we no longer have an address!

Our first week in the car!

Dear readers!

Welcome back to the blog! We are well into April now (it’s pretty much May at this point) and we’ve had some major changes going on here recently. Last time we spoke, we were living in a flat in Wellington and working at a local cafe. Things are a bit different now! As I’m writing this, we are sitting in a (very wet) campsite, almost a week into living in our car full time. Oh, and we’re now unemployed! Shoutout to a certain cafe in Shelly Bay, Wellington for being the worst place either of us have ever worked. Thankfully, we’re out the other side now and can look for better opportunities elsewhere!

We started our car-living adventure in Lake Whakamaru, which is about an hour past Lake Taupō. Due to poor planning by us, we did not arrive at the lake until dark, which was not the smartest decision considering it was our first time attempting to set up our new living quaters. It was pitch black outside with bugs flying in and around the light from our torches inside the car - not an ideal situation to be in. We persevered and got the bed set up, ready for our first night in our new home. One benefit of arriving in the dark is that when we woke up the next morning, we were completely surprised by the beautiful view outside our window! The campsite was in a great location and even had FREE hot showers (which we have come to learn is quite a luxury). I'd recommend if you're in the area and looking for somewhere to park up for the night!

So, we packed up the car and headed up north to our next destination! Since we were now unemployed, we had been looking for any kind of work opportunities anywhere we could find them, and someone had reached out to me in response to a Facebook post I had made on the NZ Backpackers page. We were offered a job in kiwifruit picking in the Te Puke area - something neither of us had done before but were excited to try. So that's where we headed! Bledisloe Holiday Park was a nearby campsite that sits near the local beach and we were able to park up right on the water, allowing for some great views each morning we woke up. Unfortunately, though, our kiwifruit picking experience didn't last too long - not even two hours, actually. We very quickly learned that it was not for us - especially not after our last work experience was so rough and we knew we wanted to be able to enjoy our time here more than we'd been able to in Wellington. Being on a working holiday visa, it's easy to be taken advantage of, unfortunately. For some reason, people seem to think they can treat temporary workers poorly, and our (brief) kiwi picking experience was no different. It's important to know your priorities, and we know that travel is our main priority whilst we're here in New Zealand, so working a full-time manual labour job that wouldn't allow much free time for exploration was not something we were willing to commit to. So, once again, we were unemployed!

We took the next couple of days to explore the area and even headed over to Mount Maunganui again. Whilst one of the days was almost entirely taken up by trying to get an abandoned dog we found roaming the streets into a shelter (which is virtually impossible on a public holiday- something we quickly found out), the other day was spent doing some essential errands to get the car in a more livable situation for us. Mount Maunganui and Tauranga are great little hubs for this kind of thing! There are lots of shops to get pretty much everything you could possibly need. Plus, a beautiful beach nearby! A great spot to visit if you're nearby.

Somewhere we've wanted to visit since we arrived in New Zealand was Cathedral Cove so we continued up north in an attempt to reach it! On the way, we stopped at Wentworth Valley Campground for a night, which was very different to the other campsites we've stayed at so far. It's right in the native bush and is situated next to a pretty stream. There are even some hikes straight from the campsite itself! We didn't have enough time to head up to the waterfall nearby but we did do a little walk through the trees, which was beautiful and full of mushrooms that looked like they were straight out of a Disney movie! Unfortunately, our experience was soured a little by some other campers who made us feel uncomfortable. We went to wash some dishes after our dinner and were met with a couple of men barking at us as we passed their campsite. It's the first time it's happened since we arrived here in New Zealand and is something that just comes along with being two female travellers. It's important to always be aware of your surroundings and to take yourself out of any situations you don't feel comfortable in. We moved our car away from them in order to feel a little safer and left very promptly the next morning. It's a shame as the campsite was in such a beautiful location, but we wanted to escape as quickly as we could!

Our next campsite was the first one that we've stayed in that was located inside a town, as opposed to the outskirts, which most of the other locations have been. It was a nice change from the previous one and helped us relax a little after feeling so unsettled. It's called Tairua Campground and is run by a lovely couple who immediately helped to make us feel at home! There was a kitchen, laundry room (make sure you bring $1 and $2 coins!), and a TV/games room, which was much needed considering the torrential rain we had whilst we were there. Despite that rain, we truly enjoyed our stay at this campsite and would absolutely recommend it to anyone passing through Tairua! On our way out, we drove up the hill to get a good view of the hills and mountains, and it was worth it! There are great views all around! One of the reasons we stayed in Tairua is that the campgrounds in Cathedral Cove were a little bit pricey. Tairua was only about 30 minutes away, which we felt was more than doable! To avoid the rain, we headed to Whangamatā for the afternoon and had a lovely walk on the beach! It was beautiful, and we even saw some interesting jellyfish washed up on the sand. A great little stopping off point if you're nearby or are just looking for a pretty beach view!

We left Tairua and headed to the beautiful Cathedral Cove! I must admit that we did very little research. We planned to get some food and have a little lunch on the beach, basking in the beauty and listening to the waves! We did do that but we were met with a long hike beforehand! From October 1st to April 30th, the official Cathedral Cove parking is closed, so we had to park at the visitors centre, which was on the other side of the town centre. It took about 10 minutes to walk into town. We had a look around a few of the shops and went to a cafe to buy a sandwich to take away from Hahei Beach Cafe. I would definitely recommend the tuna melt sandwich - it was super tasty, even though we didn't get to enjoy it for a while! It was about 15 to 20 minutes to walk to the car park! There is an available transit bus - it is not free but we can't remember how much it costs exactly (we don't remember it being too expensive!). From the car park, it was roughly an hour's hike to Cathedral Cove. The hike itself was not too difficult, but we do recommend bringing water and good shoes. It was a fair amount of uphill and downhill so definitely take that into consideration before doing it! Also, it is worth nothing that there are no bins until you get back into town, so we had to hold any rubbish we had the entire way back - which is definitely not a big deal but just a little bit of an inconvenience not knowing beforehand. Now, the main event! Cathedral Cove itself was stunning. The views were unreal, especially seeing the big rock famous for being a Windows computer background. Pretty surreal seeing it in person! There was also a waterfall and a little cave we recommend exploring. The beach itself is not too big but is perfect for a sit down after the walk to get there. It wasn't too busy when we went as the summer season has ended in New Zealand now, so we spent some time relaxing and watching the waves before heading back.

For accommodation, we chose the Riverglen Holiday Park and Campground, around 30 minutes from Cathedral Cove. It was nice and functional, with some beautiful hills and a river running through the site. In the warmer months, there are rubber dingies to go out on the river with, but unfortunately it was too cold for us to try it out! There is little service here but we were given some wifi vouchers of 1GB each (although these aren't too reliable during busy periods). The weather had not been on our side since we'd been in Tairua and the rain stopped us from exploring as much as we had initially wanted to, but we did have a relaxing day in Whitianga. We had some yummy food in a cafe called The Fig and then utilised some free wifi in the local library to apply for some jobs. Overall, it was a pretty uneventful couple of days here due to the weather but ended up being just what we needed to destress a little!

After much deliberation, we actually decided to try and improve our car living experience by getting a roof rack installed. We used Canoe & Kayak and the Roof Rack Centre in Mount Maunganui, which provided great service and an affordable price. It cost us $445 to install custom mounts and the bars themselves, which was the cheapest option we found. I would absolutely recommend using this company if you're in the area and in need of a roof rack. They had a range of options at different prices, and the staff themselves were friendly and helpful! It only took about 40 minutes for them to be installed, and soon enough, we were on our way back down south, all the way back to Wellington!

Our camping advice!

So, that was our first week of full-time car living! It's been quite a whirlwind and has definitely taken some getting used to. I have to say we had gotten used to the luxury of having a private bathroom back in our Wellington flat, so adjusting to public toilets and showers (and sometimes no toilets and showers at all) has been difficult at times. We are very grateful to be able to choose to do this, but it is certainly not for the weak-hearted! Though there have been some enjoyable times and lots of learning, we are both unsure of how long we'll be able to keep this up. It is a lot more affordable than living in a flat, which is why we decided to move into our car in the first place, but the prices of campsites do add up quickly. In New Zealand, there are a few different options for car/van living. From our research, freedom camping seems to be the most popular choice. This is where you camp on public land outside of a formal campsite. There are strict rules in place by the New Zealand government regarding freedom camping so you HAVE to make sure you do your research. Something worth noting is that if you do want to do this, you most likely need a self-contained vehicle. Check out the Department of Conservation website for more information!

If you don't mind spacing out your showers, there are some affordable options for non-self-contained vehicles also on the Department of Conservation website. Prices typically range from $10 to $20 per person. There are usually toilets (most of the time non-flushable toilets) and beautiful views, but you'd be lucky to get a hot shower at these sites! These are really great for saving money but can often be pretty far out of the way. Definitely a good option though!

If you're looking for more of a range of facilities, there are lots of holiday parks around. They seem to be quite a bit more expensive - we've typically spent about $60 a night for the two of us at these kind of places. The great thing about them is that you can get functional kitchens, hot showers and laundry but most places do make you pay for the last two! So, the cost adds up fast. But if you want that added feeling of safety and need to use those facilities, it can be worth staying at these every once in a while.

An absolute god-send of an app is CamperMate. We cannot stress enough how amazingly helpful it has been when searching for a campsite! You can select whether you want self-contained or non self-contained sites and it will provide you with all of the options in the location of your choosing, including DOC sites and holiday parks. It shows you both paid and free sites, and usually includes information such as what facilities are available there. Truly a great app to have here in New Zealand!

As we carry on our journey here in New Zealand, we will give you any suggestions that we can for places to stay, apps/websites to check out, and anything else that will be helpful! Make sure to check out all of our blog posts to stay updated! Thank you all for reading and tagging along with us through this experience. Talk to you all soon!

Lots of love,
Limei and Niamh