CAMPING TODAY! Right, so I was collected at 9am this morning and luckily enough i awoke around 8.30am - as although i thought i was being organised in setting my phone alarm, i had forgotten one crucial element. My phone was still set to UK time, so my alarm wouldnt have gone off until 2am our time! So not only did i have less than 30 minutes to wake up, wash, get dressed etc, but i also need to pack find the tent and sleeping bag! Not so great, especialy when Lee (Julia's sister), Jo (Lee's friend from UK, who has been travelling NZ for past 3weeks, via Kiwi Bus Experience) and Don (Julia's dad) arrive 8.45am! Although thankfully, they were early so i wasnt running late (as they wanted to see the kitten before we headed off). Anyway, we set off for the hills (not quite sure where abouts we were staying etc, names here are all maori and very difficult to remember and pronounce) and stopped off at a few relatives en-route for quick chat etc. Finally arriving at our own private camp area - so much so because it is situated in a valley on land owned by Julias family and therefore it is only family and friends of, who know where it is and get to go and camp there. Beautiful site! We were surrounded by lush, tall green trees all around with the river winding along one side of the bank and thankfully the weather we when arrived was perfect - sun, small breeze and not too hot (however that wasnt to last!). I'd guess that the camp site was about an hour and half's drive from Hamilton, so not too bad really. Upon arrival, we decided to unpack the car and setup camp for the night - us girls assembling our tent and don doing his. We did very well and werent too far behind don, by the time we had erected our tent seeing as we didnt know how it worked and had no instructions (just a picture on the cover of the box it was in). Once that was done, it was time to collect some fire wood and get the fire going for a nice cup of fresh tea! Anyone would have thought we were going camping for a week with the amount of food and supplies we had - Don had appeared to go all out and ensure that they was something for everyone, from choc chip cookies to healthy honey nut bars, it was very sweet! With the sun still shining, we decided to take the two minute stroll to the lake and try to catch some dinner, trout, by fly-fishing. It was very enjoyable and although we girlies didnt actually catch anything (Don caught 2) it was a lovely and relaxing thng to do except of course until the heavens then decided to open. But not openly did they open, they bucketed down and within two minutes Jo and i were completely drenched, cold and miserable. By this point Lee and Don had carried on around the corner of the river, still fishing, and unable to hear us shouting that we were going to head back to camp. So Jo and I managed to get ourselves back to camp, find our towels, wring our clothes and sit on the edge of the car boot, using the boot door as a shelter (you'll see what i mean when you see the pic of Jo). I then remembered i had packed my waterproof anorak and proceeded to swap tops and put that on, so that i could cover the food boxes with a brollie (although now quite flooded with water) and try to rescue the fire from permanent extinction. Within half an hour the rain lightened and Lee and Don returned, thankfully with two fish so the whole ordeal seemed worth it now. When the rianed finally stopped about 1.5hrs after it started, we were able to get the fire roaring, put on some dry clothes, make ourselves a hot drink and start to dry our wet clothes around the fire. For dinner we cooked up the two trout (which were eaten as an appetiser), some scrummy chicken wings, venison sausages, dampa (homemade, yeast-less bread) and two-minute noodle! Delicious, and all washed down with 3 bottles of red wine, coffee and finally the traditional roasted marshmallows! By the time we'd finished eating, chatting, playing with fire, etc it was around 10.30pm and time for bed. Next morning we awoke around 7am and the day was perfect, not a cloud in site. Lee, don and myself, thought we'd see if we could catch us some luncha nd maybe have more success than the previous day, whilst Jo stayed back at camp and read her book in the sun. So we trecked in and along the river for 4hours and didnt catch a single thing, not even a nibble! However, again very peaceful and beautiful so the lack of fish was annoyin but didnt really matter. Plus the bonus of the sun shining bright made it all the more desirable. Unfortuantely though, the predictable happened and when we got back to the camp pasty white girl was indeed burnt - legs up to mid thigh and forearms, however not too painful, perhaps a little hot and tight in the evneing but they are being looked after now - so hopefully will come back with some colour on me!! Yeah. We then spent the afternoon relaxing and reading our books, in the shade, as it was now a wee bit too hot in the sun before Julia's grandpa came down with one of their cousins, to join us for a little bit of shooting practice (which i won) before we all headed back up to the grandparents for an early supper, before heading back to Hamilton to meet up with Jules. All in all a very nice two days, and it felt like so much longer but in a good way. The only noises you heard were the singing of the birds (mainly Tui's which dont shut-up!), the breeze through the trees and the river flowing - absolute bliss!