Heading to CHC Ahead of Schedule

Saturday 23 May

Surprisingly quiet morning - just a distant sound of clucking, crowing and quacking from Lesley’s chooks and ducks.

We decided to leave early and press on to Ōtautahi Christchurch to see the kids and the hoodlum hounds. Opened the door to find Holly quietly waiting by a ball for another game of goalie-catch! We threw some delicious fruit peel and veggies over the gate for the goats and Grunty the pig who were most grateful.

Our hosts had gone out for the day so we said farewell to the menagerie & the piwakawaka, left our $10 in a reused AlbertTown envelope as we couldn’t find a new one, and hit the road north to Kaiapoi in the sunshine, via Rakaia central and the shiny king salmon statue. The Rakaia river is a world class salmon fishing area, alongside the Rangitata river further south.

Arrived at Treehouse Retreat in Kaiapoi a little sooner than planned so parked up on the gravel while John whizzed around on the lawnmower tidying everything up. Got a hot chook, tiger bread & salads from Woolies and popped over to Woodend Beach to have lunch with Ella, Josh & the hounds, sitting on the deck in the sunshine.

Returned to Banjo mid afternoon with two cases full of our winter wardrobe, reparked Banjo in our usual spot and set about swapping summer frippery for winter woolies and thermals… about time too!

Back to Woodend Beach with our summer stuff to go back into storage there and had a lovely dinner with the whānau again 🥰. It's a long time since we saw them last back in March... we never intended to be out on the road for so long, but exorbitant fuel prices caused by the Cheeto's ridiculous Iranian actions changed our travel plans. Jessie found our presence a bit exhausting - but she snuggled up with me on the big chair and refused to move to say goodbye 🖤