Over the past two months travelling and living in NZ, I have found myself noticing more and more things about the Kiwi lifestyle. Last week I comprised a list of NZ cultural observations. There are many in categories such as food/drink, fashion and style, people and general lifestyle for an average New Zealander.
Enjoy...
Food & Drink
-Everyone loves pies. I am not talking about fruit pies or sweet pies. No, I speak of chicken pies, boozy beef pies, seafood pies. You can walk into any cafe and find a pie. It seems to be a British traditional food choice, but the Kiwi's claim the Pie to be one of their own.
-Most small towns have a renowned Fish and Chip shop that has been voted the best in NZ or the "Southern Hemisphere"
-There is no such thing as drip coffee in NZ. They are really into espresso though. Lattes, cappachinos, ice coffees, and flat white (a version of a latte) are all very popular.
-Food overall is very expensive. Even the kiwis and apples that they grow in the orchard down the street are pricey. The apples from California are sometimes cheaper. Weird.
-Red, Green, and Yellow peppers are called "Capsicums"
-They have a really weird fascination with Avocados here. The put Avocados on everything. Even pizza. Good thing I loveee my avocados.
-Ice cream is very cheap here. A single scoop ice cream is HUGE. You get an average of 3 scoops for $1.50 NZ. Hokey Pokey is my favourite so far. It is like a caramel crunch flavour.
-It is not necessary to tip in NZ. So it is sometimes hard (being a Canadian) and working for tips back home, and then coming to NZ where you don't get anything except for your wage.
-The main streets are only filled with oodles and oodles of cafes and restaurants.
Fashion and Style
-Current but not nessicerly fashionable.
-Mullets, Skullets, Rat tails are all the rage for hairstyles amongst teenagers and young adults. I really don't understand why this has somehow made a comeback in NZ.
-Tacky straw hats are very popular if you are a tourist.
-The locals are very laid back. Most of the time I will be in the super market and the man in front of me won't be wearing shoes at all. Bare feet is the norm around here.
- Work uniforms are mandatory in hospitality jobs.
Living in NZ
-I get paid weekly and I pay rent every week in NZ. Opposed to every month back home.
-Everyone has mobile phones here that they soley use for texting purposes only
-There are no side walks usually on side streets or real cross walks in the city centre.
-Of course, they drive on the wrong side being the left. It took me awhile to figure out how to cross the road properly without getting hit.
-They are very active in NZ. Many people bike/walk to work here. As i do the same.
-The houses are built differently. The windows have one pane layer versus two, like back home.
-The electrical outlets look like the two top holes are on a slant. Like this / \
-Bathrooms are called toilets.
-Drinking age is 18 years old.
-Cricket and Rugby are the choice sports in NZ.
People and Times
- The music in NZ is a combination of Raggae and Dub music. A friend of mine explained it to me the other day. He said the music of NZ is what you would expect if you looked at a picture of NZ. It encompasses the mountains, the ocean, the rivers, the volcanos, the geothermal wonders, the glaciers, the sand dunes, the rolling hills. Just the beauty of the country is expressed in the music of NZ. He said it is NZ's best kept secret. I agreed with him 100%.
-NZ is also the second largest buyer of raggae music in the world. First being Jamaica of course.
-Popular NZ bands include: Salmonella Dub, The Black Seeds, Catchafire...etc.
-School kids wear uniforms to public school
-TV sitcoms are a year behind- perfect for catching up on Grey's Anatomy episodes from last season.
-Flight of the Concords is simply hilarious! For any of you that have heard of this show it is basically about two New Zealanders who are starting their life in New York trying to make it big in the music industry.
-In the hospitality industry everyone smokes. They also roll their own cigarettes aswell. Don't worry I am still a non-smoker.
-Boyfriends and Girlfriends are called "partners"
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Cormandel Peninsula
Cormandel Peninsula
Working backwards now...this is my blog from Auckland to the Cormandel Peninsula which came after the Bay of Islands.
