Beloved Opal springs no more! We called Opal springs to confirm we could stay there but were told that they couldn’t lift the low power lines with a broom like they usually do to let us pass. Health and safety was the reason. Sadly we had to look for somewhere else to stay. We found salvation in Sapphire springs Holiday park, Katikati, which also has hot springs. I traveled in Simone, Tiwai and Letties bus to get there, then we all went swimming in the awesome hot pools.
The next Three days we spent schooling, swimming, swimming and swimming! There was a national heat wave, even the tar was melting on the road, so it was great to have a freezing cold stream right next to our truck. The second morning Dad made me get up really early and go running with him! I was sooooo grumpy (I love my morning sleep-in’s) I had a tantrum half way along the bush running track. Afterwards we jumped into the freezing river. Secretly, I felt amazing but I would never admit that to Dad!
Lettie and I laid out yoga mats and pillows and made our own honey and oatmeal face masks, creating the “Gypsy spa”.
Mum and Dad with yummy cucumbers on their eyes! Simone indulges in luxury.
One evening we were down at the river feeding the Eels when one miss-took my finger for a sausage and had a chomp. Once we had cleaned it up I realized the Eel had actually lacerated my finger!
On Thursday night we reluctantly left lovely Sapphire springs for Mt Manganui. Once again I traveled with Simones family, watching Pirates of the Caribbean the whole way. Friday morning we left the free parking spot by the port (really just a car-park by the sea)and drove onto the grounds near by. We set up and trained our show then Lettie and I baked Afgans for Gypsy bakers.
As for the weekend, it went perfectly; hot, successful and busy. We even had shade over our shows so we didn’t die of heat like usual. The only down side was dirty feet as the hilly ground was covered in short dry grass. Sunday we had dinner at the Pub/brewery next door to celebrate our lovely week.
Here we are in the mechanic’s yard AGAIN! Hopping in the car, buzzing excitedly, ready for lunch and M.O.T.A.T, the great museum of transportation and technology past and present. We were eating our lunch at Pita pit (not my choice!) when we got….. the phone call!!! For us it was a rather suspenseful, one sided conversation of Dad going “Mm hmm”, “OK”,”Yep”,”alright”,”If we have to”and “we’ll be right there!” It turned out we had to go back to the smelly mechanic’s yard so Mum and Dad could lift Mims cab (MY ROOM!!). Once the cab was lifted the mechanics got to work on the engine. This whole charade took up the entire day. No M.O.T.A.T for us! The boys and I had to watch movies all afternoon in the boiling heat. So that was our “fun” Monday!
Luckily the mechanics were finished by midday on Tuesday giving us enough time to rush to our cousins place at Point Chev, park our truck and drive our car to M.O.T.A.T. It was worth it. M.O.T.A.T is amazing! They had a new exhibition called ” Above and beyond” about air travel in the future, including lots of interactive features.
We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the secrets of M.O.T.A.T . Everything was amazing from the rockets to the aeroplanes to the trains.
It was so inspiring, and we only saw about half of the museum! We will definitely be going back next year. I thoroughly suggest a visit!
We also accidentally stumbled upon the Tesla car showroom in downtown Auckland so we just had to pop in and have a look. The Lady (educator) told us all about the amazing electric cars. The model we looked is the fastest car in N.Z, able to accelerate from 0 to 100km in 3 seconds.
Wednesday was mellow, just hanging out at my cousins house and playing at the beach, but that night the fun started! We dressed up gorgeously and drove to the Civic theater in the middle of Auckland to see… Aladdin the broadway musical on its tour of the world.
Ready for Aladdin with my cousins Charlotte and Elsa.
To get there google maps(a.k.a mess up by Dad) took us over the Harbor bridge and back again instead of just going straight there! The Civic theater is incredible! The chandeliers, the ceiling, the walls, everything has statues of elephants and horses. In the actual theater the ceiling was a starry night sky complete with shooting stars from time to time! The walls were that of an Indian palace.
As for the show! It was the most amazing, smooth, stunning performance I have ever seen. There was even a live orchestra underneath the stage. Once the entire stage was filled with sparkly gold tap dancers! I was so inspired, I danced and hummed the catchy tunes all the way home.
