The Eagle Has Landed...

Flying Eagle aka Graeme Nicholson has recently landed in a field at Uretiti not far from The Flying Tortoise.
It didn't take long to establish that while we had different mothers and not the same fathers, we are brothers who until now had never met.
It's good to catch up with family.
A follower of the North American Red Indian culture from where he received his name, Flying Eagle is an aged hippie, gypsy, an independent free spirit, muso, singer and interesting man who's been there, done that and isn't afraid to wear purple...

Meet Stella McQueen, New Nomad, Ecologist, Writer And Fish Geek...

Giving up her day job a few months ago,
Stella secured a contract from a publishing house to write her second book,
'Freshwater Fish In New Zealand'.
She then got in her new, old camper aptly named Maxine van Ford and headed off to explore this beautiful country, trying to be disciplined enough to write enough words a day so the book can be published sometime next year.
There are seventy different freshwater fish species in New Zealand.
Stella knows them intimately and talks fondly of them all.
They speak highly of her too.
Soon, she'll be meeting up with top wild-life photographer Rod Morris who'll add his images to her words.
She's at Uretiti for a couple of days on her way to somewhere to meet as many new fish and fish geeks as she can...
Images below by Stella McQueen. Some of her freshwater friends...

A Very Tiny, Very Hi Tech, Go Anywhere Minimalist Camper For Two...

Named 'Back in Black' after an AC/DC album, Mark and Lesley's 8 ft x 6.4 ft go anywhere 4WD camper is certainly DC.
184 watts of lightweight Amorphous solar panels are installed on the pop-up tilting roof enabling their tiny, innovative and stylish get-away house to run soley on 12 volt.
And using too, the power generated by the vehicle's large alternator.
There's no LPG bottle anywhere here.
All their eggs are in the one 12 volt basket.
They use 12 volt pots and pans that plug in, a 12 volt jug and an Eberspacher electric/diesel heater to keep warm.
The 35 litre Waco top loading refrigerator runs on 12 volts too.
There's a little woodburning cooker that uses a couple of pinecones at a time. That too, has a fan that runs on a couple of AA batteries.
The exterior/interior cladding is insulated Aluminium Cladding Material, ACM. There are windows complete with anti-insect screens in the poptop portion of the camper.
A double futon bed folds up to make comfortable day seating and the interior fit-out is all in satin finished stainless steel.
The chassis is a classic Landrover Defender 110 Ute with an all aluminium body. Top quality off-road tyres will take this little beauty anywhere and carrying a self-containment certificate, it's a great little unit for freedom camping everywhere.
We met up at Uretiti yesterday...

A Place In The Sun...

It's the middle of winter here in the Southern Hemisphere but that doesn't mean there's no beautiful fine and sunny days.
The Flying Tortoise is at a favourite place, the Department Of Conservation campground at Northland's Uretiti Beach.
The beach is as beautiful as ever with just a few nudists soaking up the Vitamin D.
TFT has the extra 'tracking' solar panel out to catch all the sun possible on these shorter days.
And summer's on the way...