Thanks for watching... We get to go to some very cool places, and we love show casing how awesome New Zealand is, especially for the free spots to stay.
The best part of this video is you saying you're going to continue camping all of next year - woohoo!! I would so miss all of your updates if you went back to boring housedom! I know I'm being purely selfish ;-) Great to see you're nearly at four thousand subscribers; I tell everyone about you guys. Another thing that reminded me that I'd been following you guys for a year or so is that I remember 'chatting' with you last year about doing my first Blue Lake Challenge run that I saw on one of your videos. And this weekend gone I went back with a bunch of mates for my second crack at it - such a fun race and great atmosphere. Super wet and muddy this year - felt so sorry for the overnight runners going through an absolute monsoon of rain! I'm still stuck in Kāpiti without any vehicle, but as soon as my car is delivered hopefully in the next month or two, I'll be on the ferry and heading South, so maybe bump into you then. Safe journeys and thanks as always for the brilliant travel tips.
Awww thanks mate... Blue lake looked rough this year aye, I saw some photos. Yip nearly at 4k subscribers, taken a long time to get there... Ya for summer adventures, hope your car comes sooner rather than later... We'll likely be in Otago in the coming months, once we're done on the West Coast.
Oh Awesome mate, life on the road is awesome, we had a 3 year plan to get on the road full time, that plan started basically at the start of this channel. Thanks for watching.
Ha ha, By missing a bunch of locations off that were awesome... I really wish I had put in All day bay, not sure what it is about that place, but we all love it there.
Incredibly humbling to watch this!!! I even cried some happy tears!! Thanks for sharing what looks like a year to remember in generations to come too!! Woohooo Love it! You’ve inspired me to do the same xx
Oh thanks for watching and the comment, I love watching these videos as well, such a beautiful country we live in, hard to believe we live in such an epic space.
Brilliant. Great filming. It's great seeing other bits of the South Island we didn't get to in our three months there earlier this year. After watching this episode, I feel like hooking up & heading straight back down there. Thanks for taking us along with you. 😊
So many great spots aye... We'll be getting to some spots up north Next year, so that might be a bit closer to home for you... So many great spots all over this Country.
Wow. One year and what an amazing time you all have had. Thank you for the time you have taken on editing and showing your videos. Much appreciated. You’ve given me so many ideas of places to visit next year when I come to South Island. Also I plan to cook your Laska it looks amazing. Well done to all of you especially the kids. It’s great to see them enjoying the outdoors and going on the walks etc. Memories of this experience will stay with all of you forever. Continue to enjoy and travel safe. 🤗🤗
Time flies when your having fun aye... We've been lucky with the weather so far, and we've got to enjoy some beautiful places. Thanks for watching our journeys.
What an amazing recap for your year..... the 20 minutes flew by watching, could well have been another 20 mins of recaps. First year done and dusted, look forward to your next lot of adventures 👍😀
Cannot believe it has been a year. Have said it before but because you are doing it on a budget we are learning so much about the country we live in and thought we had visited but clearly have not been off the beaten track or have simply driven past so many amazing places that you have found and highlighted on your travels. The kids are amazing.
Yea it's such an incredible country we live in... Free camping is the ultimate park about it. I wish there was a few more places that offered this cause it makes it so much easier when there are options especially on a budget like us... We have so many places we didn't go to as we rushed through summer, so looking forward to getting off the main rd some more as we head into Summer.
Oh thanks so much... Yes it's been an incredible year, so many awesome places, and experiences... I so loved winter, with all the ice, frost and snow capped mountains.
An amazing adventure for sure. Your photography and narration are some of the very best I have seen on TH-cam. NZ is truly a beautiful country and you have a unique ability to capture this in your episodes. Thank you for sharing your adventures. Best wishes P&J
awww thanks so much for your kind words mate... I LOVE our country and it's such a privledge to travel through on the road full time... What a life style... Looking forward to the many more adventures in the months to come.
What a great video guys. Its so heartwarming to watch the adventures unfold and the joy the family get from our wonderful country. Keep up the superb content.
Yes so much can be done in a year, even 6 months of van life would be amazing. Hopefully we can keep it going, we'll see how the kids are doing after another year on the road.
Awesome video. I really enjoy watching your family adventures.😁 I got snowed in in my campervan in Twizel a couple of days....best thing ever. This sure a great life style.
Yea we love it, so glad we made the decision to go, wasn't easy, but the things we've done and places we've gone is incredible. I don't know how I'd go back to normal...
cheers team. Looking forward to more Gallichan truck life vids... hopefully we can catch up around Christmas, planning to be kaikoura based for Christmas.
@@leopardsgowild oh no, we just booked to cross to north island for December and January. We will be spending Christmas at Whananaki with Marcels family. That’s sucky we will miss you guys 😞
Oh well we might be able to meet up on your way back to Kaikoura cause we will be coming to the North island in Feb, will likely be Northern South island after Christmas. @@gallichantrucklifenz
Cheers mate, yes an incredible year, lots of work to get to that year, but glad we are able to continue on. Looking forward to a full summer on the road.
Fabulous video mate, I bet you really enjoyed putting it together, reminding you of all the wonderful places you’ve been, things you’ve all experienced, walks you’ve done… and yet so much more to come.. 👍
Thank you so so much for sharing your amazing journey with us, showing the ups and the Downs. I had happy tears watching this! we are hoping to do this with our family, plus a dog and two cats by summertime. Hope to give the children something to remember forever and spend time together before they don't want to hang with mum and dad anymore 😅
Hey guys glad you found us, we've absolutely loved our travel adventures, still on the move for ages yet, so many places still to see. We've made memories to last a life time alright. Finding work was pretty easy, I did a few posts on local community pages, for plastering and painting work, stating they didn't have to pay until I'd finished as a guarantee of quality, most people were happy with that, I'd also share our channel for some Genuiness, although sounds like construction is slowing down since last winter. I found places like Christchurch we're I'd post I had zero interest but small towns like twizel I had a lot of interest. Hope that helps
What an amazing re cap of all your adventures! Loved the commentary along with it. Hope you guys are able to carry on with life on the road abit longer. Have you thought about starting a Patreon channel?
thank you. Hopefully we all continue to love this life style and exploring new places. It's not always as exciting as the videos make but we love this life style... What do you reckon about Patreon? Would it be worthwhile???? Im honeslty unsure...
