Tag Archives: Dylan Daisy

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Queenstown and Glenorchy

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Finally late Saturday afternoon Dad and Mim arrived at the grounds in Queenstown. We were back in action.

Even though it was scary that the truck had broken down and annoying that we had missed a whole day of trading, the silver lining was that I had a sleep over at my friend Mias house and I got to spend a whole day playing at the extravaganza with no shows!

That weekend was a washout! On Sunday afternoon we quickly packed up and sped of to the Vehicle testing station where we sneakily stayed the night. This was so we could be first in line for a recheck in the morning. We passed!

Fancy place to stay in Queenstown. $160 per night.

Glenorchy was our hangout spot for that week and we parked in our favorite spot by the lake.

Wednesday morning we awoke to a beautiful coating of glistening sparkling low snow. While a freezing wind blew off  the mountains we were cozy in our truck.

Dad took this shot looking over the islands near Glenorchy.

That week I stayed a night at my friend Alises house. Dad made the boys an awesome work bench. Daddy was very grumpy and he swore a lot because he had trouble getting it just right.

A terrible thing has happened! Mum took me to the Natropath(she was really nice) and now I have to be dairy free! Waaaaaaaa! My life as I know it is over!!!

That night we had dinner with one of my friends Vanessa and her family in Wanaka. Jezz I have a very social life!

Next weekend Extravaganza Wanaka.

 

 

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Dunedin and the Catlins

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Our three day weekend was cloudy, windy, rainy and dismal.

On Sunday night Kai and Tash held their birthday party, a silent disco! A silent disco is where everyone wears special headphones that played 2 channels of music. For instance we had green and blue (lights depending on channel) some parties have thousands of these headphones with up to four different channels. It was so much fun! I hope we have another silent disco some time soon.

Now to the Catlins! A Doc camp ground at Papatowai was our host for two nights. We wandered the beaches spotting seals and resting.

Unwinding at the beach.

Then on Thursday we drove down the road to the lost Gypsy gallery where Blair has created an intriguing collection of ingenious inventions, this is a must do experience.

Our next adventure was at Curio bays petrified forest. Although the trees were no longer standing, you get the feeling you are in the middle of a dense and ancient forest.

What an adventurous week! Next weekend Invercargill and Stewart island.

 

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Omarau to Dunedin

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Dress up time! My favorite thing about Omarau is all the cool old clothes they wear. Omarau is New Zealands steam punk capital.

Hipsy and Purple sure know how to dress up!

On Thursday night Mum and Dad went on a date leaving Csalym and I babysitting the boys. It went really well and with a bit of bribery, “Big ice-creams tomorrow!” we managed to put them to bed without a fight.

On Saturday I tried to take Lettie to the White-stone Museum, unfortunately we were to young to go by ourselves. This made me really upset and powerless because I think that we are completely mature enough. We did get to see the Americas cup pass by on its tour of New Zealand.

After that fun filled weekend we moved on to all day bay where we spent three nights playing, schooling and resting.

On Wednesday morning we left all day bay and headed for Moeraki boulders where we parked the truck and went to trotters gorge for a bush walk. I didn’t want to walk up the hill at first, but when I reached the top the views were great and it definitely worth the walk.

Weta experience! Opps I mean what an experience! I laughed in the face of danger and screamed in the face of Weta! After that we drove to Dunedin where we parked the night at the beach.

The next day we woke up nice and early and zoomed off to the oval for our interview with the breeze. It went swimmingly well even though we missed hearing it on the radio.

After the interview we went on a tour through the Cadbury chocolate factory.

I thoroughly suggest going there, it ends with a chocolate waterfall! After that we were joined by Tewai and Lettie at the Dunedin Museum, exploring a new exhibition: The Permian period, creatures before Dinosaurs!

Well that’s the end of that wonderful week. See you next Weekend Dunedin.

 

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Timaru

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Beep, Beep, Beep! Zooming down around the loop honking our horn is one of my favorite things about Timaru.

Unfortunately Timaru was not as welcoming as Ashburton, we were greeted by grey cloudy skies and stuttering rain. The rain continued all weekend and on Sunday we had to cancel our shows. We did not mind though, it was nice to have a break.

The weekend was the usual play, music and laughter with a couple of hours in the pool added in.

On Monday we trucked off to Waimate with my friend cashlym who came with us for the week. We went to the tame wallaby park where we fed and patted Wallabies. The next day Dad went out and shot two wild ones, he didn’t get much support on that!

