This is why

“I don’t mind if we stay here the night.” I said.  “We don’t have much food in but we can rustle something up with what we have.” So that was that.  Mashed potatoes with grated cheese and gravy on top…with a side of stir fried pumpkin, carrots and kumara (sweet potatoes).  Fricking delicious!!  We rinsed our plates up in the lake, tomorrow we will buy washing up liquid too.  We weren’t prepared for this off grid, outback, camping as we were only planning a day trip out to the lakes….but when we got here….jaw dropping wow factor.

But hang on let me rewind a bit, I have actually got so much I want to say I don’t know where to start!  I feel like this blog is my diary and somewhere to document our experiences but also how we are feeling and changing through this adventure.  So apologies in advance if this is a bit rambling and long but I’m trying to type as fast as my brain will allow me 😆. I also have so many photos I want to share and save….I could almost create a whole new photo album with all the photos from the last few days!

We were house sitting in Christchurch last weekend, just 4 days but boy were we glad we got that house sitting job.  We had been camping and touring the Southern coast of the South Island and up the West coast then across the mountains from West to East (Arthurs Pass – we saw snow!).  We had glorious weather while we were touring but the forecast for the weekend was dire….and it was right.  It. did. not. stop. raining.  On Monday morning I woke up and said to TJ “I think I’ve gone deaf, I can’t hear the rain anymore?!” and that was it, the rain had finally stopped!  We were trying to decide what to do next as we had 5 days in between our next house sitting stint (in Rolleston, just outside Christchurch).  So TJ looked at google maps and pointed to a Lake not too far out from where we are, Lake Sumner.  “Shall we take a look at that lake?” he said, so that was decided.  After packing up we decided to stop off first at a small campsite near a pub then we would head out to the Lake on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning we started the drive to Lake Sumner.  1.5 hours google said so off we set.  However it was 1.5 hours of gravel roads, not my favourite.  TJ loves it, cruising along in our 4×4 and trailer through the windy mountains.  In my mind, however, I am thinking “oh god this is a 25 year old car and we are in the middle of nowhere, please don’t break down, watch that pot hole TJ! don’t get to close to that edge! bloody hell that is a long way down if we drive off the cliff.”  Sometimes the words actually come out of my mouth instead of just thinking them, much to TJ’s annoyance 😬😜.

Anyway, the 1.5 hours goes pretty slow when you can only drive about 50 kph, we were all hoping it would be worth it when we got there.  Don’t let me down New Zealand!!  Actually along the way the views were stunning, as usual, beautiful mountains and valleys with a fast running river and in the distance snow capped mountains…..it gets really quite boring after a while…not 😜

We actually didn’t make it to Lake Sumner.  Nothing drastic, just the road ended and we were only able to go further on a 4×4 cross country track which scared the bejesus out of us so we turned back (well, I think TJ would have liked to give it a go but the rest of us changed his mind!).   Where the road ended was Lake Taylor, and a DOC (Department of Conservation) campsite….so we decided to take a look.  Let’s just say New Zealand didn’t let us down.  We were blown away….a beautiful lake, so still the reflection was like another world (Rose said it looked like the lake in Big Friendly Giant where you jump through to the other world).  Either side of us beautiful mountains and again those snow capped mountains in the distance.  The weather was beautiful, a crisp winter afternoon with the sun shining, absolutely no wind at all.  At that moment we decided to stay the night, and for the first time since we have our trailer camper we will be really camping, with no electricity, no WiFi, no hot water, no phone service, cut off from the rest of the world…and all alone on this beautiful campsite.  The only sounds were the distant waterfalls and the birds singing their songs.  The facilities on the campsite were a hole-in-the-ground toilet (actually not as bad as it sounds) and a tap and sink (but the water had to be boiled before drinking).   TJ was actually jumping up and down and grinning with excitement, he was in his element!!  Hence…..this is why we did it, why we are here.

This was what we had envisioned when booked those flights to New Zealand….camping out in the wilderness!!  All we needed now was for TJ to hunt some food for us and the picture would be complete.  Thijs already started searching for a stick and a pointy stone so that he could make a spear to kill some animals 🤣.

Day 1 – Tuesday

We set up our camper tent right next to the lake, our bedroom was looking out over the lake (bliss).  We put the extra awning on so that we could have our kitchen under cover.  We have the setting up of the tent down to a fine art, each of us doing our stuff…..teamwork makes dreamwork! 😀  Once the bedroom was all set up we sorted the kitchen and took an inventory of our food.   We were totally unprepared as I said earlier, but wow dinner was delicious!  We rinsed our plates in the lake and by that time it was starting to get dark, so we lighted a campfire.  We had collected some pinecones which burn really well and there were plenty of sticks around to burn.  We sat down around the camp fire and talked about what we wanted to do the next day.  TJ was going to do some shopping in the morning and depending on how the night went we might stay another day.

Later we cosied down in our camper tent, the kids on their blow up bed on the floor and me and TJ on top of the trailer.  It was cold but we were warm under our layers of blankets and our onsies on (except TJ of course….come ooooon).

Day 2 – Wednesday

When we stepped outside we were greeted by the most amazing view, a low fog over the lake was just stunning yet again.  The sun was up and soon burned away the fog.  But wow, just wow.

