Well again its all over. We have finished in time for the start of the school year.

We achieved our original goal of going top to bottom of NZ, allbeit a little later than originally planned.

After arriving back to Havelock North we were rung by someone interested in buying the van, quite ironic as it was the only thing that we weren’t selling. They come and had a look and we agreed to part with our beloved motorhome. I must admit that I was very sad to see it go, however it won’t be the last motorhome we own, I am sure.

If any people are out there umming and arring about whether to get a motorhome with small children (or no children) I thoroughly say,”DO IT !

It would have to be one of the best decisions that we ever made when we decided to come home and tour. Unfortunately we out grew the van when Meggy came along, so I hold her personally responsible for the lack of cheap holidays in the future.

Bye for now.

We changed our mind and did decide to come to Raglan today, glad we did. Cool little place, arty farty and pretty laid back. The only surfing we’ll do here though will be on the net as we are rubbish at the real thing, apart from Ferg who thinks he is the man!

Speaking of Fergus, he almost got himself arrested today, PC Plod decided to give him a verbal warning instead, “for riding his balance bike on the road”.

Little Ginger Meg doesn’t get mention much but she is trucking along nicely. Is starting to give it back to Fergus which is nice to see.

Off to bed now on our second to last night, however have just realised that we are directly under the flight path for Raglan’s airport, very noisy and is giving me flashbacks of the war.

We changed our mind and did decide to come to Raglan today, glad we did. Cool little place, arty farty and pretty laid back. The only surfing we’ll do here though will be on the net as we are rubbish at the real thing, apart from Ferg who thinks he is the man!

Speaking of Fergus, he almost got himself arrested today, PC Plod decided to give him a verbal warning instead, “for riding his balance bike on the road”.

Little Ginger Meg doesn’t get mention much but she is trucking along nicely. Is starting to give it back to Fergus which is nice to see.

Off to bed now on our second to last night, however have just realised that we are directly under the flight path for Raglan, very noisy and is giving me flashbacks of the war.

We are on the home straight and feeling that after 20 days in the van, we have found our rhythm.  With both Fergus and Meg sleeping for most of the drive between places, late afternoons are often our most active time of the day.

Last night we stayed with Riley and Bec at Murrays Bay on the North Shore and called in to see their lovely new house on our way out this morning.

A trip to Auckland Zoo seemed like a good plan until we got through the gates to find that most families in Auckland must have thought the same.  After deciding that we’d just follow the circuit without needing a map, we are not actually sure how much of the zoo we saw but did hope that it would be a memorable experience for Fergus.  When asking him what his favourite animal in the zoo was, he replied ‘the potamus’.  So being that we didn’t see any hippopotamus, we’re guessing that we’ll have to show him a few photos in the years to come to remind him of his zoo adventure!

Raglan was on the cards for the afternoon but a last minute decision to head back to the Northshore to enjoy the beach instead of driving in the heat of the day, brought us back to the Top 10 at Orewa.  Another big draw card was being able to wait around until BecHew has had her baby…hopefully tonight.

Fish and chips with Brendan and Glenis followed by a walk along the beach was a perfect way to finish the day.

We finally made it to the tippy toppy part of the North. It was one of our goals to take the fan from top to bottom. Now we have taken 4wheelsandbaby from Bluff to the Cape. Fergie commemorated the occassion by planting a Pohutakawa. Now it is a slow drift back down south. Long last the good weather.

We hit a 1000 kms today for the North Island leg.Yippee for us!

Today we are at one of the most beautiful beaches ever, Maitai Bay, stunning. The water is so clear I could see fish changing their minds, its shallow, there is a hint of waves for the older beach-goer and of course, golden sand.

However when we arrived we found a perfect campsite, settled in and proceeded to sink and get the wheels stuck. The DOC officer was on hand to help out and then directed us to a new site where we settled in and then proceeded to sink and get stuck again, in front of more people. Luckily there was a winch on site and they pulled us out. This time we have been sent to stay next to the DOC office, like a naughty school boy.

The van is also a little bit embarrassed and is seeking counseling for its self esteem issues.

We made the late change to go to Hamilton instead. We are trying hard to get North when the Golden Weather hits, and ‘The Tron’ was a little closer. The campsite was very average but it was our first real test with two babies in the van. It worked , Fergie and me up top, Keri down the back and Meg in the middle in her cot.

Went to the zoo and then got out of the Tron fast before someone painted flames on the side of the truck.

Favourite quote so far:

Me: Where did that sausage go?

Ferg: In my tummy and later it is going to come out my balls and willy.

Did you see the tie in with the title? Clever! Yes the weather has been terrible but it did give Fergie and Meg their first taste of climbing.We are still holed up but are making the our first tentative steps north, (only to Roto-vegas) There seems to be a little run of golden weather on the way and we want to catch it.

We are wimping out at the moment, we have taken the easy option and are hunkering down in Turangi while the rains are here. We can’t bear the thought of being trapped in the van for 10+ days without fresh air. I know we are being soft but I am sure you can sympathsise with us.

So far the summer sucks b^&*s!