Part 22 - 20 things you have to love about New Zealand

When you are emigrating to a new country it's really important to do a fair bit of research about the country you're moving to...not only so that you know what you're letting yourself in for but also to limit the 'settling in' period - it's not such a shock to the system.

I was a bit addicted to the different expats forums prior to moving (namely http://britishexpats.com/forum/ and http://www.enz.org/forum/ and http://www.expatforum.com/expats/new-zealand-expat-forum-expats-living-new-zealand) and they provided a plethora of information which was really useful both during the information gathering and visa application stages as well as during the transition geographically and later on when settling in.

What I am hoping to achieve with this post is to give you some insight into living in New Zealand (specifically Invercargill & Auckland) and some of the things that stood out for me...based on my previous 29 years living in Wales, UK.

There's nothing worse than people constantly complaining about what they miss about not living in their home country anymore (although we're all slightly guilty of it) so please don't think I am doing that...it's just my insight into the things I have come to know and love about my new home country and more specifically, the Kiwi's who I have met.

So here they are: 20 things you have to love about New Zealanders:

1. No one crosses the road without the little green man telling them that it's ok to cross. This is understandable to some degree in a busy city like Auckland, but I witnessed the very same thing in Invercargill and it's the same in Auckland on tiny roads which are clearly visible. You even get a countdown after the green man, saying how long you have left to cross. Everyone pushes the button to cross and waits to be told before they do. Even the dogs here know the sound of the beep and know they can cross the road. If you feel like risking life and limb by crossing without the green man then everyone watches you...I'm sure they are admiring the courage and rooting for the individual to make it across but you feel like an outsider doing it. I now wait for the green man every time...I feel like the kiwis know something I don't.
2. The language is quite old fashioned. I have never before used the words 'stockings' to indicate 'tights', 'slips' and 'singlets' to indicate undergarments, 'pants' for trousers, 'lollies' for sweets, I have never owned a 'pantry' (I've always just had kitchen cupboards) - and yet these are now in my everyday vocabulary. In fact I didn't even own a slip until very recently and yet it's a staple piece of clothing here to wear under your dresses.
3. We use truly seasonal fruit and veg. In the UK we were used to getting any fruit and veg required at any time of the year for the same price month in, month out. Yet here we have seasonal veg, seasonal prices. You can still buy a telegraph cucumber in winter but you'll pay almost $5 for it. It has made me so much more interested in using different veggies that I hadn't even considered before.
4. People talk about it being 'freezing' in winter. When we lived in Invercargill we had a flurry of snow and hail and it was pretty cold (we emigrated from a severe UK winter to a pretty cold Invers winter). Since living in Auckland I have gone soft...as have most of the people around me. So far I think the lowest temperature we have had this winter has been 9 degrees (we may have had one day last month where it was 5 degrees in the morning) but it's usually about 16 / 17 degrees by the afternoon - yet I am guilty of saying how 'freezing cold' it is! The other evening I had to pop out in the car at about 7pm on a Saturday night and I was really feeling the cold; checked the outside temperature gauge on the car and it was actually 16 degrees. That was the same night I got my flannelette (there's another old fashioned word for you) winter pjs out of the closet ready for winter.
5. They say 'no' to Starbucks. This is a bit of a generalisation but I don't know anyone here who would choose to go to Starbucks over one of the local coffee shops (of which there are plenty!) The coffee here is damn good and it's no thanks to Starbucks.
6. We officially use UK English here in NZ to spell words (like colour, flavour, etc) and yet the pronunciation of many words is in US English (eg garaaage as opposed to garage, darta as opposed to data, etc)
7. The bars get away with charging insane prices for alcoholic drinks and no one complains. In fact, there is a British bar in Auckland CBD called The Spitting Feathers and they have extremely cheap drinks and great meal deals (Wednesday night = steak night, a sirloin steak and real chips with 2 pints or 2 glasses of wine or 3 bottles of beer for $20) and they were banned by Auckland Council for advertising their drink prices on FaceBook because 'they're not competitive' - basically other local bars had complained because they couldn't compete on price. They just ended up being very creative with their advertising and putting up a picture of Heineken bottles with an image of 3 male deer next to it...3 bucks for Heineken. They are back advertising freely again now so I assume it was overturned.
8. Auckland is a truly multicultural city...yet the amount of tabloid style racism or multicultural angst I have come across is nil. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, I'm saying I've never heard it. The UK could learn a lot about living happily alongside other nations from New Zealanders.
