End of 2023

I awoke this morning in an information center parking lot drenched in sweat watching a fellow in the spot next to us try to get a towel rolled up in his window to keep the sun out. He must of been looking for a sleep as well. It has been a challenging 15 hours. Last night we arrived at the cutest campground deep in the Kauri Forest. We thought we were winning. Hot showers. Flush toilets. A babbling river. A gorgeous forest. A kitchen! But unfortunately….mosquitoes and as the rain spattered they only got worse and the humidity and heat got worse as well. Finally we had to shut ourselves into the van and it was full of them. For some reason even after a sweaty bug killing rampage they just kept coming. They’d buzz around our ears….. we’d kill them and they’d be blood filled. I felt like I was going insane. Graham finally just fell asleep from exhaustion. We had to stay covered and were sweating so badly. At 4am I reached my threshold and swung open the door and told Graham we were leaving. He could tell this was not a discussion. So in heavy darkness we broke down the chairs and tables and folded up the tarp and very slowly and as quietly as we could departed our nightmare. 

For the next two hours we slowly made our way around a very winding road. Climbing way up and then back down through the mountains. Mini mountains lol. 

At one point in the darkness and all alone….not a soul on the road at this time….I stopped and we opened all the doors and ushered all the mozzies out. I felt a release of stress as I literally watched them depart. 

At 6am we arrived in the town that we would spend New Year’s Eve at but we weren’t able to check into our campsite so the info center parking lot was our rest stop. lol. Oh the life. 

Today we took some time to get better set up. We should have done this sooner. We bought some bug spray! lol. And a few other things to make our lives more comfortable. 

We booked into a holiday park tonight and it feels like luxury. Clean bathrooms, showers and laundry. 😂. I reserved a nice restaurant for tonight a while back and our dinner was off the charts good. We are now back in our cozy van and the temp is so comfortable tonight and no bugs. I’m gonna sleep so well. 

Only 2 hours until midnight and the end of 2023. 2023 was filled with both joy and sadness. A friend passed away in November and it shook me. It put life in perspective. When I remember Ginny, I remember her laughter, sense of humour and smile. She was a no nonsense kind of lady.  As I consider my resolution for 2024 I think I’m gonna “be more like Ginny”! I think she’d smile about that.