Housetrucks And Housebuses. The Way We Were...

It was the way we were.
There are some who wish life was like this still...

Allie and Kevin, Urban Refugees And Hippies From Wayback...

While Freedom Camping at Te Awanga in the Hawkes Bay in recent months, I've been lucky enough to meet many interesting folk and and a few kindred spirits too, as they pass this way.
Allie and Kevin turned up from Dannevirke, an hour or so south of here, to enjoy the beauty of the area and parking in such close proximity to the sea as they head north.
It's the beach that weeps with deserted waves Allie writes, we sleep there because we know we'll be safe there.
Kevin's been living the dream for about ten years and the property he shares with Allie is back to basics. Off grid living with Solar power, composting toilet and laundry done in a bucket before it's put through an old fashioned wringer and hung out to dry in the breeze.
Their vegetable garden supplements their food supply and life is good.
Living outside the system Kevin says is even better than good.
Allie's been on the road since the seventies in a variety of housetrucks and buses. She's currently got a house on the back of a flatbed truck. She's a writer of poetry with some thirty books having been published and used in the New Zealand school system. She's also an artist and a wonderful craftsperson and for many years worked and travelled with New Zealand's famous Gypsy Fair.
I'm delighted there's now a few of Allie's pieces enhancing my tiny home, adding to my collection of original New Zealand art.
Until we meet again. Love and Peace...

Oh Danny Boy That's A Bonny Wee Housetruck...

Oh Danny that surely is a gorgeous little housetruck you've made for yourself there.
Danny lives in the Golden Bay area at the top of New Zealand's South Island and he and his wee truck are well known identities in the area.
There's plenty of alternative lifestylers, bohemians, artists, musicians, and very interesting folk in and around Nelson, Motueka, Takaka and Collingwood areas and Danny is just one of the many colourful characters...

Me And Renee. My First Love. Sixty Two Years Ago...

The year was 1951. I was born seven years earlier and Renee was five.
She was my first girlfriend.  My first love.
It was a pretty serious relationship.
Obviously we would have been married if life hadn't intervened and we'd forgotten all about each other.
I hadn't seen her or known anything about her until a few days ago.
She'd been advised to look at The Flying Tortoise blog as she and her husband had just bought their first housetruck.
She emailed me.
You won't remember me I expect. 
I was five or six and you were a couple of years older. Our mothers were good friends when we were children back in Eastbourne. Here's some photos of you and I at my parent's place in Totora Street.
Remember her! My first love!
As though it was yesterday...

These New Zealand Housetrucks Are Still Living The Dream...

There's not many of these wonderful  bohemian styled gypsy housetrucks around any more.
But the ones that are certainly make heads turn as they continue to make their way on the road least travelled.
It's so good to see them, still living the dream...

The House That Sits On The Back Of A Truck...

As Steven over at Tiny House Listings often does, he's currently featuring another very interesting New Zealand Housetruck.
This one belongs to Nelson based Alex and Hannah who in 2010, set out to build themselves a home using a 1985 Hino truck as the foundation.
You can see more about them and their wonderful housetruck here and here...