Waiting…waiting at the Picton ferry terminal, ah ha finally we can board the ferry. It was delayed because of earthquake damage in wellington. We boarded the ferry and made our way to the family room with my paino, where I had a lesson with one of our musicians Kerian.

As we came into Wellington we noticed all of the earthquake damage. The ground had sunk in places. Tall stacks of shipping containers had been tumbled and jumbled to the ground.

We docked and drove off the ferry. We were in the city! We drove to Lyle bay and parked up.

On Thursday went to the sushi train(one of our favorite restaurants) and did a tour of parliament. We got to see into the modern beehive, the old parliament house and the even older parliamentary library.

On Friday morning I got to have a radio interview with Redbird from radio active.

We set up the Extravaganza at Waitangi park right downtown.

In the evening Mum and I went to Grease the musical. It was amazing!

Oh I almost forgot. Sean Mels friend made a movie on the extravaganza.

Link will follow when I get it.

We were excited to drive our Truck through the Hast pass after heavy rain. A little corection to the video. Its the “Gates of Hast” not hell over the Hast river not the Wills river which joins the hast a short way upstream from the bridge. Dad thought “Gates of hell” sounded more dramatic.

We stopped to do some school work at Bruce bay, not a bad class room eh?

Did you know that 13,550 people live in Greymouth? That is 42% of all the inhabitants of the west coast.

We set up on Friday in the Greymouth Domain which is right next to the roaring sea. Then on Saturday morning at 4am our awning blew down in a storm. Mum and Dad spent 2 hours picking up crystals from the ground.

On Monday we drove to Punakaiki, where we went on a lovely kayaking trip up and down a lazy tea colored river, fringed with lush rain forest and towering cliffs. Our friend Jola Josie came along and filmed.

Thanks for the beautiful footage Jola. Jola has a beautiful video blog.Check it out.

Then we went to the amazing pancake rocks and watched the blowholes in action. I had pancakes for dinner!

The next day we headed for sunshine and Kina beach.

I close my eyes. I can hear the rattle of carriages and the clip clop of horse hooves, the stall holders calling out their wares, the chit chat of ladies as they stroll down the street shopping and the loud banter of men as they smoke their pipes.

The hustle and bustle of old Oamaru is still preserved by the beautiful Oamaru stone buildings with their carved facades.

Purples pirate den. Purple is a super creative gypsy who has a shop in the Victorian precinct.

On Friday we set up in the Victorian precinct. We were so excited because the Extravaganza was right next to a colony of the worlds smallest penguins, the little Blue. Whats more, just across the road was an awesome steam punk playground.

We wandered the cobbled streets and went to a de-lish ice cream parlour with home made ice cream. They even had Licorice flavour.

Also there is this totally suggestible book shop called slightly foxed second hand books. Last but definitely not least there is the steam punk Museum. The portal was my favorite exhibit.

The gypsy kids hit the streets.