These Fun Little Houses Aren't Everybody's Cup Of Tea...

There's some wonderful fun and funky houses around that defy all town planning regulations and still manage to get built.
They're home to all sorts of creative, fun and bohemian individuals who want just a little bit more out of their lives.
Who live outside the square.
I'll share a cup with them anytime...

Lance Cryer's Bedford Heaven. The Resting Place Of The Famous Bedford Marque...

This morning, Bedfords from all over the country will start arriving at Lance Cryer's Bedford Heaven at Puriri for the fourth Annual Bedford New Zealand Rally.
Surrounding the arrivals will be the relics seen here and hundreds more old Beddies who've had their day and now watch the world from the sidelines.
It's well to remember that these and many more were the mainstay of New Zealand's transport from the early 1940's and many of us are committed to keeping the marque on the country's roads. Often to the horror of others in their plastic tupperware computerised containers on wheels.
But let's not go there. I hear feathers rustling.
This Labour Weekend, the faithfull will be here to pay their respects to the past, enjoy the present and consider this for the future.
Bedfords Forever...

Gypsy Lifestyle Forever Threatened...

From the early 16th century to today,
no ethnic group has aroused as much curiosity, envy, romance, hatred and fear as the Gypsy Travellers.
Often misunderstood, usually maligned, most people's perceptions are based on a mixture of romanticism, prejudice and ignorance.
The hundreds of thousands of Gypsies and Travellers living in the UK and Europe deserve better.
What a terrible day it is for Britain, wrote one Gypsy, when people are discriminated against merely because they don't conform to 'normal' behaviour.
Legislation was passed in the early 1970's to provide sites where Gypsies can stay, thereafter nobody was able to camp or stop on the road, even for a day.
In New Zealand in 2011, the same sort of draconian legislation relating to Freedom Camping was passed with huge fines able to be dished out for the slightest infringement of this dubious law.
It is yet to be tested in a court of law but tested and thrown out it will be.
Why did people go off to fight in wars asked Duncan Williamson, a Gypsy Traveller of Fyfe.
"But what did they fight for and why did they die?
For freedom to wander around.
But where can we wander, there's no place to go.
For they're closing our camping grounds down".
Latcho Drom my friends...

Beautiful Bohemian Interiors Of Traditional Gypsy Vardos...

Some images of the lifestyle of the Gypsy Traveller that we can celebrate.
But we know too that the life of the Gypsy wasn't as beautiful as it seems. For centuries they've been, and still are hounded by the Authorities of whatever lands they've travelled.
These images are of an era of energy, style, colour and freedom of expression that's almost a thing of the past.
We can look back and admire these beautiful bohemian interiors that speak of a way of life that has all but disappeared.
Fortunately we have images like this to prove it did exist, that there was a life on the road that had romance and style before the world was morphed into one of mediocre sameness and blandness...

A Tiny Bus Converted Into A Beautiful Motorhome...

What a simply stunning conversion.
Winkelman Architecture in Maine on the US East coast, working with Interior Designer Vince Moulton and Linken Bay Woodworkers have made a comprehensive and wonderful conversion of an old 1959 Chevrolet Viking Short Bus, originally designed to take twelve passengers plus a driver into the most beautiful of bohemian motorhomes.
You can see more about it here...

Soaking Up Vitamin D At The Katikati Naturist Park...

You'll know that the beautiful Katikati Naturist Park is one of my favourite places.
Vanessa and Daniel from Vancouver are here soaking up the life-enhancing Vitamin D as I am.
When Daniel's not designing things back home they spend months at a time travelling New Zealand in their little Toyota van named 'Ara Tika' with it's simple, bohemian hand-crafted wooden interior.
They're enjoying  the fresh food, excellent local wines and the do-it-yourself attitude that still prevails in this country.
'I know that necessity is the mother of
invention but I'm inspired by the simple, creative ideas that you people employ to solve everyday living problems' says Daniel.
Like so many these days, Vanessa and Daniel are into eliminating material possessions,
downsizing and living large in small spaces...

The Horsebox House...

Rima Staines is a beautiful woman and a wonderfully talented artist.
We've never met
but I know these things to be true.
You've only to look at her blog,
The Hermitage, or read what she says about hers and her partners life in their housetruck to know I'm right.
There's a story of The Housebox House in
Lloyd Kahn's Tiny Home book and Rima's words have kept delighting me since the book was published many weeks ago.
I expect they might delight and inspire you too.
Here's some of them...
"The journey was both wonderful and hard.
They learned that life on the move was more raw and more real. They got to see people's prejudices up close.
Gathering the necessities of life such as water and firewood took up much of their days...
It was a tiny house indeed. The outdoors was also part of their home, which meant that their space shrank when it rained...
Bathing was done in front of the fire in a small tin bath they kept on a hook on the wall...
The wind rocked their house like they were at sea and the rain drummed up a delightful percussion on the roof...
Life on the move also gave them a sense of living in full colour. All their days were as vivid as the treasured memory of a favourite holiday. They learned to live a life without the grays, without the wishing for a 'one day' or an 'if only' sort of life.
They lived it in the minute and it was bright..."
Rima's full tale of life on the road is here...