Mother and Joey!
Peacock showing off at Wallaby park.

 

Cashlym and I made the best ever Lemon meringue pie. Yum!

Good team effort on a multi part recipe!
Really sensational!

Wednesday saw us heading for Elephant rocks. The unique limestone rock formations a great place for hide and seek.

After a fun filled few hours we headed for Oamaru and parked up in the Victorian precinct.

I love Omaru. The old limestone buildings make me feel like i have traveled back in time. Mum gave Cashlym and I $20 and we went off on our own to explore the precinct. On our trip we visited Purple, she kindly gave us three pairs of steam punk high heels.

I am looking fowards to dressing up for this weekends steam punk themed Extravaganza!

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Ashburton

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On Friday morning we set-up at the Ashburton Domain right next to an awesome playground.

In the winter time our beloved Madame Feather died so this weekend we had a pot-luck dinner in her honour.

Here is an interview I did with Madam Feather last season. Thanks Feather.

Last season we had some trouble with local kids stealing stuff, so we took turns patrolling through the night. It was a fun weekend full of laughter and play, and it just kept on going with a sleep-over with Tiwai and Lettie on Monday night. That was the last straw for me, I came home so tired and sick but I did have fun!

Dad fixed the truck and we finally left Ashburton on Tuesday afternoon. We ended up at Peskys park with Sue and Dave near Geraldine.

Our friends Nicole and her two little boys came to camp with us and we explored Mt Peel forest together marveling at the giant Totaras. It was little boy hell!

                                                   Pretty little waterfall at Mt Peel.

The Dragon boys!

Next weekend Timaru. I will get to see Cashlym (Salem).

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Christchurch Extravaganza

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Late at night we arrived at the Christchurch working-mans club right next to the fair grounds and parked there also were Tiwai and Lettie! It was so good to see them again! We went to sleep and woke up buzzing with excitement, today was set-up for the Extravaganza! Driving into the grounds I raced outside and gave everyone hugs and kisses.

Then started the bustle of activity, just like Bees they buzzed around doing their busy Bee business, setting-up for the weekends Extravaganza! The weekend flashed by in a daze of new shows, wild romps and ended dramatically with most of the big trucks getting stuck including us! Again. Luckily we heaved on out leaving a trail of mud and destruction behind us.

For two days we stayed at the working-mans club playing with snails and an old shopping trolley.

                                                   Portable snail farm fun.

 

Then we moved on to Mount Huts Awa Awa Rata reserve which was home to some great bush walks through native bush.

                                   Foggy above the bush line at Mt hutt.

All and all Christchurch was an awesome start to the season and a great fair. See you next weekend in Ashburton.

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Nearly there!

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Touch down! Stepping off the plane crip clear fresh air engulfed us, and the full moon welcomed us back to Queenstown.

The next three days were a frenzy of flat batteries, impromptu dinner parties, long sleep-overs,  busy pack-ups, good byes and finally a late night dash to Cromwell.

A warm cozy feeling swept over me, we were going home, back to the Extravaganza. On the way we stopped for dinner at my friend Vanessa’s house in Wanaka, then we sped on through the Lindis pass.

We stayed in Tekepo for three nights, soaking in the hot pools, playing and getting ready for the seasons first Extravaganza!

 

Dallas and Jaz having fun in the mud and rain, just before they realised their gumboots were completely stuck in the mud and Dad had to rescue them!

I am excited for all the adventures ahead, the ups and the downs, the good times and the bad times(maybe not the bad times), the Extravaganza and life on the road in the seven months ahead.

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Bali: Ubud and Amed.

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I got to go to a really cool school in Ubud for two days and made a new friend called Jaia! She took me to a cat cafe (cats all over the place) and a dog shelter called B.A.R.C.( BALI ADOPTION AND REHABILITATION CENTER ). At B.A.R.C there was a poor three legged dog that nobody wanted. It made me feel sad.

The CAT CAFE, lots of cats to pat, guaranteed rat free unlike some other cafes.
Dogs at B.A.R.C dreaming of the CAT CAFE.

Dad and I went to monkey forest together. It is a beautiful monkey sanctuary/park near the center of town with over 700 monkeys free to come and go as they please.

Monkey on my back! Monkeys here average one serious bite on tourists a day.Treatment for a bite may mean a flight to Singapore and lots of injections. Dad bought a stout stick along. Monkeys behaved well.

A monkey climbed on to my head, I felt its smooth cool feet on my face as it clambered up to grab the Banana I held high.

