The Kiwi Chronicles: Peel Forest

I'm glad to see that the twins are happy about arriving at our destination for night #2, Peel Forest, since there were a few moments between Christchurch and Peel Forest that went something like this:

We spent hours and hours (and hours) driving in the car over the course of our vacation. The twins did remarkably well overall, but there were a few (okay, several) meltdowns along the way. Thankfully, the piercing screams and angry protests never lasted too long.

When we turned off the main road from Christchurch toward Peel Forest, I was certain that there was some mistake and that we were on the wrong road, or maybe the wrong island. The road was flat, straight, and desolate, and seemed to lead to nowhere. How relieved we were when we started noticing some trees, and then hills, and finally the quaint and beautiful township of Peel Forest. We were stunned by this red stag deer farm which greeted us near the entrance to town:

The campground was by far the nicest DOC location of our entire trip. It had some of the wonderful amenities of a holiday park -- community kitchen, showers, flush toilets -- but at a much more affordable price. Plus, even though it was still overcast and chilly, the rain had finally stopped, which made everyone more cheerful.

The community kitchen was spacious and clean. We wish that more campgrounds in the States had these types of kitchens! Not only are they super convenient, you get to see and smell what others are cooking, and the kitchens are usually nice and warm. That was one of Danita's favorite parts -- not sure that she and Ray (or us for that matter) were expecting such cold temps, considering that it's technically summer here. But, when you look at the map and see just how far south the South Island of New Zealand really is -- it's right in line with the lowest point on South America! -- we shouldn't have been surprised by the chilly weather.