I jumped on our mode of transportation which is a back packer bus called the "Stray" and prepared myself for a nice 4-5 hour drive. Our destination was a small town called Hahei (pronounced Ha-hey). Most of the time the scenery on our drives are just stunning. On this route we drove along the coast seeing huge waves crashing against the tall cliffs of the Cormandel. The forests are very lush here, there are palm trees, NZ Christmas trees, ferns, and Kauri trees. The drivers on our bus always love to share their knowledge about the NZ forests. We hear all sorts of facts and comments about the trees and the possums. Possums are a mass problem here in NZ. Drivers are encouraged to deliberately run them over if they see them on the road. They don't like these rodents at all because they eat tons and tons of NZ trees every night. They are slowly killing all the vegetation here. I have yet to see a "live" possums, however I have seen many lying on the road.
We arrived at Hahei in mid afternoon with a plan to go Kayaking as soon as we arrived. Apparently this stretch of ocean kayaking is voted one of the best in NZ. The beach was really pretty in Hahei, but the ocean waves were massive. The guides said that it would still be ok to take us out so we continued on. My English friend Sarah and I were in a double Kayak together. Every other Kayak was nicely balanced with a guy in each boat...which I wish I had for this adventure. Being that the waves were so huge, Sarah and I had to paddle into the wind with all of our strength behind us. The scenery was amazing but most of the time I was concentrating on my paddling speed instead of looking at the beaches. Towards the end of the Kayak trip our guide was concerned that we were lagging to far behind so I attached a guide rope to our Kayak to pull us along. How embarrassing! Once we arrived at our final beach destination on the kayaks the guides treated us with all sorts of coffee drinks (espressos, mochas, lattes, and hot chocolates). This seems to be a common theme in NZ.
The next day we decided to take a walk to Cathedral Cove. It is about a 2 hour brisk walk one way. The walk was amazing once again. The sun was very strong that day so by the time we got to the beach I felt like I had heat exhaustion. Cathedral Cove is a popular stop for tourists on the Cormandel, because of its hole in the rock formations created by powerful waves.
Later that night we visited hot water beach. You can only go during low tide, to have a successful experience. What you do is you dig a hole in the sand to create a barrier to stop the cold water from the ocean. When you reach a certain point in the sand the water is literally boiling hot! It is an out of this world feeling. You can't stand in it for long without burning your self, but it is a really neat thing. Our driver told us this is created by some sort of geothermal stream that runs under neath the beach that creates this phenomenon. There were lots of people on this beach just to see the hot water. So at some points it did seem a little over rated. Then we returned to the hostel that night and cooked and amazing stir fry!
Working backwards now...this is my blog from Auckland to the Cormandel Peninsula which came after the Bay of Islands.
I jumped on our mode of transportation which is a back packer bus called the "Stray" and prepared myself for a nice 4-5 hour drive. Our destination was a small town called Hahei (pronounced Ha-hey). Most of the time the scenery on our drives are just stunning. On this route we drove along the coast seeing huge waves crashing against the tall cliffs of the Cormandel. The forests are very lush here, there are palm trees, NZ Christmas trees, ferns, and Kauri trees. The drivers on our bus always love to share their knowledge about the NZ forests. We hear all sorts of facts and comments about the trees and the possums. Possums are a mass problem here in NZ. Drivers are encouraged to deliberately run them over if they see them on the road. They don't like these rodents at all because they eat tons and tons of NZ trees every night. They are slowly killing all the vegetation here. I have yet to see a "live" possums, however I have seen many lying on the road.
We arrived at Hahei in mid afternoon with a plan to go Kayaking as soon as we arrived. Apparently this stretch of ocean kayaking is voted one of the best in NZ. The beach was really pretty in Hahei, but the ocean waves were massive. The guides said that it would still be ok to take us out so we continued on. My English friend Sarah and I were in a double Kayak together. Every other Kayak was nicely balanced with a guy in each boat...which I wish I had for this adventure. Being that the waves were so huge, Sarah and I had to paddle into the wind with all of our strength behind us. The scenery was amazing but most of the time I was concentrating on my paddling speed instead of looking at the beaches. Towards the end of the Kayak trip our guide was concerned that we were lagging to far behind so I attached a guide rope to our Kayak to pull us along. How embarrassing! Once we arrived at our final beach destination on the kayaks the guides treated us with all sorts of coffee drinks (espressos, mochas, lattes, and hot chocolates). This seems to be a common theme in NZ.
