Musings of an Overthinker

8/5/2022

My life on wheels begins

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My journey began in Rangiora in Te Waipounamu/South Island of Aotearoa in the height of summer with only a small backpack full of clothes. The country was preparing for an Omicron wave when I took off and the Roads were unusually quiet since the international borders had closed a couple of years ago. The only travellers on the road were locals or trapped foreigners.

Feeling excitedly overwhelmed I headed South with my head buzzing with all the new information I needed to absorb such as driving the vehicle itself, the overnight parks permitted and the exterior and interior workings of my new home and the new codes of conduct and etiquette.

If you ever see a motorhome on the side of the road with a yellow cloth on the wing mirror that’s an indication they are needing assistance.   Green on the dashboard means they are single. Truckers call us the white maggots and it takes four months to get from Kaikoura to Christchurch not two hours.

I learned very quickly that small towns welcomed motorhomers because the money they don’t spend in accommodation they spend in small town economies.

While driving through the Haast Pass I heard a crash. Eventually I was able to pull over. The coffee grinds had spilt so I moped the floor with my tears... yeah right. It was moccona... 30 minute rule applies.

I found a freedom camp and looked dubiously down the steep gravel entrance knowing I have a front wheel drive. A man and his dogs emerged and assured me it would be fine. I got to the bottom and there were few homes down there and no cell reception, so I decided to leave. That gut feeling I had, proved to be right as I skidded twice in my attempt to exit. Reversing to the bottom for the second time I changed gears to manual and despite some wheel spins I made it out with heart pounding.

I confess though that as I drove through the Haast Pass on the West Coast side I burst into tears at the untouched beauty of the place that I remembered as a child.   There is no cell coverage in much of the West Coast and it is quite an experience to think that no one knows where you are. I went for a small bush walk and realized that I could vanish and not a soul knew I was here.

There are a few driveways on my bucket list to pull up in. I managed to visit a friend in Hokitika twice. I've since heard she's moving but she won't say where :)

I had plans to make my home stand out. However, a deep gash was not one of the designs on the drawing board. It was the corner of my brother's house that beat me. I'm gutted I gutted his gutter.

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7/5/2022

My indecisive decision

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I have no idea what the planets were doing at the precise moment I was born but they were probably all racing round until 'time's up!'. We have an indecisive one here. They probably shouldn't have asked me where I wanted them to be.

There's a global shift towards a simpler life and my indigenous soul wanted to join them. When that first spark of desire burned it seemed an impossible dream but as the children left home the spark burst into a small flame. I tried to ignore it and my practical self tried for years to make sense of a single person living in a 4-bedroom home and no matter how many plans I came up with I could never get passionate about it. My heart yearned for a home that would be smaller than the lounge I was sitting in and I wondered if the reality would match the fantasy. Sometimes we are held back by the fear of what we don't know what we don't know (love Johari window). Stepping off the property ladder during a housing shortage and Covid economy was like stepping into an abyss. When I closed the door for the last time it was pouring with rain and my entire life fit in my little yellow Honda Fit.

Finding a motorhome wasn't as easy as I thought. All those people who used to head overseas for their holidays had bought up large. Covid meant imports were down, so they were all holding their value and getting snaffled up. Three weeks later I found the motorhome that would be my home with a total length of 6.4m

I can honestly say that I have not had a single regret since making the transition 4 months ago. That doesn't mean to say that all is 100% perfect. I myself am perfectly imperfect and imperfectly perfect just as you are. There is yin yang in everything.

I now live in a 6.4m long home on wheels

Introducing Outdoor Bliss on wheels

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7/5/2022

A photo on the wall

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I was sitting on the couch the other day looking at the photos of my ancestors that I've never met not far removed.

They were once me (sure I can hear some mumbled denials
- she's your family - no she is yours). They had hopes and dreams just like me and now they are a photo on my wall.

One day I will be a photo on someone's wall..

I want to have a reputation for something, anything... I'll take mad, crazy, eccentric

My mother said she read somewhere that cemeteries have strong energies (exact wording?) . It's a place many people take inventions, ideas and dreams they never brought to light.

This is a photo of my grandmother as a teenager.

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