9. No one is in a hurry. This is completely awesome...unless you are in a hurry. This is probably best illustrated when you're waiting behind someone at a red traffic light...the light turns green and for a few seconds nothing happens - they don't have their foot on the accelerator waiting for it to turn green so that they can speed off...people just take their time.
10. The men are very gentleman-like. In the office I work in we need to get into lifts to get to the relevant floor that we work on and I noticed recently that the men usually hold back and wait for the women to get into and out of the lifts before they do. I was heading to work the other morning and I walked through the mall underneath our building...as I was about to get onto the escalator there were 2 school boys heading towards it as well from another direction - I didn't even notice them until one made a point of waiting until I had got onto the escalator before he did. His friend had already hopped on - so it's not the same with everyone but it struck me that it was quite beyond his years to have done that. They were only about 15. I'm not one of those people who think that women should necessarily go first and I find it quite awkward to go in front of someone who was waiting before me (male or female)...that's the queuing Brit inside me...but it's quite endearing. This isn't to say that people aren't gentleman-like in the UK...it's just something I've noticed here.
11. New Zealanders pronounce 'e' as 'i'. This is purely an accent thing (and I am not one to talk on this subject!) but it has resulted in some comical misunderstandings...when simple terms like 'check in' become 'chicken', 'bed' becomes 'bid' and 'pen' becomes 'pin'. I won't even mention the confusing about going out on the deck in the summer...
12. We have loyalty cards for everything. In the UK we had loyalty cards for supermarkets, like Sainsbury's and Tesco where you earn points which eventually convert into a 'reward' voucher to spend in store. Well...this is on a whole new level - I have a loyalty card for Countdown (supermarket) and I use my FlyBuys card at New World (supermarket) and Z (petrol stations) but I have also been coerced into having loyalty cards for my favourite coffee shops (every 6th coffee is free), the Asian vegetarian shop (spend over $20 and you get a stamp...when you have 10 stamps you get $10 off a shop), fast food outlets like California Burrito (buy 5 burritos get your 6th free) and Pita Pit (like Subway but with filled pita breads...divine). People have huge wallets here and I think it's due to the amount of 'loyalty' cards they have...
13. There are 2 songs that you need to know to fit in at a sing song here, and the lyrics are questionable. You can learn them here (Dragon - Rain) and here (The Exponents - Why Does Love Do This To Me). We first heard these songs in a social club in Riverton and the whole crowd went insane singing at the tops of their lungs. So we made a point to find out what they were and learn them. Now I can be like a real Kiwi at a sing song.
14. What I previously understood to be a newsagents, is called a dairy here. Cute!
15. We have chips...and we have hot chips, and neither of these are what we know as real chips. So chips here are what I know as crisps and hot chips are kind of like chips you get in a chippy in the UK - except more often than not they are frozen. This is not a sneaky hidden thing...many of the chippies are proud that they use 'McCain' frozen chips and advertise it. Hence why we were so excited when we found real chips at The Spitting Feathers (still haven't found any curry sauce though)
16. Loads of the restaurants have BYOW (Bring Your Own Wine) and they charge a minimal corkage fee for you to drink it on the premises.
17. Everyone is willing to help. Maybe I have just been very lucky in the friends I made both in Southland and in Auckland, but it has struck me that everyone has time for everyone else. Nothing is too much trouble.
18. The 2nd of January is a public holiday...it's called 'Day after New Year's Day'. Need I say more?
19. They don't beat around the bush and have quite relaxed radio / TV regulations which allow for this. The first time I heard swearing on the radio here was in the morning - on the way to work, I was very surprised - but glad that they didn't feel the need to put crazy rules on everything. Let the people decide what they want to listen to. I was watching the news the other week - and they were showing the queen at one of the BBC Live Lounge shows...and it all looked pretty awkward...the NZ commentator said "the queen enjoyed this not at all awkward concert at the BBC' - say it like it is.
20. We celebrate mid-winter Christmas. In fact we had a mid winter Christmas with friends last night - it's winter so it feels festive and we got together for a nice roast and a few glasses of bubbles. We pulled crackers, listened to Christmas songs and watched Elf. It's July. I questioned the whole mid-winter Christmas thing when we lived down south and was told that 'it feels Christmassy in winter so we have another celebration then' which baffled me even more...it's Christmas at summertime here so how has it come to 'feel Christmassy' when it's cold? I guess it's because the population is largely NZ Europeans so their roots are in the northern hemisphere. Anyway, I'm not complaining, I heart Christmas so I am more than happy to have 2.

I am not saying that New Zealand is without it's issues but this should provide you with a snippet of the things that I absolutely adore about my new home. I hope one day you'll come and visit and experience all of these things for yourself.

Part 19 – GOOD MORNING Cwmbrân!

