After three months, through winter, Liberty has withstood the test of time and we have moved past the novel feeling of life on the road. Romantic notions of frosty days, woodfiry nights, homebaked bread and an overall gypsy vibe have become reality for us. This is now our life. Despite this, or maybe because of … Continue reading A week in Queenstown
This week I’m grateful for: I’m also grateful for the jobs we’ve got chugging along at the moment. I hadn’t tried it before, but working from home is pretty great. It is entirely possible to combine family and work, and actually get things done! My last thank you this week is to Shannon, whose words … Continue reading Weekly Gratitude #6
Ironically, I’ve often found travelling quite hard work. I find myself disappointed as a tourist because I am an outsider – I don’t have a local pub (no matter what Lonely Planet recommends), I can’t meet a good friend for a chat at my favorite cafe and I don’t know where to find people doing … Continue reading Becoming Arrowtown locals
Not having written a gratitude post a week hasn’t been due to the lack of people to be grateful for. We’re parked up in Arrowtown at the moment, a pretty place to be in winter. Because of low temperatures and short days, a lot of our activities revolve around food preparation and eating, so it was especially humbling to … Continue reading From Arrowtown with love: Weekly gratitude #5
While I was pondering what to write today, a post came up in my Facebook feed (seldom a helpful tool in getting things done) entitled “Why Fewer Toys Will Benefit Your Child”. I clicked on the link, skimmed through it in under 5 seconds, and clicked away again. I already know why. I didn’t need … Continue reading Playing with less
The last month has been unbelievably wonderful at times. It has honestly also been awful at times. When the boys have been screaming all day, and we’re worrying about getting enough design jobs in to keep us going, and it’s cold and wet, we ask ourselves, “Why are we doing this?”. Looking back over the … Continue reading Weekly Gratitude #4
Yesterday we celebrated midwinter Christmas. A collection of all kinds of comfort food and punch filled our table, accompanied by Bing Crosby Christmas songs. Hannah brought up the idea of everyone sharing why they’re grateful for the other people in our family, and also for themselves. Elliott declined to comment. The hardest part of course is to … Continue reading Being grateful in the age of housebussing
There were all sorts of things I was looking forward to about living and travelling in a bus. Meeting new people in unexpected situations – inviting strangers in for a coffee, going to Playcentre in a town I don’t know, or being offered food just because we are there to receive it. I dreamed of … Continue reading Something I didn’t expect
I’m writing this on an icy, blustery day in Invercargill – the southernmost city in New Zealand. The bus is being buffeted and I hear an occasional hiss as a stray raindrop makes its way down the chimney. The fire has been blazing all morning, so the bus is toasty, but I have to keep … Continue reading Winter in the deep south
So here we are, truly on the road, with our bus, ready as ever, all packed up and roaring! We had a great couple of days catching up with family in Christchurch, and our first day on the road was appropriately filled with action and drama: The metal flap door (heavy) almost dropped onto Hannah’s … Continue reading There’s light in the darkness
Considering it’s autumn and we’re still not on the road, the kids are helping in picking berries for the winter. Leaves, berries, forest paths, turtles (?), bliss. Not that this has ANYTHING to do with the bus WHATSOEVER, so here we go with Part II of the recent month update package: Shower and loo Jonathan … Continue reading Picking berries for the winter
It’s Easter! And we’re still here.. Working around the clock though and feuern aus allen Rohren to get to the finish line; hence the lack of posts. I can assure you that lots has happened in the last four weeks, and that an end is in sight. We’ve started sorting out some belongings and will start … Continue reading Little crackers
No, this is not a tribute post to Casablanca. (That would be weird.) We are still here As time goes by, we’re still in Hanmer working on the bus. I have a feeling that the end is nigh though. Here’s to show you what has happened in the last while, walls, office space, half a kitchen, … Continue reading As time goes by
Making the bunk beds had something particularly gratifying about it. I know the kids will sleep in it for over a year, and they’ll probably grow to like every nuance of grain and odd joint in the wood. The bed is the single place they’ll spend most of their time in, so we want them … Continue reading Tonight
Last week we had our first night in the bus, woohoo! But no, not on the road, just still parked up here. The double bed was done a while ago, but I had just finished the bunk beds last week (next post). So here are the bed’s before and after shots The Rimu boards around … Continue reading A place to sleep
This week we’re gearing up to put the kitchen and plumbing in. I’ve been hanging out for this since Len and Maree Earl (parents of another school friend, Emma) called to ask if we needed any kitchen cabinetry. When they bought their 1930s house (now the nicest B&B in Hanmer Springs) the original rimu kitchen … Continue reading Weekly gratitude #3: Len and Maree
The second gratitude is for a person without whom this project simply wouldn’t be do-able: Hannah’s dad. He’s our go-to person for any building challenge, and he enables us to do the interior mostly by ourselves, with the confidence that he’s there with guidance when we need it in technical and practical matters. Apart from … Continue reading Weekly Gratitude#2: Dad
We’ve got sparks! We’ve got a door, and then not. We’ve got a floor and a ceiling, and rivets! This post feels a bit like a trip down memory lane when looking at the photos, as taking out the centre door of the bus was done in parallel to putting in ceiling and floor. Our decision … Continue reading Absolutely riveting
A lovely book I’ve owned for a while, The Creative Family, recommends making gratitude a regular part of our days as a way to fill our creative cups. Although I totally agree with the concept (in fact, there’s more than enough research linking happiness and gratitude – this guy reckons sending 5 emails will do … Continue reading Weekly Gratitudes
I’m just reading a novel about a hundred year old person climbing out a window to escape into a more exciting life. Reminded me of our bus floor. The Rimu for our floor boards came out of the woods at least about 100 years ago, and was then used as timber in the roof of … Continue reading Out of the woods, works!