What is it like to live on the other side of the world? Boh! We still find it strange to think that we live 10 hours later than our families and in a place so different that it never ceases to surprise us day after day. In this post we are going to tell you a medley of sensations, experiences and curiosities that have happened to us during the first 2 months living in New Zealand.
THE FEET
It is not very romantic to start a post about New Zealand talking about feet, but it has certainly been one of the things that shocked us the most: here, many people go barefoot for life. And we are in winter. It's cold, cold. And you see them walking down the street with those little pieces that have to be frozen, but no matter, there they go so hot and free everywhere. And we with two pairs of socks!
THE SHEEP
They scammed us. We were told that in New Zealand there are more sheep than inhabitants, so we imagined a world full of hairy white balls, and nooo. Where are they? Well, there are, but not as many as we thought, and most sheep are on the south island ... ah! Then we are still waiting for the world full of hairy white balls! In the north I would say that there are almost more cows ... (Update: it is leaving Auckland and Northland and you are going to find sheep all over the place!)
PRICES
We arrived in life: coming from Asia we were convinced that our accounts would go into red numbers in a few days ... however (and luckily) it has not been (at all) like that. While it is true that MANY things are FACES, if you are savvy you can survive without having to eat soup every day.
Of course there are some things that are prohibitive:
- Gasoline: the terror of each backpacker… it is not cheap, it costs around $ 2.20 per liter, about € 1.40 but cars also like to drink more than Pocholo, imagine!
- The vegetable: if you are a vegetarian you don't have an easy life, the vegetable here is very expensive. Especially peppers and zucchini! The only things that are saved are carrots, onions, potatoes and peas that, as a price, are more or less the same as in Spain. To save some money, it is best to go to a local farmer's shop or buy directly from them when signs are seen on the road.
- Vices: either alcohol or tobacco here may possibly stop drinking and smoking. Do you know how much a packet of tobacco costs? $ 15, about € 9.6. Good thing we don't smoke!
After the bad news there is some good: eating out is quite accessible (depending on where of course) but in each town there is a Chinese takeaway with very cheap takeaway food packs: several times we catch 3 fish & chips for $ 10, about € 6. In fast food it is easy to find menus for $ 5 (about € 3.2).
Another thing cheaper than at home is beef and lamb, which, apart from being very good, is often on offer (the other day we ate a delicious steak for about € 6 per kg). As a curiosity to say that chicken ... is more expensive!
If you know how to move and make the purchase with a minimum of head (and looking for discounts) eating a week (and well) you can get quite cheap. Here you can read a post with type prices.
THE NORTH ISLAND
The ugly duckling of New Zealand, that being anywhere else in the world would be a magnificent swan and loved by all. The issue is that, having the south island that captures all eyes and reflectors, goes quite unnoticed ... and see that there are cool things to see and do: Cape Reinga and the Northland region, Bay of Island, the Tutukaka coast, Auckland, Coromandel, Rotorua, Wellington, Tongariro and many more things! We plan to stay in the north until October or so and then go down to see the most spectacular island ... we like the north a lot!
THE KIWI
There is not one. Not two. There are three types of kiwi:
- Kiwi-people: The people here are relaxed, calm, friendly. You see them walking through the center of the city (well, rather a town) with paint going to pick potatoes from the garden ... and we love it! Nor did the Kiwi accent seem incomprehensible as someone had told us, most people understand it well, although of course when your self-esteem is in the clouds, the turn kiwi that speaks to you arrives and you don't understand any of it.
- Kiwi-bird: the little bird symbol of New Zealand, more nice! We had the opportunity to see him in Hamilton's Kiwi-house, since seeing them in the wild, although not impossible, is super complicated. They are nocturnal and shy animals although the one we saw looked like a puppy with so many jumps, jumps and acrobatics that ...
- Kiwi-fruit: We only saw them in the supermarket (at the moment). We discovered that the kiwis are originally Chinese, what a fabric! When the season approaches we will try to find some work to pick them up, because having the whv and not going for kiwis is like going to Rome and not seeing the Colosseum, right?
HOUSESITTING
The great discovery of the trip: take care of houses and have time for yourself, for the blog and for what you want is the most! We are also enjoying the beautiful animals we take care of and we have another 2 houses for the following months ... yuppi !. If you want to know what housesitting is, look at this post, and if you need 5 reasons to cheer up, look at this one 🙂
Anyway, during these first two months we live a lot of emotions, we visit many places, we improve our English and we are delighted. Of course ... if it was warmer and it didn't rain so much it wouldn't be bad either! :-p The good thing is that spring is already approaching the antipodes!
Do you dare and come to see New Zealand? We will wait for you here!!
