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.

Beautiful black beaches

When most people think of a beach, they picture beautiful blue seas, sunny skies and golden sandy beaches.  That is how most of us know beaches to be.

So picture the same blue seas and sunny skies but with beaches of with black sand.

These black sand beaches are truly beautiful, masterpieces of the nature and make the most spectacular and dramatic photos.

In New Zealand, we have magnificent black beaches along the west coast of North Island.  There are 5 such beaches along this coastline of Auckland and we have been staying at a campground at one of them situated north-west of Auckland.

Muriwai Beach Campground has been our home for a little while and is an amazing black beach which is just wonderful for long beach walks.

Now I totally love black beaches.  I love the black sparkly sand.  It is such a dark rich colour that makes a perfect contrast to the hues and shades of the ocean and skies.  In my mind, they simply make spectacular dramatic photos.

Sunset Silhouettes - at Muriwai Beach

Tide is out  - Sunset at Muriwai Beach

Afternoon walk - at Muriwai Beach

Driftwood beach art - at Muriwai Beach

 For more information on the other black beaches of Auckland, you can check out this link:
Auckland's West Coast Beaches

That 4 letter word called "Work"

Hey, what, huh!?  Work??  What has work got to do with our travels and living on the road?  Well, there is this thing called money ..... And the little luxuries that extra money buys ..... which also keeps our retirement nest egg safe and sound.

In April, when we sold the house and decided to live our dream after I lost my full-time job, we knew that we were starting this journey as full-time travellers a little earlier than planned.  For that very reason, we decided to keep our work options open.

I figured as an accountant I certainly had transferrable skills - skills that I could easily use in any environment, even while on the road, moving from place to place.  All that was really needed was a good laptop, cellphone and reliable internet service - all of which I had.

As something different, I could always do something else. like seasonal work or campground hosting.  Variety is good!

But for now, I have been relying on my accounting skills and have picked up remote contract accounting jobs.  Which does explain why we have been doing longer than normal stays at campgrounds and going nowhere fast.

It has certainly been an interesting 6 months.  The remote contract work is great as it means I have control over my working conditions.  I can start and end my day as I chose.  And best of all, I have had the most beautiful offices to work from - such as this view:

At the moment, I have put the remote work on a temporary hold and we have spent the last few weeks in Auckland so I can to do onsite work at a firm in Kumeu.

Time is coming soon to get back on the road for summer and do some travelling.  I probably will still be working as we go (for that treat of an overseas trip) but with the promise of summer coming soon, hopefully I can cut down on my hours and get outdoors and enjoy summer living.

One thing for sure is that working on the road is not a 9 - 5 jobs -it gives us total freedom to choose how we want to work.  If less money is needed, we can choose cheaper campgrounds, do some house-sitting along the way or line up better-paying jobs that are less time-consuming ..... or ..... just stop working when it suits us.

But for now, those little luxuries in life will keep me working anyway - smarter hopefully as our time on the road evolves.

First House-Sitting Gig

September?  What happened to a whole 30 days with no new update?  Why no post in September - what happened and why were we so quiet?  Two reasons ....

Firstly, we are doing our first house-sitting gig on a small life-style block in Pukekohe (just outside Auckland for our friends and followers outside of New Zealand).

Secondly, I got caught up in a terrible backlog of online work that was quite exhausting.  But more of that in a separate post.

So more about our house-sitting/farmstay camping expedition.

We did a house-sit on a little lifestyle block in rural Pukekohe for the month of September.  Life was generally slow for us on this small farm.  Besides having a presence on the property, we had a few chores to do that were really easy as:

1.  Looking after the water for 13 young cows (or was it 12 cows and 1 steer - I am not sure?).  They were on a neighbour's block over the road from us -some days we saw them and other days they were nowhere to be seen so must have on back paddocks way out of sight.  When they were close by,they would all come over to the fence for some of our attention.  They certainly loved us to talk to them and were totally fascinated with Lulu - kept staring at her with their beautiful souful eyes.

2.  Feeding 6 Chickens .... and collecting their lovely yummy farm fresh eggs for our breakfast.

3.  Feeding 2 cats who spent the day sleeping in any comfy place they could find.  They were totally cruizy cats who pretty much did they own thing in the day.

4.  And lastly, doing nana/grandpa duties for 3 children LOL.  All we really had to do was to make sure they left for school in the morning and then to pick them up in the afternoon.

Other than those chores, we are free to enjoy the lovely farm environment.

We also got to meet and enjoy time with the other farm animals, a horse called Becky, 3 very frisky and active miniature horses and 2 very quiet little dogs called Molly and Harold.

So life in September was certainly a bit restful and peaceful which was just as well as the spring weather certainly took a temperamental turn for the worst with torrential rain gale-force winds and freezy cold temperatures.  Where was our wonderful Northland warm weather ..... gone for sure.

So here are some photos of our month on the farm.

Early Morning Mist in Pukekohe

Beautiful day - one of the rare few we had during our farmstay

Lovely green outlook on the farm

A bridge over a stream on the farm

Lulu was not sure at all about these miniature horses

Young one-year old cows enjoying our chat with them 

Lulu was always totally fascinated with the cows as they were with her.

Farewell to Northland

After spending almost 4 wonderful months in wonderful "winterless" Far North and Northland, it was time to start our journey back down south.  We have absolutely loved our stay in this area and we hope to back next winter to do it all over again.  This part of New Zealand is just beautiful and we take with us many many special memories. 😄

We spent our last week in Whangarei and back at the campsite where our full time journey on the road started, Whangarei Central Holiday Park.

Parking over here for a while gave us time to see our Whangarei family again and also to make a change of tow vehicle.  Our Holden Colorado had been a fantastic vehicle which we loved very much but we just felt it was time to look at getting something with more power and grunt.  And so we are now the proud owners of a Ford Ranger 3.2.  And we are loving the change.  The Ranger is super comfortable and towed our Rockwood down to our next destination with ease.  So with our brand new Ranger and 4 month old Rockwood caravan we were ready to start our next adventure.

So where to next?

3 Months on - What Life On The Road Has Taught Us.

Can you believe it!  We have been on the road for over 3 months now.  As we prepare to leave Northland and Far North and soon start out on our next leg of travels, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on some of the lessons we have learnt from our life so far on the road.

Life on the road has taught us to slow down and enjoy life.

It is good to wake up every day with no expectations, no plans and no routine.  It is good to be in no rush to do anything quickly.  

It is good to be able to go for a walk at any time of the day.  It is good to feel the grass beneath your bare feet and feel the sun on your face.  It is good to be able to sit quietly in a peaceful place and just appreciate the beauty of the world around you .... and not feel guilty about .... doing absolutely nothing.

Lovely old bench at Hihi Beach campsite

Life on the road has taught us that we actually need very little.

As we grow up and as we progress along the paths of normal life, ie education, work, family, success …. bigger and better seems to be the standards we set for our lives.  So we strive for more money, more power, more possessions.  And then we can sometimes lose our true selves in all this stuff.

Contrary to what people think, giving all this up is not a step backwards.  It does not make you poorer but enriches your life.

We have a tiny home now with not much cupboard space and weight restrictions so we can only carry the absolute necessities for our lifestyle.  Yet we lack for nothing.  We have all we need.  

Our choice is simply to have the lifestyle we want over possessions and stuff.  Simple and basic.

Beautiful sunrise at Hihi Beach

Life on the road has taught us to ride out the storms that life can throw at you.

We started our journey at the end of autumn, knowing well that we would be living in our caravan in exposed areas in winter.  New Zealand winters are usually extremely wet, windy and prone to all sorts of storms and weather bombs.  So we figured if we could get through the extreme winter weather conditions in our small home in good spirits then we will be just fine.  If we can stay strong and upright and still be loving our lifestyle despite all this, then we can survive anything.  And we have so far.

Fascinating dead tree - stayed upright despite all the wind 

and stormy seas we experienced at Hihi Beach

Life on the road has taught us to appreciate the beauty of nature.

Living this lifestyle has transported us right into nature.  Our backyards have no walls, no fences and no real boundaries and change with every move of our home.  

We have stepped out of our front door right into beautiful backyards of green lawns and park-like campsites with views of the ocean on our doorstep.  We have been surrounded by native trees full of Tuis and other birds in happy birdsong.  We have walked on beautiful beaches, explored around rocks and crevices and sat and watched amazing sunsets evening after evening.

Our life on the road has taken us out of cities and away from the rut and grind of the norm to be able to experience all of this to the fullest.

A peek out a cave at Hihi Beach

Life on the road has taught us to appreciate life.

