FILM PHOTOGRAPHY
FILM PHOTOGRAPHY
FILM PHOTOGRAPHY
FILM PHOTOGRAPHY
Clara Davina
Living in a Van in New Zealand
New zealand, or Aotearoa as the Maori call it, which means something like "land of the long white cloud" consists of two main islands.
The North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) and the South Island (Te Waipounamu).
I spend a year in this beautiful country, living in my van.
My partner and i, arrived in Auckland, in the north of the northern island where we bought the Van, Rhino. After spending a couple months up north, we made it to the south island, where i started to work in the Paparoa national park, while rebuilding the van & making it self contained. Many people have lived with me in my Van. I never got lonely on this so thinly populated island.
I fell in love with the process of building my home on wheels from scratch, fell in love with the remoteness and wilderness. I fell in love with the wild pacific, the misty mountains & narrow curvy roads. I found pieces of myself.
Here are a few of my favorite moments.
Right upon arrival, we went to a car market and bought Rhino, my home on wheels for the next year
First we made our way up to very north - Cap Reinga. The further we went, the smaller the roads got & the more sunrises over the wild pacific we watched, the more i felt strangely at home in this wilderness.
Cap Reinga is northwesternmost tip of the Aupouri Peninsula, at the northern end of the North Island.
The name of the cape comes from the Māori word 'Reinga', meaning the 'Underworld'. It refers to the Māori belief that the cape is the point where the spirits of the dead enter the underworld.
Traveling down towards Wellington, to make our way to the south island, we visited so many stunning places (they are everywhere!)
i'll share a few with you
We lived near hihi beach for a little while, because it was so beautiful that we couldn't leave. (yes it's really called that way)
We hiked through the ancient Kauri forests, carefully staying on the wooden walkways to protect the 1000 year old roots of these imposant tree giants
The thing in New zealand, is that there is something to see everywhere. We hiked to countless waterfalls, spend nights walking through magical forests & glowworm filled caves..
.. climbed up the giant Te Paki Sand-dunes, above the famous 90 Miles Beach..
...spend days driving around the huge lake Taupo..
..and met way more sheep than humans on our way
Then, after two months, we took a ferry to the South island, to start working in Punakaiki & taking some time to rebuild the inside of the Van from scratch.
With a self-contained certificate you can freedom camp in remote places, which is prohibited otherwise.
The first step was to get material, and prepare it. In this case it was palettes, which needed to be separated into their pieces, cleaned, dried, sanded & oiled before being cut into pieces.
The tricky part in making a van self contained is that there are many rules. The test you pass to obtain your certificate is quite strict. You need to have a toilet that you can use while all doors are closed. You need to have a sink, two big water tanks, one for grey and one for fresh water, a fridge & still space for storage. You need to have a fixed bin etc etc... i also really liked the idea of an unfoldable bed, so in the end it was a lot trickier than it sounds
Then, atlast, came the decoration, painting & matress making
And voilà the final result!
While rebuilding the van, i lived and worked in Punakaiki which is a tiny village with about 20 houses, in the paparoa national park.
It's a very remote place, between rainforest and wild beaches. The next supermarket was about an hour driving away.
But it never got lonely, i met amazing humans over there and made countless unforgettable memories.
Being so far away from everything an everyone, in the middle of a completly wild nature, didn't just push me to form deeper connexions with the humans around me but also with myself.
I started doing yoga on this beach, which helped me to go even deeper in my journey inwards.
I feel as if, there i understood just how much i wanted to preserve the little wilderness left on our home planet and do even more to protect it. There i made the decision to study environmental nature science, to have a stronger impact.
I'll now share some of my favorite moments & places on the South island with you. It is so hard to pick since literally everything is breathtaking..
This one here was taken hiking through Arthurs Pass, one of the few places where you can cross from the west to the east of the island. I was in awe of the beauty and strength of these mountains, which is why i hiked there many times
_JPG.jpg)
This is where i spend my 21st birthday, in Nelson lakes national parc. In his heart are two alpine lakes, surrounede by steep mountains and native honeydew beech forests, which feed many tuneful nectar eating native birds.
In Maori mythology the lakes were created by the great chief Rakaihaitu, who made two holes with his ko. One became Lake Rotoroa ("large waters") and one Lake Rotoiti ("small waters")
The following were taken kayaking through the Fjords of Milford Sound
_JPG.jpg)
I travelled with many different people, some of which are still really close friends.
Even my Father & Brother shortly came to visit
_JPG.jpg)
But in the end i can't tell you what one thing made this year so special. Was it the humans i met..
..the sunrises ..
Or the sunsets..?
Was it the driving through everchanging landscapes..
..the glacier rivers ..
..or the glacier lakes ..
..maybe it was the cristal clear rivers..
..or swimming, paddleboarding and waking up in front of these wild lakes ..
or maybe the picturesque nature or the thousand stars in the sky..
..or the wilderness ..
..the remoteness..
..the places you'd only reach in a few days walk ..
..the diversity of it all..
Maybe it was the endorphines from all the climbing..
..or driving into everchanging valleys, wondering what you'd find there next..
..or reaching the top, only to stand there in awe..
..maybe it was falling in love in this little town..
.. or simply the beauty of falling asleep and waking up with views like this one...
Or maybe it was all of it. It's hard to tell a tale when so much happened, within only 365 days.
Living in a van showed me how little things you need, and how much happiness lies in the freedom of living in a home that moves. New zealand is the first place in the world where i felt like i would like to stay. To be able to experience this much of wilderness and diverse nature deeply moved me & motivated me to study environmental nature science.
