Another year over .... goodbye 2018

Another year over and another year on the bus.  We have now been living life on wheels for 2 years and it looks like there is at least another year in us yet as Liam has work planned around the country next year.

As I write this we are in a wet Kāpiti parked up alongside the downstairs flat. It is great to have our own shower, washing machine and dryer for a while and not have to ask or pay to use others.  Nothing like your own space!  I guess it is about making the most of what we have wherever that may be.

This year has be filled with many highlights as we travelled around the North Island and also a few lows which caused more than a few stumbles in my life over the past few months.  All in all though life has been very good to us and I'm really grateful to have this time with my family and the opportunity to visit the amazing country we live in and the fabulous people we know around it.

Here are a few special moments from the last month :)

Decorating Mum's grave for Christmas

Maths Club in Kaikōura

Having the ponies (Ruby and Lola) visit

Welcome Bertie Chick to Bus life ... temporarily that is :)

Creating a hutch for Bertie

Mini Golf in Kaikōura

Pop up Mall games

Another Tiny Wee Library in Kaikōura

Christmas Fun with family

Harvesting plums at a park over spot

Nothing like a good jigsaw on a rainy day ... in our downstairs flat

Herself's latest project .... a do-up job

Arohanui
Y

Back in the South Island

Well, here we are again back in the South Island!  All year Kiwirail have been trying to get Liam back to Kaikōura and now they have him :)  Looks like we'll be in the South for a few months yet too so it is a good chance to catch up with our friends down here and visit a few yet to be visited spots. We have a great place to park the bus in Kaikōura for the duration and get a few bonuses thrown in ... like the use of their hot tub :)

Enjoying the hot tub where we are staying

Waving at the Prime Minister as the Coastal Pacific came through town for the first time since the earthquake

While in Kāpiti, for the first two weeks of November, we sorted out the house so that we could rent out the upstairs and have the downstairs as a base.  After unpacking what we had stored under the house and giving all the furniture that didn't sell in time for our departure in 2016, which then was shoved under the house, it was pretty evident that our largest possession was books!  Thankfully we kept all the bookshelves Liam created so we could make a floor to ceiling home for them all :)

Even Rex enjoyed being back home

It was great to have everything unpacked though and realise what a good job we did do in clearing out the clutter before we left  - shoved stuff excluded here :).  It was also great to get a few things, which we had purchased and wanted to keep, off the bus.  Best of all was having my own washing machine and line to use at my whim :)  While we love the travelling there is nothing like your own space to do whatever you like in.

Themselves loved heading back to Guides and Cubs along with seeing all their friends. Thankfully the weather was amazing so we had lots of opportunities to be out and about ... unlike the weather by the time we arrived in the south! They say rain is a good omen so I guess I'll focus on that ;)

Daniel getting his Silver Award from Cubs

Hut building with friends in Kāpiti

Riding the waves with Rex in Kāpiti

Since coming to Kaikōura themselves have also lucked out in being about to look after two little Shetland ponies at the end of the road we are staying at. Jasmine heads down there most days (in between rain showers) to muck out, brush and walk Ruby and Lola (the ponies) while Daniel has been making the most of keeping their kid Georgie company (see photo).  During the four days of solid rain and a few overcast and drizzly days on either side Jasmine has been crocheting up a storm.  She has added to her bear collection and made lots for items for them to wear and share. She really is a creative whizz with the crochet now!

Jasmine with her handmade bears - (L - R) Lucy, Rosemary Lavender and Sapphire Primrose

Fast asleep  ... Georgie making the most of snuggles

Jasmine with Ruby and Lola ... we can't believe our luck!

Till next month
Arohanui
Y

The October that was

Well I have been putting this off for a week or so as I really didn't feel up to going over the month that has been.  This October has definitely been the worse I can think of as my Mum passed away at the start of it.  Thankfully she got to die at home as she wished and had family by her side. Since then we have been on an emotional roller coaster.  It seems that while it felt surreal in the first couple of weeks the reality is now crashing around us constantly.

I find myself feeling guilty about posting happy photos of us in the week before Mum died considering how miserable we felt after that and yet I still want there to be a record for the children later, to show October 2018 did have some good times. So with that in mind I will stop writing and post a few photos.

Waipoua Forest with Tane Mahuta in the background

Waipoua Forest

We found a friend

Matakohe Kauri Museum

Travelling down the North Island

Coffee time in Helensville

Crossing to the South Island

Back in Kāpiti

At the Waikanae River with a friend

Back home ... Halloween bonfire

Arohanui
Y

September Update

We are on the road again!  After leaving Pukenui last Friday we have made our way into the Hokianga to explore before travelling south via the West coast. 

