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Fairlie Top 10 Holiday Park, Fairlie, South Island, New Zealand 4990km

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My parents, Abraham and Rachel, arrived from Israel yesterday afternoon and will be traveling with us for the next 3 weeks! Oh what joy for them to see the grandkids. And what glee for Paola and me, to have some adult company and also  to help with the kids.

Our day began in Akaroa, where we had an enjoyable New Year celebration. We drove back towards Christchurch after an aborted attempt to visit a winery in French Bay. Ron was crying incessantly, most likely nervous and anxious about his Grandparents’ arrival later in the day. As we got on the road things calmed down though.

In Chch, After a quick visit to the supermarket and lunch, we headed to the Gondola. It was a very hot day, 29C, the hottest we have experienced since we got to NZ over 6 weeks ago. The ride up was nice, as were the views, but it was too hot to do any hiking. There was a play area for kids where the children played while we sipped a cold drink. We later checked out a corny ride through time which explained the natural and human history of the area.

After we got back down we drove to central Chch and our campground/hotel for the evening to check in. Stonehurst is only 3 blocks from Cathedral Square, and has both motel rooms and a few sites for Motorhomes. Perfect for us and my parents. The kids bounced on the bed and watched some TV and later we all enjoyed a fun private shower after a month of RV or public campground cleansing.

After we were all squeaky clean, we drove 20 minutes to the airport and met Saba Avram and Savta Rachel, who seemed very awake after over 40 hours in transit, 3 flights, and 11 timezones ahead. Ron was very excited and jumped into Saba’s arms. Shir and Orr were in shock, but Savta gave them each a doll and Shir warmed up immediately. Orr was a bit apprehensive for a few minutes.

We drove back to the hotel all cramped in the RV and spent some time in the hotel room catching up and feeding the kids supper. I was expecting my folks to be tired and worn out, but they surprised us and wanted to go for a walk around town. So at 8pm we began an almost 2 hour stroll with the kids in the stroller. By the time we returned and got the children to sleep (in the RV) it was past 11pm.

Today we had to check out by 10am, so we drove to the botanic gardens where they have a huge fun playground for kids. I dropped everyone off and drove to the RV depot to take care of a few minor problems, one of which was our bed that got broken! The folks at the depot were very quick and I was back in town in a jiffy. I parked near the town center and we all met up in Cathedral square and then headed for lunch back in the RV.

I went with dad to get his rental car and was terrified to sit in the car as he was learning to drive on the wrong side of the road. Now I know how Paola must have felt the first few days I drove here.

After a stop in the supermarket, we headed southwest, RV followed by Toyota Corolla, on the way to the Southern Alps. We stopped after 50km in Rakaia because jetlag finally wore mom and dad down. They took a solid nap in our RV while the kids played in the local playground.

With renewed vigor we continued our drive along highway 1 then 79 towards Fairlie where we are spending the night. The last part of the drive was scenic and filled with rolling hills dotted with sheep and cows. A great introduction to NZ for my parents.

Tomorrow we head to Mount Cook.

Good night,

-Hemi

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 at 5:05 am and is filed under Big Trip, New Zealand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.