Meet Homy!

This is Homy - our 1994 Nissan Homy with 213,000 kilometers. I bought it off of some guy who sold it to me for a great deal because he simply wanted Homy to be loved and treated well in its next life (total Homie, thanks Aled). The inside was pre-built out with a warm colored wood and painted mustard yellow over the previous metal. The benches turn into the bed (quite comfy dare I say) and underneath the benches is our storage. The left side contains our clothes (mostly mine) and a separate drawer where our chiller lives (chilly bin as the kiwis say). On the right, we store our bedding, extra bags/suitcases, and our toilet. No, we have never used it and no, we never will. Ronan stores one of his boards above our bed in our inside surf rack for easy access. I scored most of our bedding from a thrift shop in Wanaka which consists of a pink comforter and a flower patterned mattress topper/bottom sheet that fits so perfectly I think it was made for Homy along with some pink pillow cases that were gifted to me from my friend Frances. It’s a girls bed and I love it. 

If you were to face the driver from the bed, you would see our kitchen. By lifting the main tabletop you would find the two burners - both hotter than hell and without a lower setting, but they get the job done just fine. Below is our cupboard which holds our pots, pans, silverware and all that jazz. Below that cupboard is another cupboard that contains miscellaneous whatnot such as our fan, camping stove, extra battery, Starlink, etc. To the left of the miscellaneous and kitchen cupboards is a two story large cupboard that keeps our toiletries (again mostly mine) and our rubbish bin. Above the burner is a hole the size of a small serving platter where you can see to the cab. And above the hole you’ll find another cupboard that we call our pantry. It's got all the dry foods plus overflowing sunglasses and some tupperware. It never seems to stay shut while driving so the peanut butter jar seems to live on the floor more often than in the pantry. To the right of the burner is our sink. It’s the size of a medium sized salad bowl and the sink nozzle is a pump so we get away with a lot of “good enough” cleaned dishes. Below the sink is the forbidden gray water tank that stinks of rotten eggs and is on the verge of being dangerous in terms of mold. The clean water tank is down there too and we fill it about once a week. 

Last week we found that the battery for the car lives below the water tanks when the car decided to die - well really it’s because I left the lights on (Ronan insisted I write “emphasis on the I” - and we had to jump it. Other than having to move the water tanks, we were pleasantly surprised by how simple it was to jump it. We were able to get it on the first try from the second battery in our miscellaneous cupboard. How self-sufficient you are, Homy!

To the right of the water tanks is the final cupboard. This one consists of two levels - the top one our game box and the bottom for camera gear. Bananagrams is a favorite (at least for me) and I feel like I have to tell you about the small backgammon board I thrifted and have collected shells to use as the tiles. I love it. 

Before getting to the cab I mustn’t forget the three small open shelves - one for the spices, one for the most used condiments, and one for our mugs. 

Ok, onto the cab. Because we are in New Zealand, the driver's side is on the right side. I used to spend more time over there before I backed into a car so now I leave most of the driving to my trusty companion. It’s a five gear stick shift and drives like a dream. There are three seats in the front, so I tend to ride in the middle as the passenger seat feels too far away. Behind our seats is our shoe and propane storage. If I take the seat down all the shoes would fall out but I don’t concern myself with that organization. Behind our heads I hang my hats and in the crease between the roof and the windows is the perfect storage for our sunglasses and surfwax. The dash is our library where we keep all our books, journals, and extra roadtrip activities like my knitting and sudoku. And of course our collection of paua shells, or abalone as they call it more globally. 

Nearly done. On top of our Homy is where we keep the boards - three of Ronan’s and my 9’6” log. While driving we keep all of our extra toys (such as Ronan’s kites, a flyrod, our campchairs and other items) in a big long tupperware that fits in between the two benches. We also toss our foldable table and bucket of wetsuits in there and it all fits just dandy. 

Alright, this introduction took as long as it took Ronan to cook us breakfast potatoes and scrambled eggs so let me eat before I finish….

Ok, I have officially given the longest explanation of the van that I possibly could have so hopefully I didn’t bore you. In short, Homy fits absolutely everything we could ever need. We never know where we will end up at the end of each day but it never matters because we’ve got it all. It’s a simple life and a damn good one. Currently parked on the top of a mountain overlooking three separate bays with crystal clear water, cliffs, and green hills covered in sheep, I’m not sure that this will ever feel like real life.

All for now - stay in the loop for where Homy takes us!

Cheers,

Maddy

February 1, 2026 - Written by Maddy Dunn