Another DOC campsite for us today as we head up to the Northern Tip, stopping at a beach site called Rarawa Beach. We've only driven for a couple of hours with a stop in Kaitaia for supplies from the Pak 'n Save and diesel from the CalTex. The DOC sites are a little more basic and cheaper too. Just $8-10 per person vs. $18 at the more established sites. Of course, at the established sites there are hot showers, kitchens, laundry, internet, power and garbage receptacles. At the DOC sites, just bathrooms and maybe a shower if you're lucky.
And a cold shower at that.
However, we're fairly self contained in the Scubby. The fridge can run on butane, as can the stove. We have a sink with water. There is even a port-a-john if we want to use it (we don't). The lights in the run van on the second battery which also powers the water pump. We're all good.
Our Rarawa site is just a short walk from the beach. We order some kumara fries for lunch at a take away joint in Pukenui and have those for lunch before suiting up and heading down to the beach. It is pristine white silica sand and good swimming in the ocean - great waves for body surfing. The tide is out and the water is an ideal temperature. It's a long walk from the sand dunes to the water, but it's worth it.
I tell Jenn that living in the camper van is like living in a space station. Everything requires coordination and systematic planning. To get at one thing you have to move five other things. Like playing pool, you have to think three moves ahead.
Everything takes time. And we constantly have NO IDEA where things are. It seems that we are always looking for something! Keys, the camera, the soap. You decide on a designated spot and think it will always be there, but then you realize that you've had to move it to get at something else you needed five minutes ago!
It's an exercise in patience. Neither Jenn or I want to be the first one to have a VAN-trum, but both of us have come close. Tonight I came VERY close. I had the VAN, but not the trum...
I have established the "front to back" method which is when we're not driving, everything gets shoved into the front seat. And when we are driving, we toss everything into the back. It's quite effective. Outta sight outta mind. Right now, for example, our front seat is overflowing with bed clothes, hats, pillows, and maps. Always maps.
The important thing to remember when you pack up to drive on in the morning is to close the air vents on the roof and lock everything down and switch everything off. We've only missed putting the air vents down a couple of times. Apparently, if you drive with them open they can lose their seal and start to leak. That or tear right off the roof. Oops. And, only a couple of times have we swung around a corner only to have the contents of the fridge clatter out onto the floor and roll into the footwell.
Live and learn.
As Jenn said tonight, "Our kitchen is our bedroom is our living room is our office is our transportation". When it rains you really miss the most important room in the camper - the outdoors.
There is great freedom in the camper. The sense that you can stay pretty much anywhere. Your home is with you. No longer are you tied to schedules, worrying if restaurants or hotels are open. If you are tired you can just pull over and take a snooze. Hungry? You can just whip up dinner!
It allows you to go slower and take your time. Soak up the country side. Absorb, is the key word.
Ray, the key cutter invites me over to his camper for a beer after dinner. A retired locksmith, he has a sign on the back of his camper van: Keys Cut Here. Five dollars for a house key and six dollars for a car key. "It keeps me in beer and gas money," he says. He gets customers at just about every camp he goes to. Really?! He has solar panels on the roof of his camper that charges his key cutting apparatus. Also present when I join Ray is Peter, a Brit from Milton Keyes in his mid 40's who has lost his job, his wife, and has decided to sell up and travel New Zealand. He has been here for four months. "I could be here for four years! There is THAT much to see".
Ray informs us that he and his wife Lynn just spent ten weeks in the NORTH part of the South island. They both laugh when we tell them we're doing BOTH islands in two months. "If you think the North island is fantastic, wait until you get to the South island" says Peter.
Maybe we'll be staying longer?
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