Southward

People are often envious of our free lifestyle and comment how 'lucky' we are. I'd like to point out there is not much luck involved. It takes guts to give up your home base and regular community activities. For many, a life on the road also means liberating funds by selling a house or other assets. Motor homers do need an income, which is easier for retirees who receive a pension, but there are many who don't. They have either managed to create a source of passive income, while others earn on the road.

We have found out the hard way that there can be unexpected extra expenses, including mechanical repairs, tires blowing out and batteries which decided they have had enough. Our various dramas included the aluminium sides delaminating which resulted in our van looking a bit sad, so a paint job was in order. We think she's looking pretty good now.



Amazingly Warren completed the painting in two weeks of constant work, thinking it might rain but it didn't.

Living this way has made us much more aware of our environmental footprint. We are more tuned in to the weather these days, since we rely on the sun shining to power our solar panels. Our electricity needs are lighter at this time of year with NZs long summer days, but we usually only have one light on in the evening. We find it is adequate, romantic even. We must always be conscious of our water use too, so showers are necessarily short and sweet. We carry two 25 litre containers of water to supplement our 160 litre tanks. Warren has devised an ingenious way to transfer water from container to our tanks by using a marine bilge pump. So easy, and done in a few minutes which saves him climbing a ladder and pouring water into the tank with a small jug as he used to. We do to recycle our rubbish when possible, and are conscious of every small bag we fill, but we do miss composting.

We feel we have rejoined the rest of the world since signing up with Wireless Nation for a great internet package which means we now have wifi in the van! We had been relying on hot spotting to our phones which was severely limited. Now we can google, and blog to our heart's content.

Uretiti Beach.








We have finally left Northland after enjoying a mild winter there, and are now on our way south, first spending a few days in Auckland to catch up with family members and then back to our hometown, Rotorua where it was wet and cold and blowing a gale. Not very welcoming I thought.

The earthquake centered in Kaikoura has not affected us a great deal yet, but it has impacted family members in Wellington, and will affect our travel plans in the South Island. We are booked on the Wellington - Picton ferry next week. Fortunately we have no set plan and no deadline so are totally flexible. Stay tuned.