The most important thing about this trip was finally getting some time
to be together. Doug has been on the road a lot this year (including
9 of the 10 weeks before Christmas) , and it was really all about just
getting some uninterrupted time as a group. Mission accomplished.
First, of course, there was 11 hours on the plane together...
Hanging out in the Orchid Gardens at Changi Airport |
And then there was the flight itself - fortunately a red-eye on the way down, so some people slept... |
Once we got there, it was great. The girls were, of course, extremely
excited to fly, but they did manage to sleep a fair bit. NZ is 5
hours ahead of Singapore, so that played havoc with body clocks for a few
days, but we all adjusted eventually.
We rented a camper from Britz/Maui Campervan rentals. Renting
one of their 4-berth
beauties is like flying the family in a corporate jet- everything
you need is at your fingertips. Want to swim at the beach? Pull
over- you've got yur trunks with you. Kids are hungy? Mom will
fix them a snack while Dad keeps making the miles click by. Need a
place to nap mid-afternoon? Just roll over on that bench, young lady...
The rig was well maintained, too- 90,000 km on it, but it looked great.
and Mommy was more than a little happy to find a Starbucks the first morning in the Christchurch Square. At one point, Daddy got to do something Grammy wouldn't want to know about... but we won't go into that here. :-) PS: I'm incredibly proud of McKenna's reaction to this stunt. No fear in this little girl! |
The campgrounds were pretty well equipped for the most part- kitchens, BBQ grills, showers, etc. McKenna really liked eating outdoors a lot- it's OK to spill on the ground!! 
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| And of course the girls had a great time playing together every night on whatever playground we found. | |
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| Have Campervan- Will Travel! We decided
on the spur of the moment to go to the beach, so we did! in fact,
that night we ended up cooking dinner beach-side, then heading off to watch
the penguins at an amazing penguin preserve. At the Penguin Preserve, we got to walk around in trenches dug right into the dunes where someone has created a penguin sanctuary. It's an incredible way to get really up close with the penguins without disturbing them- we highly recommend it! |
Photo: Penguin Preserve |
