Windwhistle

Definitely one of our strangest christmases yet! I bought small things for Kinzie’s stocking at the grocery store two days ago. She made it known we did it- but she was happy to have some surprises in the morning. After breakfast in the camper (super fancy egg/spam scramble), we got on the road to head towards Christchurch. We’ve been trying to get back to sunshine and it didn’t happen today, but it didn’t start raining until our hike was done.
We chose one with forest and along the river- and it was an easy, flat walk. Not terribly interesting, but nice to be out and moving. We saw lots of wildflowers- different than the ones in previous days. And the forest was different too- not mossy at all. Much drier.
We ended at a lake with many families picnicking and playing with jet skis and small power boats. We chatted about how cool it would be to finish the school year, have Christmas, and have summer vacation start all at the same time. It felt like our 4th of July celebrations. Fun to watch. We waded in the lake to cool our tired feet and hiked back to the car. We did well/ 10.2 miles in 3:49. We were all tired and hungry. After lunch we hit the road towards Christchurch. The campground I found wasn’t accepting anyone Christmas Day (everything was closed- even gas stations). I booked it for the night of 12.26 and started looking for other places. We drove by a DOC spot right on the water, but the people there gave us the willie’s. We haven’t had good luck with the free places to park. All the rest of the campgrounds closed early (for us) so we decided we’d try to find a place to just pull off. We went into Christchurch and found a public parking lot and pulled in there to cook dinner. It was already late and we were all tired. Mike found a huge piece of salmon 🍣 and grilled it outside. It was delicious- melted in your mouth. We cleaned up and headed out- I found a website by the Christchurch township and got some good info about where we could freedom camp and where we couldn’t. With a certified self-contained campervan, we have a lot more flexibility. Doesn’t mean it was easy- flat spaces have no parking signs. Places we could park were on a slope (tough to sleep!). We finally found a little spot on the side of the road where people pull off to look at the view. Seems like a winner! Plus we’re overlooking the large Christchurch port.
One other thing we saw today- giant hedges. Everywhere. They plant evergreens in a straight line, let them all grow together, and then cut them all into straight lines and top them all off. I can’t imagine the size of the equipment they use. The hedges have to be 20’ high. It was crazy.Read more