Living Full-Time in Bumble: Our New Zealand Overlanding Life and How It Became a Children’s Book Series
- Apr 19
- 5 min read
When most people first meet Bumble, they ask the same kinds of questions.
Do you really live in that truck? Where do you sleep? How do you cook? Where do you go? What is it like living on the road full-time?
The short answer is yes — we really do live in Bumble full-time, and we have been travelling around New Zealand in our expedition truck for an extended season of life that has completely changed how we think about home, adventure, and storytelling.
What began as a travel lifestyle eventually became something more. Because wherever we went, children were captivated by Bumble. They loved the idea of a truck with a home on the back. They asked where she had been, what adventures she had, and what it was like to travel this way.
Those conversations are what led to the Bumble children’s books.
Meet Bumble
Bumble is our expedition truck and our full-time home on wheels. She is a MAN truck fitted with a custom living box, which means she combines the rugged capability of an overland vehicle with the practical comforts of a compact off-grid home.
Inside, Bumble has the essentials we need for living on the road:
a kitchen
a bathroom
a bed
storage
solar power
water tanks
tools and gear
space for the practical rhythms of everyday life
She is big, capable, and built for travel, but she is also the place where we make meals, sleep, relax, plan, and recharge.
That combination is exactly why children find her so fascinating. To them, Bumble is not just a truck. She is a truck-house-adventure-machine all in one.
Why we chose this lifestyle
Full-time travel is not for everyone, but for us it has been a deeply rewarding way to live. We love the freedom of moving slowly, staying close to nature, discovering out-of-the-way places, and waking up somewhere new.
Overlanding in New Zealand offers an incredible variety of landscapes in a relatively small geographic area. One week you might be beside a turquoise lake. Another day you might be high on a gravel mountain road. Then you are parked under stars in a remote valley, or waking to snow in Central Otago.
That richness of place is one of the reasons the South Island has become such an important part of Bumble’s story.
Life on the road is full of stories
When you live in a fixed house, many days blur together. When you live on the road, ordinary life still happens — cooking, cleaning, fixing things, finding places to sleep — but it unfolds in constantly changing settings.
That means stories are everywhere.
Sometimes the story is dramatic, like crossing a river on a backcountry road or winding over a steep mountain pass. Sometimes it is quiet, like watching the weather change in a small town. Sometimes it is unexpected, like discovering Bumble cannot fit into a campground entrance or waking up to snow piled on the roof.
Those moments became the foundation of the Bumble book series.
From real travel to children’s books
We did not start out planning to become children’s book creators. The idea grew naturally from the lifestyle itself.
Because children loved Bumble so much, we realised there was an opportunity to create children’s books about trucks that were based on real adventures. Not generic stories. Not made-up roads. Real New Zealand places, real travel moments, and a truck that genuinely exists.
That idea immediately felt exciting because it brought together so many things we care about:
travel
storytelling
New Zealand landscapes
child-friendly adventure
trucks and vehicles
kindness and resilience
educational fun facts
And so Bumble’s adventures on the road became Bumble’s adventures on the page.
Why the books appeal to more than just kids who love trucks
At first glance, the Bumble books are easy to describe as children’s books about trucks. And they are. Kids who love trucks, monster trucks, cars, and big vehicles usually respond to Bumble right away.
But there is another audience too.
Parents interested in:
overlanding
van life
expedition travel
roadschooling
worldschooling
homeschooling
family travel
New Zealand adventures
also connect deeply with the books because they reflect a lifestyle and set of values they recognise.
For those families, Bumble is not only a fun character. She is part of a bigger picture: a mobile, adventurous, intentional way of living.
Why this matters for homeschool and worldschool families
Many homeschooling and unschooling parents are always searching for books that do more than entertain. They want stories that spark questions, create curiosity, and invite children to learn naturally.
Bumble’s books fit that space beautifully.
Because the stories are based on real places, they open the door to discussions about:
geography
weather
landscape
travel
history
maps
animals
seasons
practical life on the road
That is why people often describe this kind of story as a “living book.” It is not a textbook. It is not trying too hard to teach. But children come away with a richer sense of the world.
The SEO side of this lifestyle and brand
If you are building a site like bumblethetruck.com, there is a valuable overlap between your readership groups. You are not only speaking to children’s book buyers. You are also speaking to readers searching for:
full-time truck life
overlanding New Zealand
van life South Island
living on the road blog
expedition truck home
off-grid truck living
travel with purpose
overland family lifestyle
real truck adventure books
homeschool travel books
That overlap is a strength. Your blog can serve parents, travellers, homeschoolers, and gift-buying families at the same time.
What Bumble teaches us
Living in Bumble has taught us many practical things, but it has also taught us something simpler and more important: adventure is not just about the biggest road or the wildest location. Often it is about attention.
It is about noticing a small town. Helping another traveller. Adapting when plans change. Staying calm when the weather turns. Enjoying a view. Listening to children’s questions. Turning a real day into a story.
That is very much the spirit of the Bumble books.
The first three books
The first three Bumble books each came from real journeys in New Zealand:
Each one is rooted in a genuine travel experience and shaped into a warm, child-friendly story with gentle messages about courage, kindness, teamwork, and resilience.
Together, they begin to form a world that is both real and storybook-like at the same time.
Why we share this online
We created bumblethetruck.com to bring those worlds together.
On the site, people can:
discover the books
read the stories behind the stories
learn more about Bumble
follow our travel lifestyle
explore the real places behind the books
connect with the bigger idea of adventure, learning, and life on the road
That is what makes the blog such an important part of the project. It helps readers understand that Bumble is not just a character on a page. She is a real truck, a real home, and the centre of a real journey.
Final thoughts
Living full-time in Bumble has been one of the most meaningful adventures of our lives. It has given us freedom, challenge, beauty, and a thousand moments we never could have planned.
It has also given us something unexpected: a children’s book series inspired by the way kids light up when they meet a real expedition truck.
If you are here because you love trucks, overlanding, van life, family travel, homeschooling, worldschooling, or simply stories with heart, welcome. You are in the right place.
This is Bumble’s world, and we are so glad to share it with you.
