We are living on the bus ready for the start of our adventures.

Though really the adventure started four months ago when we moved out of our house and onto the bus.  We have taken a year out, semi-retired, whatever...the plan is to head south and see what happens. 

In the meantime we have been in the U.K. and Europe for 3 months.  Prior to that we moved onto our bus in Whangarei - although it was mid-winter and we were still working! 

The idea was to make sure that our tenants were settled into our house ok, paying the rent and everything working out.  It took far longer than we imagined to move out of the house.  We have our stuff stored in the garage so it had to be packed very carefully to utilise every bit of space.  So, lots of packaging and fitting furniture into other bits of furniture...  Then we drove the bus to Whangarei falls Motor Camp where we lived for a month in the cold and wet.  The windows had ice inside in those early mornings.  We had the fan heater plugged in by the bed and whoever stirred around 5.00 am switched it on so that by 7.00 it was warm enough to get up.  Some mornings we switched on the diesel heater too.  Evenings we spent amidst our damp towels, we strung them up to dry in the heat from the heater.  Work was full on for me, teaching 6 year-olds -  writing reports, parent/teacher interview evenings, trying to sort out 15 years worth of teaching resources...

Then it all came to a stop.  The term ended.  Malcolm finished his job.  We grabbed our suitcases full of summer clothes for the northern hemisphere, took the bus to the storage yard, locked the car in our garage and headed to the airport for the long trip to Nottingham, U.K.  For those interested I blogged that (well, sort of forced people to look at our holiday photos daily for 3 months!) at www.heatherwhelan.blogspot.com

Now, slightly jet-lagged we are back in New Zealand.  Back in Whangarei.  Back at the motor camp.  But now it is spring and I have bagged up all those winter clothes I had on the bus since July and unpacked the summer selection from the suitcases.  We are spending a few days catching up with friends, sorting out our mail and business stuff, all those appointments - doctors, haircuts...  Trying to figure out what to do re forwarding mail - most things are emailed these days but there's always something (like Xmas presents!)  Next job is to book a sailing on the ferry to the South Island, then we'll be on our way.  Grey Wanderers.

Who we are

Malcolm Mack.  A man of many talents.  He fitted out the bus.  Malcolm is a CAD draughtsman but is also a practical guy, he is a fitter by trade.  He also does computer programming. 

Heather Whelan.  Primary school teacher and freelance writer.

Our hobbies are quiz team members, orienteering, tramping, genealogy (Heather), coffee drinking, photography and we love to travel.

So - here we go!