Donna just loves her gypsy lifestyle

GYPSY ARTIST: Donna Adair shows off her hand-made leadlight glass hangings and crystal ewelery, while cat Heidi suns herself. PHOTO/ERIN KAVANAGH-HALL

For Donna Adair, home is wherever she parks her caravan.

The former Aucklander is a member of the Gypsy Travellers, a collective of gypsies who set up markets and stalls - featuring everything from jewellery to candy floss to carnival games - all over the North Island.

Her travels brought her to Masterton for a gypsy fair last week.

As a Gypsy Traveller, Ms Adair spends nine months out of the year on the road, in a pastel-painted 1969 Bedford bus she bought on Trade Me.

Life on the highway means a more confined living space, no microwave - "they zap too much power on the road," she said - and she occasionally misses having her own garden.

But the grandmother of four wouldn't have it any other way.

"Living as a gypsy is a great way to see the country and all the different scenery," she said.

"We can park up next to a lake or river, or along a beach front. We get to see people's million-dollar views.

"I definitely wouldn't trade all that for a house."

Ms Adair said she has been living the gypsy life for 28 years - travelling with her parents in a caravan between the ages of 8 and 18, and heading out on the road for a second time in the early 1990s, at 36.

"You can do the maths and work out my age," she said.

Her caravan, which she has had since 2006, is 2.5 metres by 10m - "bigger than some of those apartments in Auckland" - and has "all the comforts of home".

"It's really strange when you visit someone who lives in a big house," said Ms Adair, who travels with her cat Heidi.

"They can spend about two days doing the housework, whereas we can do ours in two hours. We have no lawns to mow.

"And, if you miss being in the garden, you can just do your mates' gardens when you stay with them." With her fellow travellers, Ms Adair visits a new town - "anywhere from Whangarei to Wellington" - every week, where she sets up camp and sells her hand-crafted goods: leadlight glass hangings, crystal pendants and anklets, and hair wraps for the kids.

She is aware of the negative stereotypes of travelling communities perpetuated by mass media, such as the popular UK reality show Big Fat Gypsy Weddings.

Generally, however, the New Zealand public reacts fairly positively when the Gypsy Travellers arrive in town.

"We're nothing like Big Fat Gypsy Weddings and most people who come to our fairs realise that.

"We get a little bit of the old 'go home, gypsies'. But we are home.

"We consider all of New Zealand to be our home.

"Mostly, the locals are good."

The Gypsy Travellers held a fair at Masterton's Queen Elizabeth Park from December 29 to January 1, which had 12 stalls featuring crafts, clothing, toys, hand-made foods, a paintball tent and a bouncy castle.

Ms Adair said the fair was well received by the community.

"I've always loved coming to Wairarapa," she said.

After Masterton, she and her fellow travellers headed to Dannevirke.