Thanks for watching from far and wide Bevan. We've learnt a lot about this life style and ourselves on this adventure, it's been great. Hope your doing well.
Great work Mike, an inspiration to get out and see more of our great country. Cant wait to get down south again and get to some of the places you've been to
Great video recap of an amazing year travelling with the kids. We are a couple in our 50s also living full time on the road coming up to 1 year. We have watched your videos and loved following your journey and hope to visit some of the amazing places you have been. Enjoy the rest of the trip.
Oh thats exciting, 1 year is such a good milestone, amazing how many places there are to go and enjoy in our country. We've spent ages just in the South island. Haven't done Marlborough or Nelson area at all yet either.
Wow what an awesome video, showing our beautiful country and all we have on offer. People just don't realize what they are missing out on. Look forward to seeing the next video, and meybe we might see you on the toad... Thank you
Love watching your videos. I'm hoping to do 2 weeks down south in my motorhome next year, so these really help with my planning. Awesome life for your kids❤
Thanks team, yip it's a great life and a great adventure... Looking forward to whats to come, and the sun coming out... Glad day light savings has started.
Thanks for the inspiration, Mike, Sophie and kids. You are certainly helping us to see what and where is possible for 2024. We are new to caravaning and have purchased our home on wheels for the indefinite future. Seeing all the free places to stay is fantastic, as we too will be very budget-minded. How are you coping with the increases in diesel prices? ... And although we have a robust solar system on our caravan - we will definitely be purchasing something for backup for winter. We will need to watch out for the dreaded condensation monster too.... Keep up the great work and we certainly will be keeping an eye out for you on the road. Cheers
Awesome team, yes you'll have so many great adventures ahead. Diesel isn't our biggest expense we feel we use less than when were working in Rotorua, not running kids around, the constant trips to the supermarkets, and dropping, picking things up... Generally we can park up at a camp ground and sometimes we don't start the truck until we leave, othertimes we might do a trip or 2 without the caravan on. I'd say we use less than a tank a week. Definitely get the Mckweon card with the NZMCA you get about 30c off a litre from the pump price, that you can use at z and caltex truck stops as well as Mckweon in the south island.
Thanks a lot, it was a juggle with the music for me, so many good songs, but had to dappen them down due to the narrating. Was a fun video to put together though.
Love the content brother, gonna binge watch with my whanau this weekend, we love camping and have camped all over nz, watching you and your whanau gives us fresh ideas for this summer, appreciate the mahi and the cherry on top is hearing you pronounce our reo properly, love it
Oh choice, glad you found us bro. We are loving our adventures. I try my best with the pronunciation set a good example and make an effort. Our kids were in the Maori language class before we started our travel so they are all pretty good... Enjoy your binge watch session over the weekend.
you guys r the best!!!!! family and freedom, u and soph r great parents,, awesome episode! looking forward to the summer vids!! talk to yah soon!!BRING ON 4000 SUBS!!!!!❤✌
Churchur, yea man bring on those 4k subs... and bring on summer, looking forward to getting back out into the water... Haven't seen a good swimming hole or clean beach for a while, but hopefully they are coming.
Great video Mike! Thanks to you all for sharing your adventures and giving us some wonderful insights into life on the road. My journey begins in earnest with retirement in a few weeks, so will be sure to follow in many of your footsteps. Also pleased to hear you'll be on the road a while longer - looking forward to the next video. Cheers.
Oh thats great, retirement wow thats a big step, but how exciting... Definitley a good life on the road, we've loved our adventures so far... looking forward to summer and swimming again.
Wow this is the first video I've seen after reading the article in NZMCA and i loved it! What an incredible year, good on you guys. I look forward to watching more.
Amazing! Can't believe it's already been a year you guys are on the road. Ever since we met your family at the InsideOutRV event early last year we have been following and watching your travels and videos. We're also planning to do the same with our 3 kids (same ages as yours!) hopefully in the next year or two. We even bought a Hilux as the first step! Hahaha. Just been to Caravan show yesterday at Mystery Creek and we think we have shortlisted our options now. You have inspired us so much! Keep it up and make many more great memories!
Oh that's awesome team. You'll have a blast, so much exploring to be done... the Hilus has been a great tow vehicle 👌... hard choosing a caravan aye, so expensive and so many choices 😳
A perfect video showcasing the highlights of your 12 months on the road. I’m with Sophie re autumn being the nicest season of the year, nice calm clear and settled days. I bet you don’t regret a single day of hitting the road. Will you be coming back down to the South Island in the near future?
Cheers mate, yip, learnt a lot about full time road life for sure... Looking forward to cruising along a bit slower this side of summer heading southward for those long days.
We are a family of four hoping to do exactly what you're doing. Can you tell me what sort of Ute and caravan you have? Awesome video. Makes me so excited to get on the road
Hey there, glad you found us. We've had the best adventure so far. We are towing a 23ft nextgen aussie build caravan with a 2018 Toyota hilux... we got videos on our channel about money, common questions etc
Whanau - I have no superlatives that do justice to that amazing video of your first 12 months on the road! You've demonstrated a range of wonderful skills in living that life, and producing such a wonderful video account of it. I very much wish you all the best of fortune for the next 12 months of adventures in "GODZONE". (Following each post.)
Thanks so much mate, really appreciate those kind words. Hopefully the channel can take off in the next year, been a very slow and gradual growing channel.
It has been so good following you around the country through your videos. All the adventures you are having and memories you are making as a family are amazing. Am looking forward to more to come. (After seeing the beautiful places to explore in Karamea and the top of the West Coast, we decided to head over there for a few days from our home in Christchurch. Not in a caravan though☹) And you definitely make us impatient to visit other places. Thanks for sharing it all with us.
yea an amazing year, nice it's getting back to summery weather again now, looking forward to more swimming. Thanks for following team, hope Autumn is going well. Some massive pumpkins this year aye.
Awesome video guys, your family have had an amazing time living on the road, we would love yo do the same at some stage. Really enjoy watching your weekly updates.
We are so in awe of you guys. Big risk with on road schooling and quitting jobs. But good on you all. We are so inspired and are saving franticlly to be able to spend time early next year in our newly aquired motorhome, visiting some of the places you have shown us in the SI. You have all made some really cool family stories you should all be proud of for years and years to come. Run free Leopards, run wild!
