February Update from the Fays

I don't think I have ever taken so many photos in one month!!! To think that there were months last year where I only had 10 photos to choose from and now ..... well there is a multitude of choice (sorry the collection below isn't in any particular order ). I can see that it will actually be hard to summarize everything we are doing, exploring, seeing and experiencing.  One of my favourite things though is seeing themselves enjoying nature and interacting with new people so easily.

Leaving Killinchy - My Mum's

Sunset at Fortrose, near Invercargill

Experiencing colonial school life in Okains Bay, Banks Peninsula 

 After beginning the month in Canterbury we have now finished it some 600km south in Invercargill.  It has been a wonderful month to say the least! Some of the highlights include: Chinese New Year Parade in Christchurch, learning Chinese calligraphy from the Chinese community, Waitangi Day in Okains bay, seeing friends and family, meeting new people, collecting wild growing plums in Canterbury, apples in Otago and blackberries in Southland, seeing seals, sea lions and penguins in the wild, finally getting our composting toilet on board (no more stinking journeys!), petrified forests, fossils, caves, ship wrecks, museums galore and tuatara!

Huriawa Peninsula, near Karitane

Fishing at Owaka Yacht Club, Clutha District

Moeraki Boulders

We will be in Invercargill now for a couple of weeks while Liam does a bit of work.  Parking up at the local racecourse is a great spot which has us in walking distance to the laundromat, a community garden (which we volunteered at today and donated our compost collection to) and a playground.  We are also biking distance to town and today the kids and I rode into the museum to see the tuatara. It is a great museum, art gallery and gardens. Thankfully themselves are developing good bike and road sense skills so it wasn't quite as nerve wrecking as it used to be cycling with them in Kapiti! :)

Peel Forest, Canterbury

Bags full of free plums in Opihi, South Canterbury

Ticking off the NZ monopoly board ... Dunedin Train Station

There is a local Environment Centre here too, which is where we found out about the community garden, and the lady running it is homeschooling her nearly 8 year old so we already have an invite to join the local homeschool group for a farm explore/free-play this Friday.  There is also a Chess club at the Environment Centre tomorrow which themselves are looking forward to as their skills improve on that front too.  So nice to find connections with new people and feel included so quickly.  Amazing how living in a bus opens doors for you!

At Slope Point the southern most point of the South Island.

Until next month I hope this finds you all enjoying life.

Arohanui
Y

An action packed January update

It is amazing just how many photos I have taken this month!! For sure we are still feeling in ' this is a great holiday' mode rather than 'this is our life' mode however it still blows me away just how much you can fit into a month without a routine to have to keep to and with your home where ever you venture.

Still in Holiday mode - Banks Peninsula

We have now been on the road for 6 weeks and loving it.  It has not been without a few adjustments, a lot of patience and a bit of head banging however we are getting there and personally I wouldn't swap this life for anything.  Being able to catch up with friends while having our own space close by and watching themselves re-connect with friends, family and places is wonderful.

Canterbury has been our playground for the majority of those 6 weeks and we will still be here for another couple of weeks as Liam is going to do a bit of work for a week in Christchurch.  We have stayed outside some friends in Christchurch, at my Mum's in Leeston, outside some other friends in Christchurch, at Coes Ford and at another friend's place in Davauchelle before returning to Coes Ford.

In Davauchelle

I can see that in writing these updates it is going to be hard to find a way to cover everything so I might have to go with the orderly approach - bullet points for the week and the best photo pick :)

Jan 2 - Jan 8

- House sitting in Christchurch for friends. It was great to be the luxury of a house and yet we did miss the bus.
- BBQ with friends
- Rediscovering the playground I used to play on when I was themselves age.
- The bus began its process to becoming fully road trustworthy

Still the same slide 40 years later

Jan 9 - Jan 15

- More house sitting (for different friends) where the kids raided their berries
- Visiting family
- Catching up with friends in the beautiful Christchurch Botanical gardens
- Lego play for the kids at ' Imagination Station'
- Walked the bridle path
- Canterbury Museum

At the top of the Bridle path

Jan 16 - Jan 22

- Adjusting to Bus life again and lots of chess playing and card games
- Bus made it through all its fixes and got its new COF

On the road again

- Making toys from recycling
- Walking the Rapaki track

Themselves on the Rapaki track

- More friend visits including playgrounds and yummy snacks
- Meeting herself's online guiding leader in Christchurch
- Himself the younger lost another tooth

Another tooth gone

Jan 23 - Jan 29

- Herself turned 10!!

Decorating her cake - seems she didn't trust me to get it right!

- Lunch out with Nan after a manicure for herself
- Stop Motion Movie workshop for themselves and some time to explore the botanical gardens for us
- Biking the Rail trail from Birdlings flat to Little River

Rail trail to Little River

- Staying at a friends place in Duvauchelle with the best view out the rear window yet
- Helping with Milking - Himself the elder that is not I!

The Cow cocky at work

- Exploring Akaroa
- A quick paddle at Okains Bay before visiting the Maori and Colonial Museum there.

Ice Blocks in Okains Bay - nothing better than small town NZ!

And since this week is mostly Feb I will leave it at that :)  I hope this finds you all enjoying the fickle weather the best way you can.


Arohanui
Y

Last update of 2016

Well here we are  .... the last date in 2016, sitting in our housebus and enjoying the great outdoors.  It has been a busy and stressful December to say the least!!! We made it though.  We de-cluttered everything so we could pack up the house in Toroa Road, gave away loads, stored the precious (not needed things) and then only put in the necessities into our house-bus ' Toroa'.

Snuggles with the chooks before they went to a friend's house to be cared for.

We are currently parked up at my Mum's place after spending Christmas with her.  It has been great to catch up with friends and family so far and there are many more that we still need to catch up with.  Luckily (looking on the bright side here) we are parked up for the next few weeks as we await some work on the bus.  So we will have time to go visiting and sight-seeing with themselves.

Christmas lunch at Mum's

Life on the bus is actually going really well.  We estimated what we wanted on here fairy accurately so we have a home for the majority of our things without lots of squeezing and stuffing and there is nothing (in the nearly 2 weeks we have been living on here) that we have wanted and not had at hand.  There are still a couple of musical instruments lurking in the front seat that need a space and our lap-tops are also hanging with them however that is it for the homeless possession list.  I can still sit in the front seat though (I am writing from there now) so at least when we do head from here with our bumble-bee on the dolly trailer behind I'll have a seat :)

Catching (and releasing) dogfish down at Wakanui Beach, near Ashburtion

Himself with his catch and release.

I think the hardest thing is the changing of routine, aside from himself getting used to being with us all, all the time :).  Gone are all our past routines and with that comes a sense of freedom which we haven't really had before.  Life (and children) though kind of needs a routine ... even if it is a relaxed one.  We have definitely been in holiday mode with sleep ins and late bed times ... slowly but surely though we are beginning to come to a natural rhythm.  The animals on board have created it more than anything.  Walking the dog in the am, feeding  and snuggling the mouse too before we head out on adventures.  There is also our journalling which we are all maintaining.  We are no longer bound by timetables or time just jobs to be done at some stage in the day.

Exploring Christchurch's Gap Fillers

I'm sure the next few weeks and months will bring lots of learning, fun and new experiences so until then.

Arohanui

Y

November Update

It is all cranking up now!! Only a couple of weeks left in our home and then we are off on our housebus adventure.  November has been very busy with us getting everything ready to go - Packing, painting, sorting, cleaning, clearing, fixing, replacing and advertising both things to sell and our place to rent out.

Most of our time has been spent de-cluttering or keeping the place tidy so I'll just do a quick photo update. :)

Himself at JOTA (Jamboree on the airwaves)

The manager of the 'Tree House Cafe'  taking (and giving) orders

The 'Tree House Cafe'  kitchen and chef

Themselves investigating our old computer. Part of the de-clutter and they loved getting to pull it apart!

Moody Moonlight, Jasmine's one-eyed mouse, turns 2!! She is determined to come travelling with us obviously.

Themselves checking out the flooding after the big earthquake in Kaikoura.

Herself at riding.

Until next month and an update from the bus.
Arohanui

Y

October 2016 - The month we got our bus!

Well yes ... the big news for this past month is the fact that we finally have our bus!!  After years of thinking, looking and planning followed by a few months of searching and viewing we found our little 9m, 1956 Bedford bus - New Zealand new no less! :)  Our wish list was completely ignored it has to be said when we went to view Popi (said Popeye) and Liam fell in love.

