Explorer Penny needed a day out of the city so the boys were packed into the van (called people mover here) and headed out to Cape Palliser. The plan was to visit a light house there. Climb its 250 steps. Enjoy its spectacular views of the bay and the seal colony living there. Oh yeah. We brought a picnic lunch too. Well...there are no interstate roads in New Zealand. Outside city limits there are lengthy stretches of winding roads. A stretch that would appear on paper to be a 30 minute drive, in reality will take at least one hour. Of course, our route to the lighthouse involved driving through a mountain pass. The name? Hell comes to mind. It doesn't matter. At one point, Marc exclaimed in terror,"let me out. Now. I'll walk."He later decided it would be better to be riding in the van with his family as it traversed off a dirt path masquerading as a roadway, down to certain awful death in the rocks below, than to watch it happen to his family and live with the guilt of abandoning them. Two plus hours of driving brought us to the lighthouse steps. Alden refused to climb them. A bit steep they were. Marc bravely opted to stay with Alden while Penny and Drake hit the steps and took in the view. Naturally, we got lost on the drive home. We were tricked. A sign that read, "Alternate Route", should have said, "Alternate Reality". Twenty minutes later we were hopelessly lost. Alden melting down in a prolific temper tantrum but Penny and Marc laughing at their situation and picturing the nice glass of wine they would eventually enjoy. They did. FYI: The boys point to one of many seals swimming in the bay.
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