A new home

Hello dear ones,

We were very happy about all your Advent greetings and the autumnal photos! It helps a bit to come to terms with the fact that Christmas is just around the corner. Despite our advent calendar, we still can't quite believe it.

What have we been up to in the past few weeks?

Surprise!

We built our own new campervan. What an experience!

Somehow, the first car was a bit too small for us, and as fate would have it, we met a nice Kiwi-German couple (Stephen and Conny from Oldenburg) who offered us their tools and the space in their house/garage in Auckland to build our own camper. For a few weeks, we kept an eye out for larger cars with this offer in mind, found one, and finally gratefully accepted the offer of tools and space that Stephen and Conny had made to us a thousand times. So we spent the first week of December in West Auckland and worked on the car.

But building is an understatement. Building, sawing, drilling, and swearing is more appropriate. You wouldn't believe what you can learn in a week of van self-construction. We used tools whose existence we didn't even know about, and we tested our planning abilities.

With their interesting stories, valuable tips, and incredibly likeable and positive attitude, Conny and Stephen have given us a lot for life. We can't thank them enough! Thank you for your patience, the great vegetarian food, and the long conversations.

And now, photos of the new van:

In direct comparison, the new one (white) doesn't look much bigger than the old one (blue). But these extra 30 cm of roof and another 30 cm of extra back make a huge difference inside!

For about a week, we owned TWO cars. The new one is another Toyota Hiace, but with a manual transmission. It is 2 years older and has a lot more kilometers on the clock than the blue one (390,000 vs. 314,000 km) - but in countries like New Zealand and Australia, anything under 300,000 is considered 'run in' ;)

We have heard countless times - both from mechanics and non-experts - that Toyota Hiaces with the 'legendary 2.8L diesel engine' run and run and run... Interestingly, this is also reflected in the German statistics: Toyota is praised to the skies for being the most reliable used cars.

Enough advertising. Continuing with the story:

We successfully sold the blue van after about 5 days without making a profit or loss. Including all the expenses for the conversion, we paid about $1,000 less for the new one :)

But the white one still needs a lot of work before it becomes a camper:

Laying down the wood floor precisely: Cut out the shape with cardboard and then saw the wood accordingly.

With Stephen's 'toys', as he called his tools, it was quite doable.

By the way, almost all of the wood is 'salvaged'. Most of it comes from pallets that were supposed to be thrown away, even though they were still in perfect condition:

The construction of the bed took the longest by far. We didn't envision a folding mechanism that turns the bed into a sofa, but a sliding mechanism. Much easier to handle in everyday life and so elegant :)

We think the effort has paid off. (And now we also know how much easier it would have been to build the sliding bed - something to learn for next time)

Photo bomber Stephen :)

A cupboard is gradually joining the bed (right) on day 3.

We sleep with our heads towards the driver's seats, and the headboard must be foldable to access the engine and battery in an emergency:

By the way, the 'crooked nailed' wood on the left in the picture is intentional - it's rustic!

Of course, we want to be 'self-contained' again. To get the certificate that allows us to stay at many free campsites later on, we need a toilet and a sink with a waste container and a U-shaped waste pipe:

Fits, wobbles, has air. (Unfortunately, it leaked a bit here and there, as we later found out, so we had to fix it). The certificate has already been approved, and the sticker is sticking firmly for the next 4 years! YIPPIEE!

The old ceiling is also getting a new cover.

After almost a week, the most important parts are ready - we are almost finished:

In addition to free wood that was supposed to be thrown away, we have obtained various items from a recycling center, where unused things (aka 'trash') are sold for a low price. We had to cut the mattresses to size and cover them with fabric. This effort saved us about $250, as even simple foam mattresses are quite expensive here.

By the way, second-hand stores are incredibly common in New Zealand in general. They are great for travelers who still need cutlery, plates, fabric/material, pillows, blankets, etc.

About 8 days later, we were FINALLY finished with the conversion. We just had to get curtains for the windows and covers for the mattress parts.

Goodbye to Stephen and Conny - we will definitely visit them again next year before we leave! :)

And now we have been back on the road for over a week. Please forgive us for only now receiving pictures of the van conversion (we received several impatient requests ;)), but it took sooo long to sew the curtains and sofa cushions, phew! But the work has paid off. Nice and colorful, big, cozy - now it is presentable, and we proudly present our new, finished baby: