Single mum Shoshannah Shand is giving her toddler life lessons as the pair travel the country in a six-metre bus. Alexia Santamaria wanted to find out more.
Ask anyone who has ever parented a young child and they’ll tell you it’s simultaneously the best and most challenging thing they’ve ever done. And most, if they are being honest, will admit there’s definitely an element of Groundhog Day to the whole experience; early wake-ups followed by a cycle of feeding, changing, toilet clean-ups, Paw Patrol, baths, and a few tantrums thrown in for good measure. The story you won’t hear too often, however, is if that life with a preschooler involves days spent travelling the length of New Zealand, going on multi-day hikes and waking up to views of wild rivers, towering peaks or miles and miles of golden sands. But that’s exactly what life is like for Shoshannah Shand and her son, Timmy, as they travel the country in their Mazda Parkway bus.
It all began in mid-2020 after the first lockdown when Shoshannah decided it was time to leave a ‘not-fun relationship’ and hit the road in her trusty Toyota Wish. While many people might be tempted to curl up into a ball in tough times, that’s not really Shoshannah’s style. Raised on an isolated farm in the Marlborough Sounds, she grew up three hours away from the nearest town, roaming the hills, helping on the farm and tramping. “I knew how to hunt, build shelters, trap possums and I even had a little dinghy of my own that I would use to row into the bay and catch fish for dinner”.
“That’s kind of where it started, I guess – I have always just loved adventures. I crave them all the time, and since I had a baby, going on adventures has helped me find who I really am,” she says. “It’s really easy to get lost in motherhood – it’s consuming and overwhelming. Going on this adventure saved my mental health.”
Travelling in the Wish was a bit of an experiment with the concept of living on the road. “I turned it into a bit of a camper with a mattress in the back, a cheap gas cooker from Mitre 10 and a few other bits ‘n bobs – but we actually ended up travelling the entire length of New Zealand over the course of a year, in between other commitments,” she says. The success of her travels prompted Shoshannah to contemplate buying a self-contained vehicle so she could really travel full time. “I thought ‘this is fun’ and I realised it was easier and more doable – and more affordable – than I had thought.” So Shoshannah started to look on Trade Me for a bus.
It was here that she found and bought her six-metre vehicle. “I looked at different options and decided this was the best one as I could park it easily and it was so easy to learn to drive – it’s big but not that much bigger than a regular vehicle. I also weirdly loved that it didn’t have loads of storage as it forced me to live a slightly minimised life. I can be a bit of a hoarder if given too much room!” Shoshannah spent a lot of time renovating, painting the whole inside with bright yellow paint. “I put in a huge full-sized house fridge – because I love food – and upgraded the solar system to support the fridge. I had lots of help from lots of different lovely humans! It was amazing.”
Shoshannah documents her life on social media and the pictures on her Instagram page @Shoshannah.nz are stunning. In fact, this is a significant part of how she funds her life on the road. “I create content on social media, I share our adventures, and collaborate with businesses and sponsorships,” she explains. “I write on Patreon, where people can subscribe. I also share extra in depth posts and YouTube-style videos, and even send personalised postcards to the top tiers!”
While her social media business is thriving, it’s not her only income stream. “I am also a photographer, which works well when you’re travelling. I shoot families and am starting to get into small weddings and landscapes. I have found having multiple income streams is the best way to go while we’re living this way, so there is always something coming in.”
But is it all as fun as it looks on social media? The gorgeous pictures of a happy mother and son next to an idyllic lake or looking out from atop a beautiful peak are breathtaking, but Shoshannah also likes to keep things real with videos of life on the road with a toddler. “We love our life, and I love that the bus has everything we need; it’s our tiny home and we can park at the start of a track and take an epic adventure then come back to the bus for a meal, shower and chill time. However, like anyone’s life, it’s not all perfect all the time. We have had a lot of ‘getting stuck’ adventures – one time I thought I would drive the bus onto a beach and we got so stuck I was scared we wouldn’t get out. We were lucky a lovely guy pulled us out in his truck after quite a few goes! Another time we took a three-day hike into the hills and I had locked my keys inside the bus. Thank goodness for some lovely humans we met on the track who helped us to get into the bus and get the keys back.”
And then of course there’s the challenge of living with a preschooler in a confined space. “Most of the time it’s fine, but when it rains it can be harder to entertain him,” she says. “That can make it hard to get work done sometimes if I’m on a deadline.” But Shoshannah wouldn’t change it for the world. “I would rather live in a small bus and be able to have money to take adventures, than work and work just to pay off a big mortgage.
“I don’t need a big house that I’ll forever be in debt over, and I really do love living simply. Everyone’s priorities are different and there is nothing wrong with that, but this is what I want to do with my time, right now while my baby is little. There are moments of loneliness, of course, but we visit so many friends and have met so many new friends that we actually crave a little down time away from people at times!”
It’s a gutsy move, living this life with a little one, but Shoshannah loves it, and she has some good advice for any solo parent thinking of living a life slightly outside the norm. “Honestly it’s scary, but so awesome and worth it. The first step is the hardest and once you jump in everything flows. It doesn’t have to be insanely expensive if you’re willing to learn and shop around for budget-friendly options. I hope by doing this, for however long we do it, means my son learns to love the world around him. He gets to experience the beauty of just having adventures, being outdoors and exploring new places.
Follow Shoshannah on Instagram @shoshannah.nz
For photography bookings, visit ShoshannahNz.photography
