Holidays in Life from the bottom of the world.

Last week we went on a brief holiday to see Bob's family who have all moved to the lower middle part of the Nth Island. Normally we fly but this time we decided to drive to the top of the Sth Island and get on the ferry which takes you across the Cook Strait to Wellington which is at the bottom of the Nth Island.

We were to then drive the 2 hrs to family and Miss Fidgets would stay with the Outlaws and Bob and I would stay with his sister.

We left on Thursday morning, car chock a block with things for family and our 2 suitcases. This is Bob's company car so we didm;t have to pay for petrol..yay!

There was an ex-cyclone from Australia about to hit our poor Island so we gave ourselves an extra hour so we didn't need to rush.

We got to Kaikoura (2hrs from Christchurch) and the rain began to get heavy and the gale force winds started to push the car around.

You could see in the hills waterfalls appearing which weren't normally there, very pretty but also very dangerous as landslips were a risk with so much water coming down.

We got to Blenheim and a text arrived from the Ferry Company to let us know that due to the severe weather our ferry was delayed 2 hrs. Instead of leaving at 2pm, we were leaving at 4pm which meant we had to change our plans.

Since we now wouldn't get in to Wellington until 8pm there was no way we wanted to drive in pitch dark with torrential rain on country roads that we weren't familiar with.

We wouldn't get to family until after 10pm so we decided to book a hotel in Wellington for the night. I wanted comfort so we stayed at a 5 star, I figured that after 10 hrs travel I wanted a decent nights sleep.

When we got to Picton to catch the ferry, Bob made sure it wasn't going to be cancelled as the weather just kept getting worse. No, it would still sail as they only cancel when the sea swells get to 5m and at present it was only 3m.

We then joined the car queue and waited 4 hrs in our car. It was torrential driving rain and still gale force winds so we really couldn't get out, let alone see anything outside of the car!

Miss Fidgets was amazing. She didn't once complain about being bored or get restless. Most kids stuck in a car sitting for 4 hrs would but she didn't. She read books, played on the iPad, drew pictures and we played games.

When we finally got to board, our car ended up being parked outside on the deck. Fantastic! We now had to collect what we wanted to take on the ferry and carry it to the door. There was severe surface flooding on the ferry deck, my shoes were wet through .

We found a seat and got settled.

The ferry left and we couldn't see much as it was so dark outside. Miss Fidgets and I did see a pod of dolphins next to the ferry jumping and swimming next to us so that was really cool.

When the ferry was in the Cook Strait it became very rough, no make that extremely rough.

I don't get seasick, nor does Bob but we bought Sea Bands and seasick tablets just in case.

The ferry began to rock from side to side and then would lunge upwards. Then it would just seem to float there before crashing down and the boat made this loud crashing sound and would then shudder violently. It was pretty cool to start with but got worse as we progressed. I don't mind that feeling when you stomach is left up in the air.

All was good and Bob went and got some food. I requested a sandwich but alas he came back with chicken nuggets and chips. I knew this wasn't going to go down well.

After an hour I suddenly went really hot and knew that seasickness was about to hit me.

A message came over the speaker saying that conditions were less than favourable and quite severe. It was best if people moved to the middle of the boat or to the top floor and at the back as movement was less there.

I got up and suddenly saw all these people lining the walls of the ferry, everyone was looking very green around the gills.

Sickness bags are scattered around the ferry and I grabbed one and a couple minutes later I lost my stomach. No heaving, just open the mouth and up it came.

Staf were running around with ice for passengers to try and cool them down. I came back for Miss Fidgets and we all went back to the top floor in the middle of the ferry and sat on the floor.

Miss Fidgets felt queasy until she put her Sea Bands on and then seemed fine which is great.

People all around us were heaving their guts up. This didn't help!

Bob who has never ben seasick admitted to feeling queasy.

When we finally reached land I was physically exhausted. I lost my stomach 3 times and felt terrible.

The captain kept apologising for such a rough trip.

We got in our car and drove to the Hotel where we got an upgrade as the guy felt sorry for us enduring such a bad trip.

We all crawled in to bed and were asleep in minutes. Good Friday was sunny and you would never have known the night before was so horrendous.

We drove out to Palmerston North and saw the family. Spent 3 days in total and had a pretty good time, a few hiccups due to his family being selfish people but we are used to that.

I was quite nervous about the ferry ride home but it was just perfect. Clear skies and hardly any movement felt at all. I later discovered that after our terrible ferry ride, all ferry trips had been cancelled as the swells were above 5m so we had in fact endured the worst possible conditions.

When we started the long drive down the Sth Island, we saw the effects of the ex-cyclone a few days prior and it appears that when we drove through at the start of the holiday, it deteriorated significantly and we probably wouldn't have made it to the ferry.

Coming home we saw massive landslips, roads covered in debris from the hills, rivers full of dead trees and mud, train tracks that had been flooded and now had nothing under then so it was just track suspended in the air, all the earth had washed away. It felt great to be home but we were exceptionally tired as we had been travelling since 5am and we got home at 6pm, no stopping.

Would I do this trip again? Yes. Would I do it in a torrential storm? No.

Now that we are home, I am planning our next holiday. My niece is getting married in January 2015 and we have all been invited. She lives in Melbourne so back home I go for a few days. It'll be an Italian wedding so it will be one very extravagant and much fun! I am well overdue to going back to Melbourne, have many friends I need to catch up with but also do the touristy thing for my family as it's all new to them.

I'll catch up with my family but this time we will stay in a Hotel as my SIL will be busy with her daughter and wedding things and the last thing they need is us under their roof although I know she tell me it is perfectly fine.

Since it will be January it will be hot so this might be interesting as none of my family nor me tolerate heat well. The ironic thing about the Aussie holiday is that I left there on January 26th 2001, their Australia Day and NZ's Auckland Day. The wedding is on the 25th Jan so I'll be back "home" for my 14yr anniversary of leaving.

Do I miss Melbourne? Yes and No. I miss my brother and nieces/nephew but I don't miss the heat and traffic/people. It's a gorgeous place to visit but I will never live there again, NZ is perfect for me.