Christchurch and the Main Divide

A cold corner in the Craigieburn Station from the Trans Alpine Railway.

Our time in Christchurch has gone relatively quick, the weather has been amazing considering it is now winter (Yes! -just past the shortest day). It certainly was a lovely long autumn. Bill has been helping Helen and Ralph, do a few renovations and maintenance jobs around their home as they are starting to think about selling the lovely large 100yr old Villa on the Cashmere Hills and downsize to somewhere on the flat.

H&R lifting the old tiles
Beautiful view of our Bus 

Adding a step & ready to lay
large format tiles

Alongside the maintenance, we have been enjoying walks and social catch ups with friends. Marg B. is renting near by, making it easy to catch up for walks and a movie. The Italian film festival has been on while we have been here so we decided we must attend at least one of these films (or Sheryl decided for everyone!). It was also decided to make the evening an Italian evening by having dinner at the local Italian restaurant Formaggio's. It was delicious, before watching the film, which was a lovely light comedy set in beautiful Italian scenery of course. 

On our list of things to do had always been the TranzAlpine Train (one of NZ’s Great Journeys) from Christchurch to Greymouth over the Arthur's Pass through the Southern Alps. This part of the Alps is also called the Main Divide as it separates Canterbury from the West Coast and Otago in the south and Tasman/Marlborough in the north. The weather can be so different with high rainfall on the western side (very green) and quite dry on the eastern side (quite golden brown).

Hanging the door after 26 yrs

So with the weather conditions looking perfect for two consecutive days, we booked our trip for the next day, for an additional charge of $10 each, each way, we could also take our bikes so thought it well worth it as we would have the afternoon and the following morning available. 

Ready for our adventure 🚉

Arthur's Pass on our return

Lake Brunner in perfect conditions

Along the Wilderness Trail

Ralph kindly dropped us off at the Addington train station and we were on our way shortly after 8 am. The scenery very picturesque with recent snow on the  Alps completing the winter vista. Although the snow wasn’t down low, it was pretty white around Arthur's Pass with heavy frost. The Otira tunnel (8.5km) would have been no easy feat, finally being completed in 1923.`The conditions for the workers must have been terrible – but they only lost 7 men in the 9 year building of it, and at the time was the 7th largest tunnel in the world, and the longest in the British Empire. 
Arriving at Greymouth soon after 1 pm, we disembarked and got on our bikes. We would recommend the train trip to everyone. And hopefully if you do, you have the time to stay the night otherwise it is a bit rushed to get back for the return trip an hour after arrival.The comprehensive commentary is full of the history and geological facts that made the trip so very interesting. 
Greymouth had blue skies but a freezing wind blowing so we quickly found a place for lunch before finding our motel for the night. Once settled in, we got back on our bikes and started on the Wilderness Trail –the cycleway from Greymouth to Ross – a total of 132km which they recommend to complete over 4 days. We had ridden a little of this trail roughly 6 years ago when they first started creating it. The people behind building the trail should be proud of themselves, and although we only did 11km of it, we look forward to returning sometime soon to do the rest through the lush West Coast bush and scenic lakes. With only a couple of hours before dark we decided to ride to Paroa and return. There was a lovely renovated stone Hotel (the original one was built in the late 1800’s – when Gold was bringing in large numbers of people) where we stopped and enjoyed a red wine on the sheltered deck in the sunshine just before sunset. It was then a brisk ride back to our motel for the night.

Beautiful West Coast sunset

Sign of the Kiwi

Sign of the Kiwi looking back to Banks Peninsula with Marg

Bill having some quality time with Murray

A little snow on the Southern Alps

Bathroom before the alterations

Looking amazing - what a transformation.

