Girl with the red backpack: Living the Backpacker Life

Soooo... Where to begin? I have heard you guys prefer less writing and more pictures so I think I will keep this post to just bullet points! My travel partner, Erik, was another CouchSurfer who answered my post seeking travel partners in late March. We had similar time frames as well as starting and ending locations so while I was in Brisbane we scheduled a Skype call. From just those 30 minutes of talking I had a strong feeling that not only did I completely like and trust this guy, but that I would definitely enjoy traveling with him more than by myself. So I took the leap, canceled my car rentals and signed up to live in a campervan with him for two weeks!

Now what exactly does that mean besides just living as cheaply as possible? I didn't know myself at first, but here's what I learned!

- cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner on a small camping stove at different scenic stops

Cooking breakfast Day 1 on the road!

- sometimes cooking dinner in the dark (which was tough for me at first - before it became fun - since there was money in my bank and budget to eat out, but who knows how expensive Europe will be and I won't always have a gas stove to use, so I embraced this fully!)

Cooking dinner in the van. It was way too yummy.
(P.S. I just weighed myself...I gained 5+ pounds this trip!)

- brushing your teeth outside the van with a cup of water

- washing your dishes in the sink at a "public toilet" (that word again!)

- sometimes just rinsing dishes when you forget to carry the soap up the mountain!

- not wearing any make up

- not having outlets to charge cell phones, iPad, or cameras (thank you coffee houses and libraries for this!)

- not having Internet (thank you free McDonald's wifi for this!)

- going to the (heated) swimming pools in towns to make use of their showers after a nice swim

- filling up water bottles for cooking water from taps at McDonald's

- sleeping in the van (surprisingly quite comfortable and warm!)

- getting more pimples than I usually get in an entire year in less than two weeks

- making use of DOC (dept of conservation) campsites or holiday parks for parking the van at night

- and occasionally "freedom camping" (i.e. technically illegal camping ever since the Rugby World Cup last year, but it's very unlikely that you'll be caught)

Now before you wince or cringe or feel any sympathy for me (mom!), you should know that I was really loving it. There was always some shock and surprise for me each time Erik explained how we would handle the next thing be it dishes or cooking or showers, but having made up my mind that I wanted to travel this way, I jumped on board and loved each part of it. Even in hindsight as I recall having to hold my bladder until we finally reached a public toilet one morning, I can only smile :)

High atop Lake Tekapo

Further, we were far from the only ones doing this! Erik, having lived around New Zealand for the last five months, could easily spot the other backpackers even without their vans be it at McDonald's for the wifi or at the pool for the showers! There is giant camaraderie amongst travelers here too!

And then there are so many advantages to the campervan method of exploring too. We got to sleep under the stars each night (and the full moon!) with the van's moonroof. We could do overnights and stay places you otherwise can't get to first thing in the morning where you can wake up with beautiful views and the sunrise. And I couldn't believe this but I was actually warmer in the van every night than I was a couple of nights of CouchSurfing since central heating isn't that commonplace in NZ. And after two weeks, I think it finally helped me with my sleep and diet schedule. There really wasn't much of a regular schedule we followed, but I got back into eating many small meals throughout the day (because a hike really isn't complete without all the snack stops to look forward to!) Also, on the occasion, cooking dinner at 5 with the last bit of daylight and preparing for bed by 7pm helped curb the late night eating that I had gotten into the habit of in Australia!

The view of the moon on the first night through the moonroof directly overhead our heads

And most importantly, I don't think I could have seen as much as I did without traveling this way. Sure, I typically prefer electricity, hot showers, clean laundry, and the internet, but with New Zealand I much preferred seeing as much of it as I could! I owe the most giant thank you to Erik and I think I must have already thanked him close to fifty times, but he deserves a whole post for his generosity and companionship. Because and only because of him I got to see everything I wanted to see in New Zealand in an unimaginably short time period and on an unthinkably small budget. I couldn't possibly feel any more fortunate to have gotten to meet him and spend my days exploring with him. Saying goodbye to him at the Auckland airport was sad as his travels continue on to Thailand, but I don't think my heart could have been filled with any more gratitude and happiness for getting to know him in the first place! And right now it looks like we might be able to meet back up in Germany this summer!