This is why we quit our Jobs. | Free camping | The free life

[@gettingoutwiththekids]

Oh wow, imagine leaving the oven on! That could have been a disaster, ive seen caravans go up in flames and it doesnt take long. Your channel is growong amazingly well, keep it up.

[@leopardsgowild]

I know I was pretty stressed, expecting to see smoke pouring out the windows or something when we got back, but no, only some melting and that lovely plastic smell lol... Channel is growing consistenly, but still feels slow aye you know how it goes.

[@nickbenfell4327]

On a camping motorbike tour I camped under the trees at the Duntroon domain before riding over Danseys Pass. A time etched in my mind.

[@leopardsgowild]

As long as that winds not blowing to hard it's awesome through there aye. Magic part of NZ.

[@kevinpalmer1249]

This vlog was a really great one, so thanks Leopard family, you guys rock!

[@leopardsgowild]

Yea I really liked this one, felt organic, not so much scenary, but just travel life which was fun to put together.

[@kimmarkgunning4876]

Stunning family fun

[@leopardsgowild]

Lots of fun, travel is a great life style while it can last

[@catherinecarr3506]

Sorry I don’t comment on every vid but please know that I watch every one and love your content … so thank you!

[@leopardsgowild]

Oh your so welcome, glad you here for the ride with us...

[@nzhillbilly6468]

Just awesome, love your videos, thanks for sharing your adventure with us 👍

[@leopardsgowild]

Thanks for watching. We definitely love our adventures

[@TomRigginsAandO]

Well done ! Some great drone shots and the Elephant rocks--wow !

[@leopardsgowild]

Yea some crazy spots around the country. Where we are currently the water is so incredibly blue, I can't wait to show that. I've been working the last 3 weeks earning some money to keep us travelling as we want to travel through the whole next summer atleast as a minimum as well.

[@christophermarshall527]

Thank you for another entertaining video, your obvious enjoyment in travelling is infectious!!!

[@leopardsgowild]

Oh thanks so much, this was such a fun excursion definitely a lot of fun

[@NomadLifeKiwi]

Bummer about your power issues, I know the feeling. That paua looked so delicious, you were very brave going into that cold water! Great video!

[@leopardsgowild]

Cheers guys, yea solar is hard down South in winter, a couple of weeks till the shortest day for us and longest day for ya'll... where in the states are ya's now

[@NomadLifeKiwi]

@@leopardsgowild in Texas and it’s frikking hot!

[@hopaea7]

First view! 🏆

[@leopardsgowild]

whoop whoop, most faithful follower

[@garth2876]

Great episode and decision to follow the valley back to the coast. We're plugged into a powered site tonight, forgot to bring the cable so we had to borrow one oops. Made a good pad Thai for dinner - Accalia loves the noodles. You guys are doing well with the water and swims in some very cold conditions. Maybe check out the team at motorhome solar in Waimate for some advice on power. More delicious meals as always!

[@leopardsgowild]

Cheers Garth, I'd be interested to know what it costs to change from AGM to Lithuim, We've got a few new toys to help with power which we'll post about later on. Glad to hear the Pad Thai is still rocking, such a good dinner and pretty affordable if you make your own, makes me wonder how the restuarants charge $25 for a meal thats mostly rice stick noodles which costs a couple of bucks, cause they never give you much meat. Yip the swimming is slowing down it's safe to say.

[@user-le7ld5sg2d]

Hi Mike, second the idea having a chat to Motorhome Solar, we found them really knowledgeable and friendly when upgrading our set up, super happy with the result, be good to chat with them to get an idea of some options,

[@uncommonsense5876]

😊👍💯

[@leopardsgowild]

oh look at this new person on the channel... Welcome Uncommon sense lol.

[@followtheleopard]

Hi from one Leopard to another 👏👏 👫🐆x

[@leopardsgowild]

Hey again guys, I thought I replied to this comment... Are you guys named leopard as well? or is it just the truck?

[@followtheleopard]

@@leopardsgowild Hi,ya no just the truck 😀🐆 x

[@CraigAspinall-m1f]

Great family times we from coming matarangi ha not easy doing handstand for 20 minutes well done on gathering legal paua and catch in cook looks tastey thanks and cool road trip 😊

[@leopardsgowild]

cheers bro, I really liked making this video was cool to change things up, and I love diving so fun/ Thanks for watching

[@handlemozart]

Elephant rocks,film location Nania, Lion Witch and the Wardrobe.

