Camping and tramping in the Kauaeranga Valley

(Finally added some pictures so I could post this!)

Naomi had her turn tramping with Dad first, then Joanna had her turn. Over the Easter weekend, it was Ben's turn. We decided that we may as well make a weekend of it and camp in the Kauaeranga Valley (inland from Thames at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula) for a few nights as well. I took the Thursday off so we didn't have to wrestle with traffic or worry about getting a camping spot. As it turned out, there were very few people there the whole weekend, so there wouldn't have been any issues getting a camping spot anyway! There's 8 campgrounds to choose from, spread up the valley - on the advice of the staff at the visitor centre, we chose Wainora campground. It turned out to be a pretty good choice - we were very happy with it.

The weather was forecast to be a little miserable (drizzle, periods of rain etc), but it never really got that bad until the final morning when we were packing up anyway.

Thursday was spent setting up (Mel and I) and running around the campground like crazy chooks having lots of fun (the kids). Friday we went for a couple of little walks (Edwards Lookout and the Kahikatea walk) in the morning and relaxed around the campground in the afternoon. Each evening we had a campfire as well, so the kids got to toast marshmallows for the first time!

On Saturday morning, Ben and I left for our tramp up to the Pinnacles Hut: it's rated as a 3 hour walk, so we left around morning tea time to give us plenty of time to get there without having to rush at all. Ben enjoyed the walk, and (surprisingly) didn't mention much at all about being tired.

We had the afternoon to relax at the hut - Ben was pretty tired, so he didn't feel like doing much drawing or anything. He was complaining of a sore tummy at dinner time, probably just because he was tired. He was in bed by 6:30 and slept like he usually does - very solidly. Porridge in the morning was consumed with gusto, before we walked back down, getting down in 3hours flat.

Once we got back to the campground, it was time for an Easter egg hunt! The kids were rather excited about it, and had great fun rushing around trying to find eggs - including Naomi once she worked out what we were doing. She also tried to eat the Easter eggs, foil wrapping and all...

Overnight, the rain arrived, so Monday morning the kids stayed in the tent while we packed everything up - we managed to do it pretty easily without getting stuff wet (other than having to pack the tent up wet obviously!). And again, seen as it was raining, we just went straight home rather than stopping somewhere for lunch. The kids had loads of fun and we enjoyed being able to sit back and relax a little - we must do it again. But it's now getting a little close to winter, so probably getting a little cold for camping...