The next day we traveled to Hamilton arriving late onto the grounds at Claudelands park. Friday we setup ready for a busy weekend. Busy it was, as well as being extremely hot and dry. I was as usual very tiringly busy working in the cafe and performing our shows.
That was our fun and hot (very hot!) city week. Bye!
Whoa!! Rewind to Block house bay! I totally forgot to mention that on Sunday night I had my first burn on my new fire fans. It was so much fun!
Hot! Hot! Hot! Super tired and still sick after a very busy three day fair. With our truck still making those scary noises, we could not drive far. so we had to settle for the Tui glen N.Z.M.C.A park in Henderson. Much to the alarm of the buses already there (I was going to say white road maggots, but that would be very hypocritical after my last post) we managed to squeeze in to the tiny park.
We spent Tuesday chilling out, drinking ginger beer and playing naughts and crosses at lovely Falls Hotel just down the road.
The next two days were made up of school, swimming pool (right next door was west wave public pool), rest and play. A lady even came and told us to stop cracking our whip because it was frightening her dog (I guess it was nine o’clock).
Thursday we snuck on to the grounds late at night and woke up to a beautiful panoramic view of Auckland and the harbor bridge.
Friday while the Extravaganza set up the Gypsy bakers donned their aprons and whipped up a delicious Banana cake ready for the weekend.
Te atatu is a suburb just across the water from Auckland, it was our first fair at these grounds. It was a hot, busy, successful weekend. We will be looking forwards to this one next year!
Saturday night all the Gypsies went to Spookers, leaving the Extravaganza airily quiet without their usual partying. That was spooky in itself!
Our fair in Whangarei was very busy and hot therefore our inflatable pool was a luxury to sink into after sweating through our shows!
We left the grounds Sunday night and headed for the Mt Mania N.Z.M.C.A park over property (Some of us Gypsy’s had stayed the year before) only to find the old fart who owned the place telling us that we couldn’t stay there. Apparently last time we took over the place turning it into some kind of circus(thanks!). Personally I think he was just intimidated by our big funky trucks and our gold tights (you rock Regan!). So we spent the night there and on condition we moved on in the morning still smarting from the unexpected truckism. The latest issue of the N.Z.M.C.A magazine has an article dealing with attitudes to different members vehicles!
Having to change our plans we happily decided to spend the week at Te Arai, another gypsy fav. New problem! Just when we were almost there our power steering started making some very scary noises. We stopped in at a mechanics hoping it was nothing major but being fairly disappointed. We had to stay overnight at the mechanics, I was really bummed out. A mechanics yard wakes early, so we did too. The Mechanic got straight to work and Mum the boys and I went to Te Arai to swim and play with the other Gyspys. Dad and Mim joined us after lunch, it was a quick fix. Later we discovered that while it had been quick it wasn’t a fix.
At Te Arai we stay on the property of a friend. It’s where the festival “Shipwrecked’ is held and for a good reason. There are several boats installed around the property, the biggest is a massive upturned wooden boat hull with a piano underneath and the best acoustics. All these boats are perfect for us kids to play and have fun on.
A sand mining operation on the property has dug out a large fresh water lake, great for swimming in. There is even a pontoon!
I had a sleep over with Simone, Tiwai and Lettie in their bus. We swum played and overall just relaxed for the next two days.
On Thursday we made our way to Auckland to park in Point Chevalier in our cousins driveway, while Mum and Dad flew to Queenstown for the 10th anniversary of the pole studio that Mum started.
Yes, Mum and Dad remembered to bring us a piece of cake each!
Our Auntie Ellie and Uncle Matt spoiled us, we had a blast. The next morning Mum and Dad came back early and we left to setup at Blockhouse bay.
Luckily we had got to relax a little in the week as the three day fair at Blockhouse bay was busy hot and fun. A photographer from the AA magazine came to take pictures of us and Mim for an article about tiny homes. He was a perfectionist so we had to stand in the hot sun for ages. Sadly on the Monday I came down very sick with fever and could not do our circus show. I managed to heave ho and pushed through my magic show and collapsed back into bed!
