Where Do We Go from Here?

That’s exactly the question we asked ourselves and continue asking ourselves throughout this journey...where do we go from here? We’re never entirely without a plan, but even if we had mapped out our year to the T, there’s no way we could have stuck to it. Instead, we plotted points on a New Zealand map of the “must-sees” and “must-dos” and figured we’d fill in the gaps along the way. 

So here we go, first night in the van!

We were well equipped with CamperMate and Rankers to tell us where exactly we could call home without having to dish out any money. Luckily, NZ is prime for this kind of life - freedom camping, that is. We found our first spot and I was thoroughly impressed. Looking back, it pales in comparison to some of the incredible spots we’ve camped at since, but it was beautiful nonetheless. Thankfully so, as we’d be here a few nights until Trevor’s lost luggage could catch up to us!

Our first night in the van went surprisingly smooth. The dread of going from a king size bed to a double quickly passed as we snoozed soundly through the night. (Pro tip: an easy way to fix any bedtime discomfort is to wear yourself out so much that you could fall asleep anywhere and on anything. This isn’t hard when you’re in a van. Small space encourages getting outside, which encourages movement, which eventually encourages exhaustion - easy enough)

In all honesty though, sleep has been the least difficult adjustment. The most annoying bits, which really aren’t too bad at all, include: trying to keep things fresh without a refrigerator, trying to clean up after cooking with an itty bitty pump sink, and having to walk a bit to go potty in the middle of the night. No complaints though, just adjustments.

Anyway, there we were - freedom camping! A few nights of sleep and some tasty kumara chips later, Trevor’s lost luggage had arrived. Everything seemed to be intact and if anything was missing, we haven’t realized it yet. 

Time to hit the road! 

But where do we go from here? North, South, East, West? 

Eventually we settled on South, got back in the van, and started the exploration phase of our journey...after finally changing clothes, of course.