Finding Our Feet

No matter what changes you make in your life, there is a time when you need to find your feet.  This is whether you decide to move towns, cities, countries or jobs, there is a settling in period, a time for adjustments.

After selling up most of our possessions, selling a business and leaving jobs, one might think that our need to find our feet with a new life of full-time travel overseas would be enough for one lifetime.

Our self-imposed timeframe of two years soon came around and we found ourselves in a position of once again, out of our comfort zone and needing some time to settle into our new lifestyle and yet more major adjustments.

No Strangers to Camping

We have both been fortunate to have been brought up enjoying the spoils of New Zealand in one form or another.

In the early days, we camped in our old 4×4, graduating to a 2-man tent, a larger tent, progressed to a motorhome and then an on-site caravan.

We joined the NZMCA (New Zealand Motor Caravan Association) way back in 1998.

The basics of camping have certainly progressed and evolved over the years but the feeling you get when exploring the open roads of New Zealand still remains a passion for both of us.

Life in a Tiny House on Wheels

So now we find ourselves in our tiny house on wheels.  Living full time on the road.  How are we going to find our feet now we have started this new chapter in our lives?

Having spent two years living out of a backpack around the greater Asia area, prepared us mentally for a minimalistic lifestyle.  It’s amazing how little you need when you know you have to lug it around.

Wardrobe

It taught us that we don’t need to have numerous changes of clothes and we made do with the same items week after week after month.

Nothing changed for us when kitting out our wardrobe requirement in the caravan.  Everything has a purpose and sometimes we have to justify to the other why we have it.

The biggest difference for us is that we will be experiencing our first real winter in two years (apart from a month in China).  All the countries we travelled to was of the more tropical climate.

Yes, the winter clothes came out of the storage unit and I’m sure will be put to good use as we head to the more southern end of New Zealand as the weather starts to get cooler (back to front some may think!).

Things that Make Life Comfortable

Just because we have great storage, doesn’t mean we have to fill it.

This is the mantra we keep repeating to ourselves.  This involves both outside and inside the caravan.  There are things that we wanted to take to make life just a little more comfortable.

We made sure we got some sturdy, comfortable outdoor chairs and a small compact charcoal BBQ.  This is in addition to the Weber and specifically for when all fire bans have been lifted of course.

Room was also made for our two cycles, an inflatable boat, small outboard motor and a couple of fishing rods.  We just can’t break that connection to the sea.

Toolbox Downsize

Coming from a house with an impressive collection of tools any DIY bloke would be envious of, Scotty had to think of what tools are absolutely necessary.

As we have to watch the weight of both the caravan and ute combined, and as tools are usually quite weighty, he has had to take a minimalistic approach to his tool collection as well.

This has been limited to a few screwdrivers, spanners, crescents and some common size sockets.

Kitchen and Pantry Necessities

This falls into the same category as everything listed above.  For some, this may sound easy to do.  However, the foodie in me has to fight the urge to stock up on supplies so that I have everything on hand should I wish to whip up a storm in the kitchen.

I could easily fall back in old habits of having enough food in the pantry to last a 5-month civil defence emergency.  I now carefully plan my weekly menu and I’m lucky enough to have a good size freezer so that I can make some dishes in bulk for future consumption.

And there is something else I’ve realized.  There will rarely be times that I won’t be passing a supermarket over a period of a few days.  I really don’t need to buy things in bulk and lug it for kilometres around the countryside!

Oh, and I’m getting used to not being able to rinse plates without having to wipe as much residue off as possible.  Paper towels have become my new best friend!

Extended My Vocabulary

I don’t think that I have ever used so many strange words in one conversation before.

These words are now incorporated into everyday conversations and include, but not limited to solar panels, inverter, gas regulator, 240v, Redarc, tv satellite, lithium batteries, cassette toilet, grey tanks, water tanks, compressor fridge, truma combi system, WiTi Anti-Theft, braking systems, Anderson plugs, breakaway system and the list goes on.

I’m sure that it has made us seem socially awkward when we’re amongst a non-camping crowd when we chat about what percentage we’re at, how many amps came in today vs how much we’re using.  Not to mention discussing how much longer before we need to find a Dump Station.

A New Infliction – COGW

During our first few freedom camping episodes, Scotty and I seem to both come down with an infliction.  I call this COGW (Compulsive Obsessive Gauge Watching).  I’m sure that there is such a ‘thing’ for new freedom campers.

The first step to recovery was to admit that we were both guilty of it.  That need to open the cupboard which I’ve named the cockpit, just to check on the percentage of our batteries and how much solar is coming in.  Then there was the need to turn off certain items in the caravan to gauge how much power they used.

This condition is slowly getting better but there is no going ‘cold turkey’.  There will always be the need to have the tendency to check those essential gauges.  Do we have enough to watch TV or do we read? Do we have enough water for a ‘navy’ shower in the morning?  How fill is the grey tank getting?  Has the warning light come up on the cassette toilet?  Are the gas bottles going okay?

Each of us can be forgiven if we’re caught taking a sneaky look in the cockpit.  It’s okay to check that all is on track.

Still New to the Game

It has now been 5 weeks of living in our tiny house on wheels.  There have certainly been moments of frustration when things just don’t seem to go right.  Many times we’ve been left scratching our heads and saying ‘how does this work?’.  Those times when the expected just doesn’t happen and we’re left wondering what we did wrong.

However, there have also been times of great delight and plenty of laughs.  Things work to plan, we wake up to a new landscape and enjoy that spectacular ‘happy hour view’.

We’ve only just begun and we have still got so much to learn.  Some things are starting to become second nature. But we still meticulously work through our Departure and Arrival List of things to do.

Check out our other blogs by clicking on the links below:

• So We Bought an Aussie Caravan – Why?
• Helpful Hints on Importing a New Caravan from Aussie to NZ
• Modifications to our Aussie Caravan in NZ

Check out our video of some of the highlights of the start of our new life in our home on wheels.