A decade in New Zealand

I hit the 10-year mark here in Wellington in February this year (it was either the 21st or the 22nd – I'm still messed up with the time change).


Not long after I got here in 2001, I wrote a "What's cool about living here?" sort of article for fun –  and then a bit later I managed to convince my good mate Steve Pecar, then-editor at the Mississauga Times, to publish it (or parts of it ... it was rather long).


A decade later and all of those things still amaze me, and make me happy.
The kicker line I used was "It's like they invented a country just for me!" I've spent all 10 years living in various parts of Wellington. I really like it.


Why?


The positive aspects far outweigh the negative ones ... and the negative ones are so minor, I don't care about them.


What's it all mean to me?


Geography
Wellington's a harbour town, like Vancouver. Welly's surrounded by mountains (smaller than Vancouver, but still, nice looking mountains). And of course a lovely scenic harbour. If you spend a bit of time and get a place to live with a view of these two things, it beats the bejesus out of just about any other view in any other city or town. It's better than looking out your window and seeing flat fields, the apartment building next to you, snowbanks, or all the other cookie-cutter houses next door.


Wellington's in the centre of the country. Getting anywhere in New Zealand is a quick flight (no more than an hour or so). And since I moved here, competition in the airline industry makes it dirt cheap to fly around – as little as $29 one way to Auckland, for example. And even cheaper if you're quick enough on the instant seat sales.


So hopping around the country to check out new places (for a gringo visitor like me) is cheap and fun, and not too time-consuming.


Welly's also close to the Wairarapa, a fun and scenic wine region. A one-hour drive out of the city and you're in the heart of one of the world's premier wine regions. It's a great holiday getaway – snag a cottage at a winery or in the town of Martinborough, sample great wine and eat terrific food. And it's only an hours' drive away ... no customs, no lineups, no waiting. You're settled in and grinning with a glass of great wine, 60 minutes after leaving home.


Having fun in Welly is pretty easy to do too. The city is compact and encourages folks to stroll around and soak up the fun. The CBD is easily navigated on foot. It's a seaside city with a strong focus on the arts, theatre, entertainment, great dining, and of course pubs and clubs. There are festivals galore. You can spend a day moseying around Welly and easily get around to all the fun.  Get too wasted in a bar and if you chose wisely to live in one of the city's many nearby suburbs, a cab ride home for your drunken ass is no more than $15-20.

The daylight hours view off my balcony – overlooking Aro Valley,
out to Wellington Harbour

My newest home is up on the Aro cliffs, overlooking a lush jungle valley (and in the medium distance, the city), with a stunning view of the mountains and harbour. It's populated by almost all of the native bird life of New Zealand (including parrots!) On first appearance my 'hood is well away from the central city. But I can walk downtown in half an hour. The cab trip home from party central is $10-12. I get home, and the only noise I hear is the birds.

Sunrise over Welly Harbour – from my balcony

Climate

My tolerance for temperature extremes is low these days – in spite of once-upon-a-time being OK with –35º C winters and +35º C summers with unsufferable humidity (seriously: how could the Founding Fathers NOT have clued in after a few seasons of this 70-degree temperature fluctuation every goddamn year?!), when I was a kid living in Ontario. New Zealand's temperate climate is perfect for me ... never too cold, never too hot. Protip to anyone thinking of setting up a new civilisation: living in extreme climates is a bad idea!

The folks

Kiwis are a great people. Fun and relaxed and cheeky ... and fun. Did I mention fun? They put in a hard day's work and then at 'end of play' it's not uncommon for a beer or wine to be poured in the office to be enjoyed with workmates. The city design also allows for accessing a local pub or wine bar within minutes from any office ... it takes me about 3 minutes to leave my office desk and be in one of several nearby pubs with a drink in my hand. And I walk slower these days.

Pubs and wine bars are full every single day of the week, as Kiwis are social, and socialising means having a drink with your mates. Doesn't matter what day of the week it is. We are not afraid to have fun.

The festivals

Summer in New Zealand means more festivals than I have ever seen in one place at one time. There's a big national horse racing week (Wellington Cup), the Rugby Sevens (a massive weekend-long, alcohol-fueled costume party where some rugby gets played), outdoor concerts, parades, a sensational art/fashion explosion of creativity called  The World Of Wearable Arts, and heaps more stuff on the go. The wine regions have fun events that involve wandering around the vineyards, swilling fine wine in the sun. 

Things an expat Canadian notices

Summers – a fun time, with all the free stuff going on around the streets, parks and waterfront area (music, festivals) always puts a smile on my face ... especially the breezy attitude about having a drink while enjoying such things. The Canadian 'stick up the ass, mad panic' about people enjoying an alcoholic beverage outside isn't anywhere near as prevalent here.

City busses – they have an open cash register and drivers happily make change for you. People thank the driver every time they get off at a stop. School-age kids always stand up and give their seats to adults (or gimps with missing legs), without being asked. It's a strangely polite set of customs, and it's good.