Oh thats so good to hear guys, you'll have the best time motorhoming around the South island. I've loved our time down here... Winter was just amazing down here.
Wow what a fantastic adventure, you all look so happy and there is no doubt you guys have done the right thing the footage and drone shots are spectacular. cheers Greg and Sandy
Thanks so much, I love following your adventures. What a wonderful experience for your family. I am a South Islander living in the North and I feel quite homesick at times watching your videos! Awesome production!
Oh sorry for making you homesick... I think I'll be home sick for the South island when I return to the North Island... We'll see how long we last travelling around up North. There def is some incredible spots in the North Island, but just very different.
Hi Mike, Sophie and kids - such an amazing look at what you have been doing. What memories for a lifetime. Was lovely seeing you recently too. Liz and Murray
Oh ya you found us... Was lovely seeing you guys as well... So many great memories as a family on this trip and so many more still to come. thanks for checking in.
Thank you for sharing your adventures, and letting us get to know you all, it is so nice to see your kids so enthusiastically embrace the traveling and outdoor life!!
Wow well done guys..i have been following yoy all this year and so inspired by your adventures.. you should be proud of yourselves making this happen..
Epic videos mate! We have just bought a Nextgen Caravan and now plan to do as much as we can with our 3 young kids also. We are based in Wanaka so if your ever down these ways then feel free to reach out.
What a fantastic video record of your first year on the road, wonderful drone photography and concise commentary. The music is also great! We have thoroughly enjoyed following you throughout the year. Your children are a credit to you both and they are so enthusiastic about exploring each new location. The climb up Mt Roy and Mount Alpha with Jade was really amazing such a wonderful effort and a great memory for her to cherish of special time with Dad. Looking forward to videos as you continue your travels. Best wishes and safe travels to you all
Awww thanks for referenceing that video of Jade and I hiking up those bloody big mountains. Jade is the most adventurous in the family. She's been begging for months for another overnight hike. We've loved parking up in quiet corners of paradise and recording it all... I imagine things will start to get busy on the road again with tourists and travellers filling up camping spaces.
Wow guys, a full year 🎉. Been great sharing in your adventures. Keep enjoying this beautiful country, you are doing an amazing job of showcasing our backyard ❤
What an incredible year, absolutely showcasing our country and just how much diverse scenery there is. It must have been challenging to select just a few highlights for this video. It's been so good following along and seeing you all thriving with life on the road.
Cheers Garth, thanks for being such a great supporter, and follower. You might have to take me out for another Dive when we come up your way again... So many great spots. I'm sure we have some more awesome locations to hit up this summer.
Awesome recap, very heartwarming to rewatch your journey and to know theres still plenty more to come. What an epic year it has been. Happy one year on the road anniversary Leopard family x
Thanks for the Aroha and support over the last couple of years. Been a lot of fun for sure. We've got so many spots still to check out that we didn't make time for due to the leaving summer... Looking forward to the ultra long days in Southland and Otago.
Happy celebration congratulations you are living the dream that many Kiwis want. You are showing them that they can by planning ahead. Having an aim sticking to it and getting there. Well done leopard family. From Team Kawerau
Thanks team, yes it was an incredible amount of work to get on the road. I think me and Soph both said we'd almost need a year off before we even start... Glad we're able to turn it into an even longer adventure. Thanks for following along.
Love it You’ve got another subscription Would love to know/see more about how you choose you can/truck as we are a family of 5 also What app etc you use to find camping spots and how you managed to find work along the way? Word of mouth advertising etc Looking forward to bingeing on lots more blogs 🎉
glad you enjoyed. I don't have the admin patience, to add the music details. if you google a few lyrics and add lyrics it should bring up the song your looking for.
yea it goes by so fast aye... We generally just use camper mate App and the NZMCA app, sometimes places pop up on google maps as well, it does take some time to find some of these locations for sure.
Hey Mike, it's great following you reliving some places we've been learning of others we haven't. How long and often do you use the gennie and what make/model of battery charger do you have? Thanks
Hey mate, we have used the Generator most days since we got it. I suspect now we are into daylight savings we will barely use it, and in saying that the times we have used it have been to charge the ecoflow which is our easiest way of having 240v power in the caravan. The generator will charge the ecoflow in 1 hour where the solar blanket / panel we have for the ecoflow takes around 4 hours to charge.
Man this here should be the poster of why to travel nz, how long did it take you to plan this out in 3-5 years id love to do this my daughter will be 8-10 by then and be able to remember this for a life time
Hey there, been an epic trip so far. NZ's a great place to travel so many cool wild places. We planned / saved/ worked extra/ spent less for 3 years while we waited for the camp america experience, which is the date we left our home in Rotorua. It's been such a great experience, we're continuing on for another year at this stage.
@@leopardsgowild I’ve been binge watching your channel for the last 2 days, we are getting our first caravan march next year and I was looking for places and come across marfells beach by Blenheim, so I TH-camd it and found your channel haven’t been able to stop watching since haha you have given so many awesome spots to check out, and if you make it to the Nelson region I maybe able to come say hi
Hey, ive learnt over the years story telling is a pretty key part of youtube videos ate... trlling stories definitely helps the channel grow... Drones, some parts of NZ you do require permission I just always look at the signage in the area, it generally has a no drone symbol if you can't fly, just like no dogs or no fires etc... I have spoken with NZ civil avation about drone use for my channel as well, who were very supportive and had no concerns with drone use.
@@leopardsgowild I'm finishing work at end of October. I've booked to lift the boat on 1st November to repaint the bottom. Then I'll look at going on some adventures north of here. Then back here to work from March next year.
How have you found the $350 trademe generator? We are looking for a cheap gene to charge the batteries occasionally. Would you recommend it? Any pros and cons? Cheers.
Hey mate it's been a game changer for us, great help, it's a little noisy, but no worse than a big generator. We've had no issues in the 4 months we've had it.
