Greetings from New Zealand!
It has now been 10 days since I bid farewell to America – the land of Starbucks and burgers – and journeyed halfway round the world to New Zealand, where they also have Starbucks and burgers.
Maybe this transition won’t be so hard after all.
For any newcomers here who have managed to miss me hooting and hollering about New Zealand for the past three months, I have somehow tricked the NZ embassy into giving me a working holiday visa for a year here. This means I am free to roam around this little country without threat of deportation for 12 months! A nice change from Spain.
Originally I was supposed to arrive in Christchurch on August 9th, but since I only got back to the US from Iceland on July 25th, I realized I was emotionally, physically and mentally drained from 2 months of trotting around Europe that I postponed my flight by two weeks into Auckland instead. Yeah, yeah, yeah I get it, my life could be so much worse – can it haters. After 60+ days of nonstop running around, all I wanted was to curl up in my childhood bunk bed with my grumpy old cat and sleep for a week.
I was burnt out; I needed some recovery time.
Some of my favorite memories from California
On August 20th, my mom drove me for the 4th time to Dulles airport with my life squeezed into a suitcase, backpack and tote bag as I prepared to move abroad again. Hugging her goodbye and trying not to cry (does it get any easier?) I made my way to the gate and boarded a one-way flight to San Francisco and my VERY FIRST TIME IN CALIFORNIA OMG!
Reunited with two of my best friends from college, I spent a few days eating all the foods in California and relaxing before boarding another long flight to Auckland.
Auckland
Arriving in Auckland was fairly painless considering the total lack of sleep I got on my 13 hour flight – though I will never forgive the customs officer for not giving me a Middle Earth stamp when I arrived. Not cool. She didn’t even look at all the damn visa paperwork I ran around like a crazy person trying to print before I left. Moral of the story: New Zealand > Europe when it comes to visas.
I nabbed a last minute deal online for a nice hotel in downtown Auckland for a few nights. My plans about New Zealand were changing up until the very last minute. You see, I have some exciting news – you guys are the first to hear it!
I will be back in Italy for October to speak at a conference about travel blogging. Me?! Public speaking?! ITALY?! More flip outs on that account to come in the near future. So yeah, I flew all the way to New Zealand only to leave after a month for a month and then come back. Yeah…..
So that kinda threw a gear in the works of my big definitive plan to fly to the South Island and find a cool city to live in for the year, especially since I’ll most likely be leaving from Auckland. Here’s a map so you know what I’m talking about.
Back to Auckland. Because I was so busy catching up on work for the week I was in Auckland, I didn’t really give it a chance, especially knowing I would be back. Therefore, I will not be a douche and say I didn’t like it – even though Auckland is a big city, and I’m not a city person and thus inclined not to like it.
That being said, Auckland has some cool cafes and fun drinking spots. Did you know there is a bar that sells booze in teapots? Besides alcoholic teapots, the only other observations I have about Auckland are lots of Asians and really decent foodie scene, and OMG New Zealand has the worst internet in the entire world.
The entire world. I don’t know how I am going to survive this year.
Urban Auckland, not exactly my cup of tea
After polling in you guys on my Facebook page about where to live on the North Island for a month, everyone and their mother chimed in and said Wellington, Wellington WELLINGTON! I never put Wellington on my radar because I thought it was overrated and I really didn’t want to be in a city. But after much googling and drinking, I realized it would probably be a good base for my first month in New Zealand
New plan: buy a car in Auckland, drive to Wellington and find a sweet place to live for the month, while drinking all the coffee and stalking Peter Jackson.
But more on that later.
Amazing coffee at Remedy Cafe
Buying a car in New Zealand
When I decided to sell my car back home, it was in the hopes of buying a car in New Zealand. I wanted the freedom of being able to drive wherever whenever I wanted. New Zealand is packed full of little hidden spots and beautiful drives. Having a car means freedom here.
After struggling for days with TradeMe, NZ’s version of Ebay, and thanks to my friend Laurence’s guide to buying a car in NZ, I found the perfect little car on Backpacker Car World, a place in downtown Auckland that sells used cars geared specifically for foreigners.
Buying a car in a foreign country is scary. Learning to drive on the other side of the road is also scary. Hell, moving to a new country is scary. But I was determined to face up to my fears and tackle this all on my own, without help.
Say hello to my new (quite old) baby! A 1997 red Volkswagon Polo that has definitely seen better days. It’s quite a piece of shit actually, but it’s my piece of shit, which makes all the difference.
After getting all the paperwork taken care of and little things fixed here and there, she (or he) was good to go! Leading up to my departure date from Auckland, I literally had nightmares about driving on the left. I had only driven it around the block a few times in Auckland with the backpacker guys. Driving 8 hours down to Wellington alone was going to be another story.
