Meryl Streep...

Small Girl Climbs Tree!

Wow! Fantastic! Or Shock! Horror! You might have thought the youngsters were all playing computer games or were prevented doing such wonderful things in the great outdoors by local councils too concerned with safety and being sued for damage to broken limbs...
They've been known to place barriers around trees to prevent kids like
seven year old Molly having fun.
Fortunately some kids will be kids...

Insanity...

Postcard...

It's nine o'clock on a Saturday and the regular crowd shuffle in. There's an old man sitting next to me, making love to his tonic and gin...
Auckland's grand old Ponsonby Post Office is now a fashionable bar and restaurant.
And the Skytower's dressed in blue...

Zoo Bans Smoking...

New Zealand's Auckland Zoo has banned smoking as from today. About time too!
Smoking has stunted this cute little lion's growth and it has a terrible cough. And where did the zoo animals get the money to buy cigarettes you may well ask...

Ambury Park...

Situated as a peninsula with the Manakau Harbour bordering three sides, this working farm park is one of nearly thirty Auckland Regional Parks. One of my favourite places, it's ideal to rest up in the camping area some days and catch a bus into Auckland, should you want to... A group of school children from Singapore were here yesterday, they had never seen sheep, pigs and cows before, did they have fun!
You might too...

For Lovers...

By Xiaolu Guo. A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers. I loved it...

Sunrise...

Another of Jypsy Jude's beautiful Beddies...

And Now. The Volvo Vardo...

Rachael and Bronwyn with the latest in Volvo Motorhomes.
They're happy and it's very eco green...

For Vagabonding...

A Vardo in verdant vegetation. How very...

It's Sunday in New Zealand...

"Yah know Bert, It's still Saturday in most parts of the world. Yer'd think that with all the high fallutin whiz bang techno ology and the inner net and stuff they've got nowdays that they'd somehow be able to catch up with us, us being an advanced country an all that, wouldn't cha?"
"Yeah Charlie but if the end of the world happens, at least we'll be the first to see it coming.
Bloody great view from here... "

Vintage Wood...

Being an oftimes wood collector and once upon a time building a shed especially devoted to accommodating my vast collection, squirreling if you like, as in hoarding one's nuts for winter. Each piece was treated as reverently as a wine connoisseur turns his bottles of vintage, and knowing as I do, your predilection for things of natural beauty, I just had to share this with you...

Frida Kahlo...

Her life and art was vibrant, colourful,
painful and passionate. Don't deny yourself this marvellous movie...

A Lifestyle Choice...

'When did we start needing laws to keep us safe from those who wished us no harm?'
Thankyou Zeke...

No Shooting...

A shame really because it could be 'open season' on bureaucrats all year round. There are many who are so ripe for the pot and so many more who are so past their 'use by' dates...

Life In New Zealand...

This is how it is and how it was, but life on the road for this friend and fellow traveller in the future is not looking all that rosy.
Our wonderful life style is being threatened by ignorant and arrogant people who think that it's ok to leave litter anywhere they please and literally shit in their own playground. There is no excuse for this sort of behaviour and legislation will NOT prevent it!
Unfortunately in New Zealand, we have more than our share of ignorant and arrogant bureaucrats with tunnel vision and who are sadly lacking in imagination. Their only answer is to blanket ban everything that moves and tax anything that doesn't. Or is it the other way round. They too, threaten our existence, as they always have. People are very nervous of those wishing to live outside the square. Because they don't understand it, they themselves find it threatening, their insecurities blossom and take fanciful flights.
For overseas friends of this Blog who think that New Zealand is the last bastion in the world for folk with Gypsy inclinations and ideas of a free life on the road, you may well be right, but for how much longer I wonder.
There is much media attention focusing on the issue of 'Freedom Camping' at this time. Watch this litter free space...

Detailing Delight...

A delightful piece of detailing on one of the many personable housetrucks belonging to members of New Zealand's Gypsy Fair.
This is Bev's pride and joy...

Postcard...

Tauranga's Stan Nash is just back home from one of his 'tour's of duty', a nine day, twelve hundred kilometre sojourn south. Combining his fitness and pedal power with the 48cc two stroke engine attached to his regular bicycle, 75 year old Stan, depending on his mood and the moon, stays either at Backpackers or under the stars. The fuel tank holds a couple of litres, enough to take him about 150 k's cruising at around thirty kph. It's freedom Stan...

New Zealand's Jypsy Jude...

For my beautiful friend Jypsy Jude, life is a Bed Of Roses. Many years she's travelled the frontroads and backroads delighting all those who meet her with her generosity of spirit, wonderful personality and artistic talents.
She, with a few others started the Original Gypsy Fair some fifteen years ago and she still is sometimes seen there doing readings and enhancing people's lives.
Jypsy Jude has had a huge effect on the housetrucking community in this country and has probably done more than any other to keep the Gypsy style alive on the road. She has painted her 'Folk Art' on literally hundreds of housetrucks and housebuses throughout the land. Some are now off the road but many still have many years of life and times ahead of them and if you see them they'll make your heart sing.
I'm going to try and catalogue all her works of art and from time to time you'll see examples of her quirky humour and skills here to enjoy. These days you'll find Jude in her newest old Beddy, Bed Of Roses...

One Man's Small Footprint...

One giant little home. Built a few years ago in New Zealand's hilly capital where imaginative town planners prevail, Wellington is home to some wonderful inexpensive and innovative design ideas for living in. Here, two shipping containers sit atop a third creating a unique and distinctive living space close to a beautifully rugged coastline.
And the seal colony at Red Rocks...

Buy Of The Week!

You can buy this today with no deposit and really good monthly terms. It even comes with a free tank of petrol. In case you want to set fire to it...

Postcard From Katikati...

It looks like they're leaving New Zealand's 'Mural Town' too. Murals abound in this little town just a half hours drive north from Tauranga, one of the sunniest places in the country... And they're very Motorhome friendly...

We Need To Talk About Kevin...

You will probably want to talk about Kevin. If you haven't already. Kevin is a little shit. He does very bad things. He does them very well. Lionel Shriver tells a very compelling story. She, yes she, also wrote amongst others, The Post Birthday World. That's a great read too. She has a knack for writing an amazing last line to a story. Just don't read it first...

The World's First Ride-On Moa...

Moas have been extinct in New Zealand for a number of years but this one was found grazing at The Yesteryear Barn in Paeroa...