The next morning again brought blue skies but that freezing wind was still blowing. At 9.30 am it was only 1 degree (a real feel of -2 degrees) so we found a sunny little café to have breakfast before riding in the opposite direction to the day before, over to Cobden and out to Point Elizabeth. With the wind chill factor we didn’t muck around, and keeping in mind we had to be back to catch the train just before 2 pm, we headed back into Greymouth and dropped off our bikes at the railway station. We had a brief browse around the Greymouth shops. Bill even had time to pop into a barber and get a much needed haircut. Although I was present, the woman barber took him around behind a screen where he had the haircut unsupervised once again! Those of you that know Bill with his unsupervised haircuts, know that it always comes out super short, and he always appears so genuinely surprised! I thought his ears would drop off when he got out in the wind after this one!
At 2.05pm on the dot we were back on the track and returning to Christchurch arriving back just after 6.30. A long day for the Rail staff.
We recently celebrated Helen’s birthday with her family over a lunch which was lovely to catch up with all four of their children, partners and grandchildren. In the afternoon Marg joined us as we walked up the Cashmere Hill to the Sign of the Kiwi (a Rest House built in 1917) which has great panoramic views out over Christchurch and back across to Banks Peninsula behind. Being Sunday there were a lot of families out walking which was great to see as the day was pretty cold and cloudy. We were rewarded at the Sign of the Kiwi with a delicious afternoon tea before returning to Helen and Ralph's (10.5km return).
We have been enjoying our stop over with Helen and Ralph, with a red wine or two and their lovely fire. We’re noticing a big difference between winter in the south island compared to the north last year – although much colder it is drier. So far condensation in the Bus has been minimal. We’ve only ran our diesel heater twice in the 3 weeks we have been here. Not sure we will be able to say the same when we move on at the end of this week to Central Otago – Queenstown!

The last of Autumn in Nelson and onto Christchurch

Beautiful sunrise at Marfells Beach

The amazing autumn weather continued thankfully for Bill to get the driveway repair completed – with two truckloads of concrete and a hand from neighbour John, he finished the job. Looks great – so hopefully will do the job.

Like the icing on a cake -John and Bill floating off

Once again time to sort our gear😵

Another little job at home - rodent proofing 

Fran becoming a Master
Painter

We caught up with Fran who is trying to prepare her property to get it rented out on  Air B&B – having a unique sleepout that was hubby Larry’s Barbershop. Bill& Fran cleared the room out and prepped it for painting. Fran hasn’t done any painting before but she has been mastering the skill. Bill also moved a door in her home to give her privacy from any clients when the room is rented out. We had a couple of lovely meals in return which was great, catching up on local goss as Fran seems to know lots of people in Nelson or she’s met them out on the golf course of course.

We also had a few meals out in Nelson this time during our stop over, including a couple of times at the Taaj Indian which is just along the road from us, nice and handy and delicious. Lovely catching up Jenny and Martin – hopefully will see you both on the road sometime soon.

Mother’s day we celebrated with Bill’s family and all met up at Lone Star for dinner. It was a good catch up but unfortunately the acoustics haven’t improved and did make conversation difficult across the table – particularly for Joan who was struggling to make do with courtesy hearing aids while hers were being repaired – a very trying few weeks for her.

Bill also did a couple of jobs for Warwick and Peter, helping them out whilst in town. Warwick lives in a lovely small unit in Quiet Womans Way (not sure about the name)at Monaco – built along the lines of an old English Village. They are lovely and it suits Ros and Warwick’s life styles. So it was nice to catch up with them both while Ros was back in the country.

Thankfully we have a bit of space to spread out
when we are home - even able to park a borrowed car!

We were also able help Vicki & Trevor celebrate his birthday (last year we left town a few days early) along with Debbie & Paul and Sandy & Brian. We all met the next day at Kohatu and did part of the Great Taste Cycle Trail that we had on our list to do whilst home this time – that was to cycle through the Spooners Tunnel in the Golden Downs Forestry. The rail line originally was supposed to go from Nelson to the West Coast but only got as far as

Birthday Boy Trevor & Bill along the Spooners Trail

Just proving he made it through!

Glenhope, a bit further south than Kohatu. The tunnel was built between 1891 and 1893 – 1352m long. It is the World’s 5^th longest tunnel used by cyclists and walkers and NZ’s longest disused tunnel. Being 3.81m wide and 4.73m high, we could easily drive the Bus through!

The weather was perfect, lovely and dry but quite cool in the shade and ideal to return to Kohatu for lunch at the Café at the end of the ride. The tunnel itself was amazingly dry and reasonably smooth but quite cold of course. Bill and I did a bit extra seeing as we had the only ebikes and rode downhill the other side toward Belgrove. We were very pleased to have our ebikes on the way back up the rutted hillside.

The next day, Sunday, being our last day, we spent packing up. Had time to catch up with neighbours Kathryn and Andrew when they came down to see our Bus as they would like to do some travelling too around our beautiful country. Kathryn also delivered some beautiful date scones, that I will have to try and make in the Bus (good old Edmonds).

