Episode 008

Living on the Road for Three Years with Goose and Ellen

22 July 2022 43 min

Episode 008

0:00 / 43:48

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Goose and Ellen are kind of the reason we have a van. Before we got married, Isaac asked if I wanted to live in a van and I said no, are you crazy? Then I spent a year (at least) following their travels, and slowly warmed up to it.

They've lived in vehicles for almost five years: a converted bus in Australia, then three years full time on the road in New Zealand in a run of Toyotas, photographing the beauty of Aotearoa and sharing it. When we recorded, they'd just moved into a house in Kaikōura, a couple of months into slowing down.

So we go right back to the six-week trip that started it all, the 12-metre school bus they converted with zero building experience, and the vans that followed, including the one they rolled near Milford Sound. Plus their highlights, what living on the road is really like in winter, how they turned photography into a job, and their advice if you want to take the plunge. Spoiler: just go.

In this episode

How a six-week trip started it all
Converting a 12-metre school bus in Australia
Larry the Hiace and a crash near Milford Sound
Lake Matheson and a gearbox on the West Coast
A dream TownAce and van number four
The highlights of full-time vanlife
Routines, winter and moving into a house
Making money and spending less on the road
Life in Kaikōura and new jobs
Bucket list trips and advice for vanlife

How a six-week trip started it all

Goose (his real name is Angus, but nobody knows him as that) and Ellen grew up quite differently. One of them grew up travelling a lot, living in lots of cities, with every weekend spent out in the backcountry with a tent. The other did the standard school holiday trips to the same place every time, but always had an urge to see more.

The vanlife part started with a six-week trip to the States. They wanted to make the money stretch as far as they could, and looking at hotel and rental car prices, a vehicle and a bed all in one seemed the cheapest way. Their van over there was tiny, nothing like what they drive now, and it was the best trip ever.

"we realized that we needed absolutely nothing to enjoy ourselves."

They got home to their house in Adelaide, full of stuff, and looked around. They hadn't needed any of it while they were away, and they were going to work every single day to pay for a house they barely spent time in. It didn't make sense anymore. Soon after, they bought a 12-metre yellow school bus.

I had a smaller version of that moment, coming back from six months on the road over summer to a house full of stuff we hadn't missed at all.

Converting a 12-metre school bus in Australia

The bus was a big old 40-seater, straight off its last day of school. They found kids' workbooks and lots of gum. It was their first conversion, and they went straight for the biggest possible vehicle. Looking back, it was a silly decision, but an awesome one.

They had zero building experience and learned everything from YouTube, so there was a lot of trial and error. They learned so much about building and converting, and about what they could put up with from each other, because building something you're both going to live in is not an easy job.

The build took about a year and a half, and they lived in the bus in Adelaide to save money. The people who bought it were in Darwin, so they drove it there to deliver it: a 12-day road trip. Once they hit the road in it, they realised a bus isn't the best thing to drive every day. Groceries were a nightmare, and parking in cities came with a fair bit of anxiety. When they jumped in a van, it felt so easy. Everything's a sacrifice: you don't get one thing without something else dropping off.

Larry the Hiace and a crash near Milford Sound

Buying Larry

In 2019 they came home to New Zealand. They'd been searching for a van for ages, then drove past a car yard and there it was. It was a bit more expensive than they wanted, and buying on the spot isn't like them, but it was meant to be. That was Larry, the original. They kitted him out themselves in a month and hit the road.

They went straight up the North Island and were travelling there around March 2020, when COVID started. Things were looking a bit dodgy, so they got on a ferry back south.

Milford Sound to themselves

As soon as lockdown was over, they jumped straight back in the van and went into Milford Sound. They camped on the foreshore the day after lockdown lifted, with no one else there. Then, on the way out, they slipped on black ice and rolled Larry into a ditch. It was terrifying, and they're still sad about it. They loved that van so much.

The tow out

They tow people out all the time there, and it showed. Told to be at the garage at 9am, they waited hours for the tow truck driver to turn up, with Ellen stuck at the petrol station. Nobody seemed to care that their whole life had just been turned upside down on the side of the road. That's the problem with living in the thing you rely on for daily transport: as soon as something happens, it's your house.

