After getting back from our glacier hike we had a fun camping dinner and then Kylie Levi Mikaya and I hiked to nearby kea point to admire the views and eat chocolate.
Mikaya is an aspiring photographer. “Work it. Work it…”
The next morning we packed up and drove back to our favourite spot on lake Pukaki. I was loathe to leave the glacier views but that must be a common theme bc park staff were walking through the campground at 945 checking payment and moving people along. Whoops time to take down the tent…
Back at the lakeside we were having a leisurely lunch and a second coffee when Kylie heard a crunch and noticed a car high centred on a log/boulder.
Her first thought “where is Chad??” A flustered local girl named Marissa had tried to thread between a stump and a boulder and ended up perched on top of both.
Thankfully there was a Namibian Chad there on a camping vacation with his wife. They had retired to Hamilton and were pulling their trailer around the South Island. He contributed wedges and elevating tracks an impact drill and good advice and I mostly found appropriately shaped ramp rocks and wedged the tires and between the two of us we got Marissa’s car off the stump with barely a scratch.
Namibian Chad suggested naming the stump Marissa’s Landing, so after she drove away I pulled out the sharpie and did just that.
After a walk and a quick swim we headed back on the road for a holiday park on lake tekapo.
Mikaya, once again a style maven… mt cook in the background again…
Lake Pukaki is definitely prettier and the holiday park was pretty tight but it was nice to plug in and keep our fridge and devices running. This particular park was overrun with brazen bunnies and dodgy ducks that would lurk at the edge of the site and try to steal our cereal.
We got in some beach time but the lake was pretty chilly. Had a nice chat with two girls from Sweden/Connecticut on the beach.
The next morning we finished the final 3 hours of driving to complete the loop to Christchurch. I dropped the family at our last NZ Airbnb (a lovely rancher that we hardly got to enjoy) and the Zeke and I brought the motorhome back. No damage yay for us!! Stressful driving at times. We ran back to the Airbnb and spent the night repacking our bags after exploding into the motorhome.
I didnt take a single picture here which speaks to my headspace at the time.
Due to one particularly large mishap we were short three suitcases and most of our belongings, so it was mostly food and camping gear we needed to organize.
An early morning taxi took us to the airport, our reduced bags were all underweight and just like that we waved goodbye to NZ and it was off to Singapore!
