27TH - 28TH MARCH

After our free nights camping we were up early had a good big Rob style breakfast then headed off. Just as we had left the campsite and got back into phone range, we had a answer phone message from my Mum who asked me to phone her as soon as possible. I feared the worst but wanted to get to Napier as soon as possible so I could phone and speak to Mum. We were in the middle of nowhere which kind of makes you feel rather useless, we also needed to get a phone card and find a phone, we were about an hour away from Napier and the next hour seemed to last forever. We managed to purchase a phone card, the next obstacle was to find a phone. One thing we have found quite frustrating in New Zealand is using phones as most of them are card phones which sometimes seem a bit hit and miss as to whether they work with our credit card. The first two phones we found didn’t work so we headed straight for the town centre, the next phone was in use and the phone centre was extremely expensive.

Thankfully after around an hour and a half I got through to my Mum and she told me the sad news that my Nan had passed away peacefully in her sleep. Thankfully she’d had a good life and lived to a ripe old age without too much illness and didn’t end up having to go into a home which would have been her worst nightmare. Mum sounded OK but like I said earlier it just makes you feel totally useless being stuck on the other side of the world with a 13 hour time difference.

After hearing the sad news we headed off to find a campsite, the nearest one was a Top 10, which are very plush holiday parks. This one was no exception, it was huge and had a range of accommodation plus a swimming pool, boules area and trampolines! It was the only site within walking distance from Napier so even thought it was expensive it was convenient for us getting into Napier. We chilled around the campsite for a little