long way home
In an uncanny coincidence, like Martha and her family we too are off to the South Island on Wednesday. But whereas hers are just off to Nelson (initially) we’re going the whole hog and hope to make it all the way south to Central Otago in one day.
It can be done, but never before by us with the kids. Lots of coping strategies to think about: my downloaded Kiddies Records on the iPod; a chillibin full of food and drinks; take it easy during the day but after fish’n’chips in the evening put the girls in their PJs and drive like hell through the dusky gloaming of the MacKenzie Country and thence to Central.
And then, long days on the farm; a few side trips to rellies and friends in places like Gore and Dunedin; and hopefully a good week by the Lake. Maybe after New Year and after the hordes of yobbos nice but drunken young people (such as I used to be at New Year pre-kids).
My mind’s on holiday already, but I have another day at work.
Martha
20 December 2005, 08:04 #
Which ferry? We’re on the 9am one.
Alan
20 December 2005, 08:22 #
We’re on the Kaitaki in the morning – sounds like the same one. We should all meet up…
Brian
20 December 2005, 09:10 #
I can just hear it now… “Are we there yet?”. I’m only heading to Nelson & Golden Bay and I’m not looking forward to the journey.
Llew
20 December 2005, 11:27 #
There is a game you can get called Rubberneckers (or rubberknickers depending) which keeps kids antertained for hours. It’s a deck of cards with things for kids to spot (churches, schools, sports fields, fire engines etc etc etc…). We never bother keeping score, it doesn’t seem to matter.
Alan
20 December 2005, 11:45 #
Hey, fantastic idea, Llew. I see the Whitcoulls website has some in stock – I’ll check it out shortly…
Martha
20 December 2005, 12:28 #
I’ll carry a red carnation – or perhaps just two yelling toddlers.
I’d love to meet you and yours. If you’re in the queue, ours is a silver Saab, and on the boat I’m the person with glasses who looks vaguely like the photos on my blog (bearing in mind one would only put flattering pictures on ones blog…)
Alan
20 December 2005, 12:43 #
We’re the in the green Camry: one geek and three impossibly beautiful girls… :-)
Llew
20 December 2005, 14:30 #
heh… hope you do catch up – re: Rubberneckers, some of the items are a bit USA-centric, we altered them with a black felt pen so that we look for Maori words, not native american (although bonus points if we DO spot native american words) and the like.