Day 48 - 52 (March 15th - 19th) - Nelson, Brown River Reserve, Pelorus Bridge, Picton, Blenheim, Picton, Wellington

Day 48

In the morning, Mattis went straight to the playground on our campsite in Marahau with his wheelbarrow. Alone. That's how independent he is now. :-) In the morning, we just had a quick breakfast at the playground with cornflakes and then we wanted to continue. In 2 days, on Tuesday, we had to be in Picton to take our ferry to the North Island.

We have seen stands with fresh fruit and vegetables by the roadside before. On the way from Marahau towards Richmond, we stopped at one of these stands and bought delicious apples, tomatoes, cauliflower, and broccoli. Everything was super cheap and you pay in an honesty box. A great thing.

Next stop was in Richmond at the PAKnSAVE supermarket. Then we continued to Nelson. We parked by the sea and sat there for a while, so that Mattis could dig and Lea could play with stones. It wasn't a nice beach, just a small corner by the water. Mattis even did his business in the potty here, with a view of the sea. Wonderful.

We walked into the city center of Nelson, wandered along Trafalgar Street with a few restaurants, took a look at the church at the end of the street, and enjoyed ice cream on a bench. Then we left Nelson again.

Now we only drove to our freedom campground (Brown River Reserve), between Nelson and Picton. It was beautifully located by a small river and only had space for 9-10 campers. We were the second to last campervan to arrive at 6:15 pm. Mattis threw some stones and sticks into the river and Lea lay on the grass for a while. Then we had dinner - toast, because unfortunately our gas bottle was empty. We ate outside at the picnic table. Lea insisted on eating with us and couldn't be distracted with a spoon or anything else. So we just gave her a slice of toast in her hand. She liked it and nibbled on it. If she choked on it occasionally, she just spat it out and kept eating. Wonderful. The kids were already asleep by 8 p.m., unfortunately I was too. But luckily I woke up again at 10 p.m. to write a blog post.

Day 49

In the morning, Mattis brought his sand toys to bed for himself and Lea. How nice, Tim thought, who was in bed with us. But the kids had a lot of fun. Lea was particularly fond of the sand mill and could turn it by herself. Mattis was happy that Lea could do it already and pointed it out several times.

After breakfast, we drove to the Pelorus Bridge Café, just 5 minutes away. We sat outside and enjoyed cappuccino and fluffy milk for Mattis. Then we took a short hike (about 1 hour) through the Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve, a circle track that took us through the forest and along the Pelorus River. The hike was somehow really beautiful, although there was nothing spectacular to see. The weather was great, everyone was in a good mood and relaxed. Mattis walked almost the entire way backwards, dragging a large branch behind him. It's a wonder he only stumbled over the huge roots once. You could see many kayaks on the river and people bathing in the river.

After this "exhausting" hike, we went back to the Pelorus Bridge Café. We had already seen the pies earlier, but breakfast hadn't been long enough. But now we could all have a pie - for Mattis and me with cheese and beef, for Tim with Guinness and beef. Incredibly delicious and only $6 each. One pie was enough to fill you up. Lea was allowed to join in as well and got delicious sweet potato-apple mash from the pouch. She still didn't eat more than a few spoons, but she ate and enjoyed it. Today, her big brother really wanted to wipe her mouth after every spoonful. She found that funny.

Afterwards, we went to Picton, where our ferry to the North Island was leaving tomorrow. On the way to Picton, we had great views of the fjord landscape, the Marlborough Sounds, on the Queen Charlotte Drive. I was already looking forward to the ferry ride. However, the weather forecast wasn't looking good. It was supposed to be very stormy with high waves tomorrow. You could already feel the increasing wind in Picton in the late afternoon. I immediately went to the pharmacy and bought some motion sickness tablets. Even Tim wasn't in a good mood due to the weather conditions. The annoying thing was that tomorrow should be the only stormy day. All the other days were supposed to be calm with no big waves. Oh well.

We then quickly refilled our gas bottle at the gas station and had to realize that one of our tires had lost a lot of air pressure again (from 65 to 30). We had to clarify this problem with the campervan rental company the next day.

Now we just had to go to the DOC Whatamanga Bay Campsite ($16), where we wanted to sleep tonight. A beautiful campsite, not far from Picton, situated right by the fjord. Unfortunately, due to the storm, we couldn't really enjoy the great location in the evening and were just glad that we had found a wind-protected parking bay for our campervan.

Today, Lea moved forward for the first time. When she was lying on the cushions of the seating area, she suddenly pushed herself up with her feet and extended legs and pushed herself forward with her bent arms. Yippie.

By the way, today was exactly 3 weeks since Mattis was potty trained. Since the incident in the forest at the Mavora Lakes, he no longer wore diapers during the day and happily peed while standing and did his business in nature or simply in front of our campervan. He rarely used the potty. It's crazy how quickly you get used to this new situation after 3 weeks and can't imagine changing diapers several times a day for 2 children anymore.

Day 50

We had a relaxed morning on the campsite and then said goodbye to the nice group of people including Vanessa.

Now we went to Picton for the ferry. The weather was great. We took the largest ferry from Interislander, the Kaitaki. It can carry 1,650 passengers and 600 cars. The check-in process went really smoothly, considering the number of vehicles and people. We had to line up with our vehicle and gradually the vehicle rows were allowed to board the ferry. We parked on an outdoor deck. Then we walked through the ship up to the top deck and enjoyed the view of the port of Picton. We only noticed that the ship was leaving in passing, it was slowly leaving the port.

Mattis was not very interested in the view. He preferred to quickly go to the playroom with the great toys and television (we had told him about it beforehand). Unfortunately, we were told at the reception that the playroom was closed. Oh man, you could see the disappointment on Mattis' face. I felt really sorry for him. Luckily, I had his sticker book and Kiwi book with me, so we could sit in the café and play with them. Meanwhile, Lea continued to practice moving forward on the carpet. It was perfect. And she actually moved further and further forward by giving her an incentive (some exciting object) and then pushing herself forward with her toes, using her bent arms as well. She was so happy and infected everyone around her with her smile.

Meanwhile, Tim was on the sun deck and took some great photos of the Marlborough Sounds, the fjord landscape.

The rest of the journey, we sat together nicely and Mattis showed them his books. Later on, the two girls went for a little walk around the ship with Mattis. They were very trustworthy, so I could let Mattis go with them. So the whole journey was very entertaining. We were on the ferry for a total of 3.5 hours and arrived in Wellington on the North Island at 5:45 p.m.

It was quite unusual to be in a big city with tall buildings again. So this was New Zealand's capital city. We just wanted to quickly find a place to stay for the night. Unfortunately, both of the city's freedom campgrounds were full. The last spot was taken right in front of us. Annoying. So, unfortunately, we had to drive to a paid campground a bit outside of Wellington. The drive here was the best. Tim got annoyed by a driver and said "to the left, or what?". And of course, Mattis picks up on everything now, so he started saying it as well. But it was so funny how he also imitated Tim's intonation and hand gestures. At the Capital Gateway Motor Inn, we got the last available spot for $49. It was a bit overpriced, but we were glad to have a place to sleep. The kids immediately went to bed and we had some time for ourselves. I used the time to make some phone calls and take a shower.