Yes it's pretty scary and takes some planning for... We have a video on our money and paying for this... Short story is we reduced our mortgage repayments to as low as we could go to maximize our savings. 3 years of saving, working extra, I ended up working self employed plastering which helped, we sold 2 cars, our old 1976 retro caravan, and most of our possesion, which brought our savings up to just over 50K which to us meant we could go about 15-18 months full time travel, buying groceries, diesel and the bits and bobs you need, shoes, warmer winter clothes etc... our weekly spend has been around $800 a week which has included a couple of truck services but we want to continue full time life on the road for another year, So I picked up work off facebook community groups advirtising as a plasterer as it's a trade I have, which has earnt us money towards our summer travels, we've just done 13months so far, so we didn't spend all of our first 50k as we'll need it to get through summer... Money is a big issue and something you do need to plan for. People that think they can do their groceries for $150 a week are dreaming for 5 people we spend generally more than $400 a week. LPG 3 bottles a month, Diesel is cheaper than at home as we don't have all the little run around jobs to do, sometimes the truck doesn't start for days, especially when we are at a camp site we love.... THe NZMCA has great sites and private property you can stay on for very cheap rates. If you have any more questions feel free to message, we're happy to help.
@@leopardsgowild this was really helpful. Thank you so much, 800 a week is pretty good and do-able, we just did a 30day roadtrip across America and I think we want it to be our life. Do you have a tour of your caravan? Finding one that has the right space for 3 kids is pretty hard in NZ.
Hi again, in one of your latest vids, you recommended a fellow traveller's TH-cam channel... something like RacsTracs or similar...can you let me know please? Thanks
This is the best video. Looooove it. So inspiring. 🥲 thank you for sharing the financial side and how your able to do it. Because that's the reality and handy for someone wanting to do the same.
Yea the money seems so Taboo to talk about, I guess we aren't people that have a lot of money so it might be easier to talk about, rather than people who have cash that don't want to say.... "We own 3 business and have money coming in without us being there, so money isn't a problem." For us it was a massive plan to get on the road and I have a bunch of stuff I want to put in a video for people to consider how they could have a similar experience to us, we're still paying off a decent sized mortgage, but we are getting by. Thanks for watching.
Wow! Awesome video. I love watching your videos to see where you have stayed and what adventures you have been up to.
Thanks for watching... We get to go to some very cool places, and we love show casing how awesome New Zealand is, especially for the free spots to stay.
The best part of this video is you saying you're going to continue camping all of next year - woohoo!! I would so miss all of your updates if you went back to boring housedom! I know I'm being purely selfish ;-) Great to see you're nearly at four thousand subscribers; I tell everyone about you guys. Another thing that reminded me that I'd been following you guys for a year or so is that I remember 'chatting' with you last year about doing my first Blue Lake Challenge run that I saw on one of your videos. And this weekend gone I went back with a bunch of mates for my second crack at it - such a fun race and great atmosphere. Super wet and muddy this year - felt so sorry for the overnight runners going through an absolute monsoon of rain! I'm still stuck in Kāpiti without any vehicle, but as soon as my car is delivered hopefully in the next month or two, I'll be on the ferry and heading South, so maybe bump into you then. Safe journeys and thanks as always for the brilliant travel tips.
Awww thanks mate... Blue lake looked rough this year aye, I saw some photos. Yip nearly at 4k subscribers, taken a long time to get there... Ya for summer adventures, hope your car comes sooner rather than later... We'll likely be in Otago in the coming months, once we're done on the West Coast.
Wow that was an awesome video! Well done 👏 Happy camping and safe travels.
Thanks so much... yes, heres to many more great camping adventures.
Thanks for the shoutout! We love following along with your adventures and miss y'all big time!
Miss you guys to, love seeing the posts and photos online of a very special place
Wow. The locations, video editing and storytelling are excellent. Well done. This is my goal in the next two years to hit the road.
Oh Awesome mate, life on the road is awesome, we had a 3 year plan to get on the road full time, that plan started basically at the start of this channel. Thanks for watching.
Don’t know how you compacted the last action packed year into 21 minutes! Leopard family you are legends!
I agree.
Ha ha, By missing a bunch of locations off that were awesome... I really wish I had put in All day bay, not sure what it is about that place, but we all love it there.
Incredibly humbling to watch this!!! I even cried some happy tears!! Thanks for sharing what looks like a year to remember in generations to come too!! Woohooo Love it! You’ve inspired me to do the same xx
Oh thanks for watching and the comment, I love watching these videos as well, such a beautiful country we live in, hard to believe we live in such an epic space.
Brilliant. Great filming. It's great seeing other bits of the South Island we didn't get to in our three months there earlier this year. After watching this episode, I feel like hooking up & heading straight back down there. Thanks for taking us along with you. 😊
So many great spots aye... We'll be getting to some spots up north Next year, so that might be a bit closer to home for you... So many great spots all over this Country.
A brilliant year in review of the Leopards. Fantastic pics and commentary thanks Mike. Great job!
Hope to meet up again. Travel safe. 🚐
Such a good year. So hope the coming year is as awesome.
Wow. One year and what an amazing time you all have had. Thank you for the time you have taken on editing and showing your videos. Much appreciated. You’ve given me so many ideas of places to visit next year when I come to South Island. Also I plan to cook your Laska it looks amazing. Well done to all of you especially the kids. It’s great to see them enjoying the outdoors and going on the walks etc. Memories of this experience will stay with all of you forever. Continue to enjoy and travel safe. 🤗🤗
Time flies when your having fun aye... We've been lucky with the weather so far, and we've got to enjoy some beautiful places. Thanks for watching our journeys.
What an amazing recap for your year..... the 20 minutes flew by watching, could well have been another 20 mins of recaps. First year done and dusted, look forward to your next lot of adventures 👍😀
Thanks mate, It's such a great life for us, we really enjoy the simplicity, and flexibility of it all. glad you enjoyed.
A great summary. Makes me want to pack up and just go. Thanks for sharing.
Just do it... well make a plan first, then go for it
Cannot believe it has been a year. Have said it before but because you are doing it on a budget we are learning so much about the country we live in and thought we had visited but clearly have not been off the beaten track or have simply driven past so many amazing places that you have found and highlighted on your travels. The kids are amazing.
Yea it's such an incredible country we live in... Free camping is the ultimate park about it. I wish there was a few more places that offered this cause it makes it so much easier when there are options especially on a budget like us... We have so many places we didn't go to as we rushed through summer, so looking forward to getting off the main rd some more as we head into Summer.
