First time Vanlife with a dog

We are sitting in our folding chairs, George on Tobys lap, staring concentrated at the passing seagulls - only a strip of bright sand separates us from the sea. The waves rush in evenly to the beat, the small island in front of us is dipped in pastel-colored evening light, while water birds dive for fish for the last time of the day. That's one of the reasons why we're on the road, why we rented out our apartment and packed our things. These moments are simply priceless!
We put a lot of time and energy into the conversion of our little van this week and now it's finally finished! All the big tasks on the To-Do-List are ticked off and Vanette is ready for the next adventure. We are incredibly satisfied with the result and feel very comfy in our Tiny Home on four wheels. To put our little Trady to the test and because there is still a lot to explore in the area, we took George and drove to Tauranga Bay this week, one of the most beautiful beaches on the North Island. The beachfront campground was the only one close by that allowed dogs and this was main criteria in our campground selection. Little did we know, that we would be rewarded with such an incredible panorama! True traveling is no Picknick, and the pictures you get on Instagram and other social media platforms usually do not correspond to the travel routine that most of us live. Here however, we feel as if we had just stepped out of a highly polished Instagram post. Lemme paint a picture: Behind us, Vanette illuminates the close surroundings with her warm lights, we drink a glass of wine (coz that 's how we roll) in our comfy camping chairs, packed in blankets and watch the sun sink slowly into the South Pacific sea. This evening was incredibly beautiful!
The first night in the van was in contrast to that - let’s say, so-so. We both hardly slept. Why was that? We do not really know, maybe Georges snoring, the fresh temperatures (we had the windows open all night for the dogster), our extremely uncomfortable upper part of the mattress (the lower part has already been replaced by a Tip Top childrens mattress but the upper part is still made of individual pillows that are sewn in together, not very back-friendly), the usually very reassuring ocean noise? Probably a cobination of everthing..
Well, the next day we were up pretty early and took a walk along the beach. It was a pretty great week! Now, we will go for a walk on our favourit trail, because the weather is just amazing rigth now! Tomorrow is Labor Day in New Zealand and everone around us is in this happy long-weekend-get-together mood! Maybe we should get ourselfs a cider? Have a beautiful Sunday everbody!

It’s s great To have you! Grab your favorite drink and let’s look back on the last week.

Downer of the week:

Booooo, unfortunately we didn’t manage to publish the next travel report this week. Well, it will be in german so probably not that interesting for you guys anyways ;)

Highlight of the week:

The conversion of a small, boring trady to a wawoom campervan is finally finished! The hated curtains are stitched together and work splendidly, the storage spaces are installed and painted, everything fits and works great together. For 6 weeks we have worked on the conversion on and off. From the first ideas we collected and planned out, to spending endless hours at bunnings warehouse to get all things necessary, to bringing everything together in many hours of hard work. At first with borrowed power tools (thanks Helen and David!), and then again the only thing we had was a screwdriver and a hand saw. We are damn pleased with the result: a mixture of minimalism, practical solutions and cozy details. Every solution has always been a compromise between a tight budget, a justified workload and the desired result. In the end, the conversion was really fun and the work was definitely worth it. A proper increase in value can not be denied. Our first test run to the Tauranga Bay was great and showed us the last little things that we have to improve ... like getting a Mosquito net ;)