The kids and I love it too and even more so after we took it for a Picnic tea down to Waikanae Estaury the night we got it back here.  It was even better than I imagined.  Now the work begins to sort everything in the house and the bus to be ready to head down to Canterbury for Christmas.   We are going to rent out our home here in Kapiti, keeping the downstairs flat as a holiday let and base for us when needed, and hit the road this December.

It currently has 2 single beds so Liam is going to rig up a double bed and bunks for us all and the only other major thing is that there is not hot water system ...... back to basics and boiling the jug for dishes and the pot for the shower for us in the first few months I think. The old couple who owned it for 26 years before us have a set up of a pot on a shelf in the bathroom and then a pump out of that which works the shower!  That is Kiwi ingenuity for you. :)

So here are are few 'raw' photos with the previous owners stuff and before we get stuck into it :)

Introducing Popi

View from the front door down to the back of the bus

View from the kitchen to the drivers seat.  Table in the middle folds down and packs away.

Same view further back with some of the kitchen in sight.

Bedroom.  The top 'floating'  bed will be made into a double for us.

The kid's bunks will begin in the space himself is going into and come out to meet the double bed.

Our new kitchen!

The rest of the kitchen.

Herself making a start on the dishes :) 

Till next month
Arohanui Y

The September that was .....

Oh Man ... late again.  I have been thinking about doing this for the past 2 weeks, honestly!  We have been super busy the last two weeks bus hunting, doing house bits and I have begun to teach Infant Massage. :)  So ... in order to actually get this update done I will now do a quick photo collection on some of the highlights of September 2016.

Bike rides in the sunshine with the dog.

Playing down the Waikanae River

A flooded playground!!  The middle of our street was also flooded and closed off

Making up birthday Lego.  Big 8 year old in the house!

Mmmmm .... birthday cake before fishing in Island Bay

Catching plastic bags.

At work during the Kapiti Women's Expo

Sorry very brief ... just trying to ease my feelings of guilt at not doing anything :)  Hope this finds you all happy, healthy and loving life.

Arohanui
Y

August

Already this post is late I know and then when I went to look at what photos I had to share I discovered that there weren't any!  It seems that August has passed us by without much notice or fanfare.  This month it will be just words sorry .... note to self  'take more photos' :)

We began the month in warmth and sunshine over in Australia only to return to the wind and the rain and the shock of what winter temperatures are meant to be like.  While the temperature was a bit of a shock, and I ended up unwell for a week, themselves were very pleased to get back to their beloved pets.  The chickens had a wonderful time holidaying on a friend's farm, hopefully the dog enjoyed his break and Moonlight (our one eyed mouse) survived the break with a resident cat, toddler and baby :)

Jasmine has been taking horse riding lessons for the last couple of months so she was particularly eager to get back with her friends and onto the ponies again.  I have to say that she looks pretty good up there and is picking up the skills very quickly.  Still need to work on her skills of getting the ponies ready however as she delegates jobs to others.  Although in saying that it was nice the other day to groom and saddle up the pony for her - old habits die hard :)  She has also given Guides a try as she is preparing to move up from Brownies.  She has worked incredibly hard to get all her badges completed before transitioning up and while she will surely miss her friends, she is more than ready to make the leap.

Daniel wasn't tempted by the horse riding and took a while to decide what he would like to do.  This month however he decided that he would like to learn ukulele after getting one (actually my old one when I was a kid) as a present a few years back.  He is really loving it and even without much - read that as none - practise as home he seems a natural at picking up what the teacher is showing  and sings and plays along with no bother!  It is nice to see him have his own 'thing' and he is really loving it.  The other main activity for Daniel is his Keas group and he too is getting ready to move up to Cubs.  Like herself he has been working hard to complete all his badge work and even more so when he realised he had a chance to get his 'gold' badge before his big sister!!  He has been for one Cub visit and really loved it so fingers crossed the transition goes smoothly.

While aside from me turning a year older, Liam working around here and the odd trip out and about I think that is about it from us this month.  Still got my mental note to take more photos so fingers crossed September will have a bit more visual appeal. Hope this finds you all warm, healthy and happy.

Arohanui
Y