An awesome capture of your 12 months on the road !! You are teaching us so much, and we look forward to each video with anticipation. Keep posting 😊
Oh thanks so much... Yes it's been an incredible year, so many awesome places, and experiences... I so loved winter, with all the ice, frost and snow capped mountains.
seriously awesome video - thanks so much. So gooood to be a kiwi appreciating our backyard
Yea man there's politics and dramas here, but we still live in a really cool country...
An amazing adventure for sure. Your photography and narration are some of the very best I have seen on TH-cam. NZ is truly a beautiful country and you have a unique ability to capture this in your episodes. Thank you for sharing your adventures.
Best wishes
P&J
awww thanks so much for your kind words mate... I LOVE our country and it's such a privledge to travel through on the road full time... What a life style... Looking forward to the many more adventures in the months to come.
Thoroughly enjoyed the video, thank you for posting
Thanks for watching mate... been an awesome trip so far...
What a great video guys. Its so heartwarming to watch the adventures unfold and the joy the family get from our wonderful country. Keep up the superb content.
Cheers team. We sure will keep up with the videos. So many great family memories.
Such a awesome vid! Thanks guys, really dont understand how you dont have double the subscribers! You deserve alot more
Awww, thanks mate, I think There's a fierce TH-cam competition out there aye.
WOW! what an awesome video, make you think what can be accomplished if you make the move to full time motorhoming.❤
Yes so much can be done in a year, even 6 months of van life would be amazing. Hopefully we can keep it going, we'll see how the kids are doing after another year on the road.
Awesome video. I really enjoy watching your family adventures.😁 I got snowed in in my campervan in Twizel a couple of days....best thing ever. This sure a great life style.
Yea we love it, so glad we made the decision to go, wasn't easy, but the things we've done and places we've gone is incredible. I don't know how I'd go back to normal...
WOW Leopard family, have followed you for the past 12 months, really loving your adventures, 👍👍
Thanks for following along mate, been a great year.
Such a great video Mike! So, so good!
And you even featured early on in this video!! Epic!
cheers team. Looking forward to more Gallichan truck life vids... hopefully we can catch up around Christmas, planning to be kaikoura based for Christmas.
@@leopardsgowild oh no, we just booked to cross to north island for December and January. We will be spending Christmas at Whananaki with Marcels family. That’s sucky we will miss you guys 😞
Oh well we might be able to meet up on your way back to Kaikoura cause we will be coming to the North island in Feb, will likely be Northern South island after Christmas. @@gallichantrucklifenz
@@leopardsgowild sounds good 🙂 we will be heading to Nelson end of Jan and then Kaikoura/Blenheim areas probably 🙂
Awesome Video Mike some amazing memories for you all there, looking forward for what’s to come!
Cheers mate, yes an incredible year, lots of work to get to that year, but glad we are able to continue on. Looking forward to a full summer on the road.
Fabulous video mate, I bet you really enjoyed putting it together, reminding you of all the wonderful places you’ve been, things you’ve all experienced, walks you’ve done… and yet so much more to come.. 👍
Yea it was a fun video to make alright👍 so nany great places still so many places we want to go.
Thank you so so much for sharing your amazing journey with us, showing the ups and the Downs. I had happy tears watching this!
we are hoping to do this with our family, plus a dog and two cats by summertime.
Hope to give the children something to remember forever and spend time together before they don't want to hang with mum and dad anymore 😅
Hubby is a Gib stopper 2! How did you go about finding some work on the road?
Hey guys glad you found us, we've absolutely loved our travel adventures, still on the move for ages yet, so many places still to see. We've made memories to last a life time alright. Finding work was pretty easy, I did a few posts on local community pages, for plastering and painting work, stating they didn't have to pay until I'd finished as a guarantee of quality, most people were happy with that, I'd also share our channel for some Genuiness, although sounds like construction is slowing down since last winter. I found places like Christchurch we're I'd post I had zero interest but small towns like twizel I had a lot of interest. Hope that helps
What an amazing re cap of all your adventures! Loved the commentary along with it. Hope you guys are able to carry on with life on the road abit longer. Have you thought about starting a Patreon channel?
thank you. Hopefully we all continue to love this life style and exploring new places. It's not always as exciting as the videos make but we love this life style... What do you reckon about Patreon? Would it be worthwhile???? Im honeslty unsure...
One year, time flies, Enjoyed travelling with Yous on your adventures, see and learn so much about NZ, Cheers Bevan from Sapphire Central Qld 🤠❤️🦘🦘🇦🇺
Thanks for watching from far and wide Bevan. We've learnt a lot about this life style and ourselves on this adventure, it's been great. Hope your doing well.
Dang, what an adventure!! Very motivational!
Thanks bro, I enjoy following your adventures in the roof top tent as well, awesome country we live in for adventures aye!
Great work Mike, an inspiration to get out and see more of our great country. Cant wait to get down south again and get to some of the places you've been to
So many great places, we've got a stack more we want to tick off as well... some are more remote as well which i'll be looking forward to .
Awesome video. Nice to go back and revisit the places you have been again.
Keep up the great work,appreciate your efforts!
thanks alot. Nice to see a bunch of the favourite spots boiled into one video.
Great video recap of an amazing year travelling with the kids. We are a couple in our 50s also living full time on the road coming up to 1 year. We have watched your videos and loved following your journey and hope to visit some of the amazing places you have been. Enjoy the rest of the trip.
Oh thats exciting, 1 year is such a good milestone, amazing how many places there are to go and enjoy in our country. We've spent ages just in the South island. Haven't done Marlborough or Nelson area at all yet either.
Wow what an awesome video, showing our beautiful country and all we have on offer. People just don't realize what they are missing out on.
Look forward to seeing the next video, and meybe we might see you on the toad...
Thank you
Yes we live in paradise aye such a beautiful place to record and capture
@@leopardsgowild absolutely, couldn't agree more, and you record and document it so well.
What an amazing journey and an awesome video. ❤
It sure has been amazing, really enjoyed the first year on the road... I imagine the 2nd year might look a bit different.
agree awesome recap - thanks for sharing
Thanks for following us all these years. :)
Wow! what an adventure!
Yes it was so cool, and it's still going, we love this life style to much to stop
Good for you! Keep on trucking!😁
You guys been getting few some episodes the last couple of days aye... we're trucking on alright.
