Back from holiday

Yesterday we returned from a 2-week holiday.  We went over to Masterton on the 14th for Aunty Helen McGowan's 70th on the 15th, then spent the next 10 days or so camping at Mt Holdsworth DoC campsite before meeting up with the homeschoolers in Wellington for a Zoo sleepover and a tour of Parliament.  The weather was good the whole time, apart from drizzle the day we were packing up, and some pretty wild winds.  While we were over there, Masterton had the high for NZ 3 days in a row, and got up to 31.4 C, but as it wasn't humid it wasn't too bad.
We stayed in 3 tents, which were comfortable, although after the first night we made a quick trip to the local Op shops to get some extra bedding as it was colder than we expected at night (as usual - i'm always a bit too optimistic about nighttime temperatures)

 There was a shelter near our tents which was very handy for meals

David made some camping kitchen boxes, based on a free pattern from the internet, which worked beautifully. We're planning to keep them partly stocked so as to minimise the packing needed for the next trip.

The camping went well so I think we have our set-up pretty well-organised for future trips.  We made an awning the day before we left from some poles and canvas which worked beautifully to keep the drafts and sun away from the cooking area until one particularly windy day the eyelets pulled out of the corner.  The canvas was a bit too light for the job, we'll have to look out for something heavier before we go away again.

A river ran through the campsite with a good swimming hole and we enjoyed cooling down in it.  Freezing cold water!


The kids discovered blackberries all around the place so we had to invent blackberry pancakes to use them up (and the milk which went sour).  We had them about every second day.