Tautuku Bay

This road trip is all about exploring unknown regions and seeing where the road takes us.  Yesterday morning's pit stop is a perfect example of taking an unknown turn and ending up in an amazing spot.  Josh was looking like he might fall asleep and since we decided 10am was a bit early for a nap we decided to pull over and have something to eat.  We missed the turn off at the Cathedral Coves and decided we'd take the next option.  After a few windy turns Dan spotted a small DOC sign that said "beach access" and made a sudden turn.  Two bumpy minutes down a road we ended up here!  It was one of those amazing spots where you look around and soak up the views and smile.  Josh turned the beach into his own personal sandbox, emptying out every single toy from the campervan.  Ben did a little bit of school work in the camp chair, who said a class room had to have 4 walls?  I sat in the chair and wrote in my journal.  All 'n all, a perfect pit stop, you never know what you'll find when you take a sudden right turn in the middle of the Catlins?

Parked on the beach at Tautuku Bay

Tautuku Bay from the view at Florence Hill

Ben doing some school work

yellow-eyed penguins

We camped at the campground in Curio Bay, in the Catlains.  We arrived after a bit too much time in the campervan and were all really excited to get out and explore the flax, the beach and the petrified forest.  The welcome wagon at the Curio Bay campground when we arrived was a sea lion.  At first he was laying in a bed of flax underneath a 10 K sign, but later on he'd moved to another intersection and stood there nodding his head as cars drove by.  Ben waved to him.  While Dan and Josh prepared a dinner (quesadillas with smoked chicken, onion and tomato with a side of Mexican rice), Ben and I walked over to the petrified forest.  For a dinosaur loving boy I thought fossilized trees would've been cool and while he did make a nod in that direction he was more interested in spotting a penguin.  I tried to explain to him that normally they only come out at dusk, and we were a bit early.  But as we were leaving we lucked out and saw one lone penguin hopping along.  We practically ran back to the van to share the exciting news with Dan & Josh.  After dinner the four of us walked back over there, armed with my trusty binoculars that my grandmother gave me 11 years ago to watch birds in Costa Rica.  Dan and Ben went down to get a closer look, while Josh and I stayed at a safe distance from the viewing platform.  Everyone decided after we were done that their favorite thing had been seeing the penguin.

From Wanaka....

Norie at the top of the Crown Range

The campervan adventure began Friday afternoon, after a few tearful goodbyes and a serious case of the grumpy house cleaning blues.  Thankfully we didn't have to travel far, just up and over the Crown Range to Arrowtown.  We were received with open arms at the house of our friends Fritha and Gordon and their children.  Our first night on the road had an awesome home cooked meal of mac 'n cheese and toasted with a bottle of Rippon Pinot Noir.  Our one night with friends stretched into two nights, with a fun walk around Lake Hayes, a trip to the Arrowtown Chinese Settlement and a trip to the Queenstown pool where Ben went down the slide for the first time.  

Lake Te Anau

From Arrowtown we drove to Te Anau and took the boat across the lake to see the glowworm caves.  I had visions of Disneyland the entire time we explored the underground cavern with the roaring waterfalls, the pitch black boat ride through the glowworm grotto and the perky guide.  We really lucked out well with the weather, considering it rains up to 9 feet a year in Te Anau.  The boys happily played at the local park, while I took a run and Dan cooked dinner in the back of the campervan.  From Te Anau we drove a short way down the road to Lake Manipouri where we stayed in a very eclectic holiday park with vintage cars, funky cabins and an assortment of junk littered around the property.

Lake Manipouri

Campervan Adventure begins

I've been trying to decide how I should share our road trip with friends and family, because as many of you know I love to take photos and I do tend to have an overshare problem with it comes to communication. So... do folks want to hear all the nitty gritty details of our travels? Do you want to see the best of the best photos? Do you want to hear the funny travel stories? There are so many details, and I love sharing details. I'll probably post more posts then the average reader wants to read, but then again, this is mostly for my personal benefit and if you guys get to enjoy the adventure along the way then kudos for you. Maybe we'll motivate you to do a little exploring, whether it be in your own home town or in another country.

A journey of a 1000 miles...

I made this card last week and posted it on my card blog. As I sit on the floor in an empty house and drink my morning cup of coffee out of a travel mug instead of my favorite yellow coffee mug it's really starting to hit home how true this card is. I'm a creature of habit, morning coffee being one of them, and while I'm very excited about our campervan adventure and all the cool places I will be drinking my morning coffee, I'm a little nervous.

Boxes

I took the bottom two photos of Josh the other day and it got me thinking, "I'm pretty sure I have a number of photos of Josh in a cardboard box..." and after a little digging I realized that I do indeed have a good collection of fun photos of the boys in cardboard boxes. So in the spirit of packing, let's celebrate the good old fashioned cardboard box.

Ben's first cross country event

Today at Wanaka Primary School was a cross country event, Ben's first running event. It was a real treat to see all the little 5 year old boys lined up in a long row and get super excited. Ben was an eager participant, even if he ended up finishing last. He didn't seem phased by it at all, proof that he's related to me and really out to do his own thing at his own pace.