Tarawera Falls and Lake

When we read about a magnificent waterfall that flows from crevises in a rock wall we knew it was something we had to see. Even though it was relatively close to Rotorua, you had to drive a very round about way to get there. So it could have been a 20 to 30 minute drive, but instead it was about two hours. The drive was nice though because it went beside clear lakes on the way. We also drove through an old town that was originally settled for loggers. The annoying part was that as much as it was promoted to see in the guide books, there was nothing informing us that we would have to get a permit first and before a certain time. We arrived at a gate with a huge sign in red letters saying you could only enter by permit because the only road to the falls was through a privately owned land. Hundreds of acres used for logging with long gravel roads. Anyway everything worked out and we ended up camping near the trail to the falls. And the drive and time it took to get there was completely worth it. It turned out to be one of our most peaceful camping experiences, which was much needed as we were kind of tired from just being on the move.

Dave fished in the crystal clear river and caught a beauty of a trout. In the morning we hiked to the falls and they were some of the most amazing we’ve ever seen! Dave made his way much closer because he wanted some cool pics, and I did some yoga stretches. The park was so fresh and clean. It was actually pretty warm that day so I got in the river. The river was painfully cold, but I could not resist its beauty or immersing myself in it if only for a few minutes. It seemed we had the place all to ourselves, but after a while a few people showed up.

After hiking and fishing around there we decided to drive to the other side where you can access Tarawera Lake. It was beautiful too and I caught a large trout there and released it. I cooked our lunch while Dave continued to fish and this happened to be where I first encountered the evil sandflies which I mistook them for harmless little gnats until they began to bite my feet. A mistake I did not forget! Anyway, we loved our time there and I would definitely go back to that peaceful haven, … with some strong insect repellent of course! Ha!

Aoraki/Mount Cook

There were three of these cool walking bridges on the hike over a raging river.

Mount Cook is one of my favorite places we visited while here so far. It was gorgeous. Kind of reminded me of the Swiss Alps or Grand Teton National Park. We arrived there on Saturday December 10th and it was rainy and very windy. We decided to check out the Hermitage which had a small museum. We learned a lot about Sir Edmund Hillary and that he practiced climbing Mount Cook in preparation for Mt Everest. Pretty cool stuff. We also watched a half hour film there which was kind of traumatic about the people who do rescues for climbers on the mountain. The main rescue in the film ended with the guy dying, but the way it was going you had no idea what the ending would
be. Needless to say, I have no desire 
to climb mountains of ice and snow. Burrrrrr.

That night we camped at a free DOC campground ne
ar the water canals in Twizel which is a good 45 minutes from Mount Cook, but it was great because Dave got to do a lot of fishing. I actually had some service on the phone and got to watch Netflix for the first time in at least a month! I was so excited, but probably not a good idea to start watching something like Stranger Things when you are in a tent by yourself at night, in the middle of what feels like nowhere while your husband is a couple miles away fishing. Ha! It was good though and nice to just chill out.

The next day we had hoped to go to church, but the nearest one was over an hour away in the wrong direction so we were kind of bummed about that. We ended up cooking breakfast near the fishing canals and did a little fishing. It is so beautiful there. After that we headed back to Mount Cook for some hiking. The weather was perfect that day; sunny clear skies and mild temps.  We chose our hike, packed our lunch and set off for about a four hour hike. It was worth it.

Traveling ways

When I told people about our 5 month NZ and AU trip, I was asked lots of questions. Often I was asked if I would blog about the trip which I was somewhat hesitant to do just because it feels like a lot of pressure to keep it up. But the more I was asked, the more I became intrigued with the idea of blogging to take time to answer other questions that I was repeatedly asked. Several people said they were inspired by Dave and me, and wanted to know more about how we make travel happen. I love that people were inspired and I even more so love the idea that I might be able to help others travel more often. So I hope to create a series of blog posts on our traveling ways, gear we use, and some other random stuff more specifically about our actual trips – though not necessarily in any chronological order.

Disclaimer: I am brand new to the world of blogging so please forgive me for making a mess of this! Hopefully I’ll figure it out soon enough.

How do we travel so much?

How do we travel so much and afford to travel? These are two questions I have heard often so I am going to give kind of a personal history and some tips throughout this post.