The Paihia fair was extremely hot and way busier than we had expected for our first time there. We will definitely be going back next season.
On Monday we trucked it to Hohora heads campground via lunch at the Manganui fish shop who claim to have the best fish and chips in New Zealand. They were not to bad.
At the campground we walked down to the beach and met a family pulling in their drag net. Inside flapping around were scores of Piper. Piper are small slender and silvery, about 30cm long. Strangely their mouth is above their swordfish like bills. We helped gather them into a bucket. They are so cute!
Tuesday Mum and the boys went to Ninety mile beach while I made an amazing three course Mexican dinner party. It was a luxury to have the truck to my self while I cooked.
Here’s the Menu. Starters; Cauliflower popcorn with Hummus and tortilla chips. Main; baked baby potatoes, and mini Mexican pizzas. Dessert; dark chocolate mousse with honey crackles. All this was accompanied a large jug of icy cold Pinacolada(non-alcoholic). I laid this all outside on a mat with Mexican music. It was a special family occasion enjoyed by all!
Wednesday we went adventuring up to Cape Reinga, to the lighthouse. It was the first time for us kids.
After a yummy picnic of leftovers from my Mexican meal, we took on the Te paki sand dunes. First climbing them(worst part) then boogie boarding down the 140m dune(the scary part). I wisely wore my swimming goggles because the cheeky wind whipped sand into my face and tried to steal my boogie board.
Dressed for dessert travel in swimming goggles and socks for hot sand.
It became a big day as we decided to drive back to Rainbow falls for a fresh water swim. By the time we got there we were too tired and it was too cool for us to swim. Lots of sand in our beds that night!
We made the long haul to Whangarei on Thursday and met up with Tiwai, Lettie and Simone whom we hadn’t seen for three weeks due to their bus breakdown. It was so good to see them again. To celebrate we went to see “How to train your dragon 3” at the cinema.
On Friday we setup, then in the evening went on a bike ride around the marina loop track in search of an ice-cream shop, coming back empty handed, we had one at home. Life’s tough right? But as our family motto go’s “Make the best of it!”
This has been one of our more active weeks and we are all looking forward to chilling out, which is not going to happen! Bye!
It rained cats and dogs on Christmas day, we physically had to pull the last six trucks on to the Raglan grounds with the tug of war rope.
The rain stopped and our Xmas party/ secret Santa was safe. For secret Santa I got an amazing Croquet set(thanks Craig)!
Thanks Santa!
We had the first of our summer twilight sessions(DJs and dancing) on that three day fair. My brothers Dallas and Jaz lit up their fire-staffs for their first show on fire!
Tired and happy we booted it to Waihi beach in one day to set up and trade for another three days. Swamp thing played for our second summer twilight session on New Years eve. Awesome music and dancing! We counted the New Year in under the stars, dancing. I was a bit sad because Tiwai and Lettie couldn’t make it as their bus had broken down.
Now very tired and trying to stay “positated”(Dallas’s special word) we made the long haul through Auckland to Matakana, (once again with just one travel day) to set up for luckily just a two day fair. That weekend we sizzled in the hot burning sun.
We surfaced Monday morning exhausted after 13 days straight with almost no air;”just keep swimming, just keep swimming”.
Talking about swimming, we headed for Keri keri and Rainbow falls for a blissful 3 days of eat, drink, swim, repeat with a day of boating around the Bay of islands thrown in.
Rainbow falls.
Thursday night we drove onto Waitangi Marae grounds for our first ever weekend trading in Paihia. The treaty of Waitangi was signed here in 1840. Te triti(the Maori version) is considered by many Maori to be the true document.
We had a beautiful surprise welcome from the Komatua. They blessed us, they blessed our fair and they blessed our weekend. I had my first Hongi(mingling of breath with noses touching) with the guardians of the Waitangi Marae. I have to say I was a bit nervous, but afterwards I felt honored.
On Waitangi Marae grounds.
