Saturday 11 July Duvauchelle could not lay on the sunshine, but our hosts Matt & Emma continued to make us feel so welcome. There was a hint of blue sky as we looked out over the harbour from their upper windows - but the clouds did not bother to part for us. Matt’s mum, Joan, joined us from Halswell around 10ish and we set off for a bit of local exploration round at Onāwe Pā - an old Māori stronghold on a slim peninsula near Barry’s Bay - leaving Matt at home doing odd jobs.

Friday 10 July Our lovely friends Matt & Emma have a place out in Duvauchelle on the Banks Peninsula but we always seem to be miles away whenever they invite us over… this time we managed to coordinate things, packed a bag and, leaving Banjo at Westoby Farm, we headed back out past Little River and over the big hill to Duvauchelle - sadly leaving the blue skies of Ōtautahi Christchurch in the rear view mirror! Once Tui had remembered that she had already met us and did actual

Thursday 9 July Finally - a hint of blue skies and sunshine so after a slow morning we set off for a long drive round the Banks Peninsula to check out potential future camping options. I grabbed a few Fitbit steps walking out down the driveway - love that my scarf matches the winter blooms! There was around 25% blue in the skies as we left Westoby Farm, but it definitely got cloudier as we headed out to the peninisula. We took SH75 out to Little River and up the long hill ove