The longest week so far….

The pack and the drive. Oh the drive.

Monday Morning came way too soon. I was not ready. We were not completely packed, We were not organised, But the truck came anyway. It was a really, really, really long Monday.

Ace didn’t nap at all. He got incredibly stressed and would not have his parents apart. He wanted to go to the local shop but wouldn’t let one parent stay behind. He got quite upset. Understandably so. So hubby got him a great distraction toy….. not so great for everyone else.

I get you Mumma!

We eventually had everything packed up and on the truck. And off it went.

Bye Truck, drive safe

We had a lovely visit from The Aunties at the end of the day, Ace perked up and played with the girls, while The Aunties went through all the unopened food and cleaning supplies. They each went home with a boot full of supplies for themselves and Playgroup. But the best part was Aunty and her thermos of Tea. Just what I needed at a rough time. I will miss you ladies.

Karyn, you are AMAZING. 

We were 2 ½ hours late leaving after the packers took forever to load. I was a bit disappointed with their lack of motivation. But it got done and after stopping to say goodbye to Gramma and Poppa, and drop off the Keys, we were on our way.

On our way……….to Christchurch. Not coming back………. (well to live anyway)

We had such a late and rough start to our trip Ace fell asleep almost immediately. We stopped in Hamilton for a quick dinner and carried on to what is now my most favourite hotel in all of New Zealand. Hilton Lake Taupo. We arrived late into the night and it took a good while to settle Ace back into bed, but once we did it was a pleasant stay and lovely breakfast. I’m looking forward to an excuse to go back there again.

 

Breakfast for 2.5

From Taupo we headed out to the coat to the beautiful Hawkes Bay. And beautiful it was….. until it rained. We had a lovely overnight stay with some friends before hitting the road again for Wellington.

National Aquarium, Eketahuna Playground, Cuba St.

Wellington City is a nightmare. The hubby always swears he will never drive in the city ever again. And somehow we end up back there. Ace learnt a few new words that should never be used outside of the car.

But we sure had a lovely view from our hotel. When we found one. Somehow we chose a very busy week to stay.

Not a bad view?

Ace was super excited to get on the boat in the morning. I still don’t think he realised he was on a boat, but he had fun none the less. We booked a Cabin. Best. Idea. Yet. It meant we had space to leave our stuff, have time out from the noise and people as well as lie down and have a sleep. We all loved the playground (on the boat) and the pies were are brilliant as expected.

And the sounds were BEAUTIFUL. As always. Just like Picton Harbour. I love this place, just standing with my toes in the water, park behind me, hills in front. It is just beautiful.

We decided to keep driving after lunch and see how far we could get. Poor hubby was a bit over it by then and ready for it to be done. Ace fell asleep pretty soon into the drive (Thanks to some playlist manipulation) We had though about stopping in Kaikoura for the night, Ace was still asleep when we got there and The Hubby was over it.

We eventually made it to Ohoka at around 5:30 on Thursday much to the delight of Ace who had been crying “I want to get out now” from the back seat for over an hour. Poor kid.

So we are here now. In beautiful Christchurch. Friday we had a whopping 27⁰C and today it is 12.

The Hubby and I are still adjusting to not thinking about “when we do our trip back…” and Ace still thinks he is on Holiday. We don’t feel like we live here yet and probably won’t for a while. But for now. We are here. We are well and we are about to begin a new adventure.

Right now I need to go build a duck nursery. Stay tuned folks for super cute photos of baby ducks.