My own van mishap

Ours wasn't as dramatic. We'd had our van two or three weeks, up north on the Karikari Peninsula in Northland, when we took a little four-wheel-drive track down to the beach. Halfway down a slope of thick sand, Isaac wasn't sure we'd get back up. We spent ages trying to turn around, with a steep bank on one side and a drop-off on the other, and couldn't. So we posted in a Facebook group called I'm Stuck New Zealand, and within an hour we were out. I was in tears. Since then, we never go four-wheel driving without friends to pull us out.

Goose and Ellen get it: the problem with four-wheel drivers is that you have a bit of courage sometimes when maybe you shouldn't.

Lake Matheson and a gearbox on the West Coast

They went straight onto Trade Me and found another four-wheel-drive Hiace, a Super Custom this time. Their requirements: it has to be four-wheel drive, and it has to be a Toyota. They converted it on the same design as Larry, with improvements. Living in a van for a few weeks shows you what really works, and then you tweak it.

They only did one trip in it. They drove from Christchurch to the West Coast for the famous reflection shot at Lake Matheson, got the shot and had an awesome time. Then, on the way out, the gearbox blew. Nobody on the West Coast wanted to deal with an old Toyota gearbox, so a random guy towed them back over Arthur's Pass, which was sketchy. They reckon they have to sacrifice a van every time they do a dream trip and get a bucket list shot. A good price to pay.

A dream TownAce and van number four

While the gearbox was being fixed, another dream van popped up: a Toyota TownAce with a custom fibreglass back, a pop-top roof, four-wheel drive and ready to go. It was one they thought they'd never even see in New Zealand, let alone own. They fixed and sold the Hiace and bought it.

A Hiace looks like a traveller's van. In the TownAce, people realised they were locals in a motorhome and treated them quite differently, and they were accepted into the travel community and by the locals.

With the borders closed, there was hardly anyone on the roads, and they feel very lucky to have had New Zealand like that.

They had the TownAce for a year and a half and sold it recently, in a crazy market for van prices. Now they have one van: another four-wheel-drive Toyota Hiace, identical to the original. Larry 2.0. It popped up for such an obscenely cheap price that they had to.

Our van is a white Hiace that looks like every other tradie van, so a custom paint job is on our upgrade list. Goose and Ellen point out that a regular-looking van has its perks if you want to go a little bit undercover. Our last van still had the tradie's signwriting on the side, which was very incognito.

The highlights of full-time vanlife

All up, they were on the road full time for about three years, from early 2019 to 2022, with lockdown the only interruption.

Their highlights:

Choosing how you spend every day. You wake up and decide.
Sunrise and sunset. They watched sunrise from bed at the beach, got up for sunrise every morning and watched sunset every night. In a house, it's not even a thought.
Iconic spots to themselves. With no one on the road, they had places like Milford Sound to themselves. They're not sure they'd have enjoyed them as much with the crowds.
The people. Some of the people they've met on the road, or through social media and then caught up with in town, are now lifelong friends.

I felt that one the week we recorded. I was exhausted and missing the little things: no schedule, nobody expecting me anywhere. I couldn't remember the last sunrise or sunset I'd seen, and it was probably on the road.

Routines, winter and moving into a house

Winter in a van

Winter in a van has its downsides too, so sometimes you're thankful for the space, the warmth and the hot running water of a house. Last winter they were waking up with ice on the inside, from the condensation.

When we did our South Island winter road trip in 2020, we had an ice scraper for the windows every morning. The best thing about winter on the road is the sleep. You cook dinner, there's nothing else to do, so you go to sleep and don't wake up until the sun comes up the next morning. I've never felt so rested as I did after that trip.

No real schedule

Routines were a struggle, and that's part of why they were craving normal life. They'd wake up and go and take photos for the morning, and the regular things like brushing your teeth and a proper breakfast flew away as the day went on. A lot of mornings meant climbing a mountain in the dark for sunrise, getting back down in the middle of the day, having breakfast, then sleeping. Everything was all over the show. One of them had a solid yoga practice and went weeks at a time without it when it was too windy or rainy, so coming into house life, they craved those little routines again.