Love watching your videos. I'm hoping to do 2 weeks down south in my motorhome next year, so these really help with my planning. Awesome life for your kids❤
Have fun! You'll have some great adventures if you get to any of the locations in this video.
Appreciate your videos and content guys we love watching your family continue to turn around and enjoy life :)
Thanks team, yip it's a great life and a great adventure... Looking forward to whats to come, and the sun coming out... Glad day light savings has started.
Awesome video, thanks for sharing 👌
Thanks for watching... we've had such a great time
Thanks for the inspiration, Mike, Sophie and kids. You are certainly helping us to see what and where is possible for 2024. We are new to caravaning and have purchased our home on wheels for the indefinite future. Seeing all the free places to stay is fantastic, as we too will be very budget-minded. How are you coping with the increases in diesel prices? ... And although we have a robust solar system on our caravan - we will definitely be purchasing something for backup for winter. We will need to watch out for the dreaded condensation monster too.... Keep up the great work and we certainly will be keeping an eye out for you on the road. Cheers
Awesome team, yes you'll have so many great adventures ahead. Diesel isn't our biggest expense we feel we use less than when were working in Rotorua, not running kids around, the constant trips to the supermarkets, and dropping, picking things up... Generally we can park up at a camp ground and sometimes we don't start the truck until we leave, othertimes we might do a trip or 2 without the caravan on. I'd say we use less than a tank a week. Definitely get the Mckweon card with the NZMCA you get about 30c off a litre from the pump price, that you can use at z and caltex truck stops as well as Mckweon in the south island.
As always great videos,
Ps the music is beautiful.
Thanks a lot, it was a juggle with the music for me, so many good songs, but had to dappen them down due to the narrating. Was a fun video to put together though.
Love the content brother, gonna binge watch with my whanau this weekend, we love camping and have camped all over nz, watching you and your whanau gives us fresh ideas for this summer, appreciate the mahi and the cherry on top is hearing you pronounce our reo properly, love it
Oh choice, glad you found us bro. We are loving our adventures. I try my best with the pronunciation set a good example and make an effort. Our kids were in the Maori language class before we started our travel so they are all pretty good... Enjoy your binge watch session over the weekend.
you guys r the best!!!!! family and freedom, u and soph r great parents,, awesome episode! looking forward to the summer vids!! talk to yah soon!!BRING ON 4000 SUBS!!!!!❤✌
Churchur, yea man bring on those 4k subs... and bring on summer, looking forward to getting back out into the water... Haven't seen a good swimming hole or clean beach for a while, but hopefully they are coming.
@@leopardsgowild they'll be here b4 u know it 🏖
Great video Mike! Thanks to you all for sharing your adventures and giving us some wonderful insights into life on the road. My journey begins in earnest with retirement in a few weeks, so will be sure to follow in many of your footsteps. Also pleased to hear you'll be on the road a while longer - looking forward to the next video. Cheers.
Oh thats great, retirement wow thats a big step, but how exciting... Definitley a good life on the road, we've loved our adventures so far... looking forward to summer and swimming again.
Wow this is the first video I've seen after reading the article in NZMCA and i loved it! What an incredible year, good on you guys. I look forward to watching more.
thats awesome, welcome to our adventures. Been a great year, looking forward to the next one.
Congrats on putting this video together Mike. When you see it like this it just shows how much you've all done and explored. Really enjoyed it
Thanks John... Yes some days feel very slow and uneventful, nice to see some of what we've done over the year.
Love the new Logo too, awesome
Sweet aye, I have some good friends.
Amazing! Can't believe it's already been a year you guys are on the road. Ever since we met your family at the InsideOutRV event early last year we have been following and watching your travels and videos. We're also planning to do the same with our 3 kids (same ages as yours!) hopefully in the next year or two. We even bought a Hilux as the first step! Hahaha. Just been to Caravan show yesterday at Mystery Creek and we think we have shortlisted our options now. You have inspired us so much! Keep it up and make many more great memories!
Oh that's awesome team. You'll have a blast, so much exploring to be done... the Hilus has been a great tow vehicle 👌... hard choosing a caravan aye, so expensive and so many choices 😳
Wow you guys are amazing giving your children experiences they will never forget love your videos so entertaining ❤❤❤❤
@@elainerobinson286 thank you it's been amazing alright loving travelling on home soil
A perfect video showcasing the highlights of your 12 months on the road. I’m with Sophie re autumn being the nicest season of the year, nice calm clear and settled days. I bet you don’t regret a single day of hitting the road. Will you be coming back down to the South Island in the near future?
Was a great first year on the road, some amazing spots in there... Planning to be back South in the winter for some beautiiful scenery.
Stunning video, thanks for sharing
Thanks for checking it out, such an awesome country to explore and such diverse scenery.
Congratulations on the first year The second one will be better.
Cheers mate, yip, learnt a lot about full time road life for sure... Looking forward to cruising along a bit slower this side of summer heading southward for those long days.
Love your videos. Keep them coming! (I thought I had already left you a comment - Apologies!)(Michael- ADMIN from MHFNZ)
oh hey, thanks for the comment. The videos will keep on rolling alright... Feel free to share on MHFNZ
We are a family of four hoping to do exactly what you're doing. Can you tell me what sort of Ute and caravan you have? Awesome video. Makes me so excited to get on the road
Hey there, glad you found us. We've had the best adventure so far. We are towing a 23ft nextgen aussie build caravan with a 2018 Toyota hilux... we got videos on our channel about money, common questions etc
Awesome video. Thanks.
cheers mate, it's feeling like the 2nd year is going to roll around real quick.
Well done guys great video and very inspiring trip!
Thanks team, been an awesome first 12 Months on the road, loving the start of our 2nd year as well.
Whanau - I have no superlatives that do justice to that amazing video of your first 12 months on the road! You've demonstrated a range of wonderful skills in living that life, and producing such a wonderful video account of it. I very much wish you all the best of fortune for the next 12 months of adventures in "GODZONE". (Following each post.)
Thanks so much mate, really appreciate those kind words. Hopefully the channel can take off in the next year, been a very slow and gradual growing channel.