So after a few hectic months came the greatly anticipated month of April. Rightly so as I was heading back to the UK for my best friend's wedding and 3 weeks of catching up with much loved and missed family & friends.

I had a completely crazy week in work preparing for my time away from the office as I was initially taken on to cover maternity leave because 2 girls in the team were off for a year....from March! So 4 months into my new role I found myself fully immersed in work, the 2 gorgeous mums-to-be had gone off on parental leave and I was busy preparing to go off on my trip so it was all systems go. I was sure to pre-empt anything that could happen while I was away and that was that – I left work on the Friday and flew back to the UK the following morning. Unfortunately I was travelling without the OH (other half) – any ex-pats who live in New Zealand will know that the cost of flying from NZ to the UK and back is dramatically different to that of UK - NZ - UK – and travelling alone is a pretty normal thing for ex-pats here – for that very reason.

I had only told a few people my real return date to Wales (conveniently the 1^st April!) because there were a few surprises up my sleeve! The truth keepers were:

• My mum (she was picking me up from the airport, so that would have been a difficult one to get around!);
• The bride-to-be – Jo (I didn't want to add to any nervousness she already had by saying I was arriving the day before the wedding!);
• My dad's wife – Kim;
• One of my closest friends – Becky;
• One of my other closest friends – Hannah's husband (not Hannah herself!)

And that was it. Everyone else was told I'd be arriving the following week – around the 6 April (sorry if you were one of the ones I white lied to...I couldn't risk the real date getting out!)

Having a secret like that is one of the hardest things I have had to do. My dad's birthday is on 2 April and this year was his grand 50^th...and I told him I wouldn't be able to make it (what an awful daughter I am!) all for the sake of a surprise. So...after around 34 hours of travelling I landed at about 11:30am and was absolutely delighted to see my mum & her partner – Mark – who picked me up from Heathrow airport. After lots of hugs (cwtches to the Welshies!) and tears we headed back to Wales. I have never been happier to see the 'Welcome to Wales (Croeso i Gymru)' sign on the Severn bridge. Knowing that friends and family were mere minutes away was so exciting.

The Welcome to Wales sign

We made it back to mum's for 2:30pm where I jumped in the shower, freshened up then text Kim to see where she and dad were. I knew that they'd been out for a meal the night previously with a group of friends for his 50^th and they were heading for lunch at The Greenhouse on the Sunday followed by a few drinks at The Crows Nest. They'd already had their food and were happily seated at the pub. So mum drove me to the Crows and as we drove passed I could see them sat outside chatting to friends...so we scooted around the back of the pub and my heart was thudding in my chest as I got out of the car and weaved my way through the pub to head out the front. Dad had his back to me so I put my finger over my lips to signal to the others not to say anything and give the game away – which they didn't – and I just leant down by dad's ear and said “have you ordered a beer?” He looked at me like he'd just seen a ghost! Shocked just isn't the word, I honestly thought he might have a heart attack! That would NOT have been a good result! After many questions (namely: 'how did you get here??') and lots of tears we settled in for a fabulous evening of catching up and enjoying a few drinks. While we were at the pub the weather forecast came on...SNOW ALERT. I kid you not – snow....in April! Needless to say I hadn't packed for snow so I made a mental note to go shopping the next day for jumpers and tights!

After a great night with dad I had another surprise planned for the next day – Monday. I had contacted one of my best buddies Hannah's, husband – Chris – to tell him when I was coming back and that I wanted to surprise Han. He was well onto it, we arranged for her to have the Monday afternoon off work (dummy meetings in her work diary & everything!) so that we could catch up. How he managed to keep it a secret I will never know – especially with someone like Hannah to fool! To give you some indication of how hard she is to fool – everything was going swimmingly with my surprise plans while I was in NZ. As long as I didn't speak to anyone face-to-face (or rather, on Skype) then I found it easy enough to fool them. However, when I landed in Amsterdam (1 hour away from the UK) I got a text from Hannah asking if we could Skype prior to my trip...I panicked! I called the OH who was in NZ and he said to say we were out with friends – this meant he couldn't go on FaceBook or Skype until the surprise because she'd see him on there! I was sure she'd rumbled me.

So I took the train from Cwmbran to Newport (where I used to work with Hannah) and got the receptionist to contact Lyndsey to come and meet me. She took me up to their office and I chatted and caught up with their team and then one of the girls called Hannah into their office 'urgently'. SO in came Hannah all smiley and said 'what?' then she clocked me and SHE CRIED! This is no mean feat, Hannah cried (I'm really going to rub this in!). It was so lovely to see her, then I broke it to her that her husband knew all along and that she didn't have work that afternoon. So we wandered down to Revolution and had lunch and wine and a jolly good, long overdue natter!

