Being on the road in New Zealand #vanlife (part 1)

Around a year ago I started a journey in the South of New Zealand with the plan to explore the island with one of my colleagues, Kaede from Japan, while we live in my pretty small seven-seater car. I am not going to lie, I had doubts. On the day when we were going to leave Lake Tekapo with the fully packed car, my friend Tim asked me how I felt, and my answer made him laugh. I said, "I have hundreds and hundreds of tiny fears." We had a long way ahead of us, sharing my car as a home, which was pretty much like a sassy old lady with her quirks. Besides, one of my fears was linked to the weather, it's autumn around that time of the year in New Zealand, so it might be cold in a car. Spoiler: it wasn't yet we had the most beautiful colours on the way, with golden leaves and the advantage of having fewer people in parks, since it's not high season anymore.

I ended up driving around 12.000 km in one and a half months, from the very bottom of the South Island to the northern tip of the North and back to the South again. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience with all the laughs, hugs, tears and sweat we got along the way. Without all the challenges it wouldn't be as memorable as it was.

Our second morning started with a jump start as I remember (I left the fridge on - Oops!), with the help of the awesome employees of the Holiday Park at Milford Sound. There was a night in Akaroa when I wanted to try my tent since usually we shared a 110 cm wide "bed" (pile of foams) in the car so I was like, why not give a try to the tent? We were all set to go to sleep, we said "Good night!" and just exactly in that split second, when my head reached the pillow a massive storm hit us. After half an hour of waiting one of my poles gave up so I moved back into the car next to Kaede. The next morning was a silver lining though. It was windy but sunny and we had the whole beach for ourselves. We basically had an active meditation, while we were staring at the ocean and collecting shells.

Later on, we got a flat tyre in a small village somewhere between Christchurch and Kaikoura. It was impressive, in a few minutes at least five or six people gathered around us with tools and changed our tyre to the spare one. We were so grateful for this wonderful power of the community, it was truly life-saving for us.

In the meantime, our bike has got a flat tyre too so we ended up getting new tyres for both our vehicles in Nelson. Obviously, we met the nicest person to fix the bike and had a great chat with him over a coffee. Oh yes, and if we talk about coffee, I should mention the endless cups of them we had on the way. Boiling water in parking lots, especially in the wind became our special skill.

Nelson treated us well, we ended up in a Holiday Park on a spot right next to the ocean. We arrived during the night, which happened many times during those two weeks together. We tend to have long rides per day, but that means a surprise view is waiting for us in the morning. That night in Nelson was our last one together with Kaede, sharing that 110 cm foam in the car. We had an eye-opening conversation about a potential separation and I am going to remember that always how we had this hard, but essential chat in the best way it's possible. Living this close with someone is not easy, and it is almost impossible without clear and honest communication.

She is an incredibly inspiring person for me and brings clarity with her way of thinking and being. I just genuinely feel grateful that I had let myself into a trip together even though I had my doubts and gave us the chance to have endless conversations, while we could realise we have many things in common. I have learnt so much from her. One of her sayings that they use with her husband is about not getting way too comfortable somewhere, so when they do feel that way they make a change and move.

I think New Zealand itself is one, if not the most beautiful country I have ever been to, but being able to share this with someone just takes it to another level.

On our last morning together I had my best waking so far, feeling the warmth of the sun on my face, pulling back the curtains and seeing how people walk with dogs on the beach just right next to our car, hearing the waves. Having breakfast at the beach, stretching and living this slow life. All these things give me so much joy, even a year later and the idea of knowing that all of these are not granted at all brings me gratitude.

Our journey and story with Kaede has finished then and there for a while, but we kept in touch and hopefully, we are going to meet in Japan in the near future.