4000 km, 2 islands, 1 ferry, 4 rain forests, 2 oceans, 2 glaciers, 8 wineries, 20 campsites, 20 trampolines, 35 days, 35 bottles of wine, 15 family soccer games, 20 family runs, 15 dump station visits, 12 endemic wildlife sightings and unlimited memories.
It’s been an amazing 5 weeks in New Zealand and we’ve learned many life lessons and insights while we’ve been here travelling in our ‘Bula Bus’. Following are ten that we’d like to share – in no particular order…
A wrong turn in the road can lead to found opportunity
This has happened so many times in our travels so far. One time in particular was the North Island, in the Bay of Islands. We accidentally passed our turnoff heading west and came across a small sea kayak rental hut on the beautiful bay of KeriKeri. On a whim we pulled the Bula Bus over (not so easy to do with short notice) and decided to kayak for the afternoon in the beautiful bay and near shore islands.
Sea Kayaking in the Bay of Islands
Happy Kai = happy family
It took us 3 months of travel to realize that when Kai is happy, then the whole family is happy. It doesn’t take much to make this happen. Sometimes it’s a bit of extra food for his growing body. Other times it’s a challenging game of soccer in a green field that we’re passing by. It’s the simple things that make Kai happy – and that’s a good thing.
Every day needs a date night
Even in the spacious size of campervan that we have – sometimes we feel we need a little space to ourselves. A wonderful date night would happen by just a simple pull of the curtains, candlelight, 2 glasses of wine, beautiful music, twinkle of touching toes, and wonderful conversation with just the two of us! xo
Frame the view
Often times we would look out the back window of the Bula Bus and were struck by the beauty of the framed image. Sometimes it was a morning sunrise behind the alpine ranges. Other times it was simply the sight of Kai and Vea fishing on a glassy lake. Every time we saw this – we took a moment to appreciate and capture the ‘now view’.
Meal time = family time
Mealtimes are always a fun family time! We always decided together what to make to eat and everyone more or less contributed to either, chopping, cooking or cleaning. The best part was the amazing conversations while eating…even Kai has become very chatty! Kai and Vea have become very inquisitive about our daily adventures rather than just taking them in. It is wonderful to have all these conversations with no distractions or schedules to abide to.
No need for agendas
We’ve been embracing a style of travelling in which we’re flexible to change plans on a whim. Many times we’ve pulled out of our campsite with a set plan only to change our minds by the time we hit the first stop-sign. Sometimes the weather conditions influence our agenda – but more often it’s a sign we see or a gut feeling we get and decide to go with it. We’re learning that following our instinct often leads to good results.
Planning the route for the next day
Learn all the time
We are definitely not teachers (we give new credit to all teachers out there) but we think we are doing a pretty good job. Spontaneous homeschooling has been a key part of our travels in New Zealand, including daily spelling tests while driving, mapping skills, morning tests posted on the walls with random facts on places and things we have learned, nature walks filled with questions, and learning about new cultures by meeting people from all over the world. Math and English are a staple but we really enjoy the spontaneous learning throughout the whole country of New Zealand – it has so much to offer.
Our outdoor classroom
The importance of daily rituals
With five weeks of travelling in the Bula Bus, we’ve had time to develop some fun personal rituals every day. Before setting off on the road, Vea does a verbal ‘go-time’ checklist which ensures the Bula Bus is ready for travel (she runs a very tight ship!). Kai ensures that there’s 2 beers stocked in the fridge for Norrie to enjoy after his day of driving is done. Kari breaks out into a song of ‘On the Road Again’ the moment we hit pavement in the morning. And Norrie’s unfortunate daily ritual is to ensure that the Bula Bus has been filled with water and made a visit to the ‘dump station’ before pulling out.
Take time for ‘Vino Time’
We have followed in Ragnar’s daily ‘Vino Time’ routine. It is such a nice time of the day when the driving is complete, meals are being planned, the map is pulled out to see where we’ve travelled or where we will be travelling the next day. We don’t have as good wine selection as Ragnar but we have the same top shelf, bottom shelf ranking. In our case the top shelf is our boxed wine ($10.00 for 3.5 litres!!) and the bottom shelf is the storage compartment of the Bula Bus where we store our finer bottles (which still come in under the $12 mark).
