Breathless in the Middle of NZ

January 25

Sam:

This morning we picked up some groceries on the way to Branford park, the exact center of New Zealand. It was at the top of a big hill that we had to climb up, but it was worth it. We could see the entire city and there was a dot about the size of a penny marking the center.

Charlotte:

After that we went to go play Frisbee golf. It was very interesting. It was definitely different than normal golf. There were a few holes on the course where you needed to throw the Frisbees across the river, but we only tried that once, and when we did we almost lost it (Dad had to climb in the river to get it). It was fun, but we did not keep score. On the way through the course, I made puppy friends! Also, on the way through the course, we watched some people playing cricket in a big field. When we were done, we went back to the campervan and slept there.

January 26

Sam

When we woke up in the morning there were lots of people flying model planes and drones all over the field. We drove for a few minutes to an outdoor pool to swim for awhile then had a nice warm shower.

Charlotte:

After that we did some laundry and booked a ferry for Tuesday then after that we drove to a place named Brown River that we camped at that night.

January 27

Sam:

This morning we had some vancakes again and set off to see Ngakuta Bay. We took a scenic route along the coast on “Queen Charlotte Drive” and the views were amazing!

When we got to the bay, we ate our lunch quickly so we could go swimming. The water was very clear and pretty cold.

Charlotte:

Then we arrived at a campsite called Smith’s Farm Holiday Park. It was a paid campsite, and at the start they gave us fresh muffins and kids (Sam and I) got animal feed. We fed the animals (sheep, pigs, goat) and my favorite was the goat. Sam and I named him Billy. He was so cute! There was also a trampoline that I played on lots.

For dinner, a lady named Kersten comes to the campground and makes fresh pizzas in a big woodfire oven.

Sam:

We also went on a night walk with borrowed flashlights to go and see a waterfall. To get to the falls we had to walk through some fields and jump over a fence to get to the forest that the falls were inside.

In the forest it was DARK and spooky as soon as we stepped in the forest, mom’s flashlight ran out of battery so dad gave her his and used his phone instead. About 5 minutes into the forest, Mom screamed because she saw a possum and it ran at us but then veered into the forest. After that though it was fine we saw tons of glow worm colonies and when we looked closer, they were tiny! The waterfall was really cool and we also found a ginormous dragonfly sleeping on a rock.

On the way back to our camper when we got out of the forest, we could see the entire milky way. The stars and constellations are different here in the southern hemisphere. It was breathtaking. We don’t have a good enough camera to get good pictures of the night sky…