In the Northern part of the South Island, along the coast where it seems warmer than the rest of the island, many familes and retirees had set up camp for what seemed like quite possibly the entire summer. Holiday parks were a lot more crowded, and basically consisted of a large lawn – no private spaces in this park! The huge trade off was that we were at the beach! A warm beach! Most holiday parks were all inclusive – when you paid the camp fee, you pretty much received access to everything except free internet – kitchens, hot showers, bathrooms, etc. At the park we stayed, I’m guessing because it was so close to the beach, the hot water was coin-operated. That would have been a nice little detail to have known BEFORE taking a shower. For the longest time, I thought all the showers were broken…and then I noticed a strange control box on the opposite side of the bathroom with blinking lights, a coin slot, and a bunch of numbers and buttons. Duh, coin-operated hot water, and no coin exchange machine. Ugh. It was just one of those mornings where I did not feel like taking a cold shower…so I walked across the park, got change from the front desk, walked back, and took my hot shower. Grrr.
Meanwhile, Sly was busy feeding all the resident ducks.
