The Bluewater Blog

  Moving House Sounds Style When we first started exploring an off-grid “boat access only” property plenty of folks wanted confirmation that we’d at least somehow have a car. If one lives off-grid on a tramping track with boat access only, there is no place to park a car and certainly no place to drive one!  Having no car impacts our life regularly, but especially on move-in day!  We had to wait days for the right high tide. The 30ft truck arrived on the barge.  It was about a 500 m stretch from the beach along the track with quad bike and trailer. Then it was up our 78 steps with human muscle power of a team of 11!!!   The job wasn't finished then. When living off-grid with no rubbish removal service there was the added challenge of what to do with the packing boxes and wrapping paper! A one-time request was made and the packing went out for recycling several days later. So, if you do ever visit us for a cuppa, you might wish to pause and consider how your...

  "What is Your Address?" I’ve been asked this a lot recently; by friends, by banks, by gov. officials, by schools, my colleagues etc…… This seems a fairly simple question, but, is it? I’ve been reflecting on this…. ·       What if the address doesn’t fit nicely in the pre-set, homogenous address fields? ·        What if one lives off-grid? ·         What if one has no street number or  if one doesn’t even live on a road?  Do GPS co-ordinates count? ·          How does one communicate the address? In-person or electronically? ·          What if there is a COVID-lockdown? ·          What if a big storm has impacted the area and  one has no telecoms?    What if it has rained for days and the solar batteries don’t have indefinite reserves?  ...