It has been so good following you around the country through your videos. All the adventures you are having and memories you are making as a family are amazing. Am looking forward to more to come. (After seeing the beautiful places to explore in Karamea and the top of the West Coast, we decided to head over there for a few days from our home in Christchurch. Not in a caravan though☹) And you definitely make us impatient to visit other places. Thanks for sharing it all with us.
Oh good on ya, nice to get out there and explore. Some awesome spots up there
*what a great year you have had, the risk definitely paid off for you. Must say the south island spots have been my favourite*
yea an amazing year, nice it's getting back to summery weather again now, looking forward to more swimming. Thanks for following team, hope Autumn is going well. Some massive pumpkins this year aye.
Awesome video guys, your family have had an amazing time living on the road, we would love yo do the same at some stage. Really enjoy watching your weekly updates.
Cheers mate, it's been quite the exaction of a very detailed plan. Nice to have lived our dreams for some time.
We are so in awe of you guys. Big risk with on road schooling and quitting jobs. But good on you all.
We are so inspired and are saving franticlly to be able to spend time early next year in our newly aquired motorhome, visiting some of the places you have shown us in the SI.
You have all made some really cool family stories you should all be proud of for years and years to come.
Run free Leopards, run wild!
Oh thats so good to hear guys, you'll have the best time motorhoming around the South island. I've loved our time down here... Winter was just amazing down here.
Wow what a fantastic adventure, you all look so happy and there is no doubt you guys have done the right thing the footage and drone shots are spectacular. cheers Greg and Sandy
Thanks guys, was an awesome year alright. Looking forward to the adventures still to come. Good to see you guys out there living ya best lives as well
Thanks so much, I love following your adventures. What a wonderful experience for your family. I am a South Islander living in the North and I feel quite homesick at times watching your videos! Awesome production!
Oh sorry for making you homesick... I think I'll be home sick for the South island when I return to the North Island... We'll see how long we last travelling around up North. There def is some incredible spots in the North Island, but just very different.
WOW that was so awesome, looking forward to more, good work, Happy Travels.
Thanks mate... so many awesome spots aye... what a beautiful country
@@leopardsgowild Yep for sure, all your camping spots are awesome. You just dont get to see that in the city. Thanks for sharing your adventures.
Hi Mike, Sophie and kids - such an amazing look at what you have been doing. What memories for a lifetime. Was lovely seeing you recently too. Liz and Murray
Oh ya you found us... Was lovely seeing you guys as well... So many great memories as a family on this trip and so many more still to come. thanks for checking in.
Thank you for sharing your adventures, and letting us get to know you all, it is so nice to see your kids so enthusiastically embrace the traveling and outdoor life!!
Oh your so welcome. Thanks for following along on our adventures, it's nice sharing them.
Well done, that was such a good recap! You're very good. You have had a wonderful trip, good on you guys
Thanks Radcliffs, I wish i had some footage of parking up at your place, but I did'n't record anything. Hopefully we can get back to your guys place.
@@leopardsgowild looking forward to going away on Friday for a week ourselves, long overdue
Wow well done guys..i have been following yoy all this year and so inspired by your adventures.. you should be proud of yourselves making this happen..
Oh thanks it was quite the effort getting on the road, so much work and saving and stress, as well as big expenses. So glad we have done it though
Epic videos mate! We have just bought a Nextgen Caravan and now plan to do as much as we can with our 3 young kids also. We are based in Wanaka so if your ever down these ways then feel free to reach out.
Thats awesome mate. We will be back down those ways in winter, hoping to find snow, hoar frost, and just nice big ice puddles for Toby to smash lol...
What a fantastic video record of your first year on the road, wonderful drone photography and concise commentary. The music is also great! We have thoroughly enjoyed following you throughout the year. Your children are a credit to you both and they are so enthusiastic about exploring each new location. The climb up Mt Roy and Mount Alpha with Jade was really amazing such a wonderful effort and a great memory for her to cherish of special time with Dad.
Looking forward to videos as you continue your travels.
Best wishes and safe travels to you all
Awww thanks for referenceing that video of Jade and I hiking up those bloody big mountains. Jade is the most adventurous in the family. She's been begging for months for another overnight hike. We've loved parking up in quiet corners of paradise and recording it all... I imagine things will start to get busy on the road again with tourists and travellers filling up camping spaces.
Wow guys, a full year 🎉. Been great sharing in your adventures. Keep enjoying this beautiful country, you are doing an amazing job of showcasing our backyard ❤
Oh thank you. It's such an awesome country we live in and get to enjoy. it's nice being able to be parked up in beautiful places and capture it all.
Isn't life great in New Zealand. We are doing the same for 3+ years and absolutely loving it.
Yes definintley feel like we are living the dream, it's a great country to explore in.
What an incredible year, absolutely showcasing our country and just how much diverse scenery there is. It must have been challenging to select just a few highlights for this video.
It's been so good following along and seeing you all thriving with life on the road.
Cheers Garth, thanks for being such a great supporter, and follower. You might have to take me out for another Dive when we come up your way again... So many great spots. I'm sure we have some more awesome locations to hit up this summer.
@@leopardsgowild absolutely, we will try and get out for a decent look around the Marlborough Sounds this time
Awesome video. ❤
Thanks Jennifer what an incredible year aye
Awesome recap, very heartwarming to rewatch your journey and to know theres still plenty more to come. What an epic year it has been.
Happy one year on the road anniversary Leopard family x
Thanks for the Aroha and support over the last couple of years. Been a lot of fun for sure. We've got so many spots still to check out that we didn't make time for due to the leaving summer... Looking forward to the ultra long days in Southland and Otago.
Happy celebration congratulations you are living the dream that many Kiwis want. You are showing them that they can by planning ahead. Having an aim sticking to it and getting there. Well done leopard family. From Team Kawerau
Thanks team, yes it was an incredible amount of work to get on the road. I think me and Soph both said we'd almost need a year off before we even start... Glad we're able to turn it into an even longer adventure. Thanks for following along.
Love it
You’ve got another subscription
Would love to know/see more about how you choose you can/truck as we are a family of 5 also
What app etc you use to find camping spots and how you managed to find work along the way? Word of mouth advertising etc
Looking forward to bingeing on lots more blogs 🎉
Sweet guys... you'll find all those answers on the channel. After you have seen a few videos send us a message. Totally happy to help 😊
Awesome year. Keep it up. Please include your music content details. will be on the lookout for you guys
glad you enjoyed. I don't have the admin patience, to add the music details. if you google a few lyrics and add lyrics it should bring up the song your looking for.