Later in the day, we also finally had a chance to have a wine with our Tenants, Amanda and Glen, acknowledging their cooperation with us occupying the sleepout.. They have been great tenants for the past two years along with their two children, so we aren’t in any hurry for them to move on at this stage.

Parked up at Marfells Beach

 Monday we were ready to move on but had to wait for the Chorus Guys ( 6 at one stage) to put Fibre into our home, which will be great on our return. Bill was happy to be there to ensure they put it into the best position in the house with least mess???

So by the time we had a late lunch with Joan at the Camp Café it was mid afternoon when we headed over the hill to Marlborough for some R&R before hitting Christchurch the following weekend.

Sunset at Marfells - beautiful colours 

Marfells Beach was fairly deserted which was surprising when the weather had been so warm and mild. This may be also to do with the shellfish ban that has been on the area since the earthquakes that raised the beaches and disturbed their habitat. The place was always busy with quad bikes heading round the cape on the low tides harvesting the hapless paua.

Our Friend Diana (who bought her Camper last October and joined us up the Coromandel)  came over the hill on our second night and joined us for a walk the next day to Cape Campbell Lighthouse - a return stroll along the beach of 14 odd km. A lovely, if at times, breezy walk with even a seal to vary the visual diet of seabirds.

Cape Campbell with Diana

The following day we moved onto Kaikoura for Bill to see a doctor re his shoulder/back injury that he sustained back in Nelson just before we left and he thought it would come right but unfortunately it just got worse. So bad he had to hand over some of the driving from Nelson to Marfells to me!! I don’t usually drive the Bus now with towing the car as it has altered the handling thus I haven’t done a lot with this one. I did get it’s COF while in Nelson so I am happy without the car.

We had a beautiful run down the coastal highway to Kaikoura, seeing the improvements being made. It’s still a huge job, and still a couple of years from being completed.

We parked up at South Bay and had lunch before Bill’s appointment. I thought I’d have plenty of time to have a walk around town and see all the changes that have happened since we were here a year ago. But Bill was in and out pretty promptly, they don’t muck around in these small centres. Doctor not overly concerned, diagnosed was Tendonitis  which needs rest and time to heal. Not great but with the help of pain killers and anti inflammatories, hopefully he will be able to handle the symptoms a bit better.

South Bay (Kaikoura) for lunch - the beach has changed since
the 2016 earthquake raised the sea bed along this coastline

As we still had some daylight, we decided to head on down the road for the night at Parnassas – a little rural school property the NZMCA now own. A lovely quiet spot to park over on and chat to a few of the other fellow Motorhomers. One couple were opening a bottle of champagne for their first night in their first Motorhome. Exciting times ahead for them.

Nape Nape Beach - spot our Bus to get an idea on the size
of the beach 🚌

The other end of Nape Nape Beach

And another couple that had just picked up their new Caravan – a transformer looking rig – Tvan /Track Australian imported serious off road type of caravan. An amazing looking vehicle, great in a hot country like Australia but not sure in New Zealand. We had a pretty heavy frost that night which produced a lot of condensation in this vehicle as it’s all made of aluminium! Still in summertime, it’s probably great but at $100k you would want it to!

From Parnassus we moved onto Nape Nape Beach only a further 40 minutes south travelling by beautiful farmlands on quiet narrow roads. This is a lovely remote beach at the end of a long windy gravel road that we visited 10 years earlier with Nick when we were taking him and his double bed down to Uni in Dunedin in Big Yella. Good times Nick 👍

Lunch - Yummy

As I said it was a remote beach so not a lot of traffic – only one other car later in the day, who looked like he parked up overnight a bit further along the beach but found out the next day he was staying further back up the road at some friends. And in the morning a couple of young English guys Chris & Kevin, who went  diving for crayfish & paua but unfortunately weren’t able to gather anything.

But! Thankfully their friend back up the beach did and were able to spare us a crayfish which Chris delivered back to us. Alive of course. Thankfully Bill took it from him and dealt with it. It was the most delicious Cray I have ever had and I think that was as it was the freshest Cray I’ve had. Thank you Chris and hopefully will catch up in Christchurch sometime during our stopover.