Rawene Tyre swing fun

Sand boarding at Te Paki

90 Mile Beach

Our September has been very full of visitors and adventures and it has been great to see themselves growing in knowledge and experience. Herself has become a great catcher of fish now and is often the only one to get anything .. though sometimes they are little or get away before she lands them.  Thankfully she is also becoming a dab-hand in killing, filleting and cooking up all those fish.

Himself with his surprize fish he caught .. before it jumped back into the sea

Father's day at Houhora Heads

Himself is now a year older and while it was a quiet event at the campground he did have the excitement of camping the night before thanks to herself's planned camp.  I don't think he has ever gone to bed so early the night before his birthday and woken so early!  Just after we went to bed on the bus we could hear them talking and found out later than himself had woken, heard noises and thought it was his birthday morning while in fact it was 10.30pm the night before!!  They did wake a 6am on the big day though and herself made him a pancake breakfast camp style :)

Checking out the wild horses while they check us out

Birthday fishing for himself

It is nice to be travelling again and to have let go of some of the clutter that invariably collects when you are in one place too long.  What is especially nice is to be parked up with nature at the doorstep and not another soul in sight.  We are truly spoilt in the life we live and in the country we live in. 

At Wairere Boulders near Māngungu Mission House, Hokianga

Wairere Boulders

Anyway ... though it is a brief account of the month I will sign off and trust that a photo really does say a thousand words.

Arohanui
Y

Another year older

August is almost over and it is blog time again.  We have now been in the far north for a month and parked up at the campground, where we are campsitting for 2 days in exchange for our stay, for almost as long.  It feels that there isn't much to write with us being parked up for the whole month however the month has seen a few adventures.

Our spot at the campground

It is certainly strange being parked up for this long without moving at all. Usually, even when we stay in the same place for a long period, we need to move each week to empty however here we can empty our grey tank and fill our fresh without moving the bus.  With a lack of movement, and packing up in preparation for movement, I have noticed that more things are left out and piles are accumulating!  It will be a shock next month to have to find homes for everything again that is for sure ... for now though themselves are enjoying being able to have their projects out to come back to rather than always putting them away.

At the end of Ninety Mile beach .. Ahipara

At the top of Ninety Mile ... Cape Reinga

There are a few animals here and part of our duties is to feed up. Jasmine has fully taken charge of this and it is hard to be up early enough to have any input most days!  Daniel is finding it hard as he really wants to feeding the pig but the love of his bed in the morning is too much to resist most days. The early bird very clearly catches the worm in this case ... or at least feeds the pig ;)  Aside from check-ins, Liam has to empty the rubbish bins and check the water which means that even though we are camp-bound we still have loads of time to ourselves even when we're on duty.  We have been able to head up to Cape Reinga, lots of beach walks, out to the giant sand dunes and themselves have been down to the wharf for some fishing many days.

Beach  and Bush walks

Te Paki Sand Dunes

Jasmine has been selling her Girl Guide biscuits while we have been in Pukenui and this must be her best year yet as she has cleared 10 cartons by herself.  She has been attending the Kaitaia Group and as they are all Brownies she has been helping the leader and completing some of her leadership clauses.  Being parked up means that we have also been able to catch up with some of the other work that she has been sent through Aotearoa guides which makes for some interesting times .... the choice between rewards now (playing) and delayed rewards (after a bit of work she'll get the badges she wants) has been a big learning curve.  She has also been learning Spanish, making the most of some South American workers which are staying here, and it has been wonderful seeing her confidence growing in talking to others in both her own and another language.

Selling biscuits at Pukenui Market

Daniel has been pottering away on his badge work too though Lego is a major contender for his time each day. His creations and what he thinks to do with it in combination to his electrical bits and other toys never fails to amaze me.  Thanks to being able to join the local library he has had a bit of a break and really getting into reading more chapter books that he likes rather than making do with whatever we can find on the road.  It is nice to see how eager he is to read each night.  He has also been learning some languages, Japanese and Italian, while also chatting to a few Italian campers here. I think however it should be him learning Spanish really as every day, when we ask when he is going to do something, we hear mañana, mañana!

Enjoying something besides Lego ... nothing like burying your sister!!

Fishing down at the wharf

August also sees me turn another year older and this one was my first as a Vegan. Not that it an issue thankfully as I still got a delicious GF, vegan carrot cake to munch on!  It was a lovely relaxed day with loads of time to read. Themselves did a great job with the cake, doing all the jobs and heading out to collect a bunch of wildflowers for me .. yes, there are heaps of flowers blooming up here in the winterless north!  In fact the weather up here has been so warm that the other day we were on the beach in our togs ... sorry had to mention it ;)

Birthday celebrations

Anyway, until next month I hope this finds you all snuggled up warm.

Arohanui Y