Lockdown 2020 - The Start

What happened?!  Somehow I stopped blogging since February.  Say what???

I just think I was not in a place to write.  Covid-19 and lockdown happened over that time/  My life also seemed to have been consumed by the contract work I was busy with, so much so that I sadly lost my inspiration to write.  So being in a place of no mojo, I took a break from blogging.  I felt I needed some quiet time, a time to unplug, a time of rest.

As the whole world closed down and went into lockdown, and the pause button was pushed in almost every country and the streets went into an eerie stillness, it just felt as if time was standing still for me too.  It felt good for me to also push the pause button as well and just be still. It gave me time to clear the noise in my head, reflect on my priorities and find my path going forward.

And as you will see in a separate blog post, there have been changes in my life, but more about that later.

First of all, it will be good for me to write about Covid-19 and the lockdown we experienced in New Zealand as it was such a unique and unprecedented world event.  Years on we will still talk about it, puzzle about it, shake our heads in disbelief.  The year 2020;  the world as we knew it;  life as we knew it just completely shut down in response to a virus pandemic.

So just a catch up prior to our lockdown experience .....

So on 29 February 2020, we decided to move to our happy place up north.  It was early but we were both in the mood for a change of scenery, so back to Hihi Beach it was.

It was so good to be back at a place that we love so much.  March was just a glorious month for us - the weather was still nice and warm, the beach just as wonderful as we knew and the park just as beautiful as when we were there last.  

And then towards the end of March, everything changed.  Chaos and mayhem descended upon the community of RV'ers and tourists that make up our circle. 

There was a call on 23 March that New Zealand would be moving into a full lockdown in response to the Covid-19 virus.  Everybody had 48 hours to choose where to live during lockdown and panic gripped the travelling community as so many scrambled to make arrangements to get somewhere.  Campgrounds and parking areas were closing, and thousands of campers and full-time travellers had nowhere safe to go.  Some of our RV community do have homes as bases but there are many like us that have no sticks and bricks homes to go to, so we all needed a safe place to stay and wait things out.

It was very distressing for me to read the posts of so many of our travellers in Facebook Groups who were just ousted out of safe environments and left to fend for themselves.  But total strangers soon offered driveways, paddocks and camping spots to our travelling community.  How awesome of many of these kind souls to make these wonderful safe places available to us.

For us though, things were good.  The owners of our campground said that we could call Hihi Beach Holiday Park our home for lockdown.  It was, of course, the perfect home for us at this very strange time.

So perhaps part of my withdrawal over this time was just my mind coming to grips with how this all played out ..... just how fragile a situation can be .... when everything was normal and then it wasn't.

So to recap here is our timeline from 29 February to 9 June 2020:

29 February 2020:

Leaving Waikato, Central North Island 

and moving back up to top of North Island

2 March 2020:

Back at Hihi Beach with a few days stopover at Whangerei.

26 March 2020:

Covid-19 Lockdown
NZ in State of Emergency and Level 4 lockdown begins
We stay at Hihi Beach for all of our lockdown period.

28 April 2020:
Move down to Level 3.

14 May 2020:
Move down to Level 2.

9 June 2020:
Move down to Level 1
Normality returns, but borders are still closed.

Summer - Here at Last!

Why no blogging;  because we are blobbing 😏

It is February already and the blog has been quiet.  Yikes - No updates have happened for a while.  I will be updating the blog with our past travels over the next week.  But I am going to start with this recent post now.  

Well, we found our summer at last after weeks and weeks of horrible wind.  The warm balmy weather has been a complete distraction all round - a welcome distraction to be sure.

So yes we have been blobbing .... in the hot summer sun.

In our search and travels to get away from wind and after looking at the longterm weather forecast, we just knew we had to get away from the Taranaki area and move somewhere further north.  There was this magical campground we had heard about in the Waikato so we thought to give a try.

And there we finally found our summer we had been so desperately seeking.

We have found a wonderful piece of paradise on the banks of a lake - where summer actually existed and that bolshy wind did not visit.  Wow, what an amazing place to stay!  After living here for a while, it is going to be difficult to leave.  Well, do we have to leave - no, not really.  Nothing is fixed in our way of life and plans can be modified as they suit us.

Right, so where are we exactly?

We are at what they call a Charges Apply Park called AJ's Park on the banks of Lake Karapiro in the Waikato region of North Island (between Cambridge and Tirau). It is a lovely park-like campground right on the edge of the lake - so beautiful and so peaceful. Just what we needed after weeks of being battered by howling wind.  So YES - an excellent choice for our next home on the road for the next week, or 2 or 3 ....

It was very tempting to park right at the water's edge but we chose to park up between the shady umbrella canopies of the silk trees. This would give shade to enjoy all through the day.

The lake is a spectacular blue colour just like the sky on a hot cloudless day. In between work I do try and spend as much time just sitting on the banks of the lake in peaceful contemplation. It is easy to be able to relax and get some perspective in such a beautiful setting.

I think you would all agree with me - right?

So for now, this place is perfect until we get the urge to move again.  

