We Love:
- Very active population - even with the elderly. It's very common to see 80+ year old couples biking on the walkway
- Strong love of country and protectionism. Walk through the grocery store or stores and most products are proudly displayed as "Kiwi-made or New Zealand produced".
- Everyone is so friendly. It is impossible to go for a walk without everyone you walking by saying hello, smiling, or making a friendly comment.
- Order something from NZ on the internet and it arrives the next day!
- Air New Zealand airlines. Friendly, accomodating, high quality service - everything you don't expect from an airline.
- The accents.
- Our carpeted garage. Sounds like a weird idea, but it makes an awesome extended living space.
- The scenery is absolutely amazing. The grass is green and glows. The beach views. Mount Taranaki is spectacular. So beautiful and we haven't even left New Plymouth yet!
- More natural, healthy food products
We Dislike:
- Lack of heat everywhere! The New Zealand winter is mild to say the least, but anywhere feels cold if there's no heat!
- Marmite - seriously, who eats this stuff?? They served marmite on crackers at Owen's daycare the other day. He gobbled it up, but I tried it and it tastes like salt.
- You can't mail a letter from your home - you have to find and drop in a post box
Just Different:
- Prostitution is legal and there are advertisements for prostitutes in the classifieds of the Taranki Daily News!
- Hand shake agreements - Josh bought a car and drove it off the lot before he even paid for it. "No worries, mate".
- The people don't seem to notice the torrential down pours and will continue with their normal activities (e.g. golf, running, biking, playing net ball, etc) as if it were not raining.
- Driving on the left hand side of the road. Every time I make a turn, I accidentally turn on my windshield wipers instead of my blinker since the blinker signal is on the right!
- 220 Volt electronics and Australia/NZ plugs
- The weather comes from every direction and can change rapidly