[@leopardsgowild]

bit of a Gem of a spot that one, had no idea what to expect, they are pretty massive though. I think I had a shot from Narnia in there??? Can't remember too many videos ago, it might have only gone on FB

[@SeiOh-w2q]

I love you all

[@leopardsgowild]

:)

[@_Rikki_]

Cant wait we will be in the south island in 3 weeks!!

[@leopardsgowild]

ready to soak up some winter goodness, this snow dump which starts tomorrow should stick around for the winter too.

[@_Rikki_]

@@leopardsgowild hopefully there will be some as our kids have not seen snow before 😅 just got to hope our solar holds up now

[@leopardsgowild]

Likely You will need some plug in's sun is just so low in the South, you don't get the right angle of sun on the panels. Some people we know have 1050w solar and 400Amphr Lithuim, still needed to plug in after 5 days.

[@jaredford8440]

Great work soph 👍👍🚴

[@leopardsgowild]

yip shes the riding queen...

[@sophleopard9162]

Mike was generous rounding my ride up to 80km - but it was certainly an epic day out and my body felt it. Love riding! 🚲

[@jaredford8440]

@@sophleopard9162 l know how you feel,this week I've been helping my friend build their off grid home up here in ruawai.trudging through mud to do piling flooring and standing frames whew...body certainly needed the wake up call though 😆.....trusses tomorrow 🙄👌

[@sophleopard9162]

You've got this - it's so good when you can see something tangible from sore body efforts!

[@jaredford8440]

@@sophleopard9162 I'm pretty good at hiding when I need a break 😅

[@CHillAdventures]

" I GOT WET SHORTS!!!! lolololol toby is so hilarious.. great episode mike, even i have to remind myself i can explore more,, sometimes i get stuck in a routine too! epic cold water swim!!!! that water looked so clear and cold! cant wait to see whats next!! cheers! ps what happen to the other bowl???🤣✌❤

[@leopardsgowild]

Don't ask lol... I dropped it and it smashed to bits... thecwater was cold, but you'll never see ice there, the water is actually filthy with mountain minerals from the rivers, but in the tidal pools it gets clear, the deeper out you go, the visibility changes.

[@CHillAdventures]

@@leopardsgowild epic times 🥶🤯

[@allantaylor3288]

Awesome! You’ve struck the weather good at All Day Bay ever time I’ve stayed there it’s been strong easterly winds straight off the sea. Is there a bit of a design fault with the jacks on your van? You should be able to get all of them down regardless of the terrain. How about a generator for those days when you can’t get your batteries fully charged?

[@leopardsgowild]

all day bay is a favourite of ours we love the vibe of the place, many other people don't like it, but we do. the first time we came we did get hammered by the winds which wasn't so nice, but they did settle... Caravan front legs are connected way to low on the chassis, which makes them hit the ground too early.

[@allantaylor3288]

That’s not good, can they be altered at all? Must be annoying having to put blocks under the wheels. Kakanui a nice spot also, will catch you there in the next video 😊👌

[@leopardsgowild]

they can be replaced with shorter ones, but we figure it out at each place, and try and park in a way that the wheels are on the high ground.

[@RadRoadAdventures]

It's great to see you have had a good run seeking sunshine. At Elephant Rocks there's a whale skeleton fossilized in a rock, did you come across that? Maybe some snow this weekend down your way🤞

[@leopardsgowild]

yea we went to the whale bones, I wasn't overly impressed though, I left the gopro in the truck cause we walked from Elephant rocks... THinkiing we might go on a Sunday Adventure to park up in the snow for a couple of days, give me a break from plastering.

[@robperano7708]

Diesel heater Mike.Bit noisey but good on power

[@leopardsgowild]

Yea mate, we've got a diesel heater, seems to not be using to little power though, Although I haven't tested the batteries with no heater running cause it would be to cold, The fan on our system seems pretty grunty, so it might be drawing extra power than you'd expect... We had the batteries tested today though, and they are still high health so thats good I guess.

