Road trips are great. Pack some friends into some cars and head out. It almost doesn’t matter where you go, just go have fun. Since Leanne’s last weekend in New Zealand coincided with the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, I took an extra day off work and we packed the car. There is a lot of the country that I’ve never been through, so it was a new experience for both of us, heading through the Rimutaka range towards a farm near Dannevirke. After a couple days on the farm, we paused through Napier and stopped at Taupo for the night. The last day was almost all driving: up to Rotorua and then back down towards Wellington, stopping only for food and fuel.

The weather was a bit hit and miss, but the shelter of the hills at the farm kept us from feeling the worst of it. Cold, sure, but not bitter. In most cases, if you were in the sun, it was fine. Shorts and sandals weather, and good for photos.

Getting back is the hardest part, as expected. The brain shuts off and there’s nothing in the fridge. Coming back is really a withdrawl procedure, not to mention sorting through pictures and getting through the distractions before the recovery procedure. I’m sure I’ll be back at it by the weekend…