Glad you are enjoying the deep south - to me the south island is like a different country. The only place down there I could live in is Dunedin because it is a bit like Wellington. But so cold!

Translated:

It has been 4 months since I resigned, coupled the caravan and took the ferry to the South Island. The intention was to see as much as possible and eventually find a nice place to build a house. We have driven 6700 km, that we have seen very much may be clear. It is of course nice that we can look the whole world online nowadays, but to see it with your own eyes, nothing can go wrong. We went deliberately in the winter so that we could feel if it was as cold as they said. This is of course different for everyone, but after 1.5 years of Papamoa we had forgotten what winter is. Yet it is fantastic to see the snowy mountain tops and after a clear cold night you know that it will be a tight blue day the next day.

We have visited hidden secrets as Karamea and have walked seriously over pieces of (affordable) land to see if it suited our plans. However, we also have to take our children into consideration, who enjoy living in the middle of nowhere for a while, but not forever. This was one of the reasons that we end up in Richmond-Nelson, like Papamoa a lot of sun hours and yet everything you need and nice and close to nature. The children loved it here in school and football, but we were not yet convinced to settle here. It is also true that they are more relaxed here than in the cities on the North Island, if you send an e-mail you will receive a message if you are lucky. You really have to know us in New Zealand and if you start again it does not make it any easier. We had built up a nice network and circle of friends over the past 1.5 years in Papamoa. In addition, we are Dutch and in a city like Tauranga we think it is not that bad with the crowds. But generally speaking, you can make better calls in New Zealand or go by to arrange something. Now that I write this, I like this better, digital means are useful, but normal contact between people is always much better.

At one point I made the decision and decided that we are going back to Papamoa. This time we park the caravan in the driveway and we will stay comfortably in a house. We have found a nice new home and I can go back to my old employer.

We are not finished with traveling yet, but Papamoa is surely a very nice home base. First look at how housing prices, interest and financial situation in the world are going before we actually carry out our self-sufficient plans. In recent times we have shown the children and ourselves that it can also be done differently and that you do not have to pay any capital to see some of the world. We met a lot of nice people during our trip and can say that I have become much richer without working for four months.

When I went to the beach with my son from the week, I felt again that this is the 'place to be'. Funny that if we had been on holiday earlier and we drove on the A6, we were waiting for the polder tower in Emmeloord. Now we do a contest who sees the first Mount (Maunganui).