Getting Lost

Mitch: When talking to friends back home the first question I usually get is “What is life in New Zealand like?”.  I typically answer “good”, “fun”, “relaxing”, or some other vague one-word answer.  In reality, it’s impossible to translate our life here in to words, and certainly few want to listen to me ramble if I tried to do so. In my experience, listening to someone describe their every-day lifestyle is like listening to a story about a dream they had: you don’t really care, but you smile and nod anyways. 

With that being said, I will now attempt to describe every-day life here in New Zealand.

A kiwi home is cozy, but not cramped.  Clean, but not tidy.  Timeworn, but not broken.  It is a retreat in which to return after an exhausting adventure, not a castle to tower over one’s neighbor.  Nature seems to seep in through any crack and cranny; cobwebs constantly need to be swept from the corners, and rogue ants are often found exploring uncharted walls.  Every house is unique; there are no “cookie cutter” homes here.  Each building has been designed and built to fit the property, which is typically chock full of wild vegetation.  As to be expected, fern trees are quite common.  Nikau palm trees are quite common as well, which may not be unusual except they are often found near Norfolk pines, also known as “Star Pines”, or “Natural Christmas Trees”.  The contrast is quite stark. 

A Star Pine with Nikau Palms in the distance.

The citizens of New Zealand are much like their surroundings: Peaceful, comforting, beautiful, and wild.  Kiwis aren’t defined by materialistic things or societal standards.  They aren’t slaves to their jobs, nor does their profession set their social status.  Life here is not measured with money or belongings.  Kiwis strive to experience the world around them, and if there’s a better place to do so I certainly haven’t been there.   

I’m still amazed by how active people are here, and Kiwis are always keen for an adventure.  It’s common practice to head out on the weekend for a camping trip, mountain climb, ski outing, or whitebait piss-up.  Technically, whitebaiting is net fishing, but from what I’ve seen it consists of little more than sticking a net into a stream, getting drunk with buddies, and periodically collecting the whitebait from the net.  Whitebait are tiny fish that look like bean sprouts with eyes.  They’re consumed by frying them with egg to form whitebait fritters.  I’m pretty sure whitebait is a valid form of currency in New Zealand. 

Whitebait.

Much like Canada, New Zealand is a cultural mixing pot.  You don’t have to go far to find an Indian, Brit, South African, or Argentine.  There are even a few Canadians around these parts.  Many expats arrived here for work or travel and simply fell in love with the country, or a local, and never went home.  Some are spouses of kiwis that lived abroad and recruited a future kiwi.  There seems to be a unique tradition (if you can call it that) among Kiwis called an “overseas experience”, or O.E. for short.  Nearly everyone we know who resides in New Zealand has moved overseas for an extended period of time, akin to Jenna and my current situation.  Europe is the most common destination, however a handful of our friends have lived in Aussie, North America, or Africa as well.  It’s not uncommon to hear “so-and-so is away on their O.E.”, just as we would say “so-and-so is away at college”.  Since arriving here, 3 of our close friends have moved overseas for an indefinite amount of time, two to the UK and one to South Africa. 

Driving in New Zealand is an adventure in its own.  There is no such thing as a straight road here.  As the crow flies, Auckland is just over 200km from New Plymouth, but the drive takes roughly 4.5 hours.  The highway speeds are 100km/h, yet driving at such speeds is nigh impossible, as you frequently have to slow down to 20-30km/h to navigate a sharp turn, or chug your way up a hillside.  Many roads are carved through dense forest or along steep cliff faces, and highways rarely have shoulders.  This makes for an extremely scenic, but somewhat stressful, driving experience. A Canadian driver’s license is a valid license for up to 1 year, so we were able to drive upon arrival- or, rather, we were legally able to drive upon arrival.  Kiwis drive on the left-hand side of the road, and the wheel is located on the right-hand side of the vehicle, both of which are opposite from back home.  Things were hairy for the first few weeks, but we eventually got used to it. Note: Don't drive in New Zealand if you have a thing for possums.  Actually... New Zealand just isn't safe for possums in general. Don't travel to New Zealand if you are a possum. 