Going full time on the road has set us free to enjoy life as we should.  It is wonderful to finally be able to spend all our time together as a couple.  It seems like it has taken us years and years of work and slog to finally have the experience of retirement.  Yes it is a lot sooner than we had planned and yes we are still working part-time on the road, but this all feels good and just as it should be right here and now.

We are living the best life we can at the moment and we love it!

All About Lulu

This post is all about a dog ..... a little dog called Lulu.

I call Lulu a rescue dog even though she came out of a home and not an animal shelter.  I say that because she came into our home on 29 May 2014 as a timid anxious little 2 year old dog.  She trembled in our arms for weeks, a fearful little bundle of nerves, terribly afraid of people and other animals.... an emotionally fragile little girl.

We worked with her fears and anxieties with lots of love and understanding over the first year of getting her.  With training and establishment of a routine combined with socialising activities over time, our timid little girl has become so much more confident.  She still is somewhat nervous around other dogs - this is something that has never quite changed with her but that is OK with us.  Rather that than too much bravado and attitude.

So Lulu is now 7 years old at the time of writing this post and is our roadie fur baby on this new journey of ours.

We have been wondering how she would adapt to road life as she is a girl that thrives on set routine of sound and behaviour patterns.  Her environment, sights and sounds are going to be ever-changing whilst we travel around the country and so this will be a challenge for Lulu.  At the moment we are staying longer at campsites so not moving around that frequently.  But even so, she had adapted so well to her new tiny home and new backyards.  She is now comfortable with living in the caravan and loves exploring the campsites and surrounds.  And being on the beach - well, that is her happy place!

We like to think that Lulu is also living her dream right now.  She has mom and dad fulltime with her, a lovely big "kennel and playpen" that is her new home, exciting and new places to visit and explore and so many humans to charm and beguile with her cute personality.

Aah, what more could a little doggie want in life ..... just take a peak at a day in the life of Lulu ....

Seriously .... you want me to get up?!

Nothing like a warm sunny spot on the grass

Playtime on the beach .... oh oh is that another dog I see?

Snuggle time with mommy

Too tired now .... just want to sleep.

Thumb & Thumbelina's Travels

With the nasty winds and rains that we have had of late, we have spent quite a bit of time indoors.  The wind has just been so unpleasant and really cold and these conditions have not encouraged us to go outdoors much.  So for much of that time, we decided to rug up and keep warm and cosy in our caravan.

This has now given me an opportunity of writing a little more about our ourselves and my thoughts and reflections on our journey so far.

So ..... I thought I would start off with a little story about our Facebook group page, "Thumb & Thumbelina's Travels".

Many of our followers will know and understand why we have called it by that name.  But I am sure there are many who have scratched their heads in puzzlement and wondered how on earth we got to this name.

The page was originally created in November 2015 and was called Living the Dream and was created to record Edwin's 2016 trip to the USA on a motorcycle.  This was to incorporate a 10 day memorial motorcycle ride called Run For the Wall (www.RFTW.us) from California to Washington DC to honour veterans from all wars killed in action and to call for an accounting of all those Missing in Action and all those Prisoners of War.

After this 10-day mission ride, Edwin's plan was then to spend the next 3 months touring the States on the motorcycle.

However, after day 6 into this memorial ride, Edwin and his very good American friend, Kevin, who was also doing the ride, were caught up in an unfortunate accident which did not seriously injure them but left them both shaken with a few bruises and Edwin with a dislocated thumb (which later turned out to be actually broken).

Aah, so now you can figure out how Edwin got the road name of Thumb! 😄😄

A special fun patch Edwin made for 2017 when he 

went back to do the memorial ride again

The terrible disappointment for Edwin at that point was that his whole trip was in tatters, the memorial ride seemed over and the tour he had planned was just not going to happen.  But after giving it some thought, both Edwin and Kevin hired a car and carried on to Washington DC to complete the memorial ride albeit in a car and not a motorcycle.  And after arriving in Washington, he completed a month of sightseeing around the States before returning back to New Zealand.  So still a great trip with lots of wonderful memories.

And obviously no guesses as to how I got named the road name of Thumbelina!  You cannot have Thumb without ..... Thumbelina. 😄😄

Now you will often see on our Facebook group page reference to Run For The Wall and motorcycles.  This is something very dear to Edwin and means a lot to him.

Now we are on travels of a different sort but you just never know .... we just may be hopping on a motorcycle and doing a trip sometime somewhere in the future.