Nape Nape Beach is a pretty spot but not great for sun at this time of year so we decided not to stay a second night, and moved onto Rangiora for the night to stay at a POP (Park Over Place). We chose this POP as it backed onto the Ashley River with the Rakahuri Cycle Trail which takes you down to Waikuku Beach. We did the next morning before carrying onto Helen & Ralphs in Christchurch where we are hoping to park up for the next few weeks and ease our way into Winter.

Ashley River Inlet - Waikuku Beach

Nelson in Autumn

Lunchtime on Rabbit Island with the Nelson Kayak Club

We returned to our Apartment (Sleepout) at the beginning of April for what we thought would be a month’s stopover to get our home (now a Rental) and Rochelle’s rental up to standard to meet the Insulation regulations required by 1^st July 2019. Our ceilings didn’t meet the new standards and we had no underfloor insulation at all. So it has been a full on 4 weeks for Bill completing both properties (amazing how he could fit his svelte body into some of those cavities!) It's been great for his inner core but not for his back!

Circumnavigating Rabbit Island

Bill's new home??

Bit of trimming required out the back 😉

But it’s not been all work – we have been able to socialise at the weekends leaving our Tenants in peace while they are home. Our first weekend home, we got out with the Nelson Kayak Club and circumnavigated Rabbit Island in perfect conditions. There was a good turnout of 11 kayaks (2x doubles) - it was a great to catch up with fellow paddlers, new and old members. It was also the first sign Winter was on its way with a light coating of snow on the Mountains in the Western Ranges.

Bill emerging from under the house. Again!!

We have been getting out on our bikes, which are great now that they have been converted to E bikes – particularly coming up our driveway. Once we are down our driveway it is flat out to Richmond or around the Port and into Nelson. And Nelson’s Great Taste Cycle Trail is wonderful to get around on and avoid the noise and congestion of busy roads.

Lovely sunset at our usual spot Queen's Reserve
(Vicki & Trevor with her Aunt Sandy & Brian)

It has been 12 months since we were last home so the gardens needed their annual trim. Around the house the Tenants look after the property pretty well. And with us getting the Leaf Company (Johnny) in to help keep the driveway trimmed back, plus when we are home, comes up and works with us to recover our views and keep everything under control. The grounds are in a pretty good state considering we have been on the road 4 ½ years now.

Bit of a close call!
Got my timing wrong with my pies 😩

Lovely walk out on the Spit at Tahunanui Beach

Spot the Elves! In the mist on Takaka Hill

Bill supervising the Power Contractor

We had an issue with our power supply cable coming into the house just before we headed away on the road, with the cable arcing in damp conditions – the Serviceman at the time told us we needed to replace the cable – but thankfully we have got away till now before it was required. With our Tenants away for 4 nights in the school holidays their timing was perfect to come and remove the old cable, replacing it with a thicker more insulated one. Will certainly see us out! Bill had to sign an unpriced contract form – so fingers crossed it doesn’t come back and break the bank!!

This activity drew Bill’s attention to the spouting around the back of the house and realised he has learnt a lot in 25 years and young Bill wasn’t quite up to older Bill’s standards today. It was off with the spouting, barge boards painted and spouting restored back up a few days later, positioned much better. Just another job that wasn’t on the list this time around.

Easter we moved around to friends Vicki & Trevor’s home as they headed off to a family event in Christchurch (happy 60^th Tony) – this left our Tenants in peace for the long weekend.

A little job grown into a big job 😏

Another sunset at Queens Reserve
Shannon and AC and Joan

Joan (Bill’s Mum) joined us for a couple of the nights to feel like she had a little holiday too. The Autumnal weather has been lovely and dry, so the colours in our deciduous trees are looking stunning around Nelson. With the blue skies and sea, it certainly is a beautiful part of the country to live in and when we feel we are ready to settle once again, we will be more than happy to return to Nelson.

