Originally posted on February 28, 2015, by cruisingrunner
Some people thought we were crazy when we sold our house and most of what we owned and moved onto a sailboat. For me, it was a liberating experience as we down-sized and simplified in order to fit into a 540 square foot living space. However, I’m wondering if we’ve now taken crazy to a whole new level as we live out of our car and sleep in tents (or holiday park cabins) on our road trip to see the South Island of New Zealand.
We left a lot of creature comforts behind when we made the big step from home owners to live aboard-ers. Gone were the days of hot soaks in an oversized bath tub and falling asleep watching TV on our big comfy couch. We no longer have a washer/dryer in our upstairs laundry room because we no longer have an upstairs or a laundry room. In the best case scenario we do laundry at an American style laundry mat and worst case means doing it by hand and hanging it out to dry all over Exodus’s life lines. Our electric coffee grinder and coffee maker have been traded in for a manual grinder and an insulated French Press. Luckily, we still have a dishwasher. Two, in fact. Named Alex and Brenden. Our fridge and freezer are dorm room sized, and you can totally forget about a pantry. There’s no Xbox or Wii or Apple TV or Netflix, and a lot of the time there isn’t even any internet. But after two years, I can honestly say that I still love living on Exodus. I love the simplicity of it, and I absolutely love the lack of stuff. Sure, there was a steep learning curve as all four of us learned to live together in such a small space, but Exodus has now become our home, and we are comfortable.
So, about a month ago we left our floating home snug in a marina in Opua and set off for this road trip. As we temporarily down-size and simplify even more, it seems as we are going through a second crash course for how to live together and function as a family in this even smaller space. We brought tents, sleeping bags, basic cooking equipment, and an ice chest and every couple days we load up the van to brim and then unload it in our new location. When we aren’t sleeping in tents we are crammed into a cabin at a Holiday Park. For those that don’t know, New Zealand has several systems of “Holiday Parks,” which are one of the budget options for accommodations when touring around. Most of them have spaces for tents and camper vans but they also have cabins and sometimes motel like tourist flats. We’ve chosen cabins instead of tents for various reasons including illness and rain (although we did get caught in the rain tent camping once already). The cabins we’ve stayed in have ranged from the most very basic at about a couple hundred square feet, bunk beds, and no other amenities, to where we are now, which is a tourist flat at about 400 square feet, a kitchenette, and a bathroom. If we thought we were nice and cozy together with precious few luxuries living on Exodus, we really have taken things to a whole new level of coziness (craziness?) now.
One exception is that being in New Zealand, we do have internet access most days, which is an extravagance I’m still not totally used to. Mostly we use it to pick our next destination and book reservations if necessary, but who am I kidding, I’m on facebook at least once a day.
But in general, we left a lot of creature comforts behind when we left Exodus to be landlubbers again. Gone are the days of a private bathroom and shower physically connected to our own living space. Mostly we trek across a campground to a shared bathroom, and hot water is mostly available, but not always. (And it’s really cold here too!) My kitchen (actually it’s called a galley) on Exodus is very small, but at least it is my own. Now I carry around my dishes and supplies in plastic bins and cook in either communal kitchens or our one burner butane camping stove. I have accepted the nightly challenge of figuring out in advance everything I will need for dinner so I can carry it all to the communal kitchen. I’m getting better about it. The first couple times I needed two or three trips back to the campsite to get things I forgot. I nailed it last night. On Exodus there is room to retreat and there are spaces to hide and places to find solitude when you need it. We are now all living and sleeping in the same single room. We get in each other’s way. We hear each other breathe.
But we are figuring it out. Just like it was an adjustment making the transition to our life aboard Exodus, this is an adjustment that we are slogging our way through. Somehow, we aren’t killing each other. On the contrary, our family bond is getting even stronger. Or maybe that’s just my delusional wishful thinking. Maybe it’s just the internet access.
Whatever the case, when we get back to Opua, I’m pretty sure we will all be thankful to be back to the mansion that is Exodus.
Gresham Family Exodus 