Last night we stayed in a very barebones caravan park. Our little cabin had comfy beds but a shared bathroom and a shared kitchen. Most of the other guests were RVers. It made me start thinking about what our next big family adventure could be, and I’m dreaming about a long RV trip. The idea of sleeping in the same bed every night and not having to pack and unpack… a luxury. I’m so homesick and yet have this wanderlust. Some sort of mental illness.

Anyway, once we showered and had our breakfast in this shared kitchen, we set off. Like yesterday, it started drizzling and then started pouring. We decided to go to our first destination anyway: the hokitika gorge. It was a short hike but Millie did lots of complaining because of the rain.

We made it to the gorge which was pretty but significantly less pretty than the photos we have seen of it. It’s usually turquoise blue but with all the rain, the water was gray. Still, I enjoyed stretching my legs and smelling the rainforest.

We called off the rest of our stops since they were all either walks or viewpoints, and the fog made it tough to see anything. We leaned into the weather and went back to Hokitika for some hot drinks at a cafe. After this we had a very successful aimless walk around the cute little town. We got some new card games, new blank paper for drawings, and a new “school” workbook. We found a post office and got postcards with stamps. And we did some light grocery shopping to refill the healthy snack supply.

We decided against buying a “heart of te feti” necklace (Moanaheads know).

We left town and drove 2.5 hours through the mountains to the tiny town of Fox Glacier. It continued to rain on and off but was so scenic.

We arrived and killed some time playing the new games. Nick is a savant at this game Set and we’ve spent many hours playing it together through the years. He tried to teach it to Millie. She started to get it and found her first “set” which feels like a family milestone.

All the while we had a chicken friend outside our window watching us. We’ve named her Benny Benny Bock Bock.

We had a simple dinner at the pub in town. It was decorated Western theme, with license plates from Wyoming and Arizona above the bar.

Millie drew and then showed Nick her work in this position. Too cute not to take a photo.

Back at our hotel we played some more and then noticed a big, full rainbow outside. If I was more poetic I’d write something here about the rainbow that comes after all the rain.