The change of pace in life in the past year has been dramatic. When I started this journey a few years ago now, we were facing some of the most stressful situations of our life. We had returned from living 6 years overseas. We actually returned home during Covid. The pandemic essentially forced us out of our travel lifestyle and shoved is right back into reality. We came back with little support, no car, furniture or house. We rented a short term apartment whilst planning our next move. We decided to build a Tiny house because our lease end date was fast approaching. The polished, curated posts on this site did not accurately project how fast the ducks feet were swimming underwater. Behind the scenes I was losing hair. It was stressful. The build completion date and the move out date were not lining up. It was a deadline between ‘house’ and ‘homelessness’. A deadline that I hate to admit, was closer than most people realize.

A lot has changed from that point in time. We have carved out a nice little home and lifestyle that is well suited to both Gordon and I. We have our own land. no rent payments, no car payments, no debts, no electricity bills and no water bills. Our cost of living is nearly incomparable compared to all of our friends and family. The only main expense we have that is home related is for LPG (gas) to run our heating, cooking and hot water. Even that is very minor. We insulated our Tiny Home so well (including double glazed windows) that the gas heater running on a thermostat 24/7 only uses around 9 liters of LPG a month. One of the benefits of a Tiny space I guess. It also means that I have a nice warm house 24/7 365 days a year. Which is sadly better than most have in New Zealand in this economy.

There are so many things we could start next. The ultimate plans include gardens, trees, a whole second Tiny House. Maybe an underground den. Who knows, we even thought of building a glass walled music room on the land. But my enthusiasm for any of these plans has been lacking lately. After nearly 3 years of being back in New Zealand, working like a normal person day in and day out has really dampened my spirit.

Many of my readers might be too new to remember my old travel blog. But many, many, years ago Gordon and I were living, traveling and working overseas. We did this for about 10 years. Although I am New Zealand born and bred, I have actually spent more of my life outside the country than in it. New Zealand is such a lovely country to visit and explore, but it is very expensive to live in. The standard of living can not compare to the life afforded to expats living and working overseas.

We have decided that we have about a year left, before we both get itchy feet and want to move back overseas for a while. At which point our Tiny House will just sit in storage mode until we return. That was one of the benefits of us building it. Having a ‘home base’ to return to.

In the meantime. Before we make any such drastic life changes, we have decided to build a motorhome and travel around New Zealand. New Zealand really is the perfect country to travel around in with a motorhome. There are waste dumping stations at nearly every petrol station. As well as water, and gas available there too. There are rest stops everywhere. The entire country has a tourist and housing economy. Which makes housing incredibly expensive, and everything else geared and developed for tourists. We figured we best see all the parts of New Zealand we want to see before heading back out to another country. I have actually traveled most of New Zealand but there are so many more places on my list I haven’t been to here.

I have build 2 motorhomes in the past. One was an 2002 long wheel base, high roof, Ford Transit van. The second was a 9 meter bus. But this time we were looking for something that would be big enough to live in, but small enough to daily drive through the cities.

So, without further ado, here is our next project:

We found the perfect van, and it is a van that is rather unique! Let me explain. Ford Transits come in 3 lengths and 3 heights.
Short wheel base, Medium wheel base, Long Wheel base.
Low roof, Medium roof,  High roof.

You generally see this represented as L(1,2,3) H(1,2,3). The High roof is the only option you can typically buy that is standing height inside the rear. Which also means its a very high van, making it difficult for some areas in the cities. We found however, a UK only model that had been imported into New Zealand. It is strangely a front wheel drive, mid length, mid roof van. That front wheel drive is important, because unlike the normal Ford Transits that are rear wheel drive, there is no drive train running under the van. What that actually means is the floor in the rear is about 20cm lower than normal. This makes the rear standing height (190cm or 6ft 2).

It really makes this van the perfect size. Not too large outside, yet standing height with enough room inside.

I look forward to building the next motorhome.