An exciting thing has happened! I have a summer job on top of all my other summer jobs. Working in the Lucky Star cafe. Its new and stimulating and gives me something to do! I am taking orders and handling cash at the counter. The first day was ridiculously busy and there was only two of us working! Thrown in the deep end and I loved it.
Lucky star crew Dan and Miejne,
That was the incredibly busy, fun, exhausting festive season. Now finally back to a normal pace. Next weekend Whangarei.
I know I haven’t posted in a while but we have been extremely busy with the festive season as you will soon see.
We arrived at our grounds in Masterton and the site/sight that met our eyes was hideous, unbelievable not to mention preposterous. I mean, we knew it was going to be a gravel pit but not to this extent. All it was was shingle, broken glass and tumble weed!!!! It was something out of a cowboy movie!
We setup on those odious new grounds (our usual grounds had been trashed to mud by a Circus in the rain) then went for a lovely short bike ride around Henley lake, which was so nice I had to do it again with my friend Tiwai, which is unusual for me as biking is not exactly at the top of my favorite things to do list.
The weekend was super-hot. Heat radiated of the shingle and sunlight caught the disturbed dust (which believe me was everywhere).
Poor Daddy soaking up the heat in his black magic costume. Where did all the grass go?
Saturday afternoon we went to the swimming pools with a bunch of rowdy Gypsy kids, we stayed there with almost three hours playing and having a blast!
Sunday night after pack-down we moved on to the Masterton golf course with Simone, Tiwai and Lettie.
The next morning after a quick play with Tiwai and Lettie we said goodbye and headed to the Pukaha / Mt Bruce wildlife sanctuary.
The Mt Bruce sanctuary has New Zealands only white kiwi held in captivity and a number of other rare and endangered species including the amazing Kokako! I thoroughly suggest a visit.
Next stop Waverly beach where we worked on our art projects “Food for thought”.
Getting into our art project.Standing on an 80,000 year old Totara tree stump, buried by a volcanic lahar. These had us puzzled for a while until we worked out how they came to be here. They are rooted into rock below the tide line on the beach as well as exposed sticking out of the cliffs.
We then moved on to New Plymouth to have dinner and Movie night at Mums friend Peggys house.
New Plymouth was a hot, fun, successful fair topped off with our traditional boat ride at the festival of light.
Beautiful waterfall at festival of light.
Tongaparutu / the three sisters, was our next destination.
The arch a year ago, before it collapsed. Such a change!Glad I wasn’t standing under there when it collapsed! The boys went fishing.
After resting for a few days and enjoying the beach we headed all the way up to Auckland to spend another mini Christmas with my cousins, Auntie Ellie and Uncle Mat.
Welcome to Auckland!
We squeezed Mim into their Point Chev driveway and made merry for three days.
Matching nighties…Yay!?
We high-tailed back down to Raglan for set-up on Christmas day. Bring on Christmas number Three.
It’s hard to believe that Mum and Dad actually had a life before I came along, but they did, a whole 32 years of adventure! Evidence of this arrived in the form of their old friend Anna from England. She came to their wedding and joined them on their month long honeymoon around the south island 18 years ago. Anna arrived right in the middle of our circus training. After we had finished it was hugs all round. She has come to travel with us as long as it suits her.
Waitangi park is a a great place to be set up for the Extravaganza, right next to Te papa, the supermarket and Circa Theater, where we went to see “Puss in boots” the pantomime after set up. I’d never seen a pantomime before but I loved it. It was hilarious and amazing at the same time!
Usually the Wellington weather is a bit of a gamble , this time we got lucky. My Auntie Robbie (Mums sister) and my cousins Jaan and Delishia joined us on Saturday. Sweet Delishia loves helping in our shop!
Bike Rave? What’s a Bike rave? Evidently it’s a thing! Dad and I were tired on Saturday night but he managed to talk us both into dressing up and joining 12 other Gypsies on our bikes. We rode down-town to Bicycle junction( a shop that organised the Bike rave) to meet up with more than 120 other ravers, all on funked up bikes! These included a tricycle sound system pumping out awesome music, bikes lit up with fairy lights, tall bikes, short bikes, long bikes, rickshaws and much more. We dominated the streets of Wellington, stopping at the rainbow pedestrian crossing on Cuba street and holding up the traffic for blocks. No one seemed to mind. We partied there for 10 minutes then moved on to rave at another intersection. We toured the streets and back alleys of Wellington while pedestrians shouted encouragement, waved, clapped and took photos.
