Darfield to Akaroa.

After 2 nights recharging at jacqui n bills we had pikelets for breakfast. It was a big pile. Bill cooked in batches following a recipe and kept them warm in the oven whilst sipping coffee and making the next load.

"Are they ready yet?" Was Rowans refrain.  We persuaded him that sipping coffee was an integral part of the recipe and made them taste better.

Then we had 2 hrs in the car to Akaroa which sticks out from the side of nz mainland. It is a long extinct volcano now very denuded but it makes an incredible landscape of bays and hills. We drove up one side and down to the flat centre then up again to the top of the other side. By a big margin the steepest most windy road where one wrong move would not end pleasantly. Driving took a lot of concentration. Sarah handed out handfuls of crisps as we went.

Our hosts colleen and ross and Liam 8 and Russell 11 were at a well earned social event so we had agreed to come earlier and meet them next morning. Balloons marked our way. Emails contained our instructions. As we got to the end of their drive the house was in front of us. 3 dogs barked enthusiastically, 2 from behind a fence. We were on our own. We misread the instructions so in trying to find our sleep out we checked two tool sheds and thankfully found no beds.  So we had a couple of surreal moments as we thought we might have to spend a few hours at the top of this hill with dogs for company.

After a reread we found our Famous Five style two room wooden former sheep shearers shack or sleep out. Food and toys were welcomingly out on the side so it took 2 hrs for the kids to realise there was no tv. It is beautiful here and once again volunteering has taken us to a very unusual and interesting out of the way place.