Family time

The  first day of our holiday started off later but planned but we finally got away at around 10.30am after last minute packing and organising bike chains and locks. Even then we forgot two things and had to get our very understanding neighbour Kristine to break into the house and remedy them.

The weather was overcast but fine as we left home, but there was flooding all through the farmland around Whenuakite, with the water level right up to the bottom of the bridges, so we thought they would likely be underwater at high tide. However, for the amount of rain we had seen, the roads were in pretty good condition.

Rain set in as we reached Auckland and we arrived at sister Kay’s (and Richard’s) for an afternoon cup of coffee. They were almost ready to set off for a few nights in their motorhome as well, heading for Waipu and then further north to Taurikura. For our part we were heading to Whangarei to spend a couple of nights with Judy’s Dad. The weather north of Orewa detreriorated and we were driving in heavy rain most of the way, finally arriving at our destination just in time for tea. Dad and Betty were well and getting very excited about their upcoming trip around the North Island.

Tuesday was also a lovely day so we headed off in Dad’s car into town and had a look at some of the beautification there. Of interest was the Hunterwasser booth as the first part of a big Hunterwasser building to come. It was lovely wandering around the waterfront on such a lovely day, and it came with the obligatory icecream and light lunch

Unfortunately Judy’s eye was feeling worse after the spike of a parlour palm went into it on Thursday, so there was a quick trip to the Dr before we went home.

The next morning had an early start for us as Bruce had to take the motorhome to get a part fitted in town, so Judy and the dogs spent a bit more time with Dad and Betty. After Bruce returned we had a quick morning tea and then we were on the road again. We had a stop at the gog park first to give the dogs an outing, and a quick bit of shopping before heading south again. Destination this time was Laingholm to see Judy’s daughter Catherine, Blair and the two grandchildren Regan and Ella.  We had a wonderful game of scrabble  with Regan. We were very impressed with his spelling of words and his ability to strategise and add up scores. Blair cooked a memorable meal of barbequed smoked leg of lamb.

We had actually parked outside Cath and Blair’s property but came to regret it overnight. The motorhome was on a big lean and the ground was too soft, in Bruce’s opinion, to use levelling blocks. Bruce had to prop himself in the bed with pillows so he did not fall out of bed. Judy woke up with a sore leg from bracing herslf so she gave up and slept on the floor. Hunter was a bit put out that Mum was sharing his bed!

We made it through the night, albeit a bit tired in the morning, with a resolve to only sleep on the level from now on. We had a nice good morning / good bye with the children before hitting the road south again.