Sunday, Chateau to Auckland

Breakfast was at the Chateau over looking a glorious sunrise - what a gran old building and a picturesque morning. We drove up through Mangakino a beautiful little holiday community on the lake and then on to Cambridge for lunch at a historical homestead - Woodlands Historic Homestead. The gardens were beautiful and well worth the stroll around.
It was then a fairly quick exit and on to Mercer where for the convoy to the finish line.
We drove the last 50km in convoy to MOTAT where there were more grants given and our final dinner and awards.
We picked up another award for the highest 'Bucket Shake' we raised somewhere in the vicinity of $6,800. We collected $700 from our raffle on the ferry. It was all heaps of fun, we met some wonderful people, saw more stunning places in New Zealand and were touched by the parents and children that we helped on the way.
Thankyou to all those who helped us raise the money.

Saturday, Wanganui to Chateau

Breakfast was at the Castlecliffs Workers Club where we saw several worthy grants given away - very touching to see parents with challenged children receiving much needed equipment. It was then into community projects around Wanganui before leaving for lunch at a secret location.
We wound our way through dreadful dirt roads, especially for the mini, up into the mountains finally arriving at 'Mellonsfolly Ranch'. What an incredible place built like a movie set from a Western - with period clothes etc - apparently the place is hired out for functions - a man built it for his mated to go shooting - but it kept developing and has become a very exclusive getaway destination.
Hannah was driven out by one of the boy from 'Every Little Boyz Dream' team. I went out in the helicopter so that Paul and I could race up to Taupo to see his 101 year old grandfather and be back in time for tea.
His grandfather was truly an amazing gentleman who insisted that he come out and wave us off - a delightful visit.
Dinner was formal at the Chateau - one of my favourite buildings in its unique location at the base of the mountain.
The meal was most delicious, and then there were some of the awards presented. Here we picked up the 'Best Presented' team award which was very exciting.

Friday, Masterton Wanganui

The weather had cleared and we were off for an hours drive before breakfast at the Tui Brewery. It seemed to cloud in a little and was quite cold. Breakfast was a pie and a pint for the strong - cereal fro the rest.
It was then into Palmerston North for School visits and then lunch on the Air force Base at Ohakea. This provided us with another great opportunity to give away cupcakes with $5 donations - however, whilst we were doing that the boys saw it as a great time to relocate' Candy Drop' into the hangar where lunch was being served and place a notice 'rubbish' on her. When we found her she was surrounded by people leaning on her eating their lunch ans leaving their plates.
It was then a quick exit and on to Wanganui. We hit the streets to off load the last of our cupcakes and then headed out to a wool shed for dinner. Super Hubert and one of the 'Naki' boys provided entertainment. They had cleaned out the shearing shed considerably for us to eat our dinner in - but it was not protected from the elements. It was nice to head back to a warm room and bed.

Thursday, Blenheim to Masterton

We were up and on our way to the ferry by 5am, we were just beaten by the Newcastle Boys. With raffle tickets in hand we set about selling tickets as the cars lined up to go on the boat.
By 8am we were all on the boat and heading towards Wellington. There was a Cupcake eating competition held on the outer deck with the prize being a 'Delish' Cupcake. The Bashbakers had organised this as a rip off of the Cupcake Girls. They made a complete mess of the supermarket variety of cupcakes with the MC claiming the prize.
The raffle was drawn and the Boys from Newcastle were the proud winners.
It was a glorious morning to be on the water with a gentle crossing of the Cook State. Arriving in Wellington we made our way to the 'Cake Tin' for lunch.
It was here that we were 'Budgied' with 'Candy Drop' being wrapped in black plastic - we were greeted with several people asking where they could get a black Cupcake - we said that Brown was the new Black only to discover that our cupcake was indeed black.
As we made our way up the Hutt Valley we called in on Ferna, Brett and Shirley. Arriving in Martinborough when the fun stop had ended. 'Candy Drop' was a little slow over the Waitakere's, it was also raining by this stage.
Masterton was a bit dismal as we prepared for the Lip Sync night. The rain kept tumbling down as we ran from car to motel etc.
It was a fun night with some great acts - we had our own Cupcake song to Billy Joel - Uptown Girls. It was lots of fun.

