End of December

Continued from last blog..Larry's barbeque... (Lin) enjoyed seeing Gina's school...even in the dark and we were sad to say goodbye.

Tuesday 30th December
Today we headed off to a DoC campsite, purchasing a tent on the way from the Kathmandu sale. We met up with Wendy's friend, Beth and her lovely daughter,Taylor...a big buddy of Matthew's. After we'd set up camp we all had a paddle in the nearby creek before lunch then Paul, Graham, Brent and I headed off on a tramp through some lovely bush down to a large braided river system. Paul was very surprised by how the landscape had changed following the floods off a few years back. New bridges had been built and gullies had formed. We got back at around 6pm...an hour later than expected! Unfortunately the children's sausages, which Paul had chosen with such care, were locked in our van, and they'd been so hungry that a can of spaghetti had provided their meal! Sorry folks! The adults were all ready for a glass of wine ...or beer...or 2 or 3. We all piled into Mavis and Graham's van for a lovely meal and a Moroccan dice game...fun all round. Little Matthew couldn't settle and managed to get himself dressed and walk through the dark to the van to join us!!

Wednesday 31st
Went for a short nature walk all together before saying goodbye.. a BIG thank you to everyone for making us so welcome. We stopped at Masterton and imagined Paul and Wendy's wedding in the lovely park there. We ate our picnic in what felt like a typical English setting of village green cricket: all the players in white, cricket pavillion, umpires etc. Lovely. Then on we went to Napier and were a bit worried when the first site we tried was full. However Brent directed us to another site nearby and we struck lucky. That evening we walked to the nearby harbour area and found a great bar where there was live music and a disco. We enjoyed being in a party atmosphere for New Year's Eve.