New Zealand : Part 2 - Caravan life

When I was younger, I read this book series by Enid Blyton called the caravan family. It told tales of adventures that one family, who lived in a caravan (I think, I've long forgotten the details to be honest ) and ever since then, I've always wanted to experience caravan-ing.

And I finally got to do that in New Zealand !

A caravan is basically a home on wheels. The one we rented had a bathroom (with a shower) , a kitchen complete with a stove and grill and fridge, a tv which we never used, surround sound radio, 3 beds - one huge one at the back, one right behind the drivers seat which can be converted into seats and one above the drivers seat. We also were given a gps device, which is actually like a tracker for our van, but its not like so they know where we are or anything weird like that. What it actually does is allow you to sync to this radio station (Tourism radio) and when you drive by a point with some sort of history, it'll give you a signal and tell you the story behind that place. Many times this device pointed out attractions we didn't plan on visiting, and the station plays good oldie music too. Our van was one of the bigger models, but even then, it was a pretty small space. There were a lot of 'excuse me ' s' and 'can you pass the baldi your nearer'. Being the clingy set of siblings we are, Dina Imran and I all slept upstairs and gave our parents the luxury of having one bed each. 

Our Bedroom

Travelling by caravan is not uncommon in New Zealand. A lot of people opt for it, and they've designed their towns and cities so that caravans can drive around and park easily. Of course, in the more townier towns, like on the North Island, it's a bit more challenging and there are less parking spots, but there was hardly any trouble ever looking for parking. There are some no drive roads, but they point that out to you so its good. This way of travelling does require a bit of maintenance, we had to fill up the gas tank almost every day (keep in mind we were travelling 300 km on a daily basis), and mess becomes more obvious because you're living in such a small space. So, it works like this, every night, we drove up to a holiday park when we would have pre-booked a powered site. That means, they have port where you can charge the van (Yes, we actually charge it haha). When the van is plugged in, we can use all outlets and power in no problem, but when we're moving, we can't use the plugs cause we wanna make use theres enough electricity to keep the fridge and hot water and lights and radio and whatever is actually necessary. Every few days we have to fill up the fresh water tank, which is basically clean water to use as well as empty out the waste water tank, which is the used water. There's a toilet, and every few days we have to take out the dump basin and wash it out and replace a new chemical in it. It doesn't smell or anything in the caravan I swear, the chemical is really strong it really does dilute all human waste smell, so dumping isn't that bad haha. We clean our van every night and every morning before we leave, and make sure everything is secure because in a moving car, things slide and fall off. Its also technically against the law to not wear seat belts while the caravan is in motion, but truth be told, I was lying down in the bed at the back 80% of the time, seatbeltless (not a good habit don't use me as an example, we got pulled over by the cops once haha)

So lets get into some pros and cons of caravan travel.

Pro's

1. You are in full charge of your holiday. You get to plan what you want to see, where you want to go, and skip whatever it is you feel you want to skip. This also means you can alter your trip to suit your budget. But truly, the great part of this is that you get to see so much more by caravan, every single minute you look out the window, tadaa, instagram worthy view (check mine out if you don't believe me). You also get to stop wherever you want, and take less touristy routes. There were plenty of times we found a beautiful gorge or a fields of wild flowers and just stopped by the road, you don't get to do that if your tied down to someone else transporting you. Admittedly, this requires a lot of planning, but my parents love planning and this has been my dads dream holiday, so it was more of a bonus than anything for us. Kudos to my dad though, we covered so much and his picked the best routes. 
2. Its convenient. You never have to keep packing and unpacking, just once at the beginning and once at the end. You have a fridge so you can snack at any moment of the day, a toilet so you don't even have to stop to pee, a bed so you can have a proper nap. You don't even have to change out of your pyjamas, and that is a hugeee plus point for me. Everything you brought with you will be with you the whole time, and you don't have to go throughout the trouble of lugging it around in a back pack either. Its great, I wish I could bring my house everyday all the time.
3. Great opportunity for bonding. I mean come on, I was stuck in a car with my family for 2 weeks. But, I actually really enjoyed it. If I wanted space, I just had to wait till we stop then I have the whole city to roam (but tbh I wasn't aching to have space). It made everyone more aware of each others (and the van's) needs, and we even tackled some issues that we probably wouldn't have been able to if we had to choice to run away and isolate ourselves from each other (I promised not to whine as much haha.) I think, that it made mt family so much closer, made my siblings and I super mature because we just had to do things without being told and that made my parents trust us so much more. I know some people would consider so much closeness for such a long period of time a bad thing, but it really was such a great family bonding experience for me. I have a really tight knit family to begin with though, but still, its just so nice to live with each other in such small space after years and years of being away (boarding school goer since 13 whats your story?). Plus, its my last holiday with them before uni, I wanted to be surrounded by them haha.

