the bach

About the middle of last week, I realized we were coming up on a long weekend. I'd never had The Queen's birthday off, and I didn't want to miss out on a chance to get out and see more of New Zealand. On a whim, I went online and found a bach (cabin) in the Bay of Islands and emailed the owner. He called back right away and said that the place had been occupied for the last year, but it is now empty and he is getting ready to sell it. He wasn't really even sure of the condition of the place, but he was willing to rent it to us for the weekend for almost nothing. I called Lonnie, and he said he was willing to go on the adventure.

The weather wasn't perfect for a sight-seeing weekend. Saturday and Sunday were quite drizzly but thankfully not too cold. The drive to Russell was still beautiful, and we didn't hit any traffic thanks to all those who stayed home because of the rain.

In retrospect, Lonnie decided he would have rather have paid the extra money for a motel. The bach was nice enough but lacked clean water, furniture, and had a lawn mover in the front room as well as a leak in the roof. I, on the other hand, enjoyed the adventure. Sure, we came home dirty and smelling of campfire, but we also ate foil dinners and had a real Kiwi holiday. The kids probably would have enjoyed a little less noise during the big storm on Saturday night, but they loved chasing the ducks on the property.