Wednesday, 17-09-2014. Day 28.

Broken Glass and Narrow Bridges

Tragedy struck this morning. Due to environmental factors beyond my control (like it was damn cold), the glass of the french press shattered as I was making coffee.

Hot coffee flowed out along the slightly uneven countertop of the camper van's kitchen. I scrambled to get (first) electronics and (second) paper products out of the way of the torrential flow of hot liquid and ground coffee beans. A close call, but nothing was ruined — with the exception of a mostly used roll of paper towels.

Anyway, the real tragedy here was that this meant a return to instant coffee.

We had time for one more round of jumping on the Jumping Pillow before we had to vacate our spot. You can't resist the call of the Jumping Pillow.

Drive to Hanmer Springs

We were headed to Hanmer Springs, where there are a series of (you guessed it) natural hot springs. As we made our way up the coastal road, we drove by a cool-looking cave that we really wanted to explore, or at least photograph. There was no place to pull the camper van over, though, so we reluctantly had to let that one go.

Hanmer Springs is inland and at a higher altitude than Kaikoura, and as we made our way along the twist- and turn-filled  road that offered great views, it started to get colder.

Narrow Bridges Ahead

We encountered a few of these one-way bridges on our drive, some of which were really long. They we all very narrow, and for the first few crossing was a slightly harrowing experience.

Once we got to Hamner Springs, we discovered that the Top 10 Holiday Park there had — that's right — a Jumping Pillow. If you have three and a half minutes to waste, you can watch this incredibly exciting video of three of us jumping on the jumping pillow.

Caution: thrills ahead.

We needed some groceries, so we walked the short distance to town and picked up some supplies for dinner and breakfast (including a new french press) at the local Four Square. We also made a brief stop at the bakery in town for coffee, cookies, and, of course, Hokey Pokey ice cream.

Once back at the camp, the kids wanted to rent a two-seater bike so they could take a few spins around the campsite. After an initial mishap as they worked out the bugs of cooperative bike riding, they had great fun.

And, even though the sun was going down and it was getting cold (8°C), Frankie and Jackie played a little football with a boy from Sydney as we prepared dinner.

After we'd cleaned up the dinner dishes, it was pretty obvious it was going to be a cold night, so we wrapped ourselves up as best we could and got ready. [Spoiler alert: It was really cold.]

Notable Statistics

• Kilometers Driven: 130

• Kitchen tools broken: 1

• Narrow bridges crossed: 3

• Jumping pillows jumped on: 2

Header image: A view of the New Zealand countryside.