Our NZ housetruck build thread...

Discussions about all things to do with buses, trucks, and the homes made within them.

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somewhereinusa
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Post by somewhereinusa »

Well done on the steps, and Hannah should be rightfully proud of the cabinet.

:D Ah the importance of an easily pleased mate, Mumsywumsy is quite content with a trip to town and a meal at the Chinese buffet. After 42 years I guess I'll keep her. :D
yoeddynz
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Post by yoeddynz »

yep- she sounds like a low maintenance type. Best hang on to her :D
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Headache
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Post by Headache »

The picture of that cat laying there is the best! :lol:
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Post by Guest »

my camera is full of cat photos- i'm sure we would have finished the build many months ago if it wasn't for the cats! They're such little time wasters!:-)
yoeddynz
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Re: Our NZ housetruck build thread...

Post by yoeddynz »

OK then. heres a late update. Not much really as far as work on the truck goes. Its working fine as both a house and a truck. We drove it over to Nelson 3 weeks ago. Nelson is now our new home. It went drove so well and was such a buzz. I loved it. very cruisy and much better up and over the hills than I thought it would be! It cost us $50 to move our entire house from Blenheim to Nelson. Sweet! Hannah followed in the old toymota hiace. We stayed at Pelorus bridge halfway to Nelson and woke to the sound of many bellbirds etc. That was cool. The exhaust brake was bloody handy on the way down the hills.

Not many photos really. In fact I only took one photo of it on the way but Hannah took some video of it as she followed.

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Heres a link to the a youtube clip of truck going over the Whangamoa saddle...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pVQ7oGEwE8

Now we are settled in Nelson and have a most awesome campspot. Surrounded by native bush with a bird sanctuary as well. Loads of cool birds and birdsong and nothing else but the creek 4 meters from our back door. We have made a little path down to the creek with river stiones and will make a BBQ area.

As the truck is all finished its been time to start looking for work. Been looking at going back to trade work as a fitter turner and there is plenty to pick from but I'm not at all into the whole 7am start thing!!!. I want to work to live not live to work. So we are starting a little workshop ourselves doing anything. Hopefully it works out. As a back up I'll have some bikeshop work to do over summer which is cool. I need to be able to get bike stuff at trade rates because man its been an expensive shock to pay retail! Since we have 14 bikes (and growing) it'll be nice to pay trade for parts again.

We have no internet where we are- not even a signal. So its the library or my brothers house for us. Hence very little of me on any forum over past few weeks. But man do we have some cool biking and tramping on our back door. From the truck its a 2 minute walk to the most amazing walking track I done in ages. It takes us right up into proper ancient forest with some massive trees. And loads of wicked mountain bike tracks start right near us. So while we have not been working we have both been playing loads! I love it here :D We have the sun till 4pm but in summer we'll have it all day.

Nelmac (the nelson council team) have supplied us loads of firewood which is sweet too. Nights have been chilly with all the clear weather we have had the last 3 weeks.

Views from up our valley- truck is parked right down at the bottom.

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Up near top of the valley there are wicked swimming holes. This one is 1 hours walk away and so peaceful.

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I get some photos of the truck parked up soon.

Alex
rlaggren
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Re: Our NZ housetruck build thread...

Post by rlaggren »

Sounds great. Thanks for the update - makes the rest of us think about doing a little tripping to the right spot! It's nice to be able to hike w/out driving hours to get to the trail...

Cheers, Rufus
yoeddynz
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Re: Our NZ housetruck build thread...

Post by yoeddynz »

Yeah we are both very pleased with where we have ended up. Next rip will be over new years somewhere. For now its back to that earning money bother..
dburt
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Re: Our NZ housetruck build thread...

Post by dburt »

I'm glad to see your update! It's a bummer about having to stop living the good life to go back to work and make some of that 'filthy lucre' better known as money. You are so right, we all need to work to live, but never should we live to work. That is just backwards! In the end all we will have is memories, we can't take anything with us but the memories of good times and better relationships. That is where we need to put the emphasis in life, building good relationships with those we love, and memories to carry us later on in life when we hit the speed bumps!
yoeddynz
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Re: Our NZ housetruck build thread...

Post by yoeddynz »

Cheers Dburt. We are making the most of not working but I'm gonna go back to some engineering or something similar to bump the funds up before Jan.
Heres some pics of the truck parked up where we are currently living. Took some on Monday afternoon in the sunshine while drinking cider.
Hannah chilling on the back porch. We get the sun right through till late which is great.

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The stream we are parked next to. We built the little path down to it a few weekends after moving in and its settled in nicely. Now with all the spring growth its looking really nice...

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Looking up from the creek...

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Our neighbour who lives in a small bus he converted has been living here 15 years or so. He has an awesome garden down to the stream and has tame Eels that he feeds. Some are pretty big..

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And a swimming hole just along a few meters..

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The truck has been very good- well the house I mean. Just dealing with the possums shitting on the roof from the tree above and general leaf cleaning from the gutters. I started it up the other day and worked the brakes as I figure this may well help keep the wheel cylinder seals happy. I'm glad its got good new clean brake fluid throughout for this reason.
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stuartcnz
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Re: Our NZ housetruck build thread...

Post by stuartcnz »

Thanks for the update. It does look nice up that way. I hope to pay a visit to the Nelson area again in the next couple of years. I really miss the scenery.
Stealth Camper
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Re: Our NZ housetruck build thread...

Post by Stealth Camper »

That is amazing! Beautiful country!

Was that highway 6 you were on in the video? Have been looking at Nelson area on Google Earth. Is there public camping there - a park, or do you work it out with someone who owns that land? Looks like it would be difficult to find a place that was NOT scenic around there.
Dusty
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Re: Our NZ housetruck build thread...

Post by Dusty »

Thanks for the update :) Its a nice spot you are at , can you let us know where it is?? :thumbup:
58 Bedford House
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Headache
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Re: Our NZ housetruck build thread...

Post by Headache »

What a beautiful and peaceful looking area!
yoeddynz
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Re: Our NZ housetruck build thread...

Post by yoeddynz »

Hiya,
sorry for late reply. The spot is at brook valley holiday park. Its about 6 kms from the centre of Nelson at the end of a little valley. We have a beautiful bird sanctuary here with amazing hiking through ancient forests.

There are a few people living here year round. Mainly old buses and a few Caravans. Its a really nice place to live. Very cheap living plus its nice to be able to leave the truck, go away on bikes or in our old van and know that there are some people looking over the truck for us.
The park has just installed wifi so now we have internet in the truck. Wow- meet the future! :)

Alex
Stealth Camper
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Re: Our NZ housetruck build thread...

Post by Stealth Camper »

Looking at Google Earth, I see some large scarred areas just north of there. Is that just clear cut from logging, or is there mining/excavation going on there?
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