Dream it. Wish it. Do It: Starting out

After picking up our Rockwood 2604WS from Auckland on 6 May, we were very happy to be escaping the rat race! The weekend stop in Auckland was just long enough for us to get the big city buzz …. and it gave us a wonderful opportunity to catch up with family. But that traffic was enough to remind us why we left the Big Smoke 2 years ago.

So we were glad to get finally get on the road and head up north after spending most of the Monday morning at the Rockwood farm up in Dairy Flats getting the last minute fittings done to the caravan and to our ute. Edwin rode in front pulling the caravan with Janet following behind in her car. Unfortunately, we did not get the BMW sold before we left, so we just had to bring her along for the ride until we could get her sold.

The trip up to Whangarei went all well with Edwin doing a great job of towing and we arrived safely sometime around 4 pm at Whangarei Central Holiday Park. It had been a long day so we were pretty exhausted. And then it started to rain …..

Now all our worldly belongings were still in the Colorado Holden and the BMW So with the rain, we decided to just pack out what we needed to make up our bed and get out the basics to make our night comfortable - the rest could wait

And so our new life started. It really did feel quite surreal and unbelievable to think that we had finally reached this milestone in our lives!

In order to find our feet and get used our new home and tiny living, we decided to stay at this park for 2 weeks. It was probably not the best park in the area (or so we heard from the locals), but we honestly had a lovely stay there. It is actually quite a small park and was definitely in need of updating, but it was kept spotlessly clean and the facilities were superb - everything worked and the water was always hot.

From what I could gather the park had a stigma and a bit of bad rap because of the permanents staying there. But we had no bad experience there. Most of the permanent folks there we did not see much of and those that we meet in the facilities were very friendly and really nice folk.

What we found out was that the park had just been sold and 3 days before we arrived and we feel pretty sure that in time every effort will be made to improve this park ….. so watch the spot.

The park itself is right in the centre of Whangarei so for us this was very handy as we were still needing to stock up with food and other things that we needed. So we obviously spent quite a lot of time in the shops. But we also were able to spend time with family who we had not seen for quite a while. So our family time there was a real treat. Why we even got to experience 2 Saturdays of kiddies school rugby - something we had never done.

The only downside to our first out on the road experience was that we both got bad colds. Even our little furbaby had the sniffles and sneezes after a few days. So we were all feeling a little sorry for ourselves for those first few days or so.
also used the opportunity not only to get to know our new tiny home but to just take it easy and get better before we left on our next adventure.

So despite the cold bugs, our stay in Whangerei was a good experience. We found that we settled easily into our new life in the caravan.

We did not take too many photos but here are a few:

Earlier I mentioned the facilities and how spotlessly clean they were. Well, I was really impressed with them as I used the kitchen for cooking and cleaning dishes (did not want to mess up our new home LOL). You be the judge …..