We sold the van and went to Samoa! In the span of 24 hours, Ronan and I went from stressed on not being able to sell our van before our departure date of April 23rd to having completely moved out of our home on wheels with $11,000NZD in my Venmo balance. We handed the keys over to an American and a German couple and watched Homy in our rearview mirror slowly drift away. It was a bittersweet feeling; we were sad to depart our partner in crime, with whom we shared endless memories, and also...

Although discovering hidden gems in New Zealand has been common during our adventure, our expectations for finding rural towns with friendly strangers and natural spaces have been lowered since arriving on the North Island. The South Island of New Zealand has a population of 1.3 million people while the North Island has 4 million, despite the South Island being about 32% bigger. That makes the North Island nearly 4x more populated with a lot less land. Therefore, finding rural hidden gems on...

We took Homy into Auckland yesterday. It was her first experience in the big city while in our hands. And just like how Ronan and I felt, she was out of place. For Homy, it was the hills and the traffic lights. You could hear her cry going over speed bumps and moan through traffic. While on the highway, her side mirrors weren’t strong enough to hold against 100kms. Her curtains didn’t close tight enough to keep the streetlights or strangers eyes out. Her rustic vintage appearance looked...