So that was a Bike Rave! Next year we will definitely be back with more decorated and funked up bikes. It was the highlight of the weekend! Here is a pro video which does justice to the occasion.
After hauling ass over the Rimataka’s we stopped at Featherstons lovely Book cafe, which we had discovered last year. I walked out with a supermarket bag full of scrumptious books and a warm cozy feeling.
We decided to have a couple of days peace and quiet at a new destination; Mt Holdsworth D.O.C camp, close to Masterton. Our bubbly friend Anna joined us there. Tues after school work we walked up to view point, then came home and watched a movie and went to bed. We had some crazy weather at Mt Holdsworth, hail, thunder, heavy rain, burning sunshine, sometimes all at once!
Wednesday we decided to start socializing again so we sped into town truck n’all to pick up a yummy fudgey slice then made our way through the suburbs to Nana and Pa’s lovely house. We had lunch then Nana and I made Belgium biscuits. I’ve made them before but not by my Great grandmothers recipe. They tasted amazing! Thanks Nana! Afterwards Nana and Pa dropped me off at my Auntie Carolyns and Uncle Des’s house which had recently been completed. All of my relatives in Masterton are on my Dads side, so we usually have an early mini Christmas and this year was no different.
Thursday morning Auntie Carolys and I went op-shopping at Savemart. I love op-shopping and this time I got a particularly good score, including a funky costume for Cupa-dupa (if you keep following my blog you will know what Cupa-dupa is sooner or later).
I’d been wanting to bake a cherry pie for a while now, so Christmas dinner was the perfect opportunity. Nana and Pa arrived and after a quick(not so quick) fashion show of my op-shop bought clothes, we had a delicious Christmas dinner, finishing off with my perfect cherry pie. Then it was present time. Mum and Dad are saving their presents to us for actual Christmas but I got a cute notebook and an amazing Anabell Langbein cook book.
Thanks Nana, Pa, Carolyn and Des! So that was our first mini Christmas of the year. Usually we have a few since our family is spread out in the North Island.
Well that was a lovely little week with the family. And an amazing cherry pie!
Greymouth (as usual) lived up to its name. The weekend loomed rainy and grey and we were grumpy and tired. The silver lining was…….. Pizza and movie night, featuring the greatest showman!!!!! On Saturday night there was a break in the weather and we scoffed pizza and snuggled down in the bean bags to watch the movie. We left the grounds Sunday night and booted it all the way up to Murchison, arriving late and falling exhausted into bed.
Monday morning Dad drove the truck up to Nelson for its C.O.F, which it failed. Mean while Mum the boys and I speed to Mot (Motueka), I was out of the car before it had even stopped “Bye Mum” off for a sleep over at one of my best friends Jasmines house.
Poor Daddy!
I spent a beautiful three days at my beloved Steiner school, reconnecting with my class and mt amazing teacher Margot, bliss! Mean while poor Daddy underwent a two and a half hour operation in Nelson hospital to remove his nasal polyps, bulbous fatty things that grew on the inside of his sinus’s. The nice surgeon minced them up and sucked them out his nose, poor Daddy!
Friday we setup in Nelson on new grounds, ready for a pumping Extravaganza. Not! Every year when we are in Nelson there is so much going on that our fair always seems abandoned. We did a half Circus without Dad as he was convalescing, just the pole, hoop and trapeze it went well considering the boys refused to practice our new little show. It was a bit of a betting game but in the end it was successful and fun.
Dressed up for the movies!
On Saturday night 41 dressed up wild Gypsies made their way across Nelson to the State cinema to watch Bohemian rhapsody, including me! The movie was super inspiring, but also sad that someone with such talent and personality was so alone, sad and had such a hard life.
Monday morning Mum had to drive me quick smart back to school for another 3 days, you’ve got to take opportunities when they come around and “Make the best of it!”. (Our family motto). Luckily for me I get the best of both worlds, I love road life and school life and I know I will see all my friends and school mates in the winter.
