The days before my parents arrived, we were so busy with finishing the last few projects on Pumpkin, quitting our jobs, and changing Airbnbs that I hardly had time to let it sink in. We were soon to spend two weeks with them after over a year of not seeing them. On the way to the airport early in the morning we ran into a little traffic and I began to worry our juvenile prank might not work. I had figured it would take them a good hour to get through customs and grab their bags so that we could be waiting at the exit dressed in our hippie costumes. We wanted to see how long it would take them to recognize us. Since we didn’t get to dress up and celebrate Halloween this was our chance to dress up and have some fun. Pulling into the parking lot Lauren spotted Dad C sitting on a bench outside waiting. I quickly turned down an aisle in the parking lot so they would not spot us in the bright orange pumpkin paint job as we were not in costume yet. We threw on the wigs and walked hoping we could still fool them.

With Lauren trailing a few steps behind I approached Mom C and in my best hippie voice said, “Hey there cool cat do you need a lift?”. Mom C without even looking up at me waved a dismissive hand while walking by and said, “No thanks don’t want any.” I suppose she thought I was trying to sell her some reefer or something. I laughed and so did Lauren but neither of them took a second look at us. I pulled myself together and a few seconds later walked up to Dad C and said, “Hey there groovy guy I hear your dead-beat son didn’t show so I’m here to give you lift into town.” Another dismissive hand gesture and our laughter finally got them to look at us. It took another few of seconds for them to realize it was us! I pulled my dreads back to let them have a better look so they would follow us to the car without apprehension. They were so tired from the long flight their laughter for the situation came about twenty-minutes later. Mom and Dad squeezed in the front bench seat next to me with Lauren lounging in the back on our couch nestled between luggage.

We gave them a couple hours to rest and get a caffeine fix before Lauren and I dragged Dad C on an errand we needed to run to return some ratchet straps to The Shed. I had wanted to show Dad C the workspace where we had built Pumpkin because I know he would love the workshop and the concept of it. We gave him a short tour of the whimsical and wonderful woodworking shop and then the “engineering” wing which I just call the metal workshop. Dad C had a long conversation with the man who organized the space and learned that the origin of the concept was actually in the Midwest of the US! I could tell if this place was within a short corvette drive from home Dad’s retirement plans would be sorted.

The next morning was Thanksgiving and while Lauren was cooking us a vegan feast, I took my parents on what was later referred to as the forced march of Auckland. Walking into the city is easy and enjoyable because it is all downhill to the water. In my defense the plan was to bus back but, unfortunately on this day all the bus drivers had a very important meeting to attend so there was no bus service until late in the afternoon. We marched all around downtown to get a flavor of Auckland, and on the way back we went up the steep park to get to Tart bakery for a snack. It was a treat waiting at the top of four tall flights of stairs on the top of the hill. Tart was our favorite bakery because everything was vegan, and more importantly, delicious! I loved the “meat” pies and wanted to get my parents to try them while here. Most of them were sold out when we got there around 2pm which I knew would likely be the case but did not think of. Oops! They at least got to try one pie and a slice of pizza which they both liked. Again, in my defense I was just trying to work up some appetites for the feast Lauren was making for us.

She made a seitan roast and golden gravy that was delicious, traditional bread stuffing, roast asparagus, mashed potatoes and a kumara (Maori for sweet potato) casserole with marshmallows on top. So good! She even made pumpkin pie from scratch and substituted cranberry sauce with a homemade blackcurrant sauce because the American store, Martha’s Backyard, was sold out of both. We were pleasantly surprised when our parents loved everything Lauren had made. To help digest our feast we marched them to the top of Mount Eden for sunset and views of all the extinct volcanic domes dotting the landscape. There are over 50 volcanic domes in the Auckland area. I love to think of what this place looked like millions of years ago when they were all active and just breaching the surface of the water. It would only be a good view from afar!

Our last full day in Auckland we took the parents on a day trip to Waiheke Island for a day of wine tasting with beautiful views. We caught an earlier than planned ferry and got to walk along Onetangi Beach while we killed time waiting for restaurants to start serving lunch. Onetangi is Maori for weeping sand as the beach looks like it is crying as the tide goes out. Dad got caught by a wave coming in when he bent over to feel how cold the water was with his hand and spent most of the day walking in wet sandy shoes. We made it to three vineyards, Stonyridge, Batch, and Mudbrick, all of which have great views of the island landscape or over the water looking back towards Auckland.

The next morning, we picked up their rental car and headed south to Waitomo, stopping by Hobbiton on the way for our parents to do the tour. Lauren and I went on ahead to Waitomo because we had already done Hobbiton and as much as we liked it another $84 to see it again was just not worth it. In the morning our parents did the Waitomo glowworm cave while we did a short hike nearby as we had already seen the caves too.

