Listen to the Ocean

"Listen to the ocean
echoes of a million seashells
Forever it's in motion
Moving to a rhythmic and
unwritten music
That's played eternally"
(Lyrics - Listen to the Ocean
Nina and Frederick)

Where we are now, the sound the sea and surf is constant. The volume changes as high tide comes in and then recedes. You hear it all day and all night, constant natural white noise. At times you just tune it out and at other times, the crashing surf is so loud and fierce, especially in the quiet of the night.

The loud noise of the surf really amazes me as I take my daily walks along the beach in the day.... the sea certainly does not look rough or dangerous. In fact, the sea looks fairly calm with low waves and a sandy beach. Yet the sound of the waves crashing down on the beach is really loud and conjures up a picture of an angry sea which it definitely is not.

I guess that is how deceptive sounds can be.... or is that the ocean itself is deceptive;  relatively fine and OK to the eye, but who knows what is lying under the surface of the waves and surf.  Are there any nasty rips or treacherous rocks?  Who knows as I will not be testing out the waters here now in winter ....

But while we are parked off here, I will admire the beauty of this beach and coastline on our doorstep.  So until we leave, I will wake up every day to a gorgeous view and serene start of the day and go to bed with the ever constant, clamourous orchestral manoeuvres of the ocean.

Yes, life is good ..... very good!

Bye Bye Hihi

Hihi Beach Holiday Park was truly a wonderful camp spot and we really loved our 4-week stay here.  It was a gem of place and we will definitely back.

To be honest, we were rather puzzled as to why there were only 4 of us long-stayers there during our time there.  We thought it would be really popular with campers who like to spend winter in Northland.  But hey, Shhhhh .... maybe we should not say too much .... it could get too busy LOL.

So despite the temptation to stay longer, it was time for a change of scenery.  So on the morning of 17 June, it was "bye bye Hihi, and "hello Tauranga Bay".  We had heard how popular this camping spot was with the full-timers on the road, so we were curious and had to see it for ourselves.  So instead of continuing our journey up north, we headed down south for 40 km's.

Tauranga Bay is very different from Hihi; very open, a bit more rustic and you can park right up to the beach.  The view is spectacular!  What the park lacks in facilities, the views for your campsite are just wonderful.  What we quickly learnt here, is you come here to fish if you are a fisherman or you come here to enjoy the fabulous beachfront views from your mobile home.

Warning!  Expect another post of sunset photos - they have been spectacular from this beach!

Front row parking

Fabulous rocky cliffs

Beach in winter mood

This is how we roll at Tauranga Bay

Wild Weather

We were under no illusion that starting our journey on the road in winter would bring on some challenges.  Winter in New Zealand is generally very wet, windy and can be really cold.  And despite the fact that we decided to hibernate over the winter in "winterless" north, having no winter at all in any part of New Zealand would be a myth.

At the start of our journey, we certainly had the most amazing weather over May and June here in Northland with fantastic warm temperatures and lovely sunny days - but hey, we knew that winter would be lurking around somewhere ready to give us a smack with some crazy weather.

And on the 6 June, the wild weather arrived at Hihi.  We were certainly buffetted with heavy winds and rainfall for 3 days, so we had no choice but to hunker down in our caravan and keep warm and dry  Fortunately, we were parked away from the beachfront winds and well shielded by trees and vegetation.

Heave dark clouds and choppy seas at Hihi Beach

This wild and wacky weather bomb was a really good reminder never to underestimate the power of nature.  There was a sting in the tail of this winter storm when a tornado descended out of nowhere on Coopers Beach, a small town only about 15 minutes away from where we were parked.

Fortunately, we had no trouble from this little twister.  We were certainly very grateful that we were parked on the opposite side of the bay and nowhere near its path.

Realistically winter can bring on all sorts of weather bombs, from wild winds to torrential rain with other hazards like tornados and flooding.  Being full-timers on the road, we are very aware of this and will be vigilant and move if required.

