“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”
– Mae West
Dream big. Live small.
Kia ora! We are Karma and Scott. We believe that life should be about living the dream, not dreaming about living. We seek to live a simple but passionate life and focus on what really matters. Because we have but one life to live and we want to make sure we live it well. We call this personal journey a life reboot.
Off-grid homestead
Our plan was always to settle down and live off the land one day, but it still took us a couple of years to find our feet after Covid abruptly ended our nomadic lifestyle. But the moment we stepped onto this piece of land on the wild and beautiful West Coast of New Zealand we knew that we had finally found our little piece of paradise. A place where we find inspiration and our true place in nature—a place we call home.
Our plan was always to settle down and live off the land one day, but it still took us a couple of years to find our feet after Covid abruptly ended our nomadic lifestyle. But the moment we stepped onto this piece of land on the wild and beautiful West Coast of New Zealand, we knew that we had finally found our little piece of paradise. We named our homestead Maunga Āio, which means peaceful mountain in Te Reo Māori. Because this truly is a peaceful place, a place where we find inspiration and our place in nature—a place we call home.
Building a house bus was a big step after having lived out of a backpack in a tent for years, but it seemed like a natural progression. Our bus is pretty minimalistic but combines simplicity and utility with a fair bit of charm.
1984 Isuzu JCR500
Just under 10 meters long, our bus was originally a school bus up north, then a mountain bike shuttle for a decade before we got her in the spring of 2020. We stripped her back to her bones and lowered the floor before converting her into a home.
Our goal was to create a real home, not a camper, so we chose natural materials and earthy colors, full-size appliances, and built a proper bathroom! We also kept all the windows creating a really open and inviting space with lots of light.
We started the conversion when we came out of the first covid lockdown and moved in about 5 months later.
We have a pretty sweet off-grid setup and we do not want for anything. We run everything electrical off solar, hot water and cooking on gas and heating by a wood fire with diesel heater as backup. We collect water from a small spring on our property.
Solar setup
- The Batch Kit from GridFree
- 4x 320W panels
- 4x 200Ah 12V gel batteries (48V battery bank)
- 48V 60A 5kVA hybrid inverter
- Tilt mount (15°)
Appliances
- Fridge freezer: Samsung 255L
- Gas hob/oven: Award 60cm freestanding SS cooker
- On-demand water heater: Suburban Nautilus IW60
- Washing machine: Camec Compact RV (front load, 4kg)
- Water pump: Johnson (12v, 40psi, 11L/min)
- Wood burner: Roaring Meg Fire (7-8kw)
- Diesel air heater (8KW, 12V, 10L)
Conveniences
- Belted seats. 4
- Beds: Queen (+ sofa sleeper)
- Toilet: sawdust/composting (DIY)
- Shower: step-down tiled (750 x 900mm)
- Freshwater: 405L tank
- Greywater: 248L tank
We have left social media
It used to be fairly straightforward to share our journey with the world when we were travelling. Being constantly on the move meant that sharing our life never felt too close or too private. Now that we have decided to settle down, however, this is no longer true. This is the main reason we are stepping back from social media.
Another reason we choose to opt out of this huge time-wasting algorithm vortex is simply to live more and scroll less. We were not made to be connected to our phones like this. It is a very noisy and complex world out there, and we long for simplicity and freedom as well as true and authentic connections.
So thank you everyone for your support, we have truly enjoyed sharing our journey with you! Kia kaha!