The week after Ashburton we tootled down to a spot by the Waitaki river, we spent Wednesday and Thursday practicing the shows, doing schoolwork, and the men of the family fishing and failing (again). On the Thursday afternoon we sped off to Oamaru, and parked on the grounds for set up tomorrow. We cooked up our second gypsy bakers, a carrot cake, everyone said it was the best Lettie and I had ever baked!

Oamaru is one of my fav towns, I love the Victorian precinct with all its old Oamaru stone building’s covered with ornate carvings. I love the quaint little shops, like the Slightly foxed bookshop, and Tiger Lily antique clothing store, Harbor St collective café with its indoor playground and yummy cakes.

Every year in Oamaru on the Saturday night, all the gypsies walk to the steampunk HQ and train. Where we use our $2 coins to fire up the train and make it spout fire and steam!

After the train we all quietly went to check out the penguin colony right next to the fair. Penguins are hilarious and adorable at the same time! Out of the water, their natural habitat, they clumsily hop from rock to rock to their little wooden homes to feed their chicks.

The weekend was cold windy and sunny all at once, the freezing wind pierced through our many layers of clothing, and froze us to the bone. Nevertheless we still got large and generous crowds for the shows!

Sophia Leon de la Barra a wonderful lady who watched our shows, offered us free penny farthing lessons! We took up the kind offer and the next morning we were out in the street with Sophia, our penny farthings and a nervous/excited feeling in the pit of our stomachs. Sophia was a great teacher, so we soon we got the hang of it and were pedalling around the carpark. It feels very strange and quite different to a normal bicycle, but once you get used to it you feel quite posh!

The week after Oamaru we headed over to All day bay, where we hung out with the other gypsy kids, and did schoolwork (the boys a bit too reluctantly). Lettie and I took some glorious beach pic’s!

Then we left for Trotters gorge. Trotters gorge is a beautiful nature reserve, dominated by large limestone cliffs and native bush. The last time we went there was two years ago, I was 12 and the boys were 5! We climbed to the top of the hill, and were greeted by a spectacular view of the sea and surrounding countryside. Last time Mum and I ran ahead and hid in a cave to scare Dad and the boys, but when they arrived it was us that got the fright. We turned our torch on, straight above us was heaps of Weta! We screamed and ran out of the cave, consequentially terrifying the the boys😂. This time there was no shortage in weta either, I get so squeamish around bugs!

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Love Dylan Daisy❤