Meeting Cousins

Friday 23rd March

It was still very dark outside, when our alarm woke us at 6:00am. We were showered, breakfasted and organized by daybreak. The tent was pretty wet and muddy; there wasn't much we could do about it, so we packed it away and were on the road by 6:50am. We were aiming to be in Christchurch in time to have lunch with my cousin.

We enjoyed the trip along the coast. The road was winding and although we often found ourselves stuck behind slow camper vans, the scenery more than made up for it. After a quick coffee stop at Kaikoura we carried on and arrived in Christchurch about 12:15pm.

We had been directed to go to my cousin's daughter's house as my cousin's house was in the middle of repairs from damage caused by the earthquake. Apologies were were made about the crockery - every plate had been broken in the quake.

It was so good to meet up with my cousin, her husband, two daughters and a wee grandson. The last time that I saw Lesley and Allan was when I was a teenager and they were on their honeymoon. (Nearly 50 years ago.) We have all changed a little bit!

We had a lovely lunch and talked our heads off. I was annoyed with myself later, I completely forgot to take photos.

The plan for the afternoon was to find my great-great grandmother's grave and the grave of my great-great-great grandparents in two different city cemeteries. It was an impossible task. Every road we took was was either shut or ended in a detour which took us around in circles. We were depending on the GPS so weren't able to make alternative decisions. A city map would have been a help! Eventually we gave up and headed to Rakaia.

It was another 50kms to Rakaia so we were fairly weary after such a long day. Another cousin had given us the use of a very well set up sleepout at their place. We were very happy to 'hit the sack' and slept like tops in the lovely comfy beds.