Manawatu/Wanganui/Wairarapa

We packed up to travel the lower North Island. Leaving Boxing Day and heading towards Kai Iwi beach which is just past Whanganui to Kim's cousin's place on a lifestyle block.

We left Wellington late as it took longer than expected to get ready for the trip. I was still fitting the child security gate, and blinds for skylights right up to the last minute.

Unfortunately Isaac vomited just as we intended to leave so we stayed back another hour to make sure it wasn't something serious. Five minutes after deciding to leave town he threw up all over himself. We cleaned things up and decided to only go as far as Waikanae (1hr down the road) in case we needed to return to Wellington.

In Waikanae we discovered the house batteries were run dry which meant they weren't holding their charge properly, also the gas water heater was bust too! On a brighter note, we happened to meet up with another bus from our neighbourhood camped out at Waikanae who were starting on their year-long trip around NZ, I had only met the driver a few days earlier and got a tour of the bus so it was a bit of a fluke to meet them again. Leaving Waikanae the next day we were greeted with an hour long stand-still traffic jam. Isaac got to sit in the driver's seat while driving along slowly on the motorway which cheered him up, onlookers had a chuckle too.

Our stay in Kai Iwi was great, Isaac spent loads of time following cousin Asha around. We all had a bit of a catchup, good food and a few drinks.

In Kai Iwi myself and the host husband tried to figure out what the issue was with the gas but no exact solution. [Update: half a year later it just magically starting working by itself!] We took a trip further west to a nice camp that we've stayed before called Waiinu Beach. We have fond memories of been given muscles there on a trip to the far north for a wedding many moons ago when we used to sleep in the back of the car.

We visited Kim's sister in Whanganui who had just moved up there. My parents were staying in town so they could visit us and see the kids and spend some time with us at the camp and an afternoon at Virginia Lake Reserve. We stayed at the Whanganui Top 10 Camp, Isaac had a blast with the swimming pool, bouncy castle and playground along with loads of other kids. My parents spent the day with us at the camp for a swim followed by a BBQ and drinks.

The next stop was just South-East of Whanganui at a place called Koitiata, this was a great little seaside town, most well-kept grass in NZ it seems, everything is ride-on, mowers, motorbikes, and horses. It had a nice little playground and a rugged black sandy beach. It was too windy for swimming but this was a cool wee spot.

Then we headed to Palmerston North to stay on another lifestyle block from one of Kim's Aunties. We got to use the swimming pool, Isaac got to ride on the farm vehicles and there was loads of good food and chats. Uncle John gave me a hand to see if we could solve the gas issue but still not fixed, we do have some ideas though. I bought a battery charger to revitalize the battery bank, topped them with water and got some advice while I was at it on my setup from an expert. My batteries are apparently top quality so there is a good chance they will have some life in them (here's hoping).

We stopped for a coffee in Woodville to meet with Kim's older sister and nephew who was passing through, had a bit of a shop at the second-hand stores. Then south to Patahanui were we stopped for a play at their awesome playground before driving through to Ekatahuna where there is a great basic campsite near a river surrounded by trees.

We spent a few nights at Lake Wairarapa with a day at the beach and another visiting Greytown. Randomly we meet up with some friends with a boy Isaacs age which led to us joining them for dinner.

From there it was only a stones throw back to Wellington where we enjoyed a few more days before I had to go back to work.