Road Trip in New Zealand with My Super Awesome 2 Years Old Mia

While writing it, I’m sitting in a van, looking at a beautiful beach covered with white stones, there’s a little water paddle where seagulls take a bath and I drink coffee. I could go out, but I have so many sandflies bites (popular in this area), that I am a bit scared. I took a few pictures already while jumping to keep them away. Mia is asleep and I finally have a moment to write.

To start with I have to write how extremely glad I am that we’re here, just two of us. It is a crazy great experience, I learn so much about my daughter and being a mother. How to deal with problems, how to give up on plans because kid does not approve and how to laugh instead of getting mad. Because kids can make us angry from time to time, even a sweet 2 year old. The deal is that we have to get, that they don’t do it to make us angry. They just do things out of curiosity and to have fun. My Mia is quite a character. She’s curious and scared of nothing or no-one. Except for chickens, she does not trust these birds.

So lets start.

How we packed

Minimalism was my call. I took as little as possible. I am traveling with a backpack and the idea was that when needed I can close small backpack into the big one. I did not make long trekking (not fun for Mia), so I didn’t have to take big boots. Only one sweater and one jumper. I took a lot of t-shirts and trousers for Mia, but not many jumpers. When things get dirty we wash it. In New Zealand there’s many laundry places on a way and you can wash it and dry on a campground for 4-8 NZ$. Thanks to it our van is more comfortable and our clothes fit in one shelf.

I did not pack many toys either. Just 3 tiny books and How How – Mia’s favourite dog toy (I was trying to convince her to a cat toy but no luck in this area). I get small things on a way from time to time and she gets so excited! I took a few diapers for a flight and the rest I bought in New Zealand.

Traveling

We hired a van, the most beautiful, cool, awesome and lovely Classic VW. It’s called Miss Sunshine. The first idea was to take one with a toilet and a shower, as I like to stop on a free camping spots and it will just make much more sense, since I travel by myself with a tiny kid. But hey, nobody said that I’m smart. I took an old school classic option with no steering wheel support, manual gear handle, where I have to refill oil each 1000 km. All worth it. I love our tiny home.

I came to New Zealand without a plan really. I knew that I’ll go around the South Island, and maybe will visit the north one as well. No idea about my stops, where to sleep or what to see. I’ve been here two times already so I knew how easy it is. So… what you do is pick up your car and drive. Oh, and of course you need to buy a lot of food first, so you don’t have to worry.

You can get mobile internet (8GB), so you can plan on a way. There are also mobile apps, which tell you where is the next van site, free camping, toilet or a gas station. Technology makes everything so much easier.

Eating

I cook in the van mostly, sometimes I stop in a lovely small local restaurant or when I don’t feel like cooking or I just want to hang out with adults for a change. This is such a great experience. I wake up usually very early, Mia is still asleep. I make a coffee and go outside, to look at the water, listen to waves, watch how colours change. Then I make a breakfast and slowly wake Mia up. If she feels like sleeping longer, I don’t mind, but usually she doesn’t. We have a fridge, sink with water and cooking equipment. We just have to remember to get food (I have to remember).

Showers

As I mentioned, we do not have a shower nor toilet in our tiny van. However, there’re plenty of spots with toilets in a great condition and you can shower on a camping or there are places where you can take a shower for 2-6 NZ$. I like it. I spent my childhood vacations on camping grounds and I enjoyed it. What I prefer though is free camping. Usually I choose one where’s there’s only us or maybe one more van. The view is spectacular, it’s so quiet and peaceful. And no, I’m not scared.

Mia in a van

She loves it! Ok, it’s not said enough. She can’t get enough of it! In the morning she welcomes the car. When we walk too much she demands going back to her Auto. And the first thing she says in the morning is “food” or “lets go!”. She looooooooves it! The cool part is that she can sit up front next to me, so we can talk all the time (I do not understand what she’s talking about in most cases), sing and it’s just so much more comfortable.

Traveling with a small kid

This is the part I love most. I had to realise so many things and accept them. For instance, kids do not appreciate everything we do. When there’s a spectacular sunset with the biggest magical waves – they do not care much. They want to go back to a car to watch Peppa Pig. They prefer an hour on a playground (we search for one almost each day) than to sit in a cafe, while you catch up with the internet. Mia does not care that I miss Tomasz and I want to talk to him, because she desperately needs an ice cream, and we need to go and find it in that exact moment (power of distraction is used in this situation a lot).

I love to get up super early and enjoy the light. Mia does not, so she stays in a car sleeping and I park somewhere, where I can leave the car, but be next to it. Whenever she wakes up, I’m there, so she is not scared.

I’ve learned to recognise when she gets tiny sleepy, which is perfect to go back to a car as I can drive for an hour and she will fell asleep within the next 10 minutes. I also know when enough is enough. So some stops will not be in her interest area, which means we have to go.

Sometimes she refuses to go further. She does not want to drive anymore and I have to respect it. We will play, run and talk for an hour or two and then she’s always happy to rest in her comfy seat.

When I got all these things, traveling became easy like a piece of cake.

Crazy situations

There are moments like me taking a picture and holding her with another hand, as she figured out that the funniest game ever would be to run on a highway, or roll down from a side of a very steep hill. She runs a lot and sometimes she does not get, that what she’s doing is running away. We’ll get there, for now I chase her quite a lot.

Mia does not appreciate showers lately. It’s a phase, it will pass. Going for a shower
with her is an adventure though. I can not leave her obviously, so she goes with me each time. And it starts… She cries like if I was pouring a boiling water over her. She keeps repeating “mom, mom” and I can only imagine what others think. The moment I put a towel around her she becomes the happiest kid in the world.

She discovered ice creams. When we go to a place she can see a freezer she glues to it and there’s no way to unglue her without a scene. First she just hugs it and keeps saying “ice cream” then she comes to me and pulls me, because most probably I haven’t seen it. Then she tells everyone around (with a proper excitement) that there are ice creams in this place. Then she refuses to leave until she gets one. If there’s a safe choice she gets one, but sometimes I cannot give it to her and I can’t stop laughing, because my daughter acts like the biggest tragedy in her life has happened. I am so happy that it’s still easy to distract her 🙂

We also had one bleeding accident. My tiny runner fell down and started to bleed from nose. Within the next 10 seconds she covered her whole face with a blood and looked like after a shark attack. Whoever saw me carrying her to a car, asked if they should call an ambulance. Thankfully a piece of chocolate solved the situation, I cleaned her face, stopped the bleeding and we were all happy again. To be perfectly honest I had to eat a whole chocolate myself as it freaked me out as well.

More to come…