I may or may not have had a sticky note taped to the steering wheel that read “LEFT!!!”
Also, let’s ignore the part where I drove for an hour with my brights on because I couldn’t figure out the normal headlight setting. But I made it all the way to Wellington without killing anyone and only had a panic attack in a roundabout twice. I call that success in my book.
Huka Falls near Taupo
Lake Taupo
Now, I don’t know about you guys, but the only thing left is to give my new little car a name, right? Please leave a comment with what you think his/her name should be! Scroll the FB comments and see what others have got to say!
Personal favorites include Shadofax, Bazinga, Red Ninja, Bilbo, and Lucille. But you decide!
Wellington
WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME WELLINGTON IS THE COOLEST CITY IN THE ENTIRE WORLD?
Oh wait, everyone did and I didn’t want to listen because I hate it when people blab on about capital cities. I always feel like they are overrated and can never live up to expectations.
Well, let me just say Wellington is NOT overrated. In fact, it’s not too big of a city which suits me just fine.
Because I was only looking to rent a place for a month, I was struggling to find an affordable place that would let me stay on for such a short time. Once again, thanks to you guys, I found a great house to sublet on Oriental Bay in Wellington for the month. It was fate.
With awesome roomies and the beach right outside my door and 15 minute walk to downtown, I couldn’t be happier.
Wellington is quite hilly so a good chunk of the town is built stretching along the coast, so you get great views just about everywhere. I walk along the harbor on my way into town. The only thing I’m worried about are earthquakes. I’m not ok with that, Wellington.
The vibe around Wellington is just amazing. It’s pretty international and it’s chock full of cute cafes, independent shops, amazing restaurants and fabulous bars. Every little spot is unique, I love it! There is also a great craft beer scene in Wellington as well, which I am discovering bit by bit.
Conclusion? I might never leave but I do need to join a gym immediately.
Also, if anyone plans to come to Wellington in the next month, please let me know and we can meet up!
Cultural differences
I’ve always heard that kiwis were friendly folk, but I had no idea how friendly!
New Zealand wins being home to the nicest people in the entire world. Just being around locals makes me me cognizant of my own attitude and persona. If I don’t leave New Zealand in a year 100 times friendlier than I am now, I won’t know what do with myself.
But let me just say if you are thinking about moving abroad, coming to a place with the friendliest, smiliest, happiest people makes all the difference. Don’t mistake me; my first week in Auckland was really hard. I felt like nothing was going right and I kept thinking maybe all my choices were a mistake. But little by little, things started to look up, and being around friendly people helped loads.
Did I mention it’s winter in NZ right now?
As of now, the only other thing I feel worth mentioning is that I have learned lots of new words since I’ve arrived! Growing up a big reader and a big fan of the BBC, and especially after being forced to teach British English for two years in Spain, I thought I was pretty aware of most of the major differences between American English and British English. Well, NZ has it’s own take on it that I am fast picking up on – some of these are probs British expressions I’m only now hearing.
- Arugula is called rocket
- Cilantro is called coriander
- Bacon is called streaky bacon
- Whinge means to complain
- Go on a bach is like renting a vacation house
- A dairy is a convenience store
- Sweet as means great
- Wop wops means the middle of nowhere —-> WTF?
Have you ever been to New Zealand? Have any tips for me? Would you consider visiting? But most importantly, HELP ME NAME MY NEW CAR!
***All photos taken on my iPhone in an effort to help me live in the moment and not focus as much on photography
About the author
Hi! I just stumbled across your blog and now can’t even remember how but I am studying abroad in Barcelona for the semester and love all your advice for Spain! I”m trying to plan a trip to Logrono for October! Thats how I found ur blog btw ha researching norther cities in Spain ha Any advice would be awesome! I totally don’t have enough money to do a lot of traveling and am only here for another 3 months but want to see a lot of Europe as well as Spain but I definitely know I will have to come back for a year or so.
NEW ZEALAND IS AMAZING! Last semester I was in Australia and went to NZ for 8 days and lived in an RV and traveled around the South island with some friends and when u get the chance go explore the very South of the south island I LOVED IT! I’m also a super out doorsy person but the whole place is absolutely beautiful, kayaking the Milfordsound is a must, actually u can probably kayak anywhere and its just as beautiful but I honestly just loved the country, I might even like it better the Spain!
I’ve been doing some creeping on old posts and know ur in NZ on a working holiday visa and you were in Spain with some program teaching kids but you hated it by the end but what’s your degree? teaching? Or did u just start traveling after high school?? AND HOW HAVE YOU BEEN TO 30 COUNTRIES?!?!??
