Welcome to our Unexpected Journey –

This is he year that we finally fulfill our long awaited dream to leave the rat race and go tiki touring around Te Wai Pounamu, the South Island for a year, maybe more… Realising that we would never be any younger or fitter than we are now (in both cases, not very) our 2024 New Year’s Resolution was to actually get our arses into gear, choose and buy a caravan, clear and rent the house, quit our jobs and take off before the end of the year.

Finding the perfect caravan

We’d been to Mystery Creek for the Caravan show a few years back and got a few ideas of what we liked and didn’t like, and I had somewhat riskily hopped into a random stranger’s Snowy River at the Tarawera Café in the middle of nowhere on the way back from seeing Robbie Williams in November 2023 and had really liked the layout of the van! So with our good friends Abby & Jez back from a year in a moho in Europe, off we went to the Covi Supershow in Auckland in March.

We had ruled out the enormous American Rockwoods as being simply too unwieldy, and we wanted a semi-off roader without a timber framing so our choices were somewhat narrowed. We were quite taken with the Crusader brand, but the vans we liked were a little heavy and pricey, so we spent an age hopping in and out of all the showground’s Snowy River vans with Louis quizzing the Vanari guys on pricing and layout options. Unlike Abby & Jez who spent 3 days at the show and sealed the deal on a Swift moho we went away to think about it, but with the promise of a show discount in our back pocket.

A few weeks later after studying all the information & reviews online we placed our order for an SRC21 in teal and silver with the Urban Glam internal colour scheme… would you expect anything less?!? The layout included an island queen bed to avoid having to climb over each other on nighttime toilet trips and café style booth seating. We added a bigger oven and swapped the washing machine out for extra cupboard space – I never was one to pack light. We were given an estimated delivery date of late November, paid our deposit and the wait began for our ticket to South Island adventures.

Welcoming a New Canine Challenge

To help out our elder daughter Ella & her husband Josh we had offered to foster their two cheeky GSP/labrador cross teenagers from February through to November – little did we know that these hoodlum hounds would take over our lives from the moment we picked them up in Christchurch and brought them back to Auckland. Training proved near impossible without hours of dedication per day, time we simply did not have to spare. So we muddled along and were somewhat relieved when they went home with their mum & dad shortly before the Snowy arrived in New Zealand.

Preparing the Home for Renting Out

Having worked through the financials, we decided that the best option was to rent out our beautiful home for the last 15 years to fund our travels. It is only when you look at your home through the eyes of a prospective tenant that you realise how many things need to be repaired, upgraded, repainted, generally improved. I was also forced to acknowledge that my shopping habits were close to getting me my own episode on Hoarding Buried Alive, so began an extensive process of weeding out what I really didn’t need and packing what I simply could not let go of! Louis was working through a similar process in the studio, he sold a fair number of things, but I took far more to the Op Shop!

Next we had to tackle the repairs that had built up over the years – painting several rooms, relining sun damaged curtains, fixing a few window sills, replacing several dodgy locks, and the biggest job which had to wait until the end, sanding back and revarnishing the hardwood floor in the kitchen, dining and living room.

Finding a good rental agency took a while, with a bad first choice which lost us a few weeks.

To retire or not to retire, that was the question

As neither of us had yet hit our sixties, we had to think carefully about our employment options. Louis has run Ellamy Studios since 2011, recording various independent artists, collaborating with them on their songs and their music, writing, recording, mixing & mastering to help them realise their creative vision. He decided to close the studio on 1 November with the option of starting up again after our travels.

I had been working at the University of Auckland for over 3 years and had advised my current bosses during my interview that a big trip was looming in my future, so at the start of the year I let them know that I would be leaving by the end of 2024. It is a strangely cathartic way of working, knowing that you will always give your all, but that ultimately you have one foot out of the door so office politics can simply wash over you and not suck you in! I too chose 1 November as my last day at work… though I did sneak back for the office Not Christmas Lunch!

Rehousing Grandma

Since 2020, Louis’s mum had been living with us – our daughters Ella and Amy had moved out several years previously and we had heaps of spare room – so when issues came up around her apartment and a huge remediation project loomed on the horizon, Helen moved in with us, fortunately only weeks before the Covid lockdowns began. An extremely active and sociable woman, Helen was always out dancing, attending political meetings, having coffee with friends and painting the town red. By September she had found a new flat in Three Kings and begun moving out – an experience that was almost as traumatic as house clearance! Eighty years of good living makes for a good collection of memorabilia, photographs, documents and favourite outfits which all had to be sorted, categorised, op shopped, stored in our attic or moved to her new flat!

Finding a new home for an old friend

Despite my repeated pleas that we would surely be able to take our SPCA cat Dilligas with us in the Snowy River and smuggle him into all the campsites, Louis was adamant that this would not work and he would most likely go bush at the first opportunity.  I had to acknowledge that this was a fair judgement, so we put out a Facebook plea to our friends in Auckland and lovely Mairi Orr offered to foster him for us. Taking my baby boy to his new home and leaving him with this lovely family was probably the most traumatic part of the year for me – but I am happy to report that he is settling in well and has acknowledged Mairi as his new mum.

The time draws near

Our Snowy River has left Melbourne and is on its way to Auckland; Louis is tracking it on a shipping app as it approaches our shores.  Time moves slowly – it seems like forever until we finally get to collect our new home – but also it rushes past as the days fly by and we never seem to have enough time to get through all the jobs we need to complete before moving out.  It is a time of mixed emotions – we are sad to be leaving our many wonderful friends in Auckland, but we are excited by the challenges of a new lifestyle and all the adventures that lie ahead of us.  We have named our Snowy River “Banjo” after the Australian poet Banjo Patterson who wrote both Waltzing Matilda and The Man from Snowy River, and we are looking forward to the Odyssey we will be embarking on with her… I hope you enjoy following Banjo’s Odyssey over the coming months and years!