I have always had a passion for travel, so much so it has taken precedence over other priorities in my life. I used to wait tables long enough to save up money to travel somewhere. The great thing about waiting tables is that you can pretty easily come and go from the job because there are plenty other servers to take your place during your leave. And since you are already trained at a restaurant they usually welcome you back to work there as long as you were a good employee and did not burn any bridges, which I’ve always been careful about with any job. There always seems to be a need for servers so it was a great position to support my travelling bug. It is hard work though and not advisable to do in the long run as your back will pay for it for years to come– at least in my experience.

Since that time, I have intentionally taken jobs that are more flexible so that I can incorporate my love of travel. I worked at a group home for several years with a schedule of every other week off. It was awesome! However, again, very hard work and not necessarily something everyone can do or for a long time.  I could generally go on a 3-5 day trip once or twice a month. And then when taking time off we were normally expected to take off the entire shift so I would get three weeks off in a row! I went to Europe one time doing that. Another option is to work a couple of part time jobs. Part time work is usually pretty flexible and it isn’t a huge loss if you have to quit a job because it does not cooperate with your travel plans.

All of that was in my young and reckless 20s, but in my 30s, as career life developed, I just had to be willing to take time off unpaid to get more travel time in- which for me was not even a question in my mind! Instead of “If?” I wondered, “how much time off can I get?” whether paid or unpaid. Often if you prove yourself a valuable employee, your employer is more willing to work with you since they don’t want to lose you. This has proven true in almost every job I have had, and I have had several! Honestly, if I did not think a job was flexible with time off then I would not even consider applying for or taking it, unless I absolutely needed the job. So, my advice, be bold! – You might be surprised at your employer’s flexibility with you. It helps if you already have a plan to provide your supervisor for how your work responsibilities can be covered while you’re away.

Aside from choosing flexible careers, Dave and I also live much differently than society as a whole. Here are some rules we live by:

  • No debt. If we can’t pay cash for it, we can’t afford it. We do use a credit card for the rewards, but pay it off each month.
  • Dispense income in following order>
    1. Give                           \  \
    2. Retirement                 50-60%
    3. Save, save, save      /  /
    4. Spend (bills, entertainment, food, etc.) – 40-50%
  • When I went back to school we learned to live on one income, and when I returned to work we continued to live that way.
  • We don’t like t.v. so we never have had cable or satellite. (Fun fact: this was actually true for each of us early in our adult lives and one of the things that attracted us to each other. Awww ☺) We believe we would rather be living than watching others live. Okay, I must admit that we got a Netflix account a couple of years ago because I do love movies, but it is only approximately $10/month. And I discovered a few months back that an antennae picked up several channels, which I was super excited about at the time but then hardly ever used it.
  • We don’t value having brand new expensive cars so we buy used reliable ones that we pay for in full. When you don’t have a car payment, your insurance is a lot less expensive- thus you can put that extra cash (car payment and insurance cost)  in your savings. When your car does need maintenance, you have the cash. We have had great experiences with this and aside from oil changes and general maintenance, we have had little to no problems with our vehicles. Just be willing to do a little research.
  • We live in a small mobile home, and yes we hope and plan to purchase or build a home eventually, but we honestly don’t need more than what we have and are not in a rush to ‘upgrade’. And even when we do buy or build, it will likely not be a huge house.  Living in a small, simple, and paid for home allows us lots of freedom and flexibility to travel. We were  ahead of the tiny house movement! Ha! But, really, it is the same appeal that has driven the tiny house movement. I think people are tired of what they own owning them, so they are starting to simplify so they can actually live more. Anyway, I digress.
  • We don’t pay for insanely expensive health insurance. Instead, we have Medi-Share which has been great for us. And since we are big on saving, we can pay out of pocket if needed for an appointment.
  • We almost always bargain shop and try to avoid impulse buys. One thing I read somewhere before which I have found helpful is instead of going shopping, go through your closet and clean out some of the clutter and donate a bag to charity or sell through consignment. You’ll feel great, may make a little cash, and not have extra junk or debt!
  • Along with bargain shopping is bargain travelling. Over the last 15 years I have researched many ways to travel as inexpensively as possible and to get the most bang for my buck. I’ll try to do a post on this at some point to elaborate.
  • Buy food in bulk and cook at home 90% of the time. Don’t waste food. Pack lunch.
  • Keep power bill low by turning off lights, adjusting the thermostat when we’re away, etc.
  • We don’t care about having the latest gadgets such as iphones or whatever. If an older model works, why get a newer one?
  • We not only talk about travel a lot, we talk about it as a reality such as where we want to go, for how long, and when we can realistically make it happen. We have a list of destinations on the fridge. We subscribe to a couple of travel magazines, and we go on day trips or weekend getaways regularly to keep travel fresh on the mind. There are endless places to go and see on this planet and we want to visit as many as possible.

