Tuesday, March 21

This morning, we woke up in Fairlie, New Zealand which is an hour east of the Lake Tekapo area. Our campground was quiet; only two other campervans pulled in to stay last night.

Yesterday, the United States government raised the travel alert to Level 4 requiring all US citizens who wish to return home do so immediately, or risk staying where they are indefinitely. Andi and I felt a sense of relief this morning that we acted slightly ahead of the announcement and booked return airline flights yesterday morning. Andi looked today out of curiosity and the few remaining seats available on Air New Zealand flights cost $15,000 NZ a piece. Luckily, we weren’t forced to pay that.

Andi struck up a conversation with a fellow traveler at the Fairlie holiday park — an American man in his 60’s who’s been traveling in New Zealand the past two months with his wife. The Idaho couple made the decision to stay in New Zealand indefinitely vs. risk travel home. He said at their age he didn’t feel it was safe to go back.

The Fairlie holiday park manager was super friendly, and told us we could stay for as long as we liked today. After breakfast, Tory, Aden and I did school in the RV and I took a much-needed shower. I felt nervous about doing so, but the bathrooms looked clean at the campground and seemed fairly unused. We’re cooped up inside the RV much more than usual the past few days and like it or not, the kids have been on their iPads a lot. Especially in a place like this with free wi-fi. It was a nice treat to FaceTime my mom this morning and have the opportunity to wish her a happy birthday.

We left Fairlie around Noon and drove east to the town of Timaru. On the way, we had to stop in the middle of the road for a sheep crossing. Now, this felt like a true New Zealand moment!

Much to our surprise, it was raining in Timaru (I guess we should have checked the weather before going!), so we parked at a freedom camping spot in Caroline Bay and spent a few hours vegging out in the RV. I caught up on blogging and the kids watched Netflix on their iPads. I’m not sure what Andi was doing … busy on his iPad or taking a nap most likely. Every spare moment he’s had lately, he’s been busy arranging back-up plans for our travel plans. We are determined to get home next week!

When the rain stopped around 4:00pm, Andi and I figured we all needed some fresh air. There are several popular nature walks in the Timaru area, but since we were already parked for the night in Caroline Bay we decided to walk around the park and downtown area.

Caroline Bay is Timaru’s version of an inner city beach. I imagine this place is bustling with activity on a warm summer day. In addition to the beach, there’s carnival rides, a rose garden, outdoor fitness equipment, a piazza, disc golf, and more. Aden was bummed to learn that the carnival was already over for the year. This kid loves a good fair!

We walked through the mostly-dead rose garden and imagined what it looked like in full bloom. It was very well kept, so I’m sure it’s beautiful. Fortunately for us, the park was also dead so there was little risk of being too close to anyone.

Downtown Timaru was a ghost town. There wasn’t another person to be seen and all the businesses were closed. Too bad, really, because it was a really cute city centre. Timaru is one of the stops for New Zealand cruise ships (which obviously are not running right now due to the coronavirus outbreak). Andi and I could imagine these streets filled with tourists shopping and dining at local businesses. All we were greeted with during our visit were “CLOSED” signs. We wondered what damage this virus outbreak will do to the local economy.

Back in the RV, Andi made chicken stir-fry for dinner. We ate, cleaned up the dishes, transformed the kitchen table into Aden’s bed, and then we all bundled up in our rain coats. Caroline Bay is a popular place to see little blue penguins. We’ve learned that penguins hunt at sea during the day, then return to their nests after dark so the best time to see them is after sunset.

We walked down the sidewalk bordering the beach and stopped behind the roped area. A resident penguin colony nests along the rock wall there. At 8:00pm, there were only two other couples there waiting to spot penguins in the night.

Penguins scare easily so you have to wait quietly, which isn’t an easy thing for Aden to do. We stood there on the sidewalk for 30 minutes watching and waiting in the rain, but didn’t see anything. Eventually a volunteer for the local penguin group came to talk to us about them. He said this time of year there’s only one or two little blue penguins who come to nest at night, and it’s not always a given. Sometimes the penguins stay out at sea overnight. We waited 15 more minutes before we decided to call it a night. We didn’t see any penguins — bummer! — but as Andi and I explained to the kids, that’s nature for you. Animal spottings are hard to predict.

Tomorrow, we’re moving onto the nearby town of Geraldine which is about two hours from Christchurch. It will be our last night in the RV.