We love Waipawa

Our journey seems a little different from others I am following .... we are travelling slowly, seeking out the country back roads to get to know the small rural towns in the regions. We like to stay there for about 2 weeks and love exploring the quaint shops, cafes and places of interest, chatting to the locals and getting to know the community. The most amazing and friendly people are often found in these little towns. That‘s what I enjoy the most about our travels. 

And one of these towns is Waipawa in the Central Hawkes Bay, a small, friendly town where life seems cruisy and relaxed.

Apparently, it is one of New Zealand's oldest inland towns and has gone through times of great economic boom and bad times of depression.  It has also been referred to as one of the towns that almost died.  Luckily it survived for it is a gem of a little town and well worth spending some time in.

Small towns have a sleepy, lazy reputation but these towns can have their own vitality and buzz.  That is what we loved about Waipawa.  We were totally swept up in the charm of the town and friendliness of the folk that live there that we stayed there for 3 happy weeks.

We loved the little country campground we set up home in.  The facilities were clean and quite adequate for our needs and the folks that we met there were a happy friendly bunch.  Paddy the owner was so welcoming - what an awesome host.

We easily fell in love with the town and region, so much so that we even looked to see if any sections of land were available.  Had there been we just might have bought one to be our future off-the-road home.

We reluctantly packed up after 3 weeks to move onto Masterton.  It was time to carry on our journey and attempt to get to see as much of the bottom end of North Island before winter.

Here are some photos of our stay here. Enjoy and maybe you too will get a glimpse of the great lifestyle these small towns of New Zealand have to offer.

Riversedge Holiday Park:

All set up at our campground in Waipawa

 

Some photos of the town of Waipawa:

 Beautiful gardens of an Art Gallery we Visited:

Napier - Such a sweet treat for the tired soul

Napier is one of the cities we visited quite a few years back and always wanted to go back to again.  So we decided that Napier would be the start of our summer tour of the bottom half of North Island.  We stayed there for 2 weeks and were not disappointed.

Throwback to the Great Gatsby era!

The whole art deco scene of Napier is just my thing.  The whole Great Gatsby era of the 1920 and 1930 years has always fascinated me.  And Napier just oozes with sights very reminiscent of this glamorous and stylish period of history.  So many of the building are painted in soft pastel colours and have beautiful Art Deco facades and detail.  They are arty looking, with gorgeous olde world charm and vintage memorabilia tucked away here, there and everywhere.

The main street along the ocean has stately palms lining it which almost make you believe you could be in Maimi.

So during our stay here, we wanted to check out some of the lovely highlights of this small city.

City Centre.
One of the most beautiful town's centres I have seen so far.  Well preserved Art Deco facades, and a lovely town centre - some parts when deserted of modern-day cars and people, it could well be a movie set for the 1930s.

One of the main streets in Napier

Fabulous old buildings

Art Deco Building

Vineyards.
Beautiful wine farms to chill in and enjoy some good food and wine.  We found this to be an extremely expensive experience but were very happy to enjoy a lunchtime meal in my favourite wine farm of Hawkes Bay, the Black Barn Vineyard.

Entrance to Black Barn Vineyard

Lovely Al Fresco dining under the grape vines

Lovely outlook over the vineyard

Sweet Delights.
Tempting chocolate factory and sweet shop, so decadent and delicious.

Silky Chocolate Cafe

Jars full of yummy sweets at Birdwoods Sweet Shop

Beautiful Gardens.

Serene and peaceful gardens - perfect for quiet reflection.

Gardens along the ocean front

Entrance to a garden

Charming white rose garden (and no the birds aren't real)

The Art Scene.
We went to see the amazing sculptures of Birdwoods Gallery.  Just as a side note for all our South African and Rhodesian (Zimbabwe) friends and followers - yes some of the sculptures are from Africa as the owners of the gallery support the artists from Zimbabwe as a means of promoting their art.

Entrance to Birdwoods Gallery

Beautiful sculpture at Birdwoods Gallery

Funky art at Birdwoods Gallery

Sculpture at Birdwoods Gallery

Sculpture at Birdwoods Gallery

Sculpture at Birdwoods Gallery

Thank you Napier for a lovely 2 weeks here.  We will stop here again.

Let's go off the grid

Now that we were back on our travels, it was finally time for us to go off the grid. 

So what does that really mean?

It means responsible camping on a site with no power and minimal or no facilities such as taps, toilets or showers.  It also can mean no dump station where you camp.

In New Zealand, this type of camping is often associated with freedom camping - free as in "no pay" camping where you can camp for the night in areas that are not always meant for camping like parking lots, roadside pull-offs, reserves or picnic areas.  (Note: you can't just park and camp anywhere in New Zealand as there are rules around such camping.)

Off the grid camping is also found in many campgrounds such as those under the control of the Department of Conservation and also the many campgrounds run by regional or local councils, associations, volunteers, etc.  For use of these grounds, there is a nominal or very low fee which makes them very affordable.

So camping in New Zealand can be really, really cheap.

