New arrival Sam Sherry reveals the five things he found weird, unexpected and positive about life in Aotearoa.
New arrival Sam Sherry reveals the five things he found weird, unexpected and positive about life in Aotearoa – including the scary Kiwi habit that stresses him out the most.
About four months ago, I decided to finally make use of my dual British-New Zealand citizenship and accept a job at the Herald.
Despite visiting the country multiple times during my childhood, it had been some years since I last set foot on New Zealand soil.
Now I’m here, I’ve started to realise maybe my memories as a tourist were slightly deceiving. Living in and visiting a country are completely different things.
So, after being here for about a third of a year, I feel I can now reveal the top five biggest surprises I’ve experienced since moving to New Zealand.
I was very excited to go from one summer to another – and I’m glad the weather has started to become much sunnier in Auckland – but initially, I found it odd that the weather was not too dissimilar to England.
I wasn’t expecting a constant oppressive heat, which many back home believe the weather is like (purely because New Zealand is close to Australia). Still, when I saw overcast days and plenty of drizzle, it did give me flashbacks of my time living in London.
However, there are some key differences. I make sure to put sun cream on when stepping outside on a sunny day, something I would probably overlook in the UK, and I’m prepared to be hit by gale-force winds regularly around Auckland – I thought only Wellington was known for its wind.
A staple of every British city, town or village is the pub. No matter where you are in the country, there will be a place for you to head down and have a drink and some food right at the heart of the community.
This isn’t to say New Zealand, and Auckland in particular, doesn’t have great pubs. I’ve done my best to survey as many of them as I can and had a great time doing so.
What stands out to me is that they aren’t at the heart of every community. Where I’m staying in East Auckland and in some of the surrounding suburbs, I feel I can’t just head down to the pub on an afternoon and have a drink. I might have to drive somewhere further away and I’m not sure that is the brightest idea.
The local boozer is a sacred place that should be only a brisk walk away – more of these would certainly help to improve community spirit.
This might be more of a realisation for me after living in London for the past few years, but it feels weird to have to use a car to move around the city.
I’ve used the public transport network as much as I can in Auckland and I will say the trains are regular and the buses are clean. Even so, if you need to go anywhere important, a car is essential.
The problem is that driving itself is a risk. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt as stressed as I have on Auckland roads. The car seems to completely change everyone’s mindsets, and journeys become a race.
This was a good surprise. I’ve been used to constant intensity in everyday life, loud noises and bright lights everywhere – there was no escaping it.
So, I was quite confused when I came out here and found the pace of life was much slower.
People were much more relaxed in almost every aspect of life – except driving – and that was something I needed to embrace. There was no need to always be at 100%, it’s usually fine to take a step back and be calm about things – something I’m grateful to New Zealand for teaching me.
I think most people are aware of New Zealand’s love for rugby, but I had forgotten how intense that love can be.
Coming over from England where football (I can’t bring myself to call it soccer) is the No 1 sport dominating the media and is a part of everyday life, it was strange to see rugby so prominent everywhere.
Considering rugby union is probably the third-biggest sport in England after football and cricket, while rugby league is popular in the north of the country, I can relate to the love I’ve seen for teams like the All Blacks, the Warriors and teams of all sizes for both codes.
I’ve been to a Blues game when I was much younger and when the season comes around, I’m looking forward to watching a Super Rugby game and finally going to my first All Blacks match.