On our way out of the park we saw a beautiful wedding couple dressed in traditional Balinese costumes.

This lovely couple were kind and gracious.

 

Next we were off to Amed with Reno, our driver. Amed is a dry village by the sea famous for its snorkeling and diving. We stayed there for four nights spending our time snorkeling, swimming and relaxing. I love snorkeling. I forgot to mention one of the highlights of Nusa Lembongan.

Snorkeling with giant manta-rays should have been unforgettable but with all the excitement I managed to forget it until now.

On our last day in Amed we hired Motorbikes and zoomed up a very steep mountain surrounded by lush bright green paddy fields to a beautiful temple high in the clouds. Its called Pura Penataran Agung Lempuyang, very hard to pronounce.

The next day Reno picked us up from our motel at 9 am, then we said goodbye to Amed and hello to Sanur where we visited mums old friend Lisa. She is a lovely lady  one of mums good friends. She has two boys the age of three and seven. Four little boys all together , what a nightmare! After that we headed back to our beautiful private Villa where we spent our last two days relaxing, packing and collecting all our stock that we had ordered when we were last in Legian.

Then it was Bye Bye Bali and back to snowy Queenstown!

 

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Bali : Legian and Nusa Lembongan

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Bali is a tropical country where there are ornate carvings on every building from top to bottom. I am there now and am amazed at how beautiful and intricate they are.

The door to our room in a cheap hotel.

 

We arrived at 9pm and went straight to our Villa where we relaxed for a day then went head first into shopping for stock for our shop. The first day we went to Ketuts shop to order rainbow fairy dresses and frilly rainbow skirts. The next day we went back to Ketuts to get fitted for our new circus costumes.

Nudey swimming at our sweet Villa!

After spending 4 days in Legian shopping up a storm we caught a ferry to Nusa Lembongan where we stayed at  the Tamarind beach bungalows for 4 nights. In New Zealand Mum and I had dreamed of going back to the Beach Club (we went there when I was 5) and sure enough we found ourselves at the Beach Club laying on massive cushions eating, swimming, relaxing and fulfilling our dream.

Chilling at the beach club.

I am disgusted at the fact that the island is covered in rubbish. The locals just don’t seem to care and what is collected is burnt. No recycling here!

All waste burnt together at night to hide the acrid smoke drifting through town.(gave us sore throats)

 

After a hot and tiring walk in the midday heat from Tamarind beach to Jungatbatur (main town) we reached our destination, Wahyu home-stay.

Cute little kids shop. They did well out of us. Shouldn’t they be at school?

The next day we hired 2 motorbikes, Dad and the boys went on one and Mum and I went on the other. It was a bit scary as it was Mums first time driving a motorbike. Terrified we set off to tiki-tour the islands but in the end it turned out to be great fun. Mum was awesome! ( she asked me to put that in).

On rugged hill track overlooking the channel between Nusa Cenigan and Nusa Lembongan.
Crossing the new yellow bridge. The old one collapsed a year before loaded with locals on their way to a ceremony. 8 died and 34 were wounded. Terribly sad.

The rules are different on Lembongan, school kids ride motorbikes to school, no helmets so I thought I would give Dad a tour of the island.

Every night we ate at a cute little shack on the beach selling delicious food. After 8 days on Lembongan we took a ferry to Bali and headed for Ubud. Farewell Lembongan!

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Palmerston North

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On Tuesday morning after the Extravaganza Mum and I had the girls date I had been waiting for since New Plymouth. We went to see the new Beauty and the Beast movie, its amazing! My favorite scene is when the Beast is starting to be kind and she realizes that in her heart she is starting to love him. I also loves the singing the dancing and the costumes. If I was going to be in a movie it would be that one!

After the movie we went to Ujazi cafe. Did you know Ujazi means to provide in Swahili? Then we went to meet up with Dad and the boys at Haumoana where we stayed two nights right next to the beach.

Writing for my blog at Hamoana beach.

Dad went hunting and shot a Sika deer then hung it in a tree outside the truck. Mum and I were disgusted but the boys were intrigued. Mum got confused and wanted to become a vegetarian. But I will remain a picky omnivore till the end of my days!

We were so so tired because we have done so many Extravaganzas and have worked so hard. Palmerston North was just a two day fair and on Saturday night Dad and I and most of the Gypsy’s went 10 pin bowling, I even got a strike!

Museum of Art, Science and Technology in Palmerston North.

Its hard to believe that this is the second to last Extravaganza of the season! Next weekend Petone.