Hello New Zealand

I have never lived in a van before. I have foggy memories of family motorhome trips in Texas when I was three years old... My oldest brother always insisting on starting the fire, my Mom cooking simple meals on the stove top, and my Dad with a thick mustache and very short shorts, but it was the 80’s after all.

Camping, though, quickly became a favorite pastime of ours, Jeremy and I, while living in California. One of our very first excursions together was a camping trip to Joshua Tree in June, nearly 10 years ago, driving with the Jeep top down in the dry, desert heat, as we observed the thermometer rise from 85 to 105 in a matter of hours. Our hair blown, our lips dry, and our spirits rejuvenated, we explored the ancient rock formations, while drinking cold beer and watching the slow and steady sunset. It was pretty magical, and I think that experience solidified our thirst for nature and adventure and skies and campfire, all while discovering everything California could offer.

Once, we were stalked by a giant bear in Big Bear… I would say that’s a fitting name, don’t you think? Another time, we got caught in a torrential rain fall in the desert and due to the fear of flash flooding, we slept in our car the entire night.  We’ve slept under giant Sequoias and swam in a cold swimming hole naturally carved in rock formations within the great Sierra mountains. We returned back to Joshua Tree many times, but our last time trying to camp there really took it out of us. The campsites were entirely full upon arrival, so we ended up sleeping in a dusty, dry, dirty parking lot, the relentless heat beating down on us like a sting you can’t relieve, and it was awful. After that experience, camping wasn’t as desirable to us as much.

Now, we’re here in New Zealand; a beautiful, clean, vast, and extraordinary land, and we’re living out of a camper van, and there’s a child-like joy I’m beginning to discover all over again. I don’t get regular showers, I don’t have a mirror, I don’t have AC, or WiFi, or even a proper mattress to sleep on, but you know what? It’s bloody amazing at times. I’m literally living in something that can turn on at any given moment and hit the road and see new sights every single day. We slept in a sleepy beach town our first two nights, next to a sulfuric lake the next night, and by the most picturesque, ocean-size lake last night. We awoke this morning, with the heartbeat of waves booming down on the lakeshore, packed up our camper van, and hit the road, passing by forests as giant as they are in fairytales, volcanoes, hundreds of sheep, and geysers. If this isn’t freedom and adventure, I don’t know what is.

We may be a bit dirty, fighting off viruses, and exhausted from being sick, but I haven’t slept more soundly in a long time and there’s a quiet peace and contentment that’s starting to wash over me.

We’re making our way, on the left side of the road, to the very bottom of the North Island, down to the city of Wellington, and off on a ferry to the South Island next.

Cheers,

Tera