So now back to our off the grid camping experience in Napier in November 19:

Solar power:  Overall we had no problems.  Our 2 solar panels worked like a bomb and provided us with plenty of power.  But as I was still working on the road, our only challenge was getting maximum use of my laptop to get my work done with minimal disruption.  Charging up my laptop each day meant that I had a 2 hour forced midday break which was actually the best thing for me.

Gas:  Together with our solar system we were more reliant on gas.  We usually run our fridge on power, but now we needed the fridge being able to work on gas.  And oops we found we now had a problem with our gas igniter.  Oh dear, this was a concern at the time.  But we found a dealer in Napier that was able to solve our problem within a couple of days.  Crisis averted.

Fresh Water:  We have good water tanks onboard that could easily manage our fresh and wastewater usage.  We obviously have to conserve water to make it last, so we had to be clever with washing dishes and taking hardcore showers known as "navy" showers.  

Going off the grid also means you use up your water quickly.  And with the tap being some distance away from us we needed to have a plan to bring water to the caravan without having to move it every time.  So we used 4 collapsible water containers to get the water from the tap and a little pump to get the water into the caravan.

Wastewater:  As there are no toilets or showers at the campground, this meant that you had to be fully self-contained.  In other words, you must have toilet and shower facilities in your campervan, motorhome or caravan.  This also meant having to remove this waste by loading it up in a removable container and taking it away to a dump station.

Our caravan does have onboard tanks to collect the wastewater from our loo and sinks.  But it does get full if you are camping off the grid for a time, so we used one of these cassettes to take this waste away to the nearest dump station.

Good tip:  Oh, and we did a learn a trick from the experience of full-timers on the road.  There is usually a pool or gym facility in the area that will allow you a nice long hot shower for a small fee.  We found one in Napier and those long showers were a real treat.  😄😄

The best advantages of living like this:

The savings in camp fees is so worth it.  We paid $36 for a whole week of camping off the grid which is equal to only one-night camp fee in a managed holiday park.

Oh, and I guess I should mention that we had no TV as we did not bother to put in a television system that would work off the battery.  But hey, who needs TV when we find ourselves in these great locations.  And this forced break is a way of bringing you back to basics and connecting with the wonder of books, games, crafts, etc.  And what better way of spending an evening watching a beautiful sunset and hearing the night sounds of nature.  

In Hindsight:

We do need to put in a more powerful inverter system into the caravan in the near future.  So this will happen as soon as we can get to a suitable installer of these systems.

Our Verdict:

We are definitely going off the grid again soon.  We did not feel we had to compromise any aspect of our lives to live this.  With a few extra tasks and habits, we found we can do everything in our caravan that we could do in a sticks and bricks house.  

It is also great to know that we can live a very independent and free lifestyle.  New Zealand has so many opportunities for freedom camping and really cheap off the grid campgrounds.  In today's world of social media, devices and television distractions, it is good to be able to disconnect from it all and plug into the simple pleasures of the outdoors.

Leaving Auckland, Going South

16 November 2019.
Bye Bye Auckland!  We do think you are a beautiful city .... but we really hate your TRAFFIC!

We finally managed to extract ourselves from the jarring rat-race of big city living on 16 November and left the big smoke of Auckland to travel down to the Hawkes Bay region.

When we left to continue our journey down south we were not entirely sure where our overnight stop would be, so we went to Matamata and said to ourselves "Nope too short, let's carry on to Taupo";  got to Taupo, "Nope, don't feel like stopping here, let's just carry on to Napier";  So after a 7-hour journey, we arrived in Napier.  This has been our longest pull with the caravan, but we had such a pleasant drive and thoroughly enjoyed the drive.

And so onto our next adventure .... going off the grid or dry camping as many of our overseas friends would say - no power, no water hookup, most times no waste dump station, no amenities.  But modern technology has a lot to offer us folks living on the road which means we can unplug from power and the normal facilities that expensive caravan parks offer and become more self-sufficient using our solar power, onboard water tanks, onboard facilities and wireless internet services.

We were really excited about this way of living as we had been on power for our first 6 and half months and this would be our first experience of off the grid road life.

And so we landed up a park called Erikson Road in Napier with no power and facilities for 2 weeks.

But the experience was not without some challenges .... as we found out .... 👉👉

Check out our post - Let's Go off the Grid

Stop! Roadblock ahead!

How many times have you set out on your travels to a destination, only to come across a detour, or worse still a roadblock on the journey?

So if you have been wondering why things have been a little quiet on our side .... well, we came across a roadblock ..... and as a result, we have been stuck in Auckland for a while.

The weather was still not shaping up for Spring so we decided to hang around Auckland for a little while so that I could do some "in the office" work in Kumeu.

It was a good opportunity for me to explore the possibility of better remote work, and also use the time to catch up with some dear friends and family in Auckland.

It was also a good opportunity to sort out some minor warranty issues with the caravan and catch up on our medical checkups.  So a good stop after all.

But now after 6 weeks of city life (at the time of writing this post), we are itching to get on the road again.  So shortly we will be leaving the "Big Smoke" and heading down south to continue the rest of our travels into rural New Zealand.  The road is calling .... and our journey needs to continue.