Reefton, a great place to stop

First stop on our West Coast adventure was Reefton.

Up until then I knew nothing about Reefton but now I can not only happily recommend it as a great place to stop between Hamner Springs and Greymouth but also tell you a few of Reefton’s most redeeming qualities….

• Reefton has a great skate park!  James is a bit of a skate boarder from way back and was wishing he had bought his board.  The girls on the other hand didn’t let a little thing like lack of a skate board stop them and slid down on their onesies instead!  They had a ball!
• Reefton has a lovely river out the back of the skate park – great for taking photos
• Reefton has awesome stones – the kids loved them
• Reefton has very friendly people – everyone we met smiled and chatted to us
• Reefton has flags of every nationality everywhere – I assume for the Rugby World Cup but it felt very inclusive
• Reefton has a well stocked 4 Square with pretty much everything you need.

Reefton Roller Park

Reefton – stoney riverbed

So there you have it – Reefton, a great place to stop and you can find out more about it here…

http://www.reefton.co.nz

James says….

Best skateboard park ever but shame I didn’t have a skateboard – or a onesie.  Everyone had a smile on their face.

Sophia (6 years old) rates it 10/10

Krystal (8 years old) rates it 9/10

Bella (9 years old) rates it 10/10

James rates it 8/10

Cat rates it 7/10

The South Island Road Trip – Packing

Only 3 days until we will be getting lost in the South Island and preparations are well and truly underway for the great South Island Road Trip.

7 days, 2 parents, 3 kids and 1 6 berth camparvan – first stop Christchurch.

Today’s mission – packing.

Packing and children, especially girls, do not mix.  If your daughters are anything like ours they pack pretty much everything except what they will actually need (which coincidentally is what I do as well so maybe that apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree).

We once arrived on holiday for 2 weeks with our eldest child Bella sporting just one (yes one) pair of underwear for the entire trip.  Another winter holiday we found that Krystal had packed only singlets.

Determined not to repeat past clothing disasters and aware that the current forecast in Christchurch is a chilly 2 degrees I decided that supervision was the key.

The problem with most boring things like packing is that they are just that to kids – boring.  So I decided to make a bit of a game of it with an elaborate points system for the person who could get back the fastest with the correctly specified garments.

It worked a treat and in no time at all we had the correct number of hats, gloves, tops and pants – the problem now being how to fit it in the one baggage allowance that I had (in my infinite wisdom) decided was all we needed….

The cat (Monkey) is never far from the action so got in on the action – I did have to check he wasn’t actually in a bag after last weekend getting stuck inside a cushion (seriously – this cat needs a blog of his own) and was even obliging enough to pose with one of my vintage suitcases for this blog.  And no, just in case you were wondering – it’s not the suitcase we are taking….