Cons

1. Things get a little crazy while driving. I mean the driving itself is crazy, you'll need a good driver, and a good support team. Ibu, my mom, drove the whole way (#GIRLPOWER) and we were always ready to get her chocolates and chips and coffee (did I mention we finished one chocolate bar a day there, I gained 2 kgs!). But its not just the driving, its they making sure everything is okay. Cause see, its simple physics, when the car stops moving things don't stop inertia bla bla bla basically anything that isn't in a cupboard or held onto will fall down a wreck havoc. This took a bit of getting used to. The cupboards in the van are fitted with safety latches so they rarely open spontaneously. Dina Imran and I would be running around (okay tiptoeing, no space to run haha) the van catching things, my laptop fell once even but its fine *phew*. We soon discovered the magic of blu tacking your things down, and using masking tape to tape things. Top tip, if you are going to travel via caravan, bring blu tack, it'll save your life. 
2. Its not luxurious. we only showered at holiday parks, because that'll save us the trouble of refilling the water tank too often. And that means communal showers. You also have to do most things by yourself, drive by yourself, clean by yourself, cook by yourself. The beds aren't super soft, and the pillow aren't made of goose feathers. Everything is made for practicality, and you don't want to be bringing too many clothes, so if you have a problem repeating outfits, you'll have a problem living in a caravan. My family and I didn't mind (I personally want to be a gypsy hence don't mind the hobo life), but it is a con worth considering.
3. You'll need patience. You don't want big fights to break out, or go travelling with people you can reconcile with easily. The small space kind of makes it easier to get frustrated, so you'll need to be mindful and be patient above all things. You don't wanna go travelling with a dark cloud trailing behind you, thats not fun at all! So yes, patience, lots of it.

I personally loved caravan travelling, I could do it for years and years (I claim la, put me to the test we'll see). Its so fun and its the best way of travelling if you want to cover land, cause like I said, no packing and unpacking, just park and drive. If you plan to stay in one spot for days and days and days, maybe not so fun, but if you want to travel, its the best bet in my opinion.

Oh and cost! Assuming you want to cover a lot of land, and not just explore one city, its actually cheaper to travel by caravan and stay in holiday parks than to stay in hotels and pay for transport.Im not too sure about details, but I think our van (keep in mind its one of the bigger more expensive models) was 200 dollars a day (a car is 120 a day, so its not that different). We also had to pay for our powered site at the holiday parks, but you have the option of just parking anywhere and camping. of course, there are places that don't allow you to do this, but we drove by lakes and beaches and saw some people just camping out in their vans, its pretty cool. There's gas and that sort of thing, but you'd have to pay for that anyway if you we're planning to travelling a lot. Another cheaper option would be wolfing. This is a term I learned in New Zealand by some wolfers, which means, you sort of sign up to do work and you get paid in service (e.g. free rooms, free meals, free tours). This way, you don't need to apply for a visa to work there (I think Im going to try this when I go to the UK InsyaAllah). There's also a lot of people in New Zealand who are foreigners but work in places like ice cream stalls and orchards. New Zealand is underpopulated, so the government set up a special work visa that last for 6 months for anyone over the age of 18. Wolfing and Working while travelling is very common in New Zealand, so many people do it. If any of you want details, just message me personally and I'd be glad to help.

Before I end this post, I just wanna talk about the company we booked our caravan with. We booked with Ahmad Caravan, which is based in Malaysia. They specialise in Muslim travel, so when we booked with them , they provided us things like a clay solution in the form of a spray bottle for us to samak our plates and pots and pans that were provided in the caravan (saved us the trouble of looking for clean soil). We also got a plastic praying mat, so we had the option of praying outside our van. They gave us a lot of advice about how to carry our everyday Islamic routines easily, and made it so easy for us lah. They also advised us on where to go, what to see, which routes to take. Their also very cheap, offer great packages and convoy options, and cater for Australia and some parts of Europe too. Heres the link to their website if you want to check them out : http://www.ahmadcaravan.com

This may just be my last post for 2015. Its been a great year, and I've been blogging for 6 months now. I want to make a promise to blog more, and more regularly next year, but you know, I have my A level exams and of April so I'll just try my best okay? In any case, I hope you've had a great year, and take some time these next few days to reflect how the year has been for you. Thanks for continuing to read this blog, and I really enjoy sharing my experiences with you (and am so happy when I get comments cause then I get to KNOW you, you know? haha). Happy New Year everybody.

Enjoy some more pictures of our caravan :

Check out the view, both dina and the scenery outside haha

Our Driver

Oh, and its Saida's birthday tomorrow, go wish her!

Love, 

Mirr