When we left that morning and continued to head south everything that laid ahead was new to us all. We drove a couple hours through rolling lush green hills dotted with sheep towards the Tongariro park, the location of Mt Doom from Lord of the Rings. The day was overcast so we didn’t get wonderful views but could see the massive base of the volcano towering up into the clouds. After our campervan lunch we did a couple of short walks in the park to see a waterfall and some mounds believed to have been created from an ancient eruption.

As the weather turned on us and we headed to our stop for the night Lauren and I worried that we might get soaked on our bike ride we wanted to do outside of Okahune called the Old Coach Road. With only one place open in town to rent bikes, we raced to our Airbnb to check in and unload our parent’s car so they could drop us off at the shop. We went prepared with full rain gear after looking at the angry clouds on approach. The Kiwi running the rental shop was a cheery and cheeky fellow radiating so much energy that he must have just downed about 7 shots of espresso. Kiwis really like their coffee. We had some good laughs with him on the way and learned about his past as a competitive skier. The bike trail is estimated to take between 2.5 and 3 hours which gave us just enough light to make it back as we started on the trail just after 5pm. I had tried to get our parents to join us on the trail as the description was an easy downhill ride anybody could do. About 17 feet down the trail I was so glad they had used their better judgement than listening to me and another 300 feet down the trail was the point Mom C would have never spoken to me again. Yes, the trail in general did drop in elevation, however there were plenty of steep and narrow downhill and uphill sections that Lauren and I struggled with. Some uphill sections were so steep our back tires would slip as we pumped up them. The trail took us through some of the beautiful forests in the Tongariro park. The highlight of the ride is the old wooden railway bridge spanning high above the valley floor that you can ride across. Looking down through the slats it was like watching a flipbook revealing the ground below quickly fall away. Just down the trail from the bridge I mistakenly took us down the “optional extra” section of the trail which races down to the valley floor below the bridge and then back up to the other side which was so steep we had to walk the bikes most of the way. After Lauren had nearly flown off the side of that “optional” trail downhill, she decided to take over navigation of the trail after that. I think I am beginning to lose her trust when riding bikes through the woods like our bike hike experience in Killarney, Ireland. Further down the trail there was also an old railroad tunnel we explored with head lamps that curved its way through the rocky hill. This was very soon after we had watched the IT movie, so our ears were listening for crazy laughter in the background. The last couple miles of the trail raced down a hill side with beautiful views of the rolling green landscape of sheep farms ending with a ride through town along the roadside.

My blue eyes can’t handle selfies facing the sun even on cloudy days!!

Our cheery Kiwi was waiting when we returned the bikes early the next morning. We hit the road to make it to Wellington early enough to hopefully snag a free overnight spot for us and see what we could of Wellington before our ferry early the next day. The first couple hours of the drive were in my opinion some of the most beautiful landscape I had seen on the North Island and looked even more like the shire than up around Hobbiton. We made a quick stop for lunch in Levin and for gas since Pumpkin has an itty bitty 12-gallon tank and she is kind of a piggy. Pulling into the free overnight carpark in Wellington the lot looked full and when one camper hesitated at the entrance, I channeled Lauren’s driving skills and blew past him to snag the last open space for the night. We piled in our parent’s car to go check into their Airbnb and then see Wellington.

Campervan views!!!

