Play stupid games, win stupid prizes

 The day started slowly as per usual around 8, of course the parents got up quicker and headed down to set up the breakfast items before they headed off on their daily coffee trip, which according to them was alright. The younger ones headed down a little bit later with the better one arriving first. Breakfast was eaten, the little one had all the milk so the rest of our breakfasts were a bit dry 🙁. The kids were then in charge of doing the dishes and packing all the food up as the parents were still enjoying their coffees. This went relatively well, but the bigger brother ended up doing more work as the weaker one was stuck on his phone.

The car was packed quickly, Mum managed to lose her phone in her back pocket (impressive, but the hunt for it wasn’t) before we finally got on the road to Invercargill with many stops along the way. Our first stop was a lookout where we came across which had a nice view of the ocean and a signpost that had been vandalised by a who's who of German football teams stickers. We took photos before heading back onto the road to head to Gemstone Beach. This beach was quite populated and the parents loved picking up different kinds of rocks and gemstones but the kids did not get the rave and resorted to using a stick as a barbell, and making weapons out of rocks. Of course this did not impress the parents one bit and the kids were left bored. They then resorted to breaking a heart out of rocks that someone had made and chucking logs on a jellyfish, again not impressing the parents. We finally left and headed back onto the road without breaking anything else.

The next stop was the town of Aparima/Riverton, a weird beach side town that felt very proud. We checked out an art exhibition and the local I site which connected to Te Hikoi, the museum which talked greatly about the Maori history of Stewart Island and Solander Island. We all learned a lot about Stewart Island, which is good as we were heading there in a few days time. We drove around the town a little bit more  which was cool as we got to see that it was very proud of its Maori heritage, with the name Aparima used in conjunction with Riverton all over the town. We headed to Aparima Restaurant and Bar, a place recommended to us by Kevin, our Jetboat guide, which turned out to be a great choice as they had a delicious gluten free menu. A calamari salad, bruschetta, a beef burger, and a venison sandwich were all enjoyed before we headed to the beach where the strongest person in the family made a mistake.

He took the sunscreen outside the car when the rest of the family were asking for it which led to him, and his pants with no pockets, to be left behind by the rest of the family. No phone or wallet, just this bottle of sunscreen he would not let go of. The rest of the family drove further up the road to find another entrance to the beach where they found some more sunscreen and did something (idrk). The dumb (but strong, smart, and good looking one) thoroughly enjoyed his walk on the beach with peace and quiet away from his family before eventually meeting up with them where the parents picked up rocks and the kids threw them.

From here our next stop was Invercargill which did not take too long. The journey was a lot less hostile than the time before the beach as it seems like we all needed time away from each other so the journey went by quite uneventfully. We got to our motel where the laundry bag went straight from the car boot and into the laundry. We quickly settled in and chilled, watching the NZ vs Sri Lanka final T20 cricket match, we lost :( From here Mum and the better one headed to Paknsave to do some grocery shopping. The better one headed to Farmers to test a fragrance which was good and very insightful. He got back and helped Mum do the shopping which ended up in buying a 2L tub of ice cream for two nights, (this kid might be a genius). Paying was not as easy as the cashier expected a problem with a North Island Xmas Club Card but this only applied for those in the south North Island so after 4 attempts, 3 different workers, and 2 phone calls to superiors, we finally paid for our groceries. HOORAY!

Back at home we started to watch Squid Game with the free Netflix subscription that came with the room which we found to be pretty good with the parents getting invested in the show themselves. Episodes were watched before a dinner of bangers and mash was eaten with sausages bought in Tuatapere. These sausages were incredible, I can’t say the same about the mash, but the sausages carried. After some ice cream for dessert we finally headed to bed with little complaints.