SLIDER

5 Things I’m loving about life in New Zealand right now

Saturday 5 May 2018

When I left for my big trip back in September, I had no idea what to expect; I certainly didn't expect it to take me all the way to New Zealand. I've been living here for 11 weeks now and finally I’m starting to feel at home. In the past few weeks, I've moved into my first home, started working and yesterday, I even ignored the sat nav and drove myself home in half the time! 

Life is much slower out here compared to London and right now, I'm enjoying the novelty of all sorts of strange things, from the bus driver saying hello to each person who gets on the bus to just how easy it is to get my junk food fix (seriously I have never seen so many fast food places). Here are some other things I am seriously loving about New Zealand. 

Renting My First Home
When I first arrived here, I went straight to stay with Jonny in his flat-share. But sharing a small room in a house that sometimes had 6 other people in it was hard and we really needed to look for our own place. After a few mediocre flat viewings in locations that made it hard for either one of us to get to work, desperation hit and I posted in a Facebook group with our ideal situation; as if by magic, someone got in touch with the perfect place. It was down the road from where we started and the owner had been renting it out on air bnb (increasingly popular with solo travellers like me because they're a great way to avoid the dreaded single person supplement according to schofields.  See my last post to find out why I'm not solo travelling right now) so it was pretty self contained. It had everything we'd need; plus a swimming pool and a garden with strawberries growing in it. We knew it was right as soon as we saw it and moved in a couple of days later. 
The only problem is that now Jonny knows just how undomesticated I am; unlike in London, it's not normal to still live at home at 25 in NZ. I'm learning though, he's taught me how to use the washing machine and how to change the sheets, although I must be pretty bad because he still prefers to do it himself haha.

The Accent
Honestly, at the moment it still all sounds Australian but I love that even though we all speak the same language, everyone sounds different to me.

I was trying to work out why it's something that I like so much and I finally came to a conclusion. It's because even though my day to day feels pretty normal right now, it’s a constant reminder that I’m not at home anymore and in fact, I’m still on this huge adventure, on the other side of the world.


Riding a Motorbike
Before I left the UK, there was absolutely no way you would have gotten me on the back of a motorbike. Even when I was in Vietnam, where I was desperate to experience the country in the most authentic way I could, I refused most of the time. It seems that quiet roads (there are hardly any people in this country) and a bike licence was all that was needed to convince me to hop on the back of one in the end.

Jonny bought it when I arrived, and we’ve taken it and put it back together a couple of times so I feel a bit attached to it now, like a pet or something. *Sometimes* I actually prefer it over the car; like if we go to the beach on a sunny day or if we pop out for something late at night when the roads really are empty.

Sals Pizza
After weeks of getting my pizza fix from the same places that I do when I'm back home, last week, we went for something a little more exciting. Sal's is based on NY style pizza and it was so good. We got a half and half pizza; pepperoni on one side and crispy breaded chicken on the other, both topped with delicious stringy cheese. It was just like the stuff you see in the films and it's all I've been thinking about this week haha.

They serve it by slice (as well as half or whole) which makes sense because we only got through half the whole pizza between us which is pretty unimpressive for a weekend cheat meal, but fear not! I 100% support that pizza is better the next day so those leftover slices went straight into the fridge to chill and tasted even better in the morning!

Chocolate Dipped Ice Cream
I had my first chocolate dipped ice cream at the cinema and I initially though that it was just the IMAX being a little bit bouji with their snacks. But whether it's the cinema, Giapo or even the ice cream van I seen to be coming across this chocolate dipped phenomenon more and more. My favourite has to have been this one that I got from a corner shop (they call them Dairy's out here. Weird) by the beach in Wellington. There was a vat of molten chocolate next to the tubs of ice cream which my white chocolate and hokey pokey (another strange NZ word haha it means honeycomb) scoop got submerged into. It then dried solid around the outside and stopped any melted ice cream from running out. Sweet As.
© Georgina Does • Theme by Maira G.