The money – it's a dollar system, so hardly foreign to a Canadian.  However ... they kiboshed the penny AND the nickel a while back. This cuts down on a ton of stupid pocket change. Taxes are built-in to posted prices, and rounded to a sensible, even amount. A $5 beer is $5, not $5.42. And there's no tipping. So that $5 beer is still only $5. 

In most places in Canada, that would be an 'expected' amount of $6, as the tax is added after, and you'd better tip, or the manager will come over and badger you ceaselessly about "Was the service was so bad, you didn't tip?" 

Last call – on weekends, there isn't one. Drink and party til you drop.

Live music – lots of it. Of all flavours. Kiwis Got Talent.

Beer & wine in the grocery stores – convenient, and a selection of it is always on sale ('loss leaders' for the win!)

Movies – someone figured out the reason most people stop going to movies after a certain age: movie theatres are cramped with uncomfortable and grungy seats, and populated by noisy punkasses ... you can't have a drink of your choice, and the food is nothing but junk.  So adults are far less likely to shell out big money on movie tickets and parking for an anticipated shitty experience. 

Not so here. There are many New Zealand cinemas with a 'deluxe' option, where you get big comfy (and clean) seats with elbow and leg room (and reclining lazy-boy chairs!) with excellent food AND the option to have wine or beer with your film viewing experience. Now it's not a "being stuffed like cattle into a cramped crappy space", it's a nice night out, in comfort and style, with proper food and drink. 

Some theatres have incorporated actual cafés and proper restaurants (and even jazz bars!) where big empty lobbies used to be. So in the daytime and on weekends, what were formerly closed buildings waiting for evening movie viewers are now revenue-and-job generating, fun places to go.

Pride in local heroes – Anyone who does well is revered ... Peter Jackson (LOTR), Weta special FX studios, Sam Neill, Sir Edmund Hillary, rugby stars, scientists, you name it. Kiwis aren't afraid to admire and honour their justifiably famous. But it's not insane levels of trumpeting the great ... just an honest, appropriate level of pride. 

Peace – no one hates the Kiwis enough to wage war or crack on the country with terrorist activities. Certainly the Kiwis were active militarily, pitching in with the two World Wars, but they've had a "hands off" approach to all the questionable police actions, invasions and wars the US has perpetrated over the decades since WWII. ("How about NO, you oil-addicted, crazy American bastards!")

As peaceful as Canadians generally are, close proximity to the USA means being really close to a great big, noisy, pesky terrorist magnet. So Canadians can tout being anti-nuke and peaceful all they want ... 9/11 proved just how much collateral damage flows over the border from the US to Canada, if the terrorists are pissed off enough.

Culture – not being within ceaseless broadcasting distance of the US like most of Canada is, New Zealand has a strong and defined cultural presence with their own arts, theatre, film, TV and radio. There's also a decent blend of imported stuff from the US, Aussie, the UK and Europe. More choice, less cultural invasion.

Sports – hockey is of course the best sport on the planet, so Canada certainly wins there. But the sports played in the rest of the world – including New Zealand – means rugby and cricket and soccer teams regularly travel to far more countries on a regular basis for games and tournaments. This gives young sports players a golden opportunity to travel and experience other nations and cultures regularly. Boiled down to the essence of it, hockey, football, basketball and baseball in North America is an intramural sport with little or no travel to interesting and different cultures.

Clean and green – a trite phrase, perhaps. But here it's mostly true. Not much heavy industry means the air and water is clean. Cities that recycle make it a good thing too. The dairy, seafood and agriculture industry is really clean. Hasn't been a case of Mad Cow here, you can get your Rocky on and guzzle raw eggs (no salmonella). The cattle are well treated and free range, and the meat here is superb.


If there was a zombie apocalypse around the world and New Zealand managed to avoid it (or to a lesser extent, a big war), we could survive quite nicely and not die of malnutrition or scurvy. New Zealand produces a wealth of food that ticks all the boxes for a perfect diet, easily making it self-sufficient in the event of a global catastrophe, isolating all countries.


Of course it wouldn't be long until we'd all be walking (oil is imported) but hey, no vehicles on the roads would make the place even greener. 

What could Wellington/New Zealand improve on?

Well, not much, as I said at the start. When I first arrived here 10 years ago, I loved how the goverment wasn't anywhere nearly as invasive as Canada's is (on all levels) ... dickhead politicians abound, with too much spare time on their hands, trying to justify their existence by mucking around, making up unnecessary rules, and not minding their own business ...

A decade later, I detect some slight movement in that direction here now. Nothing major, just some busybody politicians making rules for no good reason, when they really just need to sit down, shut up, and lose some weight. Fat bastards ...

Wellingtonians need to have more respect for the start times of movies, concerts and plays. I notice far too many people just tend to lazily wander in really late for scheduled shows ... and it's not like the start times are awkward. 

Plays and orchestra concerts usually start around 6:30 to 7 pm. Most daytime jobs stop at 5 pm. This gives you plenty of time to eat something and get to the damn theatre on time – especially considering all of the restaurants and theatres are very close together in the CBD and Courtenay Place. Come on, slackers. Pull it together, get your ass in gear and show up on time. 

And that's about it. Not really all that much to whinge about. 

Which is why I love it here so much.