Following that the gorgeous bride-to-be Jo met us in a pub in Cwmbran and I thought she was going to strangle me. I have never been cwtched quite so hard in my life! Hannah & Chris headed home and I went for a meal with Jo, her husband-to-be – Jerry and Jerry's dad (I think they'd been out sorting out suits!) It was a truly lovely day.

My final surprise was scheduled for the Tuesday (I had to cram all the surprises into my initial days back for fear of them falling through!) The beautiful Becky-Do (that's not her real name) had arranged for all of the girls I used to work with at UDEX to get together (we used to meet regularly for dinner, in fact they still do!) - unbeknownst to them I was going to join them. They are such an awesome group of girls and I was really looking forward to a thorough download of information about what they'd all been up to. So Becky picked me up and drove to The Greenhouse where we were going for dinner.

The plan was for all of the girls to already be seated inside...but we all know that the UDEX girls are NEVER on time! So Becky had a master plan...I was to sit in the passenger seat of her car with her coat thrown over me to hide me – while she went into the pub to make sure everyone was there. So off Becky went. As she got out of the car Lex turned up with Neasha and Lucy in the car and PARKED NEXT TO US! So I'm trying my hardest not to move (or even breathe) underneath the coat for fear of being found out! Apparently Neasha asked Becky “what's all that in your car?” to which Becky (thinking on her feet) said “just boxes, for Lexie to have later. Come on, let's go in” and was being quite forceful getting everyone inside (later on Neasha told me she wanted to tell Becky to 'chill out' but she refrained!). So I'm in the car peeping out from under the coat each time I hear a car, wondering if it's one of our girls – when I realise there's an old woman in the car next to us! I bet she thought I was from the local mad house and that my 'friend' had left me in the car while she went for food, hee hee!! Bec came back after a few minutes – under the guise of getting some books for Rachel – and we giggled our way into the restaurant. Their faces were a picture. You know when someone's looking through you and not registering who you are? Well – it was like that at first, some of them clocked me walking towards them but it took a moment to register! It was hilarious. Another fabulous evening with a gorgeous gaggle of girlies ensued!

At this point I just want to thank each and every one of you who either knew my real date for coming back and didn't tell a soul – or those of you who saw me in those initial few days and didn't mention it on FB or any other social networking sites. The surprises were amazing and I really enjoyed them – but I don't think I could do it again, it was so stressful!

My initial week was dedicated to surprises, wedding planning / rehearsals / preparation. Then Jo & Jerry's wedding on 7 April which was a truly spectacular day – I only wish the OH could have been there. It was just perfect, and I can't imagine there being a couple more perfect for each other. Thank you for asking me to be your chief bridesmaid – I was privileged.

Over the next few weeks I caught up with so many people who I had missed over the previous year, friends, family, The OH's family (and the cat we used to own – Minky!) and my littlest brother – Wallace. He had grown so much! When I left he was shorter than me and when I returned he was a fair few inches taller! It's amazing the changes that can happen in a year. My 2 other brothers live in Beijing so it was a shame not to be able to catch up with them. Hopefully it won't be too long before we're all in the same country at the same time!

My bed partners in the UK: Lazy Girl & Naughty Kitten

It was a great trip and I am already looking forward to the next time when I will have the OH by my side. I am also excited that so many people are planning to come out and visit us here in NZ. It will be lovely to share our new life with you all (and hopefully encourage you to stay!)

I left the UK on 17 April and was so sad to leave people behind (despite finally finding out what it means to be so cold that your bones feel cold!) It helped that I was coming back to the OH but it was still difficult. It's times like that when you're really tested as to why you did this in the first place, seeing everyone unhappy and feeling it yourself.

My case which was only 14 kilos on the way to the UK (and half of that was gifts) was pushing the limit at 23 kilos on the way home. Filled with clothes, books (very very expensive in NZ compared to the UK) and DVDs (we have a region 2 DVD player....the things you don't think about when you emigrate). When I was waiting to board at Heathrow I was surprised to see a guy in a high-vis jacket who worked at the airport and on his back it said 'Silence Team LHR' … I thought things must have got a lot stricter in the UK since I'd left originally – until I rubbed my eyes and looked again to find it actually said 'Service Team LHR' … I blame the emotions.

After another 34 hours or so travelling I was greeted at Auckland airport by the OH and I must admit it did feel nice being able to wear flip flops (despite the fact it was autumn!) and not being cold. It was so lovely to see him and to be back in New Zealand. Despite missing everyone it really is such a beautiful place – you can't help but be bowled over by it. Straight from the airport we headed to the dentist as I had a dental appointment for a check up and polish. Quite overwhelming when you're tired and disorientated, to say the least. Bad planning on my part there.

