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 .....