PS:  Edwin has completed 3 Run For The Wall memorial rides and I joined him in 2017 to do the ride.

Edwin on Run For The Wall 2018

Aargh - Wild weather again and again!!

If you have been wondering why all has been quiet for a while, it has been because we have had to hunker down, stayed indoors to escape more heavy winds and rains.

It has been said:

The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind and the sound of the outer ocean on a beach.

Over the past few weeks, we have had a bombardment of all three of these elements in full cry .... pelting rain, winds at full throttle and pounding oceans.  There was lots of shaking and rattling going on with the caravan but our Rockwood stood firm.  The real difficulty was trying to get a good night's sleep with all the shaking going on.  Combine this weather bomb with a full moon and we have recipe for disaster.... sleep deprivation was going to be inevitable.

And that is how we rolled through the middle of July and how we started August off .....  with wild woolly weather.

So gone for a while is our mild winter weather, our calm sunny days and beautiful serene beach scenes.  Instead our views became this:

And when we got the chance to go outside .....

So while we chill out in our caravan, we feel safe and sheltered - so we just wait it out. This weather shall pass and the good thing that cheers us up is that winter is on its way out.  We are into August now.  Soon it will be September and spring will be on the horizon, followed by summer.  Aah summer, please come soon.

Now I think it though is a good time to snuggle down in the couch with a nice cup of hot coffee and get out my book .....

Visiting Whangaroa Harbour

New Zealand is full of beautiful and quaint little settlements and villages.  On our travels, we are hoping to explore as many of these small towns as we can.

One such little village is Whangaroa Harbour.  For our many overseas friends and family, Whangaroa is pronounced "Fun-ga-row-ha).

The name comes from a lament Whaingaroa or "what a long wait" of a woman whose warrior husband had left for a foray to the south.

Whangaroa Harbour is a surprisingly small but beautiful harbour settlement, popular as a deep-sea fishing spot with a beautiful small harbour on one side of the road that leads into the town and rocky cliffs and land on the other side.

The charm of this really small town is it's remoteness as you have to take a scenic detour to get there and there is only one road into and out of the village.
.
As we entered the town the beautiful bay and harbour grabs your attention immediately.

At the entrance to this small town is this welcoming sign with the following words "Te Wahapu O Whangaroa" which translated means the door to Whangaro and with that simple yet effective entrance sign is a lovely sneak peak of the beautiful harbour.

 Then a little further on, we saw the lovely harbour views:

Now from Tauranga Bay we can only see the entrance to the bay of Whangaroa Harbour in the distance, but we were treated to the most beautiful morning rolling mists flowing out of the bay and over hills .

Almost like a visual of the lament of the woman of Whangaroa waiting for her warrior to return ..... she waits in the shrouded dawn of the day ..... waiting ..... but when the mist clears there is only sea and hills .....

Be curious, you never know what is around the corner

I have often told that I am far too curious and nosy for my own good.  Yes I am, I won't deny it.

I have always been curious from even when I was a little girl.  From an early age I have always wanted to know the 'why", "how", "where" and 'when" of everything I read, saw and explored.  I was fascinated about everything that made up my world and loved getting the bigger picture of events, things and life itself.

And I still do!

Good and honest curiosity in itself is a good thing;  it feeds your imagination and creativity and makes life far more interesting and exciting.

So ..... of course, being true to my curious self, I started to wonder what was around the rocky corner at the end of the bay.

Here is what I found .......

Rocks and rock pools:

A small cave:

A hole in the wall:

And a secluded beach:

They say curiosity killed the cat, so don't be nosy.  Nah, I don't think curiosity killed the cat - I think ignorance did. 

If I had stayed sitting on the grass pondering my question "What is around the corner?" and did nothing, I would not have discovered these secluded wonders of nature hidden from my sight.

Walt Disney penned these famous words:  "We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

So, be curious. 

We sure love our sunsets

More sunsets!  We did warn you that another post of sunset pics was coming.....

It really does not seem to matter where you are in New Zealand, the sunsets are just amazing.  As we actually parked off on the east coast of the country I would have thought sunrises would be plentiful, but they are really scarce.   Strangely enough, it is the sunsets that constantly dazzle us.  I think it is because of all the peninsulas, spits, coves and bays that crease and wrinkle the coastline ... nothing is a straight line so there seems no separation between east and west.

So here is round number 2 of magical sunsets that we have had the privilege of witnessing so far at Tauranga Bay: