Pizza Night

Sunday night is pizza night in our house. Dan has perfected his pizza dough recipe to a t and it’s a meal that we can all eat and thoroughly enjoy.  We didn’t think a campervan adventure should stand in our way for our weekly treat, so we’ve packed the pizza tray and pizza cuter in our limited space.  Today we were camped at the Christchurch Top 10 Holiday park, which has all sorts of amenities, including two fully stocked kitchens.  Tonight’s pizza was bbq chicken with brie and red onion.  For those of you who want to give it a try here’s the recipe for the pizza dough.

Dan’s Pizza Dough

1 Tbs yeast

1 tsp sugar

1 cup warm water

3 cups flour

3 Tbs olive oil

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

dried mixed herbs

S&P

Mix yeast, sugar and warm water in a bowl and leave till frothy (approximately 10 minutes).  Mix in a bowl the flour, olive oil, garlic powder, salt & herbs and then add the yeast mixture.  Mix well with a wooden spoon and then knead on a lightly floured surface.  Leave covered in an oiled bowl to rise in a warm spot for at least an hour.  

Hunting for fossils

 

We stopped in Duntroon at the Vanishing World Centre, mostly because Ben had picked up a brochure way back in Manipouri, and partly because we needed to stretch our legs.  The place was as classic Kiwi as they come.  The volunteer who greeted us was so excited to have someone to talk to he could barely contain himself.  The small, no frills center offered some interesting displays, dusty travel books and some interesting photos of the local area.  The hit of the stop was the digging for fossil station they have set up for the kids.  Ben's little eyes were huge.  All three boys happily got busy with the toothbrushes, mini pitchforks and butter knives.  

Travel Map

I'm currently reading the book Land of Two Halves by Joe Bennett, which is a very silly travel book about Joe's hitch hiking around New Zealand.  At the beginning of every chapter is a map that shows where he's gone and I thought it would be fun to give a visual of our road trip route.  I'm still working on the perfect map, and I've got some work to do on my power point skills.  But for those of you who want to follow us along, since we've left Wanaka we've gone to Arrowtown, Te Anau, Manipouri, Riverton, Invercargill, Bluff, Curio Bay and Dunedin.

Nugget Point

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