Christmas on the Road 2018

For the fist time we were having Christmas in the south island!! All of us kids couldn't believe it and we woke up a 5:00 because we were so exited. We opened our presents and we all got chocolate, a calendar, and a game to play, we also did secret Santa. We had breakfast which was very yummy. It was pancakes with salmon, peaches, nectarines, and apricots. Our food table was very pretty with red tinsel and Jane did a stunning job with the food(thank you!!) After one of the greatest breakfasts in the world, we played with our cool toys and games. I watched Thor Ragnarok(thanks dad) and Jonty played with his new Zuru gun. Then Santa came in a Ute and chucked lollies at us, I think I had a sugar rush that day. We had a lot of fun but during those fun times, there was a problem with the oven and we ended up having a delicious roast pork for dunch. We had a delicious dessert which was a pavlova with ambrosia. Christmas day was great and we couldn't wait for tomorrow so we could ...

We checked into Pohara Beach Top 10 holiday Park on Wednesday. This place is right on the beach - a beautifully long stretch of white sand. It is obviously the Christmas holiday spot for many regulars with huge tents, trailers, boats and lots of Christmas lights. We have lights on our tent, but they look pitifully small in comparison. The advent calendar progress is appalling. The last bit of work was done on the ferry, all those days ago. We struggle to know what day of the week it is, let alone the date. But I can report that it is Friday, 21st, and if you're still at work, you've probably had the big end of work Christmas thing today. They did here with the staff at the campground. We have had some fun, some rain, some sunshine, some adventures. I can report that the Fresh Choice supermarket in Takaka is well stocked and quite great. This is a great relief as I was a little worried how to feed everyone on the required strict gf diet. Yesterday we went to find some a...

After the fun times shared at Whanganui, we embarked on the next stage of our journey, Wellington. We had too get to the Blue Bridge Ferry  before it left at 2:30pm. We ended up getting to the ferry when we needed too and we boarded the humongous blue and white ferry soon after. We drove our car onto the boat and I was surprised on how big the vessel was. Once we parked the car, we got out and tried to find a seat. About an hour later(only ten minutes) we finally found a seat(without a table; which was annoying because we had brought a lot of food.) The seats were very comfortable and we enjoyed two very cool movies; the first was, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation; a comedy, and then Karate Kid; an action movie (sadly we didn't get to finish it!!) Arriving in Picton Just about to get back in the car, to drive into Picton. What to do, what to do Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre Knights of the Sky It was Logan's recommendation to go to this na...

Driving to Takaka For some reason, dad thought that was a good idea The 3 and a half hour drive to Takaka started nice until the corners came, nobody felt very good because the corners basically never ended and we aren't great with corners but they finally ended and we got some food into us and continued until the next corners (they weren't as bad but still not great) after the next set of corners we were basically at the camp site. What the Takaka hills look like.

They say that good things take time. Getting the car packed this morning, well it feels that bad, stressful and anxious things take time too. The roof box, which looked huge didn't fit everything we hoped it would. Everything got into the car, just. Everyone except David are squished and uncomfortable. Regular stops are required. Stop one. Autobahn Café. Dedicated gluten free menu. And large, large coffees. Stop two. Whatawhata. No rubbish bins. No free toilets. Guilt. Stop three. Stoked Eatery, Te Kuiti. Parents ate vegetables, but the kids took advantage of the separate deep fryer. Well, potatoes are vegetables. Jonty: I wanted to have Kumara chips but I got potato chips. Mum! Listen, I'm pretty sure that you have ears. Eliza: The chips were good but I would have preferred to have tomato sauce instead of aioli and the aftertaste was a bit weird. This was another one of those days where there were no mountains on the central plateau. We arrived in Whanga...

The berry canes are overflowing. Literally every day you can collect a cup full. Not being home for Christmas, meant that the desserts and baking we normally do for Christmas day won't be done. Our favorite cheesecake  from Chelsea Winter was the reason we planted berry canes in the first place. The berries are harvested year after year and put to many uses. Jam, for one. I had made the biscuits first Sharing with the just the 5 of us, on a normal week day but we managed to come back, slice after slice. So, one afternoon, I decided to make a cheesecake. Just because I could. More berries were used dessert after dessert, with also lots stored in the freezer for later. Deciding on an advent calendar that could could go on the road: totally portable space saving chocolate (and other melting things) free I found a pattern whilst browsing TradeMe one day. A felt advent calendar . We started weeks before December, Eliza and I. Cutting out, coll...