Now, obviously, everyone has different circumstances and may not be able to apply all of these things in their lives, but this list is just examples of changes one can make to save more money. For more info on how to more effectively manage money check out Dave Ramsey and The Money Saving Mom.

The reality is whatever is most important to you is where you will spend your time and money. So, my advice to you is to write down a list of what your top 5-10 priorities are in order of importance, and then do a self-check on how much time and money you put into each one on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. You can also check to see where you are wasting valuable time and money (i.e. social media, junk food, video games, etc.) and then intentionally redirect your attention to what really matters to you. This is always a work in progress for us.

What ‘sacrifices’ are you willing to make in order to do what is more important to you?

Does what you own, own you? Or do you have the freedom you prefer?

Are you willing to go against the grain to live the life you really desire, not a life trying to impress your peers or a life you think you’re ‘supposed’ to be living because society said so?

Bottom line: If travel is important to you, you will find a way to make it happen.

Initial Observations of New Zealand after one week 11-17-2016

Seems prices are generally more expensive than back home, however the US dollar is stronger right now so it is not as painful as it could be. Currently the exchange rate is US .72 = NZ 1.00.  The inflation is not very consistent though; for example, ice cream and coffee (two things I definitely know about! Ha!) are about the same price or cheaper than in the States. We don’t smoke, but we noticed that one pack of cigarettes here cost the equivalent of US $22.00. Yes, you read that right! Gas is definitely more expensive.

This place is an outdoor enthusiast’s paradise in every sense possible. It seems the entire country caters to outdoor adventures whether it is mountain biking, skiing, hiking, swimming, spelunking, abseiling, scuba diving, canyoning, snorkeling, surfing, kayaking (sea, lake and river), climbing, backpacking, snowboarding, fishing, tubing, motorcycling (is that a word?), sand dune boarding (seriously),  skydiving, hang gliding, bird watching, horseback riding, hot springs in every other town, and I am sure there are so many more things I am missing. It is almost like every area competes to see who can come up with the most adventurous activity! I love the energy and priority here to explore the outdoors as much as possible. There are crystal clear blue lakes and seas everywhere, as well as seriously impressive waterfalls in nearly every town. You can go from a thick gorgeous forest to white sand beaches in less than an hour.

There is so much I love about this country. The air is fragrant like honeysuckles. The people are very friendly and welcoming. There are cafes and ice cream and gelato EVERYWHERE- it’s like the place was created just for ME! There are no, I repeat, NO Walmarts! There are beaches where when the tide is out, you can dig a hole in the sand and it will fill with fresh blazing hot spring geyser water you can soak in until the tide comes back in. Really everywhere you look here is breathtaking. The weather is mild. The country is filled with like-minded explorers. We go on an amazing hike or walk nearly every day. They have giant trout. Did I mention the waterfalls? Oh, and of course, Lord of the Rings was filmed here!

It sounds like enough that I would never want to leave, but so far nothing in New Zealand has impressed me enough yet (we haven’t been to the south island yet, which we keep hearing is mindblowing!) to convince me to want to move here permanently (though I would definitely come back again). One reason is the cost of living is pretty high, and so far everything I have seen here we also have in the USA just not as condensed. We have crystal clear lakes, cool mountain waters, white sand beaches with turquoise waters, great expanses of land, rolling hills, deserts, lush landscapes, mountains (snowcapped, rocky, or covered in trees), amazing food, every outdoor activity you can imagine and we drive on the RIGHT side of the road (praise the Lord!). Another reason is that it is a pretty long flight from home, approximately 20 hours! – and, of course, NC will always be our home.

The more I travel the more I think every place looks like another place I have been. Several times now in just the first week in NZ Dave and I have commented “this kind of looks/feels/smells like ______” – Greece, Kentucky, North Carolina, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Texas, California, etc. But even so, the more I travel, the more I want to travel and see the beauty of God’s great creation.