The next day we decided to take a walk to Cathedral Cove. It is about a 2 hour brisk walk one way. The walk was amazing once again. The sun was very strong that day so by the time we got to the beach I felt like I had heat exhaustion. Cathedral Cove is a popular stop for tourists on the Cormandel, because of its hole in the rock formations created by powerful waves.
Later that night we visited hot water beach. You can only go during low tide, to have a successful experience. What you do is you dig a hole in the sand to create a barrier to stop the cold water from the ocean. When you reach a certain point in the sand the water is literally boiling hot! It is an out of this world feeling. You can't stand in it for long without burning your self, but it is a really neat thing. Our driver told us this is created by some sort of geothermal stream that runs under neath the beach that creates this phenomenon. There were lots of people on this beach just to see the hot water. So at some points it did seem a little over rated. Then we returned to the hostel that night and cooked and amazing stir fry!
Nelson- my new home!
Hello from the South Island of New Zealand.
I have not blogged in about 3 weeks so I do have a lot of catching up to do. Below is a summary of what I have been doing over the last couple days. More blogs will follow with entries from Bay of Islands- Nelson. There is a lot to tell, so stay tuned!
My current location right now is in a small town of the name of Nelson. It is known as the sunniest place in the country. This will be my home for the next couple of months. Yesterday I went out job searching to earn some cash for the rest of my travels. Money does fly here... I ended up finding a job at a cafe/ restaurant called Lambrettas. I will be serving/waitressing. Not my ideal type of job but I have experience in that field and it looks like a fun place to work. Nelson also has a beautiful beach within a 20 minute bike ride away. There are also neat Saturday markets where all the locals bring out there best fruits and veggies to sell amongst the crowd. This weekend I watched a busking performance with jugglers and comedians trying to entertain the masses. It has a really nice community feel here. Nelson is a town about the size of Nanaimo (population wise)...with a little more sunshine. So I am quite content living here...I hope that I find some nice locals to hang out with and a flat or apartment that I can rent out. It would be much cheaper then staying in hostels. My hostel right now is very nice...it feels just like a home. It is called "The Bug" with beetle cars decorated all over the hostel. I like it here, they provide free bikes and free internet. Tonight Tim and I will participate in another Kiwi barbecue. Usually this entails Sausages, Steak, Potatoes, and a green salad. Classic meal in New Zealand. They cannot get enough of their bbqs here. Oh well can't complain. I will do anything to get a balanced meal cooked for me. Tomorrow I will figure out some logistics such as a New Zealand Social Insurance Number and open up a bank account here in Nelson. My first day of work is on Friday...until then I will explore Nelson a little bit more. Cheers for now!
I have not blogged in about 3 weeks so I do have a lot of catching up to do. Below is a summary of what I have been doing over the last couple days. More blogs will follow with entries from Bay of Islands- Nelson. There is a lot to tell, so stay tuned!
My current location right now is in a small town of the name of Nelson. It is known as the sunniest place in the country. This will be my home for the next couple of months. Yesterday I went out job searching to earn some cash for the rest of my travels. Money does fly here... I ended up finding a job at a cafe/ restaurant called Lambrettas. I will be serving/waitressing. Not my ideal type of job but I have experience in that field and it looks like a fun place to work. Nelson also has a beautiful beach within a 20 minute bike ride away. There are also neat Saturday markets where all the locals bring out there best fruits and veggies to sell amongst the crowd. This weekend I watched a busking performance with jugglers and comedians trying to entertain the masses. It has a really nice community feel here. Nelson is a town about the size of Nanaimo (population wise)...with a little more sunshine. So I am quite content living here...I hope that I find some nice locals to hang out with and a flat or apartment that I can rent out. It would be much cheaper then staying in hostels. My hostel right now is very nice...it feels just like a home. It is called "The Bug" with beetle cars decorated all over the hostel. I like it here, they provide free bikes and free internet. Tonight Tim and I will participate in another Kiwi barbecue. Usually this entails Sausages, Steak, Potatoes, and a green salad. Classic meal in New Zealand. They cannot get enough of their bbqs here. Oh well can't complain. I will do anything to get a balanced meal cooked for me. Tomorrow I will figure out some logistics such as a New Zealand Social Insurance Number and open up a bank account here in Nelson. My first day of work is on Friday...until then I will explore Nelson a little bit more. Cheers for now!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
On my way up.