Wednesday night we drove to Graham valley with a new C.O.F. The next morning it was off to Cherryland!!! We go to Cherryland in Blenheim every year to load up on cherries at an excellent price. This year we got three buckets and ate as much as we could while picking them. Yum!
Ready to cross the strait.
Cherries and all we drove to Picton and boarded the Bluebridge ferry at 2pm(with about 10 other gypsy trucks and buses), sailing smoothly all the way to Wellington. We arrived later that scheduled at 6pm with luckily no cherry red mishaps. Ahhh, windy Wellington, its good to be back. We stayed the night with about 15 other gypsies at Lyall bay.
A fun and interesting couple of weeks. It was great to see my friends and class mates again and sad to say goodbye,but for me the Extravaganza lifestyle outclasses school any day. Tomorrow setup, this weekend Wellington. Bye!
“3, 2, 1, Go!” I race frantically up the wall like a spider(I hate spiders!) gripping the handholds with white knuckles. I smash the top button only moments before Lettie hits her button on the other side of me. Leaping off the wall and abseiling down is my favorite part!
My amazing Godmother Sunny Sky and her daughter Indigo took my brothers, Tiwai, Lettie and I to the Wanaka clip and climb on Friday. It was so much fun! After that we retired to the hot pools at the hotel Sunny was staying at. The rest of the day was spent eating chocolate cake and watching a movie. My ideal day!
An average weekend, very social and busy, with my good friend Mia and her Mum staying in a tent behind our truck. Fish n chips on the beach. By Sunday afternoon I was peopled out and couldn’t bear talking to anyone any more! The rest of the afternoon was spent in hibernation.
Sea spray, rugged rocky coastline, deep green forest, winding twisty roads. The stunning scenic west coast. At one part we sped over some bumps and almost left the ground. We stopped to check for damage, luckily only one cup smashed.
We drove on to the Copeland valley. One of the Gypsies friends brothers has a farm which he kindly let us park on in order to be in close proximity to the Copeland track entrance. There would be too many house trucks to fit in the car park.
The Copeland track is a 7 hour walk up the Copeland valley to some amazing natural hot pools. We packed our backpacks (and yes I did carry one) and went to bed early, ready for the long walk tomorrow.
All the Gypsies that are going on the walk arrived last night. There was 13 of us in total. As usual we dressed up extravagantly! Tutus, headdresses, elf ears, parasols and more tutus. Did I mention tutus? We started walking around 10am Tutus and all!
Dressed for tramping!My happy place!
At the pace we were walking we got there in less than 6 hours, giving us more than enough time to soak in the amazing natural hot pools, have dinner and soak some more(under the stars and moon until 11 pm)!
Gypsy bath time!
Ok, I’m going to press pause for a minute and explain the scenery. It was the most beautiful walk I have ever been on and that’s saying something! Imagine every shade of green you know in one immense rolling rain forest. Did you know that green is the most peaceful colour on the human eyes, and it’s my favorite. As you look higher up, forest gives way to sheer cliff faces and the rugged beauty of the mountain tops iced with snow. What a stunning cake it would be!
There’s some cool swing bridges, this one crosses Shiels creek.
O.K back to the hot pools. After a fulfilling sleep we jumped back into the hot pools. The only problem in this beautiful place is the sand fly’s, the one handicap that’s stopped fancy apartments, hotels and houses being built all along the west coast.
We managed to walk out in 5 hours. Bye bye hot pools. We got back to the truck and drove to Franz Josef to park at our friends house and have dinner with them and their kids, Scarlet and Tom. It’s great to catch up and play with them every year.
The next morning we played some more then sped off to Greymouth, stopping in Hokitika for some much needed school work, but ended up staying until dinner time and past because Mum and Dad had a massive blow out. We finally left at 8 pm and arrived in Greymouth at 9 o’clock at night! They said sorry and that was it. Everything was back to normal again.
“Whew!’ what an exhausting, fun and exciting week! Tomorrow setup, this weekend Greymouth. Bye!