A typical Kiwi highway

Just as hockey is a religion in Canada, rugby is religion in New Zealand.  Rugby Union, which is a variant of rugby, is the most widely supported in New Zealand.  The Super Rugby league has five teams in New Zealand: Blues, Chiefs, Crusaders, Highlanders, and Hurricanes.   Other teams are based in Australia, Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Taranaki, where Jenna and I live, currently fall into the region of Chiefs supporters, which is somewhat controversial. Prior to this season Taranaki hosted Hurricanes games, therefore most locals are still Hurricanes fans, even though Taranaki no longer hosts Hurricane games. (Kind of interesting: Instead of saying "Go Chiefs/Hurricanes/etc.", Kiwis say "Go The Chiefs/Hurricanes/etc.").  Of course, the first time the Chiefs and Hurricanes met in league play it was hosted at New Plymouth’s Yarrow Stadium.  The game sold out in hours, and the atmosphere was electric.  Beer is unusually cheap at the games, and comes with a convenient carrying handle so you can tote 4 beers with one hand.  We are currently in the midst of the rugby World Cup, which the All Blacks, New Zealand’s national rugby team, are the defending champs.  Several houses, boats, and cars don an All Black flag: a black background with a silver fern spanning diagonally from corner to corner.  Thanks to CNN hysteria I occasionally find myself thinking we’ve been invaded by militant terrorists, whose flag is somewhat similar.  Australians likely fear both on roughly the same level. 

Go The All Blacks!

Yarrow Stadium, Chiefs v Hurricanes

From what I assume is due to the prominence of the All Black brand several other New Zealand sports teams feature similar names:  Their soccer team is the All Whites, cricket the Black Caps, field hockey the Black Sticks, basketball the Tall Blacks, and the badminton team the Black Cocks.  Even though they received an increase in publicity, and several condom sponsorship deals, the Black Cocks were forced to change their name due to opposition from the IBF.  All twelve supporters of the team were severely disappointed.

Jen and I were put up in a long-stay hotel when we arrived until we were able to find a place to live.  As we were walking to a property management office I noticed a sign for a local GIS company.  Seeing as I had experience in GIS, I fired them an email describing my situation.  The owner responded and asked to go for coffee.  After a chat she offered me a job doing field work for them, which involves hiking around New Zealand's back country hauling GPS and survey equipment.  The work is difficult at times, but the landscape is beautiful and serene.

Picture taken during some field work, about 5-10mins from New Plymouth.

I noticed that New Zealand was hosting the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup.  New Plymouth was hosting 5 round-robin games, as well as a quarter final match.  We had drawn Brazil to play their games in New Plymouth, which was a high-profile affair, as several of their players were already multi-million dollar athletes in the Premiere League.  I had a bit of free time between field work, so I volunteered.  I received the position of "Sideline Medic", even though I had no medical training other than basic first aid.  Basically my job was to sit 5m from the pitch and watch 6 matches of soccer.  Every time a player would go down with what appeared to be an injury (hint: soccer players do this a lot) my heart would stop.  My job was to carry the stretcher, and I've seen enough videos of stretcher-bearers screwing up to know that if I messed up I would be forever YouTube famous.  Luckily all the sissy soccer players got back up in the end and I never had to cart anyone off! I met a few really cool people that were on my crew, who had just as much medical training as I did.  It was quite an amazing experience.  Seeing powerhouse Brazil lose in the final to local-favorite Hungary was pretty exceptional as well.

Sideline Medic

Shortly after settling in to New Plymouth I began looking in to playing competitive soccer.  One of Jenna’s coworkers, of whom I had never met at the time, said his club was looking for more players and that I should come out to pre-season kick-arounds.  Unfortunately Jenna’s coworker was currently committed to his cricket club, and could not make the kick-arounds, so I would have to there alone.  I’m somewhat of an introvert, so this was rather daunting, but since saying “yes” has gotten me this far, I decided to give it a shot.  The only one there when I arrived was Mark Nicholson, the Div 1 team manager.   We chatted for a bit as more players trickled in.  It was a hot day, and I was rather out of shape, but I was not expecting to be outclassed as bad as I was; everyone was quite phenomenal at soccer.  I had some catching up to do, since it had been several years since I had played high-level competitive soccer.  8 years, in fact.  Little did I know, many of the guys that showed up that day would end up being some of the greatest friends I have.  They have undoubtedly helped shape my New Zealand adventure in to the joyous experience that is has become.  

FC Western Div 1

I will miss a lot about this country when I return to Canada.  The hills, the beaches, the ocean without the ocean smell, the wine, the small-town personalities, even the sheep.  But I will miss the people most of all.

So, what is life in New Zealand like? "Adventurous."