Day 60 — Celebrating halfway with High Tea
OMG. We are halfway. The first two Months have passed and the other two are in front of us. It’s time for a summary and celebration with High Tea in Chateau Tongariro.
Campervan: We settled in and we are super happy for it. Mick also managed to puncture it once. Crazy!
Animals: We have seen weka birds, kiwis (in a Zoo, they are nocturnal and we are not), orcas, fantails, tui birds, huhu beetles (dissected also a couple of them), ducks, robins, crayfish, sea perch, hector dolphins, albatross, baby shark, starfish and more birds (ask Jamie, he knows them all).
Beaches: There are so many different kind of beaches. With black sand, with yellow sand, with big stones, with small stones, with driftwood, with shells and everything in between. Can’t get enough of it!
Weather: Sunny, warm and absolute summer — until today. Rain, grey, cold. Did we just enter autumn from one day to another without return?
Kids: Jamie and Miya are doing great. After 60 days they have figured out on how to play outside. Just like that. Without playground. Just in nature. It took some time, but now they can :)
Natur and Landscape: Awesome, beautiful, every turn another postcard scenery.
People: Very friendly, helpful and nice. Except that one lady in the grocery store the other day. Where did she come from?
Trails: We love it! Every fourth or something day we are hitting a trail. Amazing how different they all are.
What else are we doing?: Katrin is reading Lord of the Rings to Jamie at night, Miya is currently designing a campground incl iPad app, Mick is always working on the next video and reading a couple of books simultaneously on two kindles, Katrin is cross stitching, Miya is finger knitting, Jamie studies birds, Jamie draws Minecraft figures and comes up with new swords for them all the time, Katrin is always cooking dinner and Mick is always doing the dishes.
What are we not doing?: Playing video or other electronic games, watching movies or TV — You really don’t need any of it!
Any other adventures? Let me see.: walking over and zipping back the Buller Gorge swingbridge, belly flop drops into the Buller river, admiring Hokitika blue gorge, wondering about Fox and Franz Josef glacier, kayaking in Okarito lagoon, glow worm watching, screaming under an ice cold waterfall, catching chickens, swimming, mountain biking on beautiful trails, riding the Christchurch tram, watching hector dolphins, visiting the happiest garden on earth “The Giant’s House” in Akarora, soaking in Hanmer Springs — hold your nose in the sulphur pools, catching fish for dinner in Kaikoura, wandering around a Leighvander farm, getting tipsy at Framingham’s winery, spotting rays at Waikawa marina, leaving a beautiful coin in a geocache at “The snout” in Picton, exploring the decks and depths of the world’s oldest merchant ship “Edwin Fox”, spending two days in the most beautiful museum “Te Papa” in Wellington, watching millions of birds on bird island Kapiti, more soaking in the most awesomest pool on a camping side in Taupo incl cocktails from the pool bar, see-hear-feel Huka falls with 220.000 liters of water plunging over every second, walking the geothermal walkway with lunar landscapes at “Craters of the moon”, bungy jumping and extreme swinging at “Find your scream” and more to come…
