End of 2023

I awoke this morning in an information center parking lot drenched in sweat watching a fellow in the spot next to us try to get a towel rolled up in his window to keep the sun out. He must of been looking for a sleep as well. It has been a challenging 15 hours. Last night we arrived at the cutest campground deep in the Kauri Forest. We thought we were winning. Hot showers. Flush toilets. A babbling river. A gorgeous forest. A kitchen! But unfortunately….mosquitoes and as the rain spattered they only got worse and the humidity and heat got worse as well. Finally we had to shut ourselves into the van and it was full of them. For some reason even after a sweaty bug killing rampage they just kept coming. They’d buzz around our ears….. we’d kill them and they’d be blood filled. I felt like I was going insane. Graham finally just fell asleep from exhaustion. We had to stay covered and were sweating so badly. At 4am I reached my threshold and swung open the door and told Graham we were leaving. He could tell this was not a discussion. So in heavy darkness we broke down the chairs and tables and folded up the tarp and very slowly and as quietly as we could departed our nightmare. 

For the next two hours we slowly made our way around a very winding road. Climbing way up and then back down through the mountains. Mini mountains lol. 

At one point in the darkness and all alone….not a soul on the road at this time….I stopped and we opened all the doors and ushered all the mozzies out. I felt a release of stress as I literally watched them depart. 

At 6am we arrived in the town that we would spend New Year’s Eve at but we weren’t able to check into our campsite so the info center parking lot was our rest stop. lol. Oh the life. 

Today we took some time to get better set up. We should have done this sooner. We bought some bug spray! lol. And a few other things to make our lives more comfortable. 

We booked into a holiday park tonight and it feels like luxury. Clean bathrooms, showers and laundry. 😂. I reserved a nice restaurant for tonight a while back and our dinner was off the charts good. We are now back in our cozy van and the temp is so comfortable tonight and no bugs. I’m gonna sleep so well. 

Only 2 hours until midnight and the end of 2023. 2023 was filled with both joy and sadness. A friend passed away in November and it shook me. It put life in perspective. When I remember Ginny, I remember her laughter, sense of humour and smile. She was a no nonsense kind of lady.  As I consider my resolution for 2024 I think I’m gonna “be more like Ginny”! I think she’d smile about that. 

Van Life…not like Instagram

 Well we woke up this morning to pouring rain. I need to go to the bathroom but I’m hating the thought of using the fly infested long drop. There isn’t really a place I can pee either without other campers around. We are also a long way away from a town so eventually I realize I have to bite the bullet and use the bathroom. 

Graham made egg and bacon sandwiches. So good. We then got packed up in between the rain showers and headed off to our next site. About halfway there Graham was like “this seems like the middle of nowhere”. We realized we needed to turn back and get provisions for a couple nights. Internet coverage isn’t that great. We finally manage to get a bar and could see a very small town not too far back. The town was the smallest but it did have a very little store with a few dusty groceries at it. We managed to get some pasta and sauce and a couple of meat pies and coffees. All set. Driving seems a bit easier today although there was a bit on wet gravel. 

When we finally arrive at our campground it looks pretty cool. It a boulder reserve and just as it sound’s humongous boulders everywhere. There is no one around but there is a little box for money, a sign with an arrow to the campground and a bunch of maps for the hiking trails. We are all set! Once we had the van parked we head off on our hike. It doesn’t take long to realize this is gonna be epic. Mossy trails with turns and twists. Crevices. Bridges. Steps. And caves! And views that are like paintings.  Bubbling streams and massive boulders lining some of the trail. Absolutely crazy. I feel so grateful. I find myself saying this is a hike of a lifetime but then we both wonder if perhaps every hike will be like this. We opt to do the 3 hour hike to the magic rock. It’s a crazy huge boulder overlooking the valley. The day has turned quite hot and so humid. By the time we reach the rock I am so sweaty. We see some young guys who tell us you can climb the boulder but best to do it with bare feet. I give it a shot and am so proud of myself when I make it to the top of the boulder. It feels like I’m on top of the world. Unfortunately what goes up must come down. I finally manage to climb down and Graham and I relax under a tree and eat our leftover Pizza Hut pizza. The rest of the day it rains off and on and we laze a bout. Nap. We play some cards. Watch some shows. Make some food. It feels weird to have so much free time lol. It is going to take some time to get used to this. We are now laying inside the van in the dark. We’ve been on a mosquito killing mission. All the windows are closed now. It’s hot but I think we are bug free. We will see. I think it’s gonna be a long night. There were moments today in the van that it looked a bit like the Instagram van lives I follow but we still aren’t completely there 😂. 

Our NZLD Adventures Begin

We woke up this morning at 3:30 am in a parking lot in a van. We have a lot to learn about van life. I’d been awake for a while needing to pee but knowing that the bathroom was quite a ways away and that I would wake Graham with the door opening. Finally I couldn’t wait any longer. I opened the door and Graham said he needed to go as well. After that I woke again at 6am when someone parked next to us and they were talking as they locked up their car. So odd to be sleeping so close in a parking lot. Thank god for the curtains. We are feeling a bit discombobulated. We arrived in Auckland and took an Uber for the 1.5 hr drive to the van which was at the marina. We threw our bags in the van and then went to meet our friends on their boat Mojo. We proceeded to have an awesome evening catching up with them and a few drinks before heading back to the van exhausted and a little tipsy and in the dark. It’s going to take a bit to get in the groove. Our stuff is all everywhere and no order at this point as we dig for our toothbrushes and try to figure out where the pillows are. lol. In the morning after a hot shower I am now faced with figuring out how to drive this very cool van which is a stick shift but the stick is on my left and I’m only recently use to the turn signal stick on my right lol. It feels like such a long vehicle compared to the small car we just rented. It’s a bit overwhelming getting use to all of this. Somehow over the past few years I have become the driver in all the countries where we drive on the left side of the road 😂. Graham’s the navigator. It didn’t take long to get in a groove. The hardest part is not being able to soak in all the amazing scenery. New Zealand is so gorgeous. Rolling green hills with cloves of green green trees of various types and heights in amongst the greenest grass. The road is lined with wildflowers along the sides. Yellow buttercups and these tall purple and white flowers. It feels like we are in a magic place. I keep thinking it’s like we are in a painting. Cows and sheep and beautiful homes here and there on hills. I concentrate on staying in the lines on what seems like a narrow road and gear up and down as we climb up and down the hills. In my head I’m telling myself how awesome I’m doing and then telling myself not to jinx it lol. Our first stop was at Opua Marina. 13 years ago we arrived in Opua being towed in by a friend’s boat after our engine stopped working on our passage from Tonga. It brings back so many feelings being back in Opua and seeing the dock that we lived on as Graham rebuilt our engine and we sold Artemo. Next stop was Keri Keri. By this time it was pouring rain. I said to Graham it’s like I’m playing a video game and the levels keep getting harder. Roads narrower. Steeper. Wetter. lol. 😂 in Keri Keri we bought some groceries and decided to grab a pizza for dinner. We made it to the campground. It’s smaller than we remember. Only a few spots and raining pretty good now. Hmmm this isn’t like the van life Instagram I follow. While I drink my little bottle of bubbles in the bed with the comfy comforter on, Graham makes me the best salad to go with the pizza. Tomorrow when the sun comes out we will get organized and figure this van life out. Oh and I forgot to mention the long drop toilets here are fly infested. Oiy. It’s super quiet though. So quiet. Feels so weird to be off the boat. Last night when I was sleeping I still felt like I was on the water. I feel a pinch homesick for Salty.