Snuggle up and chill
We’ve enjoyed some wonderful nights snuggled up under our Bula Bus Duvets for a movie and popcorn. Norrie has perfected his technique of coconut oil stove-top popping which we all agree tastes better than any movie theatre popcorn. These movie nights have been especially nice during days of heavy rain and cold nights while freedom camping. And we’ve only had one incident when the laptop battery died half-way through the movie!!
We’ve enjoyed an amazing five weeks here in New Zealand – which makes saying goodbye somewhat sad. This is a country where we’ve felt most welcome and most at home on our travels so far. There’s so much to see and do here – and we know that we’ll be back again. Maybe next time will be in the winter to enjoy snowboarding in these beautiful Southern Alps.
Here’s some of our photos from our time in the South Island.
We’re soon flying on to the next chapter of our travels in Australia. We’ll be arriving in Melbourne to visit Norrie’s friend for a few days and then make our way up the eastern coast for our two house exchanges in Sydney and Yamba. Kai and Vea are super excited to have their own rooms for the next month – and so are we!
All 4 Now!
N,K,K,V – You inspire me every time I read your blogs….you are making magnificent memories – grounding yourselves in the values and traditions you packed to take along from home while being open to new and exciting experiences…..it’s such a wonderful world out there….thank you for binging some of it right back to my living room….I am there with you in spirit!
I think we share many similar values and appreciation of the important things in life!!! Loved seeing a few posts from your trip to Ecuador – can’t wait to share stories. xo
Australia ,was the only map I could draw ,because it looked like a bull dog profile. Enjoy the kangaroos
We saw kangaroos on the first day – Vea was so excited!
Oh!!!! One of my favorite posts, right here!! You so wonderfully captured your love for New Zealand (for all 4 of you) and these special shares about the family moments, experiences, discoveries and growth are really heart-warming Kari. I absolutely love this! ❤ You know how I think ALL your photos are all phenomenal… I’ve got to say that think one of the most special ones (which made me smile) are your candlelit date night behind the curtain with Norrie 🙂 You’re such a wonderful family. Thinking of you guys and send you all tons of love! xxx
Thanks for your comments Malini! Kai and Vea loved to sneak a peak around the curtains during our dates! Too funny. xo
Vea’s t-shirt in the last picture says it all…
Life is beautiful
Xo Karen
She wears the shirt proudly for all of us during our travels! xo
If this trip isn’t the beat education in the world, I don’t know what is. Actually your families and friends are learning quite a bit as well as we follow your journey. Enjoy Australia and all it surely has to offer as well as your own space in the places you’re having the house exchanges. Hopefully they come with a vehicle to travel in and see more interesting places along the way.
Love you guys,
Marion and tim
We are loving the comforts of home right now as well as the daily showers and clean smelling clothes! xo
Love your stories, traditions and discoveries…I too love the date night behind the curtain idea!!! Fantastic! Happy Kai Happy Family!!! Tee Hee Love ya all!! XOXO
You know Kai well and his happy boy ways! xo
This blog post was like a poem to me. I feel like I’ve read a beautiful painting.
Sheila
ox
Thanks Sheila! We truly LOVED New Zealand! xo
You realy know what life is all about,lots of klemmer fra oss i Horten.
Hei! Hei! Gleder oss til Norge turen i September! xo
Thanks, Kari for such a wonderful post from such a wonderful Mom!
Enjoy a Happy Mother’s Day this Sunday (hopefully in your home exchange abode). 🙂
We are looking forward to a great Mother’s Day in our new home away from home! Hope you have a fabulous day in Three Brooks!
Hei Kari
Lenge siden sist. Så fint å se deg og din fine familie. Unni har akkurat vært her og besøkt meg. Det var veldig hyggelig å se henne igjen og høre om hvordan det er med dere. Hørte at dere kommer til Norge og håper vinkling treffes da. Kos dere videre. Utrolig bra skrevet og det høres ut som dere har det utrolig bra.
Klemmer fra Tonje
Hei Tonje!! It’s great to hear from you! Mom showed me some pictures of your beautiful family and can’t wait to catch up when we come to Norway. Stor klem fra oss! xo Kari
This blog brought both tears of joy and memories of New Zealand and an awareness of how excellent your trip is in terms of life changing occurrences and experiences for your entire family. Thank you for sharing! Aloha, Hare Mei!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the image from date night. Adorable.