We had a 50^th wedding anniversary to attend on Easter Sunday ( I know! Who makes 50 years!!) – working on the figures we realised Anne and Rod must have been really young when they married – but not really – they just look fabulous for their ages J

But before we headed off to that we had a lovely day out with nephew Simon, Nicki and their girls from Riwaka. Although it was a wet misty day, it was perfect for a walk on the top of the Takaka Hill in country that looks like it is straight out of a Fairy and Elf landscape, and the mist just added to that scene. After a 2 hour hike around the hills we returned to S&N’s for a lovely late but warm lunch. As they now own their home, it is exciting times as they make many alterations to turn it into a lovely family home in an area they settled into 6 years ago after leaving Auckland. Great move Guys

Had lunch at Mapua - time to head home

Beautiful views of Tasman from just off the cycle way

Beautiful Autumn colours at
Myatzu Gardens

We also caught up with my brother Allan & Nicky and Friends (all from Auckland) who were visiting and enjoying what Nelson had to offer over the Easter break. Hope you Guys enjoyed our wonderful region – you certainly crammed a lot into your few days in town.

It’s been a good time to catch up with local family too – a lovely dinner with Bill’s brother Ian and Trudy at their place and then with Shannon and AC as they passed through Nelson on their way back to Wellington after a week in Golden Bay where Shannon had been showing AC places she enjoyed from our many camping holidays over there. Lovely to see it is still a special place for her.

We celebrated Johnny’s birthday with a bike ride on the Great Taste Cycle Trail from their home in Tasman to Mapua – it’s an excellent trail and great most of it is off road or if it isn’t, it’s very quiet back roads. We passed a lot of properties in Ruby Bay still being repaired after the storm damage from February 2018. Not many avoided those damaging seas. It was good to see Mapua very busy with cyclists travelling to and from Rabbit Island on the Ferry – lots of families. Pippa and John met up with family and a few friends we haven’t seen for a while.

Interesting! What is hiding in here?

As I said earlier, the list of jobs seem to keep growing particularly with a major one being a crack that appeared down our driveway which we noticed last year when we were home. Better to sort it now before we lose that part of the driveway to the neighbours on the downhill side. With the help of a Digger (and Operator) and mate Trevor for a day, he has got it ready for the concrete truck tomorrow. Thankfully the weather has played it’s part and kept everything dry.

Good catching up Pippa as always

So the four weeks has grown into seven by the time we move on later this month to Christchurch. We (mainly Bill) will need some R&R after all the activity that has been keeping him busy while in Nelson.

Time to head South for Winter

Lake Taupo as we have rarely seen, such calm conditions 😊

After leaving Whangateau we started our journey back to the South Island. Passing through Warkworth we stayed a night with nephew Paull and Marta catching up with their children and on their news of selling their business, waiting to sell their lovely home (hopefully having the Bus parked up out the front drew attention to your property 😊) and moving onto Tauranga when the time comes.

Oscar, Bill and Bailee competing at Petanque 

Once Oscar & Bailee headed off to school we had time to enjoy a bike ride around Omaha and picnic  at Point Wells with P&M. Had a lovely swim on the high tide - beautiful little spot so quiet at this time of the week.
We wanted to get through Auckland and out the other side without getting held up in traffic - not easy to do in Auckland! So left P&M early afternoon and had a good run through to Ray's Rest - a lovely freedom spot on the Thames Inlet. It was surprisingly busy with about 20 other Motor homers. With it's close proximity to Auckland, I guess it is a convenient location.
We headed off to Waihi Beach to house sit for the weekend, while G&C went and babysat little Evie so her parents could party up.

Cool clean waters of Taupo

Refreshing drinks at the end of our paddle

Sadly this Friday was one of New Zealand's saddest days with the Terror attack on the Mosques in Christchurch. Our lovely land tainted forever. It is unbelievable someone can hate another so much to cause so much destruction. Society needs to look at how someone can grow up and form such believes.
So it was a sobering Friday night spent with Cousin "It" (Kevin) fishing in this little bit of paradise as he passed through on his way home to Napier. At least he did have a couple of fresh snapper to take home for him & Deb.
As it was such a stunning calm day, Bill & I had another go to catch a bit of fish for ourselves but unfortunately we only caught another Contiki - what a tangled mess the line became. But two hours later (and no fish) we managed to get it all untangled.Which was all a bit sad for our last lot of fishing up this way, with summer coming to it's end, we had plans to head southward.
A couple of nights at Whakaipo Bay, Lake Taupo were two of our best days ever in Taupo - swimming both days. Neither of us had ever swam in the lake before but with our lovely long summer - the lake was warm enough to enjoy a lengthy swim. Our second day, with such calm conditions, we decided to do a  return paddle to the next bay (4 hrs -22km)- Kinlock. Another pretty little holiday bay on the lake that looks like it was expanding just like the rest of the bays around the Lake. After another swim on our return, and a well earned beer.
Wellington was our destination for the weekend for Bill to catch up for a reunion of some of his Youth Group members from 40 odd years ago!! 

