According to some recent surveys, New Zealand is, hands-down, the friendliest country on earth {click on image to go to report}. NZ is Friendliest Country on Earth according to HSBC Expat Explorer Auckland – where we live – was also recently ranked as “The World’s 10th Most Liveable City”. Wellington – the capital – was… Read More Friendly. Liveable. Expensive.
I’d like to vacation here: Queenstown (image via) Fjordland National Park (image via) Fox National Glacier (image via) Arrowtown (image via) Dunedin (image via) Stewart Island (image via) Marlborough Wine Region (image via) Abel Tasman National Park (image via) In other words, I want to visit the South Island (of New Zealand)! Now, all I… Read More The South Island
This is a quick 1-minute PSA put out by NZ Transport about stopping people from driving drunk. It’s funny and a good example of the Maori/Pacific Island accent here in New Zealand 🙂 It’s a nice change from the typical drunk-driving PSAs…
Hello, my lovely readers! Just wanted to let you know that I’m currently featured on Expat Focus. Please check it out and let me know what you think 🙂 PS – thank you to Diane for acquainting me with this website!
The All Blacks have beat France to win the RWC 2011!!!! Yaaaaaay, New Zealand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After everything that New Zealand has faced in the last year – the Christchurch Earthquake, the Rena Oil Spill – this win is a huge jolt in the arm 🙂 Go, the All Blacks, you beauties! PS – Pretty cool that… Read More New Zealand Wins!
Do you see that? I’m not referring to the Sky Tower. I’m referring to the other thing. Do you see it? No? Here – let me point it out to you: You still don’t see it?! Ugh. Fine – I’ll zoom in: Do you see it now?! That, my lovely readers, is a human being… Read More SkyJump
When Chris, Joe and I made our trek to Wellington back in August, one of the many great shops that we visited was Arty Bees Books at 106 Manners Street: I’ve written before about my love for used {ahem, “pre-loved”} books and bookshops. Arty Bees has both pre-loved and new books. I had a great… Read More Arty Bees Books in Wellington
Chris, Joe, and I headed down south for an extended weekend in Wellington. Chris was invited to give a paper at a local uni, and it seemed like a great opportunity for us to see New Zealand’s capitol city while also getting in a practice-run vacation with Joe. I was worried about how he’d do… Read More Weekend in Wellington
I’ve been cleaning and organizing a lot these days. One of the big tasks on my “to do” list was to reorganize the pantry. While not exactly terrible, it was messy enough that finding something took awhile. Also, I wasn’t always sure what we had and what we didn’t, which resulted in sometimes buying extra… Read More Foreign Food
One year ago today, Chris and I arrived in New Zealand. I’d never been here and didn’t know what to expect. Chris had only been here for ~5 days when his {now} employer flew him out for an interview. I was nervous and worried – what if we got here and Chris realized that the… Read More One Year Ago Today
The devastating reports out of Christchurch keep mounting. It’s getting to the point now where I don’t even want to read the news. They’ve reported 75 deaths so far – 55 who are confirmed {meaning they are ID’ed and next-of-kin notified} and 20 that have not yet been confirmed {no ID/next-of-kin notification}. The numbers will… Read More Christchurch Earthquake
I know that most people don’t even know where New Zealand is located in the world, let alone Christchurch, NZ. You may have heard it mentioned back in September when they were covering the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that struck there. Since then, they’ve had a ridiculous amount of follow-up quakes and aftershocks, and the people… Read More Please Pray for Christchurch
This past weekend was the Chinese Lantern Festival in downtown Auckland, New Zealand. This annual festival celebrates Chinese New Year and is a big deal around these parts. Photo taken from the main room of our apartment We were bums and didn’t actually go, despite its proximity to our place. This is because I had… Read More Chinese Lantern Festival in Downtown Auckland, NZ
I’ve been mainly in research mode up till now in terms of buying baby supplies. On Friday, I took my research and put it into practice: we went shopping! I’ve mentioned before that we decided not to buy a car here. Luckily, some friends of ours are out of the country for the next month… Read More Shopping for Baby Supplies in New Zealand
I think that most people who love blogging say that one of the reasons why they love it is because it introduces them to people that they likely never would have met otherwise. I’d say the same thing. One of those people that I probably never would have met save through blogging is fellow expat… Read More Bring a Raincoat
My old teddy in the corner + a few gifts sent over by my mom That would be me! We bought the crib {or cot, as it’s called over here} from Mocka, a family company that’s based in Christchurch, New Zealand. I wanted a crib that was simple and clean with a standard American sized… Read More Guess Who Put The Baby Crib Together All By Herself
Living in New Zealand and experiencing a warm Christmas has meant changing up our traditions. Instead of spending Christmas Eve day looking at snowfall and drinking hot cocoa, we decided to hike a volcano. Rangitoto is part of Auckland’s volcanic field and is some of “newest ground on earth”. It’s only about 600 or 700… Read More Hiking Rangitoto While Pregnant? No Problem.
I may have mentioned before that, in New Zealand, people take a different approach to work-life balance. In the US, the prevailing attitude seems to be “Live to Work”. In New Zealand, it’s much more along the lines of “Work to Live”. I’ve seen this attitude in practice over here on a couple of occasions. … Read More Everyone’s at the Beach
On Saturday, Chris and I went to an Auckland event that’s been going on for the last 17 years – Christmas in the Park… This is a free concert sponsored by Coca-Cola and featuring several NZ artists, both old and new. Since we’ve only been in NZ for about 7 months, every artist was new… Read More Christmas in the Park, Drinking, and Dirty Diapers
Since we’re renting, our decorating options are a bit more limited than if we owned a home. The room that will eventually become the nursery has 3 light colored walls with 1 dark charcoal gray wall. It’s very “blah”. Since we can’t paint {and who the heck would want to with our 20 foot ceilings},… Read More Erupt Prints – More Nursery Designs!