After breakfast TJ took the kids off into the nearest village (1.5 hours back down that road!) to get some supplies, leaving me to potter around the tent a bit.  So for 3 hours I was totally alone.  It was quite eery being alone and it being totally silent.  No “Mummy,……” questions, no TV, no mobile phone….nothing.  BLISS.  I pottered around making our beds and organising our kitchen and within an hour I was done.  I then collected some more pine cones and wood for the fire….then I sat down, in the sun, by the lake, and read my book…..in complete silence!! OMG that feeling of contentness was amazing.

In no time TJ and the kids were back, full of excitement as they had managed to purchase a huge bag of marshmallows.   We decided to take a bit of a drive along the river to do some fishing, not that we caught anything but it was fun.  We also came across a wire bridge across the river where the long treks start across the mountains.  There are treks that take days to do and along the way DOC huts that you can sleep in…..but we will leave that for another time….maybe in the spring!

While I was alone on the campsite I had been looking up one of the mountains next to us thinking, I reckon I could climb that…..so that afternoon off I went to see how far I could get.  As usual it is very deceiving just how high they are but I managed to get about 3/4 of the way up.  It was stunning, the views up there were again breathtaking, looking down on our little campsite and further into the mountains.  I was feeling quite pleased with myself, and the kids even attempted to join me so I headed back down (as it was quite steep for them).

That night we ate well (spag bol) and sat by the fire this time with marshmallows and chatting about how great it was and why don’t we stay another day?  So we did.

Day 3 – Thursday

We woke to hear Rose and Thijs in bed discussing what they wanted to do that day.  They had decided:

• Get up
• Get dressed
• Have breakfast
• Brush teeth
• Play hide and seek
• Have lunch
• Go and see the ponies
• Have dinner
• Roast marshmallows on the fire
• Brush teeth
• Go to bed

…sounded like a perfect day to me!  Not a mention of Ipad or Iphone….both me and TJ were grinning listenening to them planning their day ❤️.

However the fog stuck around a bit longer in the morning, so after breakfast and a bit of pottering around we decided to take a drive into the village as I needed to check emails and confirm the house sitting for the weekend.  The kids were NOT happy, they wanted to stay and play, but begrudingly they came along.

We were a bit grubby from our camping (wet wipe washes and soap and cold water was the only way to wash!) but decided to go to a nice cafe for lunch, which turned out to be quite a fancy restaurant.  We sheepisly sat down and had a very nice lunch and felt very civilised.  3G was back on the phones so we contacted family and the house sitters to confirm for the weekend.

Back at the campsite it was hide and seek time as per the agenda…..there were some great trees to hide in and the reefs by the lake were a great hiding places!  After that we decided to trek again up the mountain, this time as a family.  So off we set up the mountain, even managing to climb a bit higher than I had the previous day.  Lake Taylor was already 500m above sea level and the mountain we climbed about another 400m higher…. we were pretty pleased with ourselves and so impressed by the kids, no complaints and even they appreciated the beautiful views ❤️❤️.

After our huge lunch, dinner was crackers and marshmallows around the fire….it was great fun.  The amazing sky at night always makes my heart swell, what a beautiful place to be and so nice to spend it with my family, all happy and content in this little spot of paradise.

We slept well again, it was a bit colder that night but we snuggled under our blankets and cuddled eachother for warmth….yet again sleeping about 10 hours which seems to be the standard at the moment!

Day 4 – Friday

Time to leave and head back to reality.  It was a foggy and cold morning and the sun was taking longer to break through….so we kept busy packing up and in no time we were on the road, back to civilisation and a nice hot shower!!  We stayed at a campsite in Rakaia where the kitchen was warm and the showers were hot, even a small bath for the kids to sit in…. just what we needed!  We had power again so the electric blanket and heater warmed up our tent a treat.

We have now arrived at the house sitting in Rolleston, where we will be for 3 weeks.  A lovely house owned by Ron and Beryl who are off to Australia to see their grandchildren.  We get to look after 1 dog, 1 cat and a cute shetland pony…..so the kids are delighted.  Another opportunity to chill out, explore area and also catch up on school work again!

Before I finish this blog entry I want to share some of my thoughts, mainly because I want these things to be documented somewhere so I can look back at a later stage and remember all the things that were going through my mind (so apologies if this bit gets a bit deep)….

On the campsite we were going to bed at about 8.30pm, so I was often waking at around 4.30am and it took me a while to get back off to sleep….that’s when my mind wakes up.  All the stuff going through my mind is amazing, I really have to try and clear my head before I manage to go back to sleep, often making notes on my phone so it’s out of my head and written down.  Things like this: 

• I can’t sleep because I’m excited about the next step in our journey
• I’m nervous about going home and starting real life/getting a job!
• Determined to make a different life when go back home
• New outlook, keep that thought and not just step back into the rat race
• Eager to start new adventures…..new business ideas blossoming and growing in my head
• I feel closer to my hubby than ever, we did the right thing
• We are closer to our children, listening and talking and discovering and wondering and dreaming

My mind is going 100 miles an hour as we start our descent into real life again, coming back down from the clouds….2.5 months to go!

Here ends this blog entry and the insight into Kelly’s head 😊