Eltham - Day 2 - Saturday December 24th

Written December 24th

On Saturday, December 24th, I woke up all too early considering my late night. I was awake around 6am I think, then went back to sleep. About 9 I asked someone what the time was, but I had already been awake for a little while before that. Not ready to get up and brave the camp bathrooms, I picked up my book, Courageous, and read until I had finished it, about 11 or so! I’m considering writing a book review about it, seriously, it is SUCH a great book! Can’t wait to see the movie……..! =D

Finally, I got up and organised, had a shower, and...yeah I got back on my laptop... *grin* Late morning, more people started arriving, suddenly we weren’t the only people at the campsite! We had lunch, after which we intended to go out, but it just so happens that it never became more than an intention! After a bit of time doing who-knows-what Uncle Bill, Aunty Melissa, Olivia and Harry arrived, and I (along with some of my siblings and a couple of other people) helped them erect their tent. Unfortunately I didn’t remember sunscreen then either, so part of me looks like a beetroot as I write this...lol! Actually what has me baffled is that my sunburn is slightly splotchy where all the skin is white????!

By dinner time, there was a fairly large group of us here, and a few of the fathers went to pick up fish and chips for us all. I kind of wonder what the takeaway shop thought when they got our order?! Lol Ours was a tired and slightly short-tempered family who gathered around on the grass to devour our meal!

After dinner we pretty much just talked, while some worked in the kitchen, or played with the balls outside. Nine o’clock Aunty Melissa txt Aunty Denise to see how far away they were, about half an hour, so we decided not to wait, and just called everyone inside to sing happy birthday to Bryce, and have his cake (it was delicious!! Thank you Uncle Mike! =))



Bryce's new toy...



When you eat something yummy,
make sure you try wearing it too!

Uncle Marty, Aunty Denise, Mitch and Kurt arrived at 9:20, and we all continued to talk for a while longer, while some of the children watched movies on a projector, until some of us decided to hit the sack. I ironed some of our clothes for tomorrow (I miss my ironing board!), and each member of the Auckland Jago Family prepared for bed. It’s now 11:44 and everyone is in bed, and I’m just typng this before join them.

Good night everyone! =)

Bianca

December 24th

Well, the 24th wasn't anything exciting for us, we drove down to Stratford (near New Plymouth).
As we hadn't been that way before, Dad asked Jarrod to print a map from Google...well, thinking the route wasn't very straight, Jarrod changed it...and we ended up on the 'Forgotten World Highway,' driving through ghost towns and the like...one place we stopped in had the public toilets in a water tank...yes I'm serious..actually they were pretty good considering.. oh, and we had to go over a couple of saddles, which, by the way, are VERY windy, it was fine with me except that the van was a little longer than Dad is used to driving, and one of the back wheels hung over the edge of the road, so Mum was seating in the back saying "slow down, slow down."
We wen't around one corner, and two cars were coming towards us quite fast, Mum completely freeked out, but Dad said, "those cars wanted to play bumper cars with us!"
And we went through a fairly long, one way tunnel.
Some of the road was even shingle (or corrugated as they say in Oz).

We arrived in Stratford between 3:30 - 4pm. First we found our campground, and unloaded most of our stuff into our backpacker hostel with 12 beds, got changed, and ate some of the ham rolls left over from lunch.

Then Dad rung Aunty Sonia to get directions to their place, and we headed over for the evening. A bit later, Uncle Mike came home from work, and Uncle Bill and Aunty Melissa, Olivia and Harry, came over too, and we all had dinner together before most of the others went down to the park.

By the time we got back to where we were staying it was quite late, so we had something to eat and went to bed (where I read my book! =)).