Christmas Holidays - AKA Summer!

All we've heard (and drooled over) at work for the last four months is how much fun the Kiwi Summer is; a magical combination of a country that loves to get away, the Christmas relaxation, the start of the good weather ("But hasn't it been good so far?" we kept asking) and the school summer holidays.

Mathematically, this does indeed all add up to an entire country having one big jolly. My boss took off 5 weeks. Sarah's took off 3 weeks. Sarah and I, the hard-done-by authors of this blog, squeezed in a two week break. Our trips so far have been squeezed into long weekends so we've never really got more than 5 hours from Auckland. So this was the big one - in total we covered 1553 miles in Carrie by bombing down from Auckland at the top of the North Island down to the Capital, Wellington, to catch the 3 hour ferry across the Cook Strait for our 2 week Top o' the South Island Trip. Let the 30degC Christmas begin! 

A Sarah drive-by of the cows. Many cows.
The south island has a bigger landmass,
but only 25% of the people...

Our first stop on the South Island was Nelson, home to Mark & Janelle, and their little lad, Emmett. I met Mark and Janelle whilst working in Japan, we ended up leaving at the same time and moved to London. It's been just over two years since we last saw them (with a little baby bump in Janelle) so it was great to catch up at last. And park in the deserted school grounds they work at, for free. Also great. Time to light the barby and crack open a few cold ones!

As usual, Mark was up before the first sparrow of the day had farted - and boy did he have an adventure packed day planned for us. First up, borrowing the neighbours sea kayaks to explore Nelson's bays, marina and lighthouse. Dodging the divebombing nesting birds on the way... Great to get some truffle hunting in again, like the Japan days!

Truffles!

Leaving the ladies to have coffee, look out for rays swimming under the jetty and keep an eye out for Daddy. Wee-man Emmett is a cool kid indeed.

Trying to spot Daddy

Next up on Cocho's magical mystery tour was a short hike up one of the local hills (Emmett and I raced them all to the top in his stroller) to the centre of New Zealand, geographically speaking. 

A Traditional Christmas Scene

All aboard, and down round the bay - to call in at the local berry farm to pick some berries for Janelle's Pav (Pavlova) for their family Christmas. The bushes had been picked bare, so we had to console ourselves with real fruit ice cream - crushed berries mixed in with vanilla ice cream. The queue was hot, long and tantalising. We all wanted our ice creams STAT, no more so than this man. Boy was he happy to stick his face in an ice cream, and so were we!

Yummy, yummy, yummy, I've got love in my tummy

Ice creams finished by us adults, and remnants wiped off a very happy Emmett, we bundled back in the car and headed out to Mapua Wharf to cool off...

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - JUMP!

The sea was nice, as today was so hot!

Who wears short shorts?

But real heat can only be stifled with a beer. And the closer you drink it to the brewery, the better. These travelled all of 5 metres - and tasted amazing. My first proper full pint in about 9 months, too!

Missing a certain Feral, Nick, Angus and Ollie!

And the best way to end the day? Fish and chips - in one massive open platter to share between the five of us. Yum!

Thanks for hosting us guys, we had such a lovely time!

Next day was Christmas Eve, so we headed further West to the Abel Tasman National Park, to a quiet little campsite right at the end of the road to get settled in for 3 nights. How's about this for a view?

A Christmas Eve Sunset

We were trying to feel Christmassy - honest - but it's surprisingly difficult when the weather's not cold. It's amazing what a seasonal celebration it is... Nevertheless, our campervan had tinsel in the front and back, snowflakes in the windows, santa hats on the seats (and us), christmas cards from friends and family - and even a little Christmas Tree! So, come Christmas Morning we set up camp on the beach with our pressies to open.

The tree is actually 6ft tall, but with massive presents underneath

And we were soon in the party spirit!

This makes me look like a bug-splat on a windscreen...

Finding towel space was a challenge

Presents opened, swimming done, suntans topped up - camp was dismantled and relocated to the van-side. Time to open the wine and get the barby started!

Party dress on! Good job she got one for Christmas...

Christmas dinner was a bit of a break from tradition, with veggie kebabs and chorizo sausages for starter, butterfly chicken and jackets (with some of the trimmings) for main, followed by roasted bananas, stuffed with chocolate. YUM!

The butterfly chicken, looking a bit camp

Family was really missed during the day - we raised our glasses to you all several times!

Happy Matt

And here's the finished product... really tasty!

And bread sauce too!

Our ginger christmas cake

A brilliant Christmas Day. A break from the normal ones that's for sure!

A Christmas Collage

And we managed to make our calls home late that night on the beach too. I finished off my wine before wandering down to find a signal. My brother and his family got a relatively merry call, my parents got me on full steam as the wine set in, and then I called my Grandma. I think I spent 10 minutes rhapsodising to her about the merits of marinaded chicken. Sorry Grandma!

We paid for it the next day, - with slightly sore heads. Only one thing for it, to head off for a run along the Abel Tasman track to blow the hangover away.

One of NZ's 'Great Walks' - the Abel Tasman Coastal Track

A hot, 13 miles later - after seeing many beautiful bays and cooling off in the sea, we got back to our van - gasping for a cold shower and water!

A great way to spend Christmas, and still more than a week of holiday to go. But I'll let Sarah choose the photos and write about that!