As you may have noticed, we're always looking for an excuse for a holiday - and a two week South Island trip looming on the horizon for our Christmas holiday, we thought it best to check that all our recent Carrie upgrades and amendments were working.
Any excuse.
So, Friday afternoon we headed North our of Auckland city to one of the regional parks on the coast. A 45 minute drive takes you clear of the city and out into the hills, where we stayed the night at Wenderholm Reserve. After a busy week of work, it was nice to relax in the sunshine with some beers. A chilly bin (cool box) filled with ice and stubbies is a beautiful sight!
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| Two of the three loves of my life (Willy the Bike left at home) |
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| Anyone want to crack one open with me? |
The next morning, after what's becoming the traditional campervan breakfast of cinnamon/banana/brown sugar/raisin porage in a non-stick frying pan (easy to clean) - we headed North (stopping at the Cheesery at the insistence of a certain someone). After trying pretty much everything, and buying what was left, we headed up to Goat Island. Many small islands are given nicknames such as Goat Island, as local people would leave Goats and Sheep on the Islands as food for any poor souls who got shipwrecked on the Islands. Those days have changed, and now the sea in this area is a marine reserve absolutely heaving with shoals of fish - with visits from stingrays and dolphins. With our wetsuits and snorkels in the back, we were pretty excited!
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| A campsite with a view... |
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Another BBQ, this time without Al and Anna.
They were missed! |
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| Sunset over Goat Island |
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Rock and Roll living in Carrie the Van
How's this for a view to wake up to? |
Both days we went down to Goat Island for some amazing snorkelling - the water is still pretty cold here, so we were glad to have our wetsuits. The fish weren't as exotic as what we've seen snorkelling in other countries, such as Vietnam on our honeymoon, but they were impressive in a very different way. Some of them were HUGE! Pushing on 3 feet long, I'd occasionally hear a snorkel muffled scream and turn to see Sarah swimming away form one pretty quickly, to the 'safety' of my side. I was worried I'd have to do some Inbetweeners style fish punching... Sadly we saw no dolphins or stingrays, but it's probably a good job after Sarah was scared of the relative tiddlers!
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| Goat Island bay (the island is just to the right, out of shot) |
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| Happy campers |
Another great weekend, and the research showed us the van is in fine fighting fitness. So, we're now getting packed for 16 days on the South Island, including Christmas in the Abel Tasman with a BBQ chicken on the beach for Christmas Day.
We'll miss friends and family, but it's shaping up to be a Christmas to remember.
So, Happy Christmas everyone and thanks for following this blog in 2012. We'll keep up the momentum for 2013, holidaying purely for the sake of your amusement of course.
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