Within six months of meeting her partner, psychologist and author Laughton King, in 2006, the dream became a reality.
"I had been planning this for decades, with or without a perfect partner. But as soon as I mentioned the idea, Lort ran with it. He didn't hesitate," Ms Tate (57) said.
They purchased a sturdy van previously used as a mobile television studio in Japan, stripped its interior and fitted it out as a self-contained camper van and artist's studio, complete with plenty of storage space for art supplies and paintings inside and room for kayaks and bicycles on the back.
Since hitting the road in March, 2007, they have travelled many thousands of kilometres, including, over the past 18 months, in the South Island.
"We move very slowly," Mr King (60) said.
The couple arrived in Dunedin almost a week ago. Still only midway though their adventure - they do not plan to return to Whangarei until the end of 2011 - they are not yet sick of the gypsy lifestyle, despite living a "no frills, no luxuries" lifestyle on a limited income.
"I could do this for the rest of my life," Ms Tate said.
It helped having a companion who was the "perfect roadie": enthusiastic, willing to travel anywhere, willing to help lug painting supplies and canvases, and short enough to fit comfortably in the truck, she said.
Mr King, who is dyslexic, has two university degrees and a postgraduate diploma in educational psychology and has worked as a psychologist, mediator, teacher, author, counsellor and massage therapist. He ran his own practice in Whangarei for many years, but said it was not difficult deciding to close the doors.
"Once my children had left home I didn't need to work the ridiculously long hours I was working. And because many of my clients couldn't pay, I wasn't earning much money."
Now, while Ms Tate paints, Mr King sells the books he has written and gives seminars for teachers and parents on children with dyslexia and other learning difficulties, and on parenting skills. He has given 126 on the South Island leg of their journey already with more to come, including some in Dunedin before the couple's planned departure on August 3.
Mr King, who describes children with dyslexia as "diesel children in a petrol-fuelled world", said he believed experiencing dyslexia himself enabled him to relate better to dyslexic children and their teachers and families.
"I can bring a slightly different perspective."
The couple said they had deliberately chosen to visit smaller centres, saying the appetite for seminars and art works was better there and the welcome from locals warmer. Asked what the highlight of their journey had been so far, they agreed it was the weeks they spent living in tiny Ruatoria, on the east cape north of Gisborne.
The locals allowed them to park in a space between two shops in the main street and invited them to a wedding, a hangi and a rugby match.
Ms Tate was working on paintings of a horse muster, a commission which was of great fascination to the local schoolchildren who would arrive at the truck before and after school on their horses and watch, through the windows, her progress.
The trick to touring was to be open to anything, Ms Tate said.