[@linley-jane7878]

Why do I get the impression that you were responsible for the other bowl too, Mike? 😆

[@leopardsgowild]

What an assumption... Lets say the other bowl is no longer with us.

[@linley-jane7878]

@@leopardsgowild Rest in Pieces bowl. 🙏😆

[@owenpotter2459]

What do you do when working nights shifts has you wide awake in the middle of the night? Even on your night off? You end up watching Leopards Go Wild at 3am! That creamy paua looked yummy. Good save with your melting bowl.

[@leopardsgowild]

Hope the night shifts are topping the bank account back up Owen so summers looking bright. 3am is a great time to watch Leopards go wild. I'm glad it was a realtively thick bowl, we now have a very thin one which I imagine would melt a lot faster.

[@stephendickson9000]

If your inTwizel on the shortest day theres a rule, go to the confluence of the Twizel and Frazer rivers for a dip.

[@leopardsgowild]

That sounds awesome I think we'll leave on the 20th lol

[@stephendickson9000]

@@leopardsgowild Chicken! 😂

[@leopardsgowild]

@@stephendickson9000 lake Pukaki will prob be colder

[@CraigAspinall-m1f]

Yes and pech out

[@leopardsgowild]

CHEERS

[@caravanlifenz]

You quit your jobs? It would be great to see a video about how you're earning money on the road.

[@leopardsgowild]

Yep we quit the conventional life for a season of travel, we do have videos which include how we fund our travel. In short we saved a years income to travel for 15 months, but we want to continue, I'm a plasterer painter so I am able to pick up work through local facebook community pages, it seems very easy to find plastering work, especially in small communities were there is a lack of trades people. I spent a couple of months working during winter to top us up for the summer months ahead.

[@ajjuney]

What about a Chinese diesel heater? (Some decent kiwi installers in the SI. It’s good dry heat with 12v that might save your batteries)

[@leopardsgowild]

We've got a 12v diesel heater, it's the dan running on the heater for 15hours... watch this space

[@ajjuney]

@@leopardsgowild what’s your solar set up then?

[@leopardsgowild]

its 520w solar and 200amp hrs of agm batteries. We noticed the decline in solar input about late March, and by muid april some days we weren't fully charged, then starting to use the heater more, things went down hill by this video recording time, it was a real struggle, full sun days, we've managed to get a full charge, but that was the week after this recording.

[@ajjuney]

Makes sense. Similar to mine and I’m getting. low more regularly these days. I don’t have as many people as you though. Makes you regret not having lithium sometimes. 😮

[@leopardsgowild]

@ajhitchings yes with we paid up now but was pricey, watch this space...

[@CraigAspinall-m1f]

Hi we from comandel some bad spelling thanks

[@leopardsgowild]

Hey from the Coromandel, no worries about the spelling :) Coromandel is beautiful never been to Matarangi though, we've got a few videos on the channel of exploring up there.

[@PentaxLife]

I have to ask what is that actually taste like? Is it like a clam or a muscle?

[@leopardsgowild]

It definitely is not as strong as muscles not even close, this is what google says... Wild paua's salty, ocean taste with a hint of sweetness is loved by Kiwis across New Zealand. From high-end restaurants to the classic kiwi BBQ, paua has a beautiful kaimoana taste but is subtle enough to be a hit with almost everyone.... I think it's a firm fleshed meat, It takes on flavours as well, like garlic or curry. It can be cooked badly and taste really tough and chewy.

[@PentaxLife]

@@leopardsgowild That sounds good Mike. We might have to find you and see if we can get some crooked up.

[@leopardsgowild]

@@PentaxLife when are yas over

[@PentaxLife]

@@leopardsgowild We arrive on the 13th of November. To pick up our camper Van.

[@leopardsgowild]

@@PentaxLife how long for?

[@NZCaravanLife]

That was a very close call with the bowl Mike 🫣 have you a Dcdc charger installed? We are finding if we haven’t moved for a week then we connect up the Ute for an hour an half and we are back to full charge again 👍hopefully you’ve got a portable panel now as well?

[@leopardsgowild]

We do have anderson plug, but we don't normally travel far enough for it to really make a difference, some evenings we'll plug it in to give a slight top up but it doesn't really seem to make to much of a difference, you see the volts go up, but then they come back down pretty quick...