Love your video! Me and my wife will sell up our house and get 6 berth caravan 20ft or more. Will be living permanently and travel NZ!
oh thats great guys, sound like you have a great adventure coming up, are you planning to come from somewhere else in the world?
@@leopardsgowild we are both kiwis! And travelling is our happy lifestyle! Thanks for inspiring us! Keep the video up!!
Itching to get down there!
8? days ish aye bro... It will come fast...
@@leopardsgowild ...17 Dec.
Me thinks this video could well inspire a few other families to follow your lead. 🙂
Hope so, it's so good for kids to spend so much time outside and explore, play and imagine. Great memories for any family as well.
Amazing a year already, how do you manage to find such cool places to explore
yea it goes by so fast aye... We generally just use camper mate App and the NZMCA app, sometimes places pop up on google maps as well, it does take some time to find some of these locations for sure.
Thanks for that we will certainly be using those when we take off on our adventures, looking forward to seeing more of your adventures 😀
Hey Mike, it's great following you reliving some places we've been learning of others we haven't. How long and often do you use the gennie and what make/model of battery charger do you have? Thanks
Hey mate, we have used the Generator most days since we got it. I suspect now we are into daylight savings we will barely use it, and in saying that the times we have used it have been to charge the ecoflow which is our easiest way of having 240v power in the caravan. The generator will charge the ecoflow in 1 hour where the solar blanket / panel we have for the ecoflow takes around 4 hours to charge.
Man this here should be the poster of why to travel nz, how long did it take you to plan this out in 3-5 years id love to do this my daughter will be 8-10 by then and be able to remember this for a life time
Hey there, been an epic trip so far. NZ's a great place to travel so many cool wild places. We planned / saved/ worked extra/ spent less for 3 years while we waited for the camp america experience, which is the date we left our home in Rotorua. It's been such a great experience, we're continuing on for another year at this stage.
@@leopardsgowild I’ve been binge watching your channel for the last 2 days, we are getting our first caravan march next year and I was looking for places and come across marfells beach by Blenheim, so I TH-camd it and found your channel haven’t been able to stop watching since haha you have given so many awesome spots to check out, and if you make it to the Nelson region I maybe able to come say hi
@liketoparty85 love a good youtube binge watch lol... we'll be around Nelson, late January is our rough plan
Amazing..Appreciate your story telling .. do we need to get permission for Drone shots .wish you a great time with family..enjoy 😊👍
Hey, ive learnt over the years story telling is a pretty key part of youtube videos ate... trlling stories definitely helps the channel grow... Drones, some parts of NZ you do require permission I just always look at the signage in the area, it generally has a no drone symbol if you can't fly, just like no dogs or no fires etc... I have spoken with NZ civil avation about drone use for my channel as well, who were very supportive and had no concerns with drone use.
@@leopardsgowild thanks mate ..all the best for your journey..eagerly waiting for upcoming videos ..cheers !!
It doesn't seem like a year. But it's nearly a year since I moved onmthe boat!
Yea time flies aye. You got any boating trips lined up
@@leopardsgowild I'm finishing work at end of October. I've booked to lift the boat on 1st November to repaint the bottom. Then I'll look at going on some adventures north of here. Then back here to work from March next year.
How have you found the $350 trademe generator? We are looking for a cheap gene to charge the batteries occasionally. Would you recommend it? Any pros and cons? Cheers.
Hey mate it's been a game changer for us, great help, it's a little noisy, but no worse than a big generator. We've had no issues in the 4 months we've had it.
How do you do the in stagerring your videos. There's timimg in it!
I don't understand the question? but this was an over look of our first year full time travelling.
We are so keen to do this but worry about cost and income.
Yes it's pretty scary and takes some planning for... We have a video on our money and paying for this... Short story is we reduced our mortgage repayments to as low as we could go to maximize our savings.
3 years of saving, working extra, I ended up working self employed plastering which helped, we sold 2 cars, our old 1976 retro caravan, and most of our possesion, which brought our savings up to just over 50K which to us meant we could go about 15-18 months full time travel, buying groceries, diesel and the bits and bobs you need, shoes, warmer winter clothes etc... our weekly spend has been around $800 a week which has included a couple of truck services but we want to continue full time life on the road for another year, So I picked up work off facebook community groups advirtising as a plasterer as it's a trade I have, which has earnt us money towards our summer travels, we've just done 13months so far, so we didn't spend all of our first 50k as we'll need it to get through summer... Money is a big issue and something you do need to plan for. People that think they can do their groceries for $150 a week are dreaming for 5 people we spend generally more than $400 a week. LPG 3 bottles a month, Diesel is cheaper than at home as we don't have all the little run around jobs to do, sometimes the truck doesn't start for days, especially when we are at a camp site we love.... THe NZMCA has great sites and private property you can stay on for very cheap rates. If you have any more questions feel free to message, we're happy to help.
@@leopardsgowild this was really helpful. Thank you so much, 800 a week is pretty good and do-able, we just did a 30day roadtrip across America and I think we want it to be our life. Do you have a tour of your caravan? Finding one that has the right space for 3 kids is pretty hard in NZ.
Hi again, in one of your latest vids, you recommended a fellow traveller's TH-cam channel... something like RacsTracs or similar...can you let me know please? Thanks
Hey mate the other family I have mentioned is Radroadadventures. there is also Gallichan truck life nz, and you got Adventures with Rosy as well.
to bad i cant give 2 thumbs up
Oh thanks we've had such a great 1st year
cheese
Yum, is it Michelle's cheese 🧀 😋
This is the best video. Looooove it. So inspiring. 🥲 thank you for sharing the financial side and how your able to do it. Because that's the reality and handy for someone wanting to do the same.
Yea the money seems so Taboo to talk about, I guess we aren't people that have a lot of money so it might be easier to talk about, rather than people who have cash that don't want to say.... "We own 3 business and have money coming in without us being there, so money isn't a problem." For us it was a massive plan to get on the road and I have a bunch of stuff I want to put in a video for people to consider how they could have a similar experience to us, we're still paying off a decent sized mortgage, but we are getting by. Thanks for watching.