We arrived about an hour too late to make the tour of the parliament building that Mom C wanted to go on. With every government building closing shortly, we decided to check out the commercial center of Wellington to do some shopping and grab dinner. We saw a bit of the city, but when Lauren and I return to Wellington for a few days, we will mostly to spend time at our favorite NZ brewery Garage Project. When our parents dropped us back at our parking lot for the night the wind was picking up even more, and we noticed this big needle next to the lot moving. It was a cool looking windspeed indicator and that night we realized why it was there. There were gusts of wind that rocked the van and woke us up in the night. In the morning the wind was whipping so hard through the harbor it was whistling in the sail masts and kicking up mist over the water. We had been concerned about weather with the ferry crossing because if the trip got cancelled or delayed it could really mess up all of our future plans. Luckily the ferry operators were very optimistic in their email early that morning that we were on schedule and expecting fair seas. The ship was tilted about 20 degrees to one side for at least half of the 3.5 hour voyage from the wind load in the side of the ship. This went from mildly to very disturbing when they told us there were gusts going across the bow at 173 kph or 107 mph! We heard somebody mutter, “Titanic,” and we all held our breath for the next minute. We knew exactly when we had made it across the Cook Straight and into the Marlborough Sound because the ship finally righted itself vertical in the water. However, we had no idea what else mother nature had in store for us on our travels for this day. As we cruised calmly through the Marlborough Sound enjoying the views, we heard the captain come over the speakers for an announcement. “I regret to inform you that they have closed the port at Picton due to high winds.” I watched as our eyes grew larger and alarm spread across our faces. The captain continues, “We are going to be turning around shortly as we wait to see if the winds die down and the port can reopen, but it is up to the discretion of the dock master of the port.” On the bright side they gave out some free coffee and tea for the inconvenience. We circled in the Marlborough Sound for two hours waiting for the winds to die down while secretly fearing they would turn back for Wellington at any moment. When they finally told us the port was going to reopen and we could attempt to make berth, but no promises, they sent us back to our cars. Stuck in the herding masses we heard them make a joke over the speakers to lighten the mood. Just moments after telling us to get back to our cars they announced that we should all be in our cars ready to go like all the while they were waiting on us! It’s a cheeky sense of humor these Kiwis have, and we like it. After our 5.5-hour ferry ride we still had a 4-hour drive to Abel Tasman putting us in just at sunset. On the drive we saw large areas that were flooded and many caution signs on the road for flooding. Luckily by the time we got there the flooding from the morning had subsided enough that we didn’t encounter and water on the roadways. When we arrived at our parents’ Airbnb in Abel Tasman, the host was surprised we had made it as she described the severity of the storm we had just missed.

After just shy of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) traveled over the last four days we gave ourselves a day of rest and a short leisurely drive to the Farewell Spit the following day. From the parking lot it was a 30-minute walk across farmland and over a hill to get to the ocean side of the Farewell Spit. Along the way we saw tons of wild calla lilies and on the beach was a sleeping seal that we almost walked right up to by accident. The overcast and foggy weather didn’t give us great views of the sand spit but the up-close encounter with our first seal made it well worth it! That night we invited our parents to our camp site down the hill for a van-life meal. Well a fancy van-life meal since Lauren was cooking. We had given Dad a tour of Pumpkin the day they arrived in Auckland, but this gave Mom a better chance to see what we had built.

On our second and last full day in Abel Tasman we booked a ferry to see the coastline because the park is known for its beautiful golden beaches and backdrop of densely forested mountains. Lauren and I desperately wanted to hike a portion of the Abel Tasman coastal walk while there, so we split up from our parents in the morning. We left early to hike about 4.5 miles down the coast from Totaranui to Awaroa beach where we would be picked up by the boat to join our parents for the rest of the trip. I was moving at my one speed in the morning, slow, and we got on the trail about 45 minutes later than we wanted. This worried us a bit because we had to cross the tidal inlet around low tide in order to catch the boat. However, we quickly grew distracted by the beautiful golden beaches peeking through the lush foliage and the birds playing and singing around us. About a mile down the trail after this great viewpoint Lauren set a pace to get us back on schedule for the boat.

The trail was so quiet we only crossed paths with six other people all moving in the opposite direction. By the time we had made it to the tidal inlet crossing we were ahead of schedule and right on time for low tide. We found about a dozen other people here as everybody crossing this stretch of the trail had this one opportunity in the morning to make the crossing since the next low tide for the day was at 11pm. As we walked across, we both felt bad when we had no choice but to crunch some oyster and clam shells as there were too many to avoid. At least they were all open and dead ones likely picked over by the birds when they were revealed by the tide. The crossing didn’t look far from the start, but when it took us half an hour to cross, it certainly looked longer peering back. In an hour when the tide started coming back in the crossing would be impassable. Good thing Lauren set a quick pace! We walked to the beach guessing at where the boat would pull in based on the brief instructions, I got on the phone, with the main clue being by the tussock. What the hell is a tussock? Would we have to play out a deserted island rescue by flailing down the beach to be seen if we pick the wrong side? Luckily, we saw a parade of tourists from the only lodge in the area marching after the quad bike towing their luggage.

The boat was running late so we were able to catch it on the way to Totaranui to surprise our parents. The views of the coast from the boat were pretty as it varied between golden beaches and rocky cliffs surrounded by the semitropical looking forest. We spent most of our time exploring the area of Anchorage beach after our picnic lunch there. I hate trying to describe a beach because it always makes me use fake and overly dramatic descriptions. It was a beach. We enjoyed it. You get the picture, right? Lauren and I did another short hike in the area for some views and in the time we were gone the winds picked up quite dramatically and dropped the temperature. Waiting on the boat in the cold wind we were forced to entertain ourselves to pass the time faster. Dad hugged some trees, learned to kayak, and we spotted some monkeys fooling around.

Adventures to be continued in our next post….