Men and Cats 😄

On our way through we stopped off in Fielding catching up with Don at his friend Cecile's place. We haven't visited Fielding before, so on the Friday we rode into town with Don and had a look around. Lovely rural service town complete with Town Square and busy Farmers Market. Bill enjoyed the "Home baking" stalls. I found a lovely pre loved leather handbag from a specialised leather reuse shop (Citizen Leather - well worth a visit).

Lovely sunset  with F&C's on Waitarere Beach 

Bill's Side Kick with PPE

Love the wee boat sheds at Evan Bay

Shannon and AC's  view on a stunning Wellington day

Bill offering some advice to Savannah on Wellington waterfront

Beautiful vista on the Southern Coastal Walkway

Still heading south to the coast

We had decided to park up at John & Sarah's Bach once again at Waitarere Beach for the week before crossing back over to the South Island. It was a convenient spot to run into Wellington for the day for John & Bill to catch up with old friends Maria, Rosanna and Linda, while Sarah and I went for a "not to exhaustive" walk around Seaton, up the Eastern Coastal Walkway to the Ataturk Memorial that looks out over the Cook Strait (the site chosen for it's resemblance to the landscape of the  Gallipoli Peninsula) and back around to the little Sprig and Fern tucked away in Seatoun to have a very thirst quenching cold beer and discuss Shannon's grading of walks! Quite different to what Sarah had expected, but even with the sweat Sarah, it was well worth the effort 😊.

Meanwhile in the quiet pleasant suburb of Island Bay a reunion was taking place at Maria’s (nee Lagrutta) house. Apart from 2 brief encounters over the past 40 years it was a brilliant relaxed get together with Maria, little sister Rosanna, Linda Delarenzo and John Robinson. This was a small core of the people I first met when the Tylers shifted to Nelson from Invercargill back in 1973.

The shift when I was 15 or 16 could have been difficult leaving many friends behind and the chance of being alienated, but no, joining a youth group, I fell into a lovely group of like minded youth and very quickly got over any angsty feelings in our new community. I had a great time growing up in Nelson.

 

Part of the "Nelson Youth Group"
 - Youth sadly gone!

The beauty of our get together was the small gathering and ample time, all having a great chat, all getting a good idea of where we all were after 40 odd years. So nice. Plenty of suggestions were made to have another gathering with many more names mentioned and this should happen but will be hard to capture the relaxed sunny atmosphere we all revelled in at Maria’s house.(must thank Maria,s husband for his patience 😊) 

As we had the week to fill in before catching up with Shannon and AC the following weekend, Bill worked on a little project for J&S on their Bach - building a back porch to keep that south-wester out of the house. The weather was definitely cooling in the mornings but beautiful autumnal days. Waitarere Beach is lovely spot to park the car up on the beach and enjoy fish and chips as the sun sets. Beautiful colours.
We had a beautiful weekend with Shannon & AC before crossing back over to the South Island - the weather was perfect - hardly a ripple on the water. We came into the city the night before, staying out at Petone where we caught up with nephew James and Katie in their new home, who have settled into Wellington after their move down from Auckland.
Saturday we parked up at the Marina where a large number of freedom campers are allocated space to park up - it had been revamped since our last stay 12 months earlier. So convenient to the City Center and Shannon & AC's.
Saturday, we managed to catch up with another nephew - AJ & Renee and their 3 girls down on Wellington's waterfront. They have moved out of their 11m Bus and into a property in Wellington City - allowing Renee a much smaller commute to work and more time with the family.
We also managed a couple of Wellington's coastal walks to take advantage of the beautiful vistas of the City and harbour. Saturday we walked a 9.5km section of the Southern Coastal Walkway along the ridges of Wellington Harbour. Discovering some history of  Truby King's Plunket and Karatanie business's and home. What an amazing man he was.
Sunday AC wasn't that well, so we left him to recover while we walked in the other direction to the day before, up and around Miramar and onto Shelly Bay and the famous Chocolate Fish Cafe. A wonderful couple of days to finish our travels in the North Island for now.