The beds over the past month

We slept in a parking lot. We were going to do a canyon here the next morning and asking the neighbors if it was alright to sleep in the parking lot right by there house. They didn't care and were happy we asked. Those are my fun thermals I have on. Very colorful.
Free camp site. No one else was here. A guy kept driving by us looking for his lost dog. It had been lost for 10 days. This is also where Van threw a rock at a possum. They were on the car right by us.
Just the side of the road. Right before you get to the Bay of Islands.
Crouch's family room. Members we found in North Shore. This ended up being our home base. We spent 3 weekends with them. Such a nice family.
Tori's bedroom. This was on flat island. They let me use there daughters bedroom. So nice to have a bed!


Car. We slept in the back of the family's car. They let us use there car while we traveled around Great Barrier Island. It was so cold this night. Van is in the green bag curled up.
Margette got us a backpackers place to stay in one night while on the island. This was so nice of her and unnecessary. We were used to sleeping on the side of the road. But I loved the night we had beds! I couldn't complain.

Beds over the last month. A lot of people have asked where I was sleeping while I was traveling around New Zealand. I tried to get pictures of most the places. So here are some. I don't have all my pictures with me right now but you get the idea. It was an adventure. Showers were a little harder to find but not bad. Water we would get out of the local restrooms in towns or wherever we could find a place to fill up a couple bottles to last us a night or two and then we would just repeat the process.

Fishing on Flat Island

We fished a lot the week we were on Flat Island. We would fish as the sun was going down and bring it home and Margarette would cook it up. One night she spent hours in the kitchen just cooking fish different ways not knowing which we would like more. I had to take a picture of it. It all looked so good! She was such a good cook. Must be amazing to have all those fish right at your finger tips every night. Talk about FRESH! Yummy! All but the raw oyster I ate. They got a kick out of watching me play with and then eat the oyster. Yuck. Not my favorite.

Last day in New Zealand

This is Margarette. She was amazing. It was so fun to stay with her and her family. She treated us like her own kids. It was wonderful.
Flying by the pilot!
Ben, Van and I about to fly back to Auckland.
We stayed on the little flat island in the middle of this picture. The whole island is only 148 acres. 7 holiday homes of family members who don't live there. They are the only ones the live there all year around. What a different life that would be. It was so fun to spend a week with them.

What a way to end our time in New Zealand. Margarette the lady we stayed with on the little Island off Great Barrier Island flew us back to Auckland! She didn't feel like driving us all the way to the ferry Sunday afternoon so she bought us plane tickets! We flew home with her son who came out to do some fishing with us. We flew home in a little 10 passenger plane. I got to sit next to the pilot! This was such a fun day! It was so beautiful! I thought about my dad a lot while I was flying. He would have been freaking out. He hates heights. But I loved every minute of it.

Shopping in Texas

I think my Texas trip has been very successful. I have shopped and shopped and shopped. Thanks to my sister we have done some damage. I love all my new clothes. I had a lot of fun. Now I just need my hair done. It has been feeling a bit gross and very long lately. I think it was a good idea to stop here on my way home. It's always fun visiting the sister. Plus I haven't seen them for awhile. All the kids are so cute and grown up. It's been fun.

Dolphins in New Zealand

The last week in New Zealand my friend and I traveled to Great Barrier Island. Where a family picked took us to an even smaller island. To get to GBI you can take a 5 hour ferry ride or fly for 30 min. We choose the ferry because it was a lot cheaper and we weren't in a hurry. Dolphins always show up to ride with the ferry. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. They were beautiful just coasting along with the front of the boat. It was so peaceful to watch. I loved it. Van being 6'4 got a sweet picture of me right when the dolphin was jumping. My hair is a bit crazy from the wind but I love that picture. What fun memories. I had to add the video so you could get a better idea of what I am talking about.