Weekends away now

When we recorded, they were a couple of months into living in a house, cruising out in the van on weekends. They appreciate it more now. If you wake up to a beautiful sunrise every morning, eventually it stops exciting you and you're straight back on your phone. Now every trip is with purpose.

Making money and spending less on the road

Photography as a job

They set off living on savings, from selling the bus and the money they'd saved to travel Australia. In that first year and a half, they found a love for photography, bought a camera, and grew their skills until it became one of their biggest passions. They were building a following on social media too, and a fellow creator helped them see they could turn it into a full-time income. So for the other year and a half on the road, they were photographers.

They learned by watching YouTube videos, getting inspired by other people doing it, and going out and having a crack. Their take:

"you can get good at anything if you do it for a year and a half"

It takes a bit of commitment and practice, and you can turn anything into an income. It's good to look back and see your own growth, even if the old holiday photos are hard to look at.

Spending towards your goals

They wouldn't say they were on a tight budget. They stopped spending on unnecessary things (Ellen stopped buying clothes weekly), and cut out costs like cars. They still went out for beers and the odd takeaway, but they didn't do many paid activities, because they mostly wanted to see natural New Zealand, paying for DOC things when they needed to.

The mindset came from the bus. Building it, every decision was about putting money into the bus instead of something else, so they taught themselves to spend towards their goals and nothing else. That's what kept them on the road for so long. The splurges? Camera gear and vans.

Life in Kaikōura and new jobs

They're now based in Kaikōura, getting back to regular jobs and slowing down a little.

Goose has started as a general labourer at a shed business that's expanding into tiny homes. So far they've built trailers and framed up a tiny house, and there's a lot of sheds, concrete and labouring in between. He's hoping to be a tiny home builder soon, and with their own property in the back of their minds, it's a good way to learn how things are built. It's a natural progression from tiny homes on wheels.

Ellen is now working full time for Roady, the New Zealand travel company that had just launched its app, as their content specialist, sharing all the travel knowledge she's built up over three years. Goose had some input into building the app for a few months too. The role came up just as they were looking to move into a house. Great timing, and three years of hard work and learning behind it.

They live so close to the beach it takes seconds to get from bed to the ocean. So when I asked my beaches or mountains question, I thought it'd be the hardest one. It wasn't. Mountains. They live on this stretch of ocean because of the mountain range: it's about the only place on the coast of the South Island where you get the ocean and snow-capped mountains together.

Bucket list trips and advice for vanlife

Their bucket list

One of their bucket list experiences is a scenic flight, ideally in winter with a decent amount of snow. They're not fussy where: Aoraki Mount Cook National Park, Milford Sound or somewhere around Mount Aspiring. Floating between those mountains would be an absolute dream. The other, which they both want, is Doubtful Sound: an overnight boat cruise. When we recorded, a scenic flight and a Doubtful Sound cruise were coming up in July.

I talked to Billy about his doors-off helicopter flights over Aoraki, and until I saw his footage, I couldn't picture it. You're harnessed in, with all your gear clipped on. Goose and Ellen's worry would be dropping a camera.

Advice if you want to live on the road

Their advice is to just do it. It sounds cliched, but that's what they did: they were inspired by other people, saved up for a bit before they quit their jobs, so it wasn't so scary, and played the long game. If you want it, make every decision count towards it.

You don't need the best van. They were a bit precious about building things nicely and having an apartment on wheels. You can rent a van, or sleep in the back of a station wagon, and go for a cruise. Start with weekend trips and go from there.

We're on van number three, and we haven't lived on the road full time yet. You've got to start somewhere, it doesn't have to be perfect the first time, and we've learned something from every van. That's how it started for us, and now we're hooked.

Places from this episode

Milford Sound
Karikari Peninsula
Northland
West Coast
Lake Matheson
Arthur's Pass
Kaikōura
Aoraki Mount Cook National Park
Mount Aspiring
Doubtful Sound

Follow Goose and Ellen

Goose and Ellen share their travels under their names on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, and there are some early videos on YouTube (they say it's cringey, so I went straight there).