We changed our minds last minute to camp at the river instead of the DOC camping ground at Te Moana Gorge as Dad heard there was going to be a few people there.

The road heading south was a complete nightmare with the usual idiotic wannabe racecar drivers trying to kill themselves and everybody else on the road but once at the river, it was just me, Dad, the bus, tent and the birds, not another soul in sight!  They must have all gone to jam-packed camping grounds. We walked up the river and through the water, it was such a nice warm day on Friday. The algae has got quite bad in places where the water isn’t flowing as fast and made walking in the river very interesting.  It was quite hard on my hip with all the slipping and having to catch myself so I wouldn’t fall, think I overworked the muscles a bit as I’ve been a tad sore.  Sleeping in a sleeping bag was most uncomfortable!  I ended up having to pinch some extra blankets from dad and open out the sleeping bag and use it as a blanket so I could bend my knees, slept much better after that.
Roy came for tea on Friday night as he lives just a short distance from the river.  It was great to catch up with him and nice of him to come out as he was very busy finishing off the paperwork for his apprenticeship – four years solid and now he’s finished!  Very proud of my little bro.

The weather stayed pretty good until Saturday night when it rained, then Sunday was a bit cool.  I don’t think I’ve ever read so much in my life!  It was great to just lie by the river with no noise around and read.  On Sunday we drove into Timaru to see where Dad’s been living, went back out to the bus for lunch and then left for home.

I failed to mention all the eating LOL gawd, when you’re camping it’s all you seem to do, especially at Easter time!

It was my 26th birthday yesterday and I was spoiled rotten.  Kat made me cupcakes! I got new bike gear and voucher to buy more, cool doggy doorstop, smellies and bath bombs and a Pandora bracelet with a charm!  I bought some new tyres last week so am eager to get out for a ride tomorrow to test everything out.

So it’s been a great week.  I am only working Tues, Weds, Thurs this week because I’m working the weekend so tomorrow will be a great day off to visit friends and go for a ride.  Going to see how the hip goes this week but I am getting rather sick of the snapping and pain at the TFL so will probably visit my physio next week.  I have one stretch for it but it hurts too much to do, go figure lol I’ve been feeling a bit like an old lady every time I get up from the couch as everything just feels so stiff…maybe I should just not stop moving lol otherwise everything’s a box of fluffies!