I always seem to have quite intense jet-lag coming to NZ from the UK (via Kuala Lumpur / Singapore) and this time was no different. By 6pm you're struggling to keep your eyes open and feeling quite sick from tiredness. I got home on the Thursday and didn't have work until Monday so I had a few days to orientate myself again.

On my 1^st day back at work it was evident how much I had been missed...the amount of time that had been dedicated to decorating my desk (and drawers, and phone, and divider) with England flags was impressive. Obviously they know that I'm Welsh and know how frustrating it can be when people ask which part of England you're from (not that I have anything against the English but I am just not from England) – which they inevitably do because to the untrained ear I just sound 'British' – so they used this knowledge to their advantage and my desk was awash with St. George's Cross. The Kiwi's / Aussies have the same issue – people hear the accent and just assume one way or the other (usually assuming that NZ'ers are Australian).

You can't leave your desk for a minute... 

Very funny girlies!

I also came back to some pretty random conversations in work. One which stood out particularly was being asked what a 'swede' was (the vegetable, not the race of people). Honestly, I mentioned a swede and 2 of the girls in work asked me what it was. Then one of the piped up “oh I think I know...it's like a courgette right?” Very funny indeed and not something I was expecting to have to explain. I resorted to Google images. They do have them here (as you will know from my previous posts referring to buying them via an honesty box in Invercargill) so it was very entertaining. That said, there are lots of veggies here that I do not have a clue how to cook but I am determined to learn (silverbeet is first on that list!)

Following my trip we had a few quiet weekends as we settled back into normal routine. We had a drunken Skype call with friends from the UK – the joys of being 11 hours apart! We were having breakfast on a Sunday and drinking tea while friends of ours had been out for the evening and wanted to show us some dance moves on Skype...very very entertaining – you know who you are!

Andy & Heni came up from Tauranga one Friday night as Andy had an interview in Auckland so they met me from work and we all went into Howick for a few drinks then headed home to compete on the Wii!

The following day we were preparing for a new house guest. Ange & John were relocating from Tauranga to Auckland so we went for lunch and Ang moved some of her things into ours. It was lovely to have Ange staying with us for a couple of weeks while she started her new job and John tied things up back in Tauranga. Then 3 weeks ago we helped them move into their new home on the North Shore....closely followed by us moving to the North Shore! Plus, Andy & Heni are moving to Auckland too as Andy has just landed a new job – perfect!

We stayed with them for a few days during their 2^nd week in their new home and then last weekend we moved into our own new place. The house is quite the sun trap and it means that I leave the house 40 minutes later than I did in Howick in order to get into the city for work. I always thought the North Shore was a nightmare for commuting but it turns out it isn't at all (I suppose it depends where you are). I catch a bus from our street and it take around 20 minutes to get into the heart of the city. Not bad at all!

In other goings on this month Stef left work to move back to Melbourne with her husband (she's Australian, he's British) so that was really sad. I'd grown quite close to Stef as she sat next to me and was my assigned 'buddy' when I started my new job so I was upset to see her go but at the same time I knew how much it meant to her to be back with her friends and family so it was bittersweet really. Also gives us an excuse to head to Melbourne for a visit! We gave her a good send off and went out dancing so that was lovely.

Well, this weekend has been a glorious weekend of sunshine for us despite it technically being winter (sorry Britain), and we've certainly taken advantage of it (although we are also eating wintery food!). Friday night we had a lovely Quorn chilli, then Saturday we headed out to take a look at Brown's Bay then had a nice 3 course meal at home and this morning we had eggs benedict for breakfast then headed out to have a look at Halls Beach & Little Shoal Bay where we had a picnic. I also went for my 1^st run on the 'Shore this morning. A nice gentle 4.38 miler and I didn't get lost – result! The temperature here for winter is very very mild. We've had the odd day starting out at 3 degrees but I can count them on one hand so far and by the afternoon it's usually around 14 degrees. Saying that I think you do acclimatise pretty quickly! I have been known to say“Oooh it's SO COLD this morning” only to look at the temperature gauge and it's actually 11 degrees...I know I know...I've gone soft! Don't get me wrong, we have had some rain – and occasionally it's been quite monsoon-like, but by and large it's been a good winter by my standards. Plus – I don't mind it raining so much here as we seem to have THE BEST rainbows. Just take a look at them in all their glory...

Gorgeous NZ rainbow...

...and it's reflection in the sea

I even got a rainbow as I landed back in NZ