This entry covers a longer period as a lot of it is rather boring. Here goes.

We stayed out at the Pelorus River for a night. The river was stunning as always.

We had two nights in Picton before getting on the ferry. We hung out with Kate, James, James mum, Connor and their new bubba Bowen. Great to catch up and meet their new family member.

We got onto a night ferry that arrived in Wellington at 1am. Then we found a place to park up by the water. We didn’t get up until 2pm the next day. Hit by a freight train. Rowan and I are incredibly sick, so sick we cannot move or do much. We end up ordering uber eats for food and a load of stuff from the pharmacy. Not a cheap way to get medicine but necessary. We spend the next three and a half days sleeping not awake for long at all. I am not sure if it is Covid but it is nasty. On Tuesday we are well on the mend. We make it up to the top of the Akatawara hill and stay the night up there. The following day we made it to Mt Lees where we stayed when we were doing the Te Araroa. The daffodils were amazing. Then the day after we made it to Whanganui where we stayed with Shane and Lisa.

We ended staying with Shane and Lisa until Monday morning. Rowan and I booked months ago a glass blowing course that we thought we would most likely be able to make it as it is a week before the Fiji trip.

The experience was great, by the end of the day we were both well worn out! With one tutor (Tash) and two other ladies we started with a clear glass paperweight. I volunteered to go first and had a lot of fun playing with the tools and stabbing my glass to create bubbles. Rowan was last in the group and planned out a pattern he wanted to create rather than random bubbles like the rest of us.

Our second item we made was a paperweight with clear glass but adding coloured glass to form a pattern. I attempted a daisy and Rowan attempted to make a planet. Mine didn’t come out how I thought it may but I still really liked it. Rowan’s planet was to have a ring. It came out a bit lopsided. He did dunk his into water to crack it and added glass powder to fill the cracks.

The second and final items were a glass blown vessel of your choice. We went last and the other two ladies left after the finished. I went first trying to create a large glass that could be a tumbler or a vase. I added glass specks to create a colourful polka dot effect and then added a clear glass coat on top before enlarging it to the size I wanted. Then I pressed my fingers in to create two dimples. It looked amazing and I was so happy. We got it off the punt and it smashed. I think the glass just got too cold. We tried to save it, but it just got worse. I got two broken pieces into the annealer. I was a bit gutted but to be honest it is part of it and it’s quite cool just to have the experience. Rowan’s final piece turned out well. He did a green and glass interior to his tumbler and then a white glass cracked effect. Rhys (another tutor and artist) said that is only the third time he has ever been able to create that effect and for it to come out whole. Which is amazing. The course was supposed to finish at 4pm we didn’t get done until 5.30pm.

Sunday morning we came back into the glass shop to pick up our pieces. They got slowly cooled over night in the annealer.

Monday we head north to Cambridge and op shop along the way. We stay two nights and have a quick catch up with my cousins.

Off to Whangaparāoa for a couple of nights to see my Nan. We fly out for Fiji tomorrow.