Sunday at Redemption Church and Monday Greening History

 Sunday was a joyful time meeting fellow believers are Redemption Church in Christchurch. Many good things I have to say about the church including this sheet they make for the kids. They actually take words from the coming sermon to make the crossword puzzle and questions. After church the boys found this great tire park up the street.

Monday, after visiting where grandma grew up, we took the gondola to the top of the mountains. Rather then taking it back down, Thad and I decided to have a little run down the mountain.

Saturday Canterbury Plains and Visiting Nana

 The first stop for Saturday was Victoria Park. on the south-side of Christchurch there are mountains surrounding the ports. This park offers a great view of the whole Canterbury Plains.

After the great view, we went over to the airport to pick up Nicki. She was spending 3 days with her cousin Amy. Back together again we drove to visit Nana, Nicki's grandma. It was a nice visit and we even got to sing a song with her. After that we drove around where Andy grew up.

Friday Woodend Beach and Christchurch

Our agenda each day has been easy and slow. At the campground we were able to plug in and use an additional electric heater which kept us toasty warm all night. The added bonus at the campground was a kitchen to make dinner, a game room, a hot shower, a washer/dryer, and a really fun "old school" playground. With all this we didn't leave until 12:15pm!

Then, with a last stop in the Hanmer Springs gift shop, we were on the road. To prevent anyone from getting car sick, we went to McDonalds after driving down the windy roads. Somehow the beef on the hamburgers is better over here...

On the drive to the beach we stopped at this little church and a church campground. The activities at this camp show that kiwi's can put on a good time.

The sand on the beach was so soft. This beach is about 30 minutes north of Christchurch. It is remarkable Rosie and Thad's first instinct after going into the water is to dig! I think there were bubbles from some type of sand crab they were going after.

Thursday in Hamner Springs

Our second day in NZ is done. We started off slow with breakfast and bible reading in the brisk 0°C / 32°F weather. Though it was considerably warmer in our RV. 

By 10:30am it was warming up and we had a hike with Andy up the Conical trail. Andy grew up not too far from Hamner Springs. As we hiked, he told us he has been hiking this trail for 50 years! It was 20 minute climb to the top, but worth every step to see the full 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains.

Taking a different trail down from the top, we found a frozen pond with 1-2 inches of ice on the top. It turns out skipping ice on ice is very satisfying. Down from the pond was a beautiful stream gently flowing down into the New Zealand wilderness.

For lunch in the quite town of Hamner Springs, we found a nice fish and chips shop. Well, I got fish and chips. The children all enjoyed a fine kiwi burger with pickled beats, eggs, pineapple and all the other hamburger fixings. By lunch time is was perfect temperature to sit in the sun with Andy and Barby outside. Following lunch we went our second day to Hamner Springs Pools https://hanmersprings.co.nz/. This is a waterpark none to match. It included 4 great water slides and a ton of natural thermal heated hot tubs. It was no problem spending the whole evening from hot tub to slide and back again. I even got a bunch of laps in the pool.

Last night we parked in free camping spot in the woods by the NZ parks. Tonight we upgraded to a great campground with a game room! You might notice in the corner there are two old school video games for free!! These proved to be a fun conclusion to the day. The Lord has been good to us these days. We are about to head to bed.

NZ Trip is Underway

The first part of our journey is complete. After saying goodbye to Lukas and fam on Monday, we flew to LA and then from LA to New Zealand. 

We arrived Wednesday morning (Tuesday CA time) in New Zealand at 5 AM and have been enjoying McDonald’s. Andy and Barby met us at the Auckland airport and then we flew down to Christchurch. Nicki took a second flight to Napier to visit her cousin Amy for three days. After picking up our camper van, Wednesday afternoon we drove up to Hamner Springs to spend a couple days with Grandma and Grandad.