Hey There! We are David & Tessa.

Full-time Explorers, Digital Nomads, Part-time Housesitters, Vanlifers, Hiking Fanatics, MTB Enthusiasts, Entrepreneurs etc, etc.

About us: Hiking The Pinnacles, Coromandel.
About us: Hiking The Pinnacles, Coromandel.

We met like one of those fairytale stories, at the wedding of our best friends. But unlike the fairytales, David still lived in South Africa while I lived in the Netherlands. We decided to throw all caution to the wind and after 4 months of long-distance, in November of 2018, moved into a tiny Airbnb room together in Auckland, New Zealand.

Since then, we have lived in several different parts of Auckland and moved to Palmerston North in 2020. Since we both have been bitten by the travel bug we knew this wasn’t a long-term location and started to make plans for a more mobile lifestyle. This led to us buying Benji the Van in February 2022 and we hit the road 2 weeks later, renovating Benji, housesitting, and working remotely as we go.

We managed to build a lifestyle that works for us using several streams of income such as MLM, Kindle Publishing, blogging, Coaching, and more traditional jobs like David’s estimating job that he does remotely as well.

Currently, we are housesitting and van-living our way through every inch of North Island and are expecting to make our way across the ditch to the South Island SOON.

Why we blog

👉 We want to inspire people to follow their hearts and live their dream lives

👉 To show everyone the beauty that is New Zealand

👉 Life is so much more than work-eat-sleep-repeat and we want to show everyone that living this way isn’t just for the uber-rich and the Insta influencers

Through travel hacking skills, remote work exploration, and budgeting tips, we share with you exactly how we made full-time travel a reality and how you can, too.

Our goal?

To see every inch of forest, mountain, city, and everything in between of New Zealand before we move on to our next adventure (Australia or Canada).

Things on the New Zealand Bucket list:

All 9 Great Walks 🏔

  • Tongariro Northern Circuit ✔
  • Whanganui Journey
  • Lake Waikaremoana Track
  • Abel Tasman Coast Track ✔
  • Heaphy Track
  • Kepler Track ✔
  • Routeburn Track ✔
  • Milford Track
  • Rakiura Track

All 22 Great Rides 🚵‍♀️

  • Queen Charlotte Track, Marlborough / Grade 3-5, 72km, 2-3 days
  • Tasman’s Great Taste Trail, Nelson/Tasman / Grade 2-3, 177km, 1-4 days ✔
  • Coppermine Trail, Nelson/Tasman / Grade 3-4, 43km, 4-6hr
  • The Old Ghost Road, West Coast / Grade 4-5, 85km, 2-4 days
  • West Coast Wilderness Trail, West Coast / Grade 2-3, 136km, 4-5 days
  • St James Cycle Trail, Canterbury / Grade 2-5, 59km, 1-2 days
  • Alps 2 Ocean, Canterbury and Otago / Grade 2-3, 311km, 6 days
  • Roxburgh Gorge Trail, Otago / Grade 2-3, 21km, 1 day ✔
  • Otago Central Rail Trail, Otago / Grade 1, 152km, 5 days ✔
  • Clutha Gold Trail, Otago / Grade 1-2, 73km, 2 days ✔
  • The Queenstown Trail, Otago / Grade 2-4, 130km, 4 days ✔
  • Around the Mountains Cycle Trail, Southland and Otago / Grade 2-3, 186km, 3-5 days
  • Mountains to Sea, Ruapehu and Whanganui / Grade 3-4, 231km, 6 days
  • Timber Trail, Pureora Forest Park / Grade 2-3, 85km, 2 days
  • Remutaka Cycle Trail, Wellington/Wairarapa / Grade 1-4, 115km, 2-3 days
  • Great Lake Trail, Lake Taupō / Grade 3, 83km, 1-3 days
  • Hawke’s Bay Trails, Hawke’s Bay / Grade 1-3, 200km, 4 days
  • Motu Trails, Bay of Plenty / Grade 2-4, 121km, 3 days
  • Te Ara Ahi, Rotorua / Grade 2-3, 47km, 1-2 days
  • Waikato River Trails, Waikato / Grade 3-4, 103km, 4 days
  • Hauraki Rail Trail, Waikato / Grade 1-2, 173km, 4 days ✔
  • Twin Coast Cycle Trails, Northland / Grade 1-3, 87km, 2 days

We will cross these off as we go.

And of course every worthwhile activity and destination in between. After all this action we will also be showcasing plenty of accommodation, relaxation, culture, eats, and great places to hang out.

Follow Our Journey On Instagram

Remote Income

The key to being able to travel whenever you want is to secure a job or several streams of income that allows you to work remotely.

When we first started playing with the idea of traveling full-time, we still relied solely on David’s job to support us as I had a struggling start-up coaching business. This was fine for being in one place but became unsuitable when wanting to be on the road.

So, we decided that in order to be able to not only travel full-time but also be able to enjoy it, we had to create several income streams that allowed us to work no more than 25 hours per week. We are not quite there YET. But I can confidently say that after 12 months of testing and trying different streams of income, we have found the 3 that are most reliable.

If you are interested in earning an income through passive/remote income streams, feel free to pop us an email hello@exploreandmorenewzealand.com and we will be happy to share our best practices with you. 😊

Thanks for joining us on this journey!

Cheers,
David & Tessa