The Fay Family 4: Another year older

August is almost over and it is blog time again. We have now been in the far north for a month and parked up at the campground, where we are campsitting for 2 days in exchange for our stay, for almost as long. It feels that there isn't much to write with us being parked up for the whole month however the month has seen a few adventures.

Our spot at the campground

It is certainly strange being parked up for this long without moving at all. Usually, even when we stay in the same place for a long period, we need to move each week to empty however here we can empty our grey tank and fill our fresh without moving the bus. With a lack of movement, and packing up in preparation for movement, I have noticed that more things are left out and piles are accumulating! It will be a shock next month to have to find homes for everything again that is for sure ... for now though themselves are enjoying being able to have their projects out to come back to rather than always putting them away.

At the end of Ninety Mile beach .. Ahipara

At the top of Ninety Mile ... Cape Reinga

There are a few animals here and part of our duties is to feed up. Jasmine has fully taken charge of this and it is hard to be up early enough to have any input most days! Daniel is finding it hard as he really wants to feeding the pig but the love of his bed in the morning is too much to resist most days. The early bird very clearly catches the worm in this case ... or at least feeds the pig ;) Aside from check-ins, Liam has to empty the rubbish bins and check the water which means that even though we are camp-bound we still have loads of time to ourselves even when we're on duty. We have been able to head up to Cape Reinga, lots of beach walks, out to the giant sand dunes and themselves have been down to the wharf for some fishing many days.

Beach and Bush walks

Te Paki Sand Dunes

Jasmine has been selling her Girl Guide biscuits while we have been in Pukenui and this must be her best year yet as she has cleared 10 cartons by herself. She has been attending the Kaitaia Group and as they are all Brownies she has been helping the leader and completing some of her leadership clauses. Being parked up means that we have also been able to catch up with some of the other work that she has been sent through Aotearoa guides which makes for some interesting times .... the choice between rewards now (playing) and delayed rewards (after a bit of work she'll get the badges she wants) has been a big learning curve. She has also been learning Spanish, making the most of some South American workers which are staying here, and it has been wonderful seeing her confidence growing in talking to others in both her own and another language.

Selling biscuits at Pukenui Market

Daniel has been pottering away on his badge work too though Lego is a major contender for his time each day. His creations and what he thinks to do with it in combination to his electrical bits and other toys never fails to amaze me. Thanks to being able to join the local library he has had a bit of a break and really getting into reading more chapter books that he likes rather than making do with whatever we can find on the road. It is nice to see how eager he is to read each night. He has also been learning some languages, Japanese and Italian, while also chatting to a few Italian campers here. I think however it should be him learning Spanish really as every day, when we ask when he is going to do something, we hear mañana, mañana!

Enjoying something besides Lego ... nothing like burying your sister!!

Fishing down at the wharf

August also sees me turn another year older and this one was my first as a Vegan. Not that it an issue thankfully as I still got a delicious GF, vegan carrot cake to munch on! It was a lovely relaxed day with loads of time to read. Themselves did a great job with the cake, doing all the jobs and heading out to collect a bunch of wildflowers for me .. yes, there are heaps of flowers blooming up here in the winterless north! In fact the weather up here has been so warm that the other day we were on the beach in our togs ... sorry had to mention it ;)