Wednesday, Takaka to Blenheim

Breakfast at the school and then time to head back to Nelson for some school visits and continue on to Havelock for lunch. Coming back into Nelson we were feeling a little disadvantaged due to our size and the lack of noise, cause our horn did not work. We stopped by a local auto wreckers and secured for ourselves some horns. He was most obliging - a former Aussie. When we arrived at the picturesque Havelock right on the water we were given some 'can air horns' that work really well. We spotted the Air force Boys so we rushed to them with our new horns. They were more than eager to install them in the mini.
We went over to lunch and enjoyed the scenery. When it was time to go they had moved the car into a more prominent position supposedly for our ease of getting out. We took off only to have an overwhelming yell to stop - well yes they had wired the horn to our brake.....
We all met just on the outskirts of Picton for a convoy into the main street and down to the foreshore for some presentations and the inevitable water fight.
It was then on to Blenheim for the evening. Here we picked up our second consignment of cupcakes for Auckland.
Dinner was at a winery - stunning location on the edge of town.
It was a relatively early night as we were anting to be on the road by 5 O'clock to be first at the boat as we had decided to raffle a 'Bakers Dozen Cupcakes' on the ferry.

Tuesday Nelson to Takaka

Another glorious morning on the South Island - forgot to mention that 'Candy Drop' was commandeered by the 'Every Little Boyz Dream' team and entered in the Billy Cart Darby in Hanmer Springs - they had to free wheel down the hill - she broke the record.
This morning was a McDonalds Breakfast then off to visit a number of schools on the way towards lunch at Collingwood.
We over shot the school and were heading out of town when we saw three stranded members of the 'Every Little Boyz Dream' team sitting by the side of the road. Finding out that their dilemma was simply the need for a lift back to town. We shuffled the Cupcakes in the back, breathed in and squashed the three big lads into the mini and headed back to the school. The mini was rather relieved to unload the cargo at the school.

After lunch we headed up to Cape Farewell the northern most tip of the South Island - what a spectacular view we had from the cliff tops. There was 1 lonely seal resting on the rocks below.
We made our way back over the rough road to Tarkaka and on to Pohara. Liane was buzzing around on the electric car welcoming guests, so we donated a cupcake for the roof as it was almost as cute as 'Candy Drop'. The evening meal was by the beach with a bonfire to follow.
It was then time for a well earned rest.
Dinner was by the beach at Pohara,

The Bash Begins Christchurch to Hanmer

Arriving in Christchurch we quickly made our way to find ‘Candy Drop’ – what a cute little car.
There was still a little work to do on the graphics, Kirsten and Annabel to meet from the ‘Cupcake Parlour’ and Hannah to pick up from the Airport.
With fresh cupcakes and ‘Candy Drop’ looking a picture we were ready to head off to the races. With our Spring Raving Carnival hats we were set a great evening.
Sunday saw us at breakfast - Candy Drop with the Big Boys – it was then off to install smoke detectors in homes around Christchurch – then to the Cathedral for the start of the Bash and an opportunity to sell the delicious cupcakes form The Cupcake Parlour.
It was then a pleasant drive to Hanmer Springs via a great dirt road used in the Silver Fern Rally over the mountains. The evening was spent soaking in the hot pools.
Monday was a trek through the Lewis Pass to Westport then on to Nelson. We dined overlooking the water at the Nelson Yacht Club looking at the sunset.
We had many opportunities selling cupcakes to tourists and travellers – New Zealand Bash has a competition called ’Shaking the Bucket’ raising funds as they travel from town to town – what a great initiative!

We have met some awesome people and seen some incredible scenery along with visitng schools and being involved in community projects.