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Original poster

I have lived and worked in New Zealand for 20 years - AMA

29 replies

aurynne · 30/10/2025 01:45

I often see questions from many posters about living in New Zealand, so I thought my experience could be useful to anyone considering the option or just curious about what goes on in an average day in the Land of the Long White Cloud.

I am not British, but I have lived in the UK before too, I moved to New Zealand 20 years ago and have been living here, in 3 different cities/towns, since then.

I have also studied a brand new career in New Zealand and lived through the Christchurch earthquakes. I have hiked some of the most amazing routes (done 8 out of the 11 Great Walks) and lived through the White Island eruption, Chriscthruch mosques massacre and Covid pandemic here.

I now have citicenship and a NZ passport too.

Happy to answer any questions.

OP posts:
Daisiesanddaffodils24 · 31/10/2025 09:05

aurynne · 30/10/2025 20:49

Yes, there are a number of them. As everywhere else, it's not perfect. Depending where you come from and what you're used to, they will vary. I will have to tell you my own:

The main downside coming from a European is the isolation. You don't realise really how FAR AWAY from everything you are. The closest country is a 4 hour flight (Australia, and this is if you fly to the East Coast... flying to Perth takes 7 hours), and apart from the Pacific Islands there no other place to go without embarking on an 8 hour flight minimum, and that's to South East Asia. You simply cannot pop out to visit family and friends. Any trip to Europe/America is at most a yearly thing that costs a huge amount of money and leaves you seriously jet-lagged both ways. And you will waste at least 2 whole days of your holiday just with flights. Living in New Zealand is not for the family-oriented who need to be close to loved ones, unless you bring them all with you.

Another dowbnside for me is the lack of social activities after hours. In the country I come from, the streets are buzzing after 5 pm, all shops, cafes and restaurants are open, ther are people in the street until past midwnight every day. in New Zealand, everything closes after 4. Even in bigger towns, most cafes close at 3 or 4 pm, shops close at 4 pm, and there's barely anyone in the streets after that.After 20 years I still miss the liveliness of European cities in the evenings.

Another downside for me is the inequality. New Zealand is a colonised country, and the indigenous population (Maori), as all other colonised populations in the world, suffer from displacement and lower socieconomic conditions which leads to deprivation, poor health outcomes and higher crime in that demographic. In general, crime in New Zeeland is very low and the country is very safe. However there is an underground New Zealand where domestic violence, drugs, child abuse, incarceration and multigenerational deprivation are rife. Not only Maori families, but disproportionately in maori families. Together with that comes a low-level (I mean low compared to other countries where I've lived, included my own birth country) racism by the white (pakeha) population which is umcomfortable to see, as many New Zealanders fail to have the insight to consider the privilege the colour of the skin and background brings. In my previous career I lived and worked with provoleged people around me, so I didn't experience this in first person. As a midwife giving care to all kinds and shapes of women and families, it becomes very obvious. I went through a period of my life when I felt very ashamed that I had not been aware of this.

Something that for me is not a big deal, but for many it may be, is how geologically active New Zealand as a country is. It is called "the shaky isles" for a reason. New Zealand is laying onto a series of deep faults. I went through the Christchruch earthquakes, which killed 185 people in only one city, but I have also felt earthquakes strong enough to wake me up everywhere I have lived, and they are expecting a massive one in the next 30-50 years. There are also volcanic eruptions (yes, a number of them while I have been living here), tsunami alerts regularly, floods, a cyclone here and there (mostly in the North island those ones) and every now and then someone's house/garden
/shed in Rotorua gets swallowed by boiling sulphuric mud. It's something accepted by Kiwis and whoever wants to live here: you need to live with it, because this is not going to change any time soon.

Apart from those, I can't really say there are many more downsides for me. New Zealand is one of the least corrupt countries in the world, so that was a breathe of fresh air for me. Most people are incredibly honest, you can travel around as a solo woman traveller feeling safe, I leave my mobile phone on the table outside when I go to order another coffee in a cafe, and the only time I forgot my bag with my wallet and everything in a cafe, it was returned to me with everything in it a day later. The feeling of safety is one of the main reasons I feel at home here. There is nothing like the feeling of mostly trusting your fellow humans.

Edited
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Thank you - so interesting!

Daisiesanddaffodils24 · 31/10/2025 09:11

aurynne · 30/10/2025 20:59

Oh God, how could I forget about freezing cold houses in the downsides!

No central heating. Walls made of wood and plastic (they call it "GIB", but it's basic sheets of thin plastic! You can hit your head against the wall in a NZ house and you won't hurt yourself. Hit it hard enough and you'll go through it). Nothing under the carpet. Insulation is considered a luxury. Even when they heat a room, the rest of the house is frigid. So the lounge may be warm, but you freeze your pubes when you get out for a wee. Being cold at home is almost a rite of passage for a kiwi. Bonus points if you go barefoot and in shorts in a house that is 12 degrees inside.

When I bought my house I had already learned my lesson. My number one condition was "double glazing, sunny and with enough heat pumps to make sure I'm warm anywhere in the house". My Kiwi friends often comment hopw nice and warm my house is.

Oh I don't like being cold. Glad that you have a nice cosy home.

Lelophants · 31/10/2025 22:11

lots of questions coming!

Do you ever get bored? How do you like to spend your time?

What was your birth country and why did you choose NZ?

Any culture shocks?

What was your previous career?

Original poster
aurynne · 01/11/2025 05:19

Lelophants · 31/10/2025 22:11

lots of questions coming!

Do you ever get bored? How do you like to spend your time?

What was your birth country and why did you choose NZ?

Any culture shocks?

What was your previous career?

Do you ever get bored? How do you like to spend your time?
There's so much stuff to do, I'm only bored when I want to be. Apart from the hiking in National parks (there are 3 within 2 hours of where I live), I live in a picturesque small town where there are walking tracks everywhere, and a beautiful beach. I have a dog who loves walking, so that's the perfect combination. I also have a campervan that I use for weekends and longer trips. I play piano, love reading, have a group of friends to catch up with for coffee or walks, I love going to the movies, to festivals, and I've turned a bedroom at my home into a "movie room" with a projector and a big screen, so I regularly organise movie nights either for myself and my DP or for my group of friends.

What was your birth country and why did you choose NZ?
I am originally from Spain, I ended up in New Zealand because they offered me a very interesting job. I did not know much about NZ at the time, but what was going to be a 2-year contract ended up with me staying for almost 20 years.

Any culture shocks?
Kiwi society is similar to British society, and I had been living in the UK for some years before moving to New Zealand, so there was not a big cultural shock. In fact, I was surprised how little cultural shock there was when I was moving to the other side of the world. The cultural shock when I moved to the UK from Spain was much bigger!
Actually the disagreement I had before with another poster about closing times in NZ is mainly because of cultural differences and expectations... ask any person from a Spanish-speaking country, from any Mediterranean European country, or from the Middle East, what they think of NZ towns, and they will immediately say: "They're empty in the afternoons and evenings. Where do all the Kiwis go? All cafes and shops close so early!", because we're used to living in the evenings, go out after work, mingle in cafes, have dinner at 9 pm... our towns are bursting with people at 11 pm, while think people from the UK won't find NZ so extremely "early" or "empty in the evenings", because anglosaxon people tend to live in earlier times of the day.

What was your previous career?
I was a research scientist.

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