But hey, the way we see it .... life is all about taking the bad with the good.  Getting caught up with worrying about the things we cannot control will destroy our inner peace and rob us of our joy of living.  And storms don't last forever, they too will pass.

Enjoy the simple pleasures of life

Golden Hour - Magical sunsets

Sunset is so marvellous that even the sun itself watches it every day in the reflections of the infinite oceans!
Quote by: Mehmet Murat Ildan

Here at Hihi, we have had front row seats for the most spectacular sunsets.  We have witnessed sunsets of every colour and combination.

No further narration is needed in this post.  Just enjoy these sunsets as much as we have.

Bold in Gold:

Pretty Pink & Beautiful Blue:

Soft and Subtle:

So with ending of each day, despite all the good, bad and ugly life can throw at us, each sunset reminds us that every day can end beautifully - for every sunset brings down the curtain on the day that was and encourages us to look forward to the dawning of a new day of promise and hope.

Hi, Hi we are at Hihi

Apologies, but we could not resist a little play on the name of our next home on the road ... Hihi is pronounced "He-He" :-)

We have now settled into a really lovely campsite called HiHi Beach Holiday Park for a month. We could not have chosen a better place to start our life on the road. The park is right over the road from a sheltered beach and is beautifully maintained with lots of lush green landscaped gardens and trees.  Every morning and throughout the day we hear the birdsong of the Tuis in the trees and we are pretty sure we have heard the chirpy sound of kiwis at night.

We cannot believe that there are only 4 campers including ourselves that have chosen this wonderful place as a long stay for winter.  This park is a gem!  And we are loving our stay here.

The park is amazingly well maintained with spotlessly clean facilities.  Jeff and Christine are wonderful hosts and best of all it is dog-friendly in off-peak months

Hihi itself is a small settlement with no shops but shopping is not a problem at all.  Just a 15 minute drive will get you to either Mangonui or Coopers Beach to stock up for food.  If you really wanted to get other supplies other than food, then Kaitaia is only a 40 min drive away.

But really the magic and beauty of Hihi is the sleepy beachside atmosphere that exists here; a Northland paradise of unspoiled natural beauty.

Heading out to the Winterless North

Monday, 17 May was moving day.... and a first-time experience for us.  So we had this plan of how to do this.  We had watched plenty of YouTube videos of how to pack your caravan/trailer to prepare for the "move" - so we figured we had it all sussed.

There is a first time for everything right?

We packed up most of all the loose stuff and safely stowed them away in cupboards and in other safe places like on the bed and chairs, made sure nothing could slide around and that all the drawers and cupboards were secure.  And then our slides came in without a hitch.  Next came the hitching of the caravan to the car, but that went without a hitch …. hahaha …. no pun intended :-)

And we were ready for our next adventure - Bye Bye Whangarei, Hello open road.  We would be lying if we say that we were not a little bit apprehensive about the tow.  We felt the weight of the caravan behind, but she sat solidly behind us.  We were only going 140 odd kilometres to our next stop so we took our time and enjoyed the drive.

We had totally forgotten just how beautiful this part of New Zealand is  Spectacular coastlines, waters of various tints of blues and green rolling hills.  it was certainly a lovely drive to enjoy.

So where did we decide our next home be ….. a truly lovely settlement of HiHi with a gorgeous bay and beach.

And yes our moving day went without a problem;  everything was perfectly in its place when we arrived, nothing moved.  So yes!  We did it - passed our first test of Living on the Road.

By the way, did we say it went without a hitch ..... hmm, maybe not quite ...... as we still haven't found some the things we packed away so securely.  Now, where could that charging cable be for our other little camera??

Oh dear, only the 1 photo of us at our coffee stop at Kaeo - we were too busy enjoying the drive.

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 …..

Such a lovely clean kitchen

A small but really comfy lounge/dining area

A sparkling clean dining area

And after 2 weeks, on 20 May, we hitched up our van ready for our next adventure:

All hitched and ready to leave