerted us to a severe gale warning on our intended route. We decided to wait out the wind and stayed put. Despite the wind, it was rather warm, so we walked the few minutes down to the nearby river for a quick swim. The water was still rather chilly, but I managed a swim across to the rock bank on the other side and a couple of big jumps in before the shivering forced a retreat. The rest of the family where somewhat more cautious in their "swimming". By evening, the forecast southerly front had arrived bringing cooler temperatures and a much lower wind speed.


Monday, today, we had a fairly uneventful trip from Featherston to hastings. After the scare of day 1, Carolyn ventured behind the wheel for the first time again today in Dannevirke. She coped very well, but got a sore elbow from gripping the steering wheel a bit too hard! We are staying with a guy I met from nzmotorhome.co.nz. He had offered me some corner-steadies for my caravan (which lacks them). The girls had a real shower for the first time since leaving and we got to use a real washing machine.

We tackle the Napier-Taupo road tomorrow, and plan to stay somewhere between Taupo and Hamilton.

So far the family seem to be coping quite well. The children get on each other's nerves now and then, but not as bad as it could be. We are pretty much stuck with each other most of the time. It's a wonderful environment for developing character traits! (Though might not seem quite so wonderful at the time.)

I might post some pics if I find some cheaper internet somewhere.
Cheers,
Carl.