Life Can Be Pretty Rough Sometimes...

Though, thankfully, now is not one of those times. Well, ok, maybe it is with respect to my bank account and the global economy, but I'm going to postpone thinking about that for a bit. Amy's parents are in town and we're heading off to the South Island to show them around for a week.

It's hard to believe, but I imagine this will be our last trip down South for a few years. I don't have much vacation left and we're planning to use that to see parts of the North Island a bit down the road. We've reached the point now where we need to make a list of stuff we really want to do before we head home. Wild.

Oh, by the way, I haven't mentioned that I signed a contract to work at the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, VA. We'll be heading back to the States in mid-May and I'll start work in June. This trip has been fantastic (and it ain't over yet) but we can't wait to see everyone in a few months!

Time to work on that flip-flop tan some more.

Arthur's Pass

After our rest in Akaroa we started to hit the road for real. Since we'd already seen the northern end of the island we decided to head across the middle of the island instead, crossing over the Southern Alps via Arthur's Pass. The Southern Alps are some pretty serious mountains and I was holding my breath to see how the campervan would handle the long climbs. I had also been warned about "those roads on the South Island" more than a few times. As it turned out, White Bird campervan was up to the challenge and driving in Wellington is harder than driving on the South Island. But on with the story...

Our first stop after Akaroa was actually back in Christchurch. We dropped off some excess gear and then headed to the local wildlife sanctuary. As with our last visit to the zoo, the rules were a bit more lax than we were used to. This meant that we were able to feed the giraffes and get really close to the rhinos. Feeding time for the lions was also groovy; they starved them for a day prior to feedings (it's good for them, I swear) so they are really motivated when the meat shows up.

We left the zoo late in the afternoon. The kids were falling asleep and we needed a place to camp (aside: we weren't the first people to think about driving around the South Island in a campervan. Everybody does this, and locals got fed up with people trashing the popular spots. Ergo, there are now some rules about where you can and can't camp. Your choice is to camp in a pay site, crammed next to other campers but with amenities like electricity and showers, or "freedom camp" in a remote spot where you don't think you'll be bothered). We pulled out a map of Christchurch, located a road near the zoo that looked pretty remote, and headed that way. Before long we found a gravel parking lot for an all-terrain vehicle park that looked suitable.

White Bird Campervan at the ATV park.

The dirtbikers showed up right as we were cleaning up from dinner. The first dude was driving an old Ford Falcon Ute (only in NZ is the El Camino still alive and well) with a horn that played exactly half of Dixie before petering out. His mates weren't far behind, and we got to see an interesting slice of Kiwi culture that evening. It all worked out in the end because Quinn somehow slept through the noise of a half dozen dirtbikes ripping through the parking lot, and nobody kicked us out of there.

The next morning we headed for Arthur's Pass. We didn't snap any pics of the pass itself because we didn't want to stop (the kids wake up whenever the van stops) and the camera was in the back of the car. Hey, it was a learning process. You should check out this pic, though, because the pass was amazing.

We soon passed Castle Hill, the local rock climbing spot. I drooled when I saw it: a bunch of limestone boulders a few hundred feet tall in the middle of a field, all on top of a gorgeous mountain range. I'd like to head back there some day...

Castle Hill; see horses in front for scale.

We did a lot better with our choice of camping spot that night. By this point we realized that it was important to have chosen a place to stay by early evening, so we stopped shortly after passing Castle Hill. To say that we found a remote spot is an understatement.

Van on the left.

Quinn checks the place out.

Amelia helped out by washing the bumper.

The next day we packed up and moved on, stopping for a short hike before arriving on the West coast. The West coast is known by Kiwis as a wild and rugged place, which makes it pretty interesting by my standards. That's a story for another day, though...

Amelia and me hiking back from seeing a waterfall.

Editor's note: I know, I've repeated some pics. That should stop soon as I catch up on my sleep and move on to the more recent stuff.

Akaroa

And thus it began: our epic journey around the South Island. Chapter one involved picking up the campervan in Christchurch and spending a day provisioning before camping at a not-so-fancy campground near the edge of the city. Looking back through the pictures, I'm not surprised that we didn't take too many at this stage in the game. We faced a number of questions: should the kids sleep separately to avoid waking one another? Would the beds be comfortable? How does the electrical system work? Would this end in divorce?

Lunch in the van, day two.

Day two: our first road trip. We drove about 2 hours to the small coastal town of Akaroa, founded by some Frenchmen a couple hundred years ago. French settlements are pretty rare in these parts, and the town has retained some French heritage as well as significant charm. It is, of course, beautiful.

Heading to town.

We spent two days here before heading back to Christchurch. At this point we were still getting our technique down with the campervan and it was nice to stay in the same spot for more than a day. The majority of our trip involved moving every day (which may sound easy with a campervan, though in reality in involves a bit of work).

Downtown Akaroa and the hills beyond.

Quinn on the beach.

We eventually settled on a system where Amy and I alternated sleeping spots; one night with Amelia in the top bunk and the next with Quinn down below. To make extra sure that Amelia doesn't fall from the open-ended bunk, we slept backwards with our heads tucked at the end of the narrow upper compartment. It was cozier than it sounds and this was definitely the night Amy and I both look forward to as Quinn is a restless and often violent sleeper. We couldn't trust the kids to sleep together because there are too many dangerous things for Quinn to get into, and they'd wake each other up anyway.

The view from our campsite. Yeah, the hike back up was interesting.

We started with a pattern of driving during the kids' naptime, and kept the drives shorter than 2 hours . This allows Amy and I to see the scenery during the day while theoretically letting the kids sleep through the roadtrip. At first, this worked out fairly well, giving us 90 minutes of peace but usually ending in about 20 minutes of hell once the kids awoke. By week two, the kids had adapted unbelievably well and were little road-trip machines.

Casa de Lovelace, aptly dubbed "white bird campervan" by Amelia.


After a few days we headed back through Christchurch on our way to Arthur's Pass. While in Christchurch, we stopped at a wild game preserve at the edge of town. The best part about this place (as with the Wellington Zoo) was the low-key approach. We were able to get very close to the animals and the kids got to feed giraffes for the second time since our arrival in NZ.



We left the game preserve pretty late and the kids were falling asleep in their carseats- this did not bode well as a late afternoon nap for them means a looong night for us. We hastily found a spot to park the van, in the parking lot of a dirtbike park at the edge of town. It was just as glamerous as it sounds, and gave us a nice view of an interesting segment of NZ society as the dirtbikers filed in for a late-evening tear around the park.


ATV park EXCITING! Let's hope the camping spots improve from here...

Ta Da!

Well, we pulled it off. We're safe and sound back in Welly after our trip to the South Island. One month, two kids, one campervan, 2,830 km (for those of you living in Liberia, Burma, or the USA, that's 1,758 miles). We are a bit out of touch; I have no idea who won the college football national championship or which teams even played in the Super Bowl.

I no longer have any excuse not to post on the blog, so expect a revival of sorts. The first post should show up later on this week.