Hello everyone,
This is my first blog and I have been in NZ for about 4 days now. The weather is much like home in the summer time. It is always cloudy in the mornings then the sun stays out for the rest of the day. The Ozone layer is very thin down under so the burn time is about 10 minutes when outside. Therefore I am already a lobster. Here is my recap for my first few days in the North Island of NZ. When we arrived at the airport we took the city bus to our first hostel called the Fat Camel. We checked into an 8 bed dorm room and passed right out from Jet Leg Exhaustion. In my dorm I met people from all over the world. There were Brits, Americans, Irish and more Brits. We all got along really well and decided to do a day trip to an Island across from Auckland. This island called Rangitoto is a dormant volcano and the last time it erupted was 800 years ago. Four of us hiked all the way in the hot sun to the top of this volcano. The view at the top was incredible. We could see a panorama view of all of Auckland. it was simply spectacular. The water here is a beautiful greenish blue and the land is comprised of rolling hills and sheep. In NZ there are 4 million people and 60 million sheep. Quite hilarious I think. So the next day I wanted to get out of Auckland- but we did not have a car or any knowledge about the transit system being that efficient. Tim and i did some research and decided to hop on this backpacker bus called STRAY. This is a private company that travels all over NZ and also provides you with a tour guide and lets you know about all of the attractions in the area that backpackers would not normally know about. They also market themselves as "taking you off the beaten path" . This seemed right up my alley. So I handed over the money and now the adventure begins. Right now I am in Paiha- a town North of Auckland. Tomorrow we are going Sand Dune boarding (kind of like snowboarding but on Sand). Anyways it should be a blast. I will post pictures in a few days. All my love. Erika
This is my first blog and I have been in NZ for about 4 days now. The weather is much like home in the summer time. It is always cloudy in the mornings then the sun stays out for the rest of the day. The Ozone layer is very thin down under so the burn time is about 10 minutes when outside. Therefore I am already a lobster. Here is my recap for my first few days in the North Island of NZ. When we arrived at the airport we took the city bus to our first hostel called the Fat Camel. We checked into an 8 bed dorm room and passed right out from Jet Leg Exhaustion. In my dorm I met people from all over the world. There were Brits, Americans, Irish and more Brits. We all got along really well and decided to do a day trip to an Island across from Auckland. This island called Rangitoto is a dormant volcano and the last time it erupted was 800 years ago. Four of us hiked all the way in the hot sun to the top of this volcano. The view at the top was incredible. We could see a panorama view of all of Auckland. it was simply spectacular. The water here is a beautiful greenish blue and the land is comprised of rolling hills and sheep. In NZ there are 4 million people and 60 million sheep. Quite hilarious I think. So the next day I wanted to get out of Auckland- but we did not have a car or any knowledge about the transit system being that efficient. Tim and i did some research and decided to hop on this backpacker bus called STRAY. This is a private company that travels all over NZ and also provides you with a tour guide and lets you know about all of the attractions in the area that backpackers would not normally know about. They also market themselves as "taking you off the beaten path" . This seemed right up my alley. So I handed over the money and now the adventure begins. Right now I am in Paiha- a town North of Auckland. Tomorrow we are going Sand Dune boarding (kind of like snowboarding but on Sand). Anyways it should be a blast. I will post pictures in a few days. All my love. Erika
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Getting Stoked!
New Zealand is only 3-4 sleeps away (depending if I sleep on the 24 hour plane ride :S ) , and I am terribly excited. All I need to do is finalize my packing situation and say good bye to my friends and family who I will miss very much. Oh ya, I also need to get over this dreaded cold, fast! I have been sick for the past week and it is not fun for travel. So now I will rest up and have a good night sleep. I look forward to my first blog when I arrive in NZ!!!!!
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