AHHH I hope you enjoy Logroño! How’s life in Barcelona?
I can’t wait to travel around the south island in an RV. Waiting for a few more months then I’m going wahoo!
I don’t have a teaching degree, the program is called auxiliares de conversacion and anyone can do it. It’s a great way to live in spain, get the visa and get paid, but the program is a disaster.
Hi! 🙂
I’m from California, born/raised in norcal, but did college in socal. Where are the places where you took your train/forest-ie pictures?!
It’s at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. You have to get off the trail to find it, ask one of the guides 🙂
Hello!
I just found your blog and love it! I am actually looking to apply to a grad program in New Zealand. I currently live in CO, USA and would love to get your insight on how you like it so far! I am so interested! Looking at all your pictures, it looks like a magnificent place! I am looking to apply to University of Auckland and University of Canterbury. Have you heard anything about either school, city, which is better/worse? Any info would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
I just finished up a phd in uni of auckland, though i was meant to do one at canturbury (chch). Christchurch is still pretty effected by the earthquakes so take that into consideration for your studies, not only because there are still tremors but the city center itself looks like a bomb went off. It makes it hard to enjoy the city there unfortunately though before the major quake I would have said Chch all the way. What field of study are you going into? That would have an impact on your experience in Auckland. Different fields of study are more or less involved with the actual university community depending on the field, for example, engineers are way out of the city center in a suburb off in their own world. Also grad school is quite different in NZ than the US, it is more European, start your project and check in occasionally with very limited guidance, though this has major perks for exploring NZ while studying. I really think either place would be good, but I would talk to possible sponsors from both school and visit both schools because enrolling is pretty easy so if you go on a working holiday you can visit and then make your choice once there and convert your visa into a student visa, which is what I did. I am also from the US, so its definitely a good idea to check out both schools before making a commitment, because its four years of your life and I wasn’t able to leave NZ for a 2.5 years stretch to visit home because I was collecting data.
Thank you so much for the detailed response! I have heard a lot of feedback that the only downfall to Christchurch is that they’re still recovering from the earthquake. I am planning on getting my masters of science in speech language pathology. My main issue is if I ever decided to come back to the states, how well would the degree “transfer” as an internationally degree. UoA seems more reputable internationally than UoC but I’ve just heard wonderful things about UoC as well. So it’s difficult! The program start date is in February so I’d have to make a trip down there before then to check out both places. I’m not so much a city life girl, but maybe Auckland could change that! Thank you again! 😉 Glad to see another American decided to make the big move!
I studied in the population health school in Auckland, that is in the Tamaki campus, which is not in the city center and can be quite isolating. The speech therapy, engineering, population health, and bioengineering are there. Though you may be working in Grafton at the hospital too…Tamaki campus is shifting over to New Market in the next year or so (its definitely worth looking into) because New Market is much more central to everything and is closer to neighborhoods/areas that you would actually want to live in. I would definitely check into how the degree might transfer…a Phd is pretty universal but stuff like physical therapy or clinical practice can be tricky. I went to ChCh before and after the earthquake and I hate to say it but the earthquake really rocked it…it was my favorite place before the quake, the most easily laid out city/town besides Dunedin and its octagon. The other thing to think about, depending on where you are from is the chance in weather. For example if you are from Portland/Seattle it won’t be much of a change, but if you do go to ChCh for example you will be very cold as houses often do not have heat, even in winter and the air is quite damp. Make sure you bring your own warm gear with you, a nice jacket can be upwards 400USD in NZ, and a nice jacket is something you will wear inside your flat during cooler months. Auckland can be quite cold too, but not to the same extent. However, I think the ChCh might have had a better community feel to the school, so I guess weigh your options and think about what is most important to you. Also grad school is all about relationships so be sure to meet your potential advisors as you will work very closely with a few key people.
If you plan on permanently residing in NZ going to school is a brilliant way to develop a professional network, because NZ is all about who you know. However if you are coming back to the US make sure to stay in touch with your references stateside because your NZ network will be less useful in the American job market.
Thanks guys 🙂 good tips in here!
Going to do the same thing next year on a working visa! And your blogs inspire what was once a dead dream to me but I’m gonna to do it while im still young 25 next year and ill regret it for the rest of my life if i dont! but to quit my job and sell all my stuff i need to dig deep for a bigger set of balls lol. You found any work yet? plus what was the name of the place you got you car from?
I hope you make it to NZ soon! It’s an awesome place!
I work online so I haven’t looked for a job yet. The car thing is a major issue.