Yesterday marked one year since arriving in New Zealand, and what a year it's been. It has gone by so quickly, but we've filled it with so much.
And now we have a list of our favourite things about New Zealand and the life we've built here over the last year:
1a. Mandatory annual leave, plus holidays
The New Zealand government requires employers to give their employees four weeks of paid annual leave a year, plus 10-12 days of stat holidays. Our work allows you to purchase an additional two weeks of annual leave a year, which we did this past year and plan to do again this year. You also get up to 10 paid sick days, so if you're sick, you don't have to use vacation time to recover.
1b. An attitude adjustment
Before moving, we made a promise to ourselves that we would spend every spare penny we make on travel and adventure. We learned how to cook, stopped shopping, and started drafting itineraries.
Our attitudes weren't the only ones that underwent an adjustment - we found the workplace to be surprisingly supportive of our new life plan. Corporate America has a strange perception that if you want to take vacation, you're obviously not devoted enough to your job. The attitude over here is completely different. Partners will take off a whole week without any access to email, and when you tell them you're doing the same, they get excited for you and ask where you're going. The entire work/life balance culture is completely different, and it is most apparent in the attitude toward taking time off.
1c. The proximity of adventure
Many of the things we have done were over a weekend, and didn't require any additional time off. There is so much adventure within a 3-4 hour drive that it makes it easy to squeeze it in to a weekend.
2. The Vespa
We don't talk about this as much anymore, but we still ride our Vespa nearly every day to and from the ferry that takes us to work, and we love it every single day - even when it's cold and rainy and windy (a ski jacket really helps). We are really looking forward to summer so we can take it out for longer rides along the shore.
3. The night sky
Despite living a 10 minute ferry ride from downtown, we can still see dozens of stars from our driveway. But the sky really starts to shine outside the city. After driving for just an hour you can see thousands, if not millions, of stars (you can see the Milky Way with the naked eye!). We're still learning about the Southern Hemisphere sky, but you don't have to be an astronomer to know that it's stunning.
4. Oh the places we've gone
We've been so many amazing places in New Zealand that it's hard to pick just one favourite, so here's a whole list!
4a. Devonport
We moved to the town of Devonport in January, and we love it. Despite being really close to the city, Devonport has the feel of a seaside resort town, making it easy to forget about all the worries of work as soon as we step off the ferry. The town has plenty of restaurants and bars and even a micro-brewery. We are a 10 minute walk from multiple beaches and there's scooter parking everywhere. Oh, and the views from our apartment are like a postcard - we wake up to the sun rising over Rangitoto (a dormant volcano) every morning.
4b. Waiheke Island
Just a 45 minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland and filled with wineries and beaches, this island is an instant vacation. We enjoyed a day of wine tasting at Waiheke our first month here, but fell in love with it over Christmas, when we rented a beach house with friends. Our Scooter Camping trip in April was one of the best weekends we've had in New Zealand.
4c. Martinborough
Once called the "Stars Hollow of New Zealand" (by myself), Martinborough is a lovely small town outside of Wellington surrounded by vineyards. We spent a couple of days there over Christmas, and are heading to the Jazz Festival in September to celebrate Rob's birthday.
4d. Whangaui River
Our canoe trip in April was another one of the best weekends we've had here. The river is one of the most remote places I've ever been, and there was something magical about being out there with just a canoe, some friends and seven hours of paddling between us and the emergency radio to the outside world. It was also one of the hardest, most exhausting weekends of my life, but it was well worth it and we're already planning to do it again.
4e. Waitomo Caves
Black water rafting in the glow worm caves was at the top of my to do list on our arrival in New Zealand, and we finally got the chance at Christmas. It was even better than anticipated. This is one thing that is completely unique to New Zealand, and there's a reason it shows up on so many global Must-Do lists.
4f. Queenstown
A recent addition to the list, Queenstown stands out as one of the most beautiful and adventurous towns in one of the most beautiful and adventurous countries in the world. Our winter weekend there gave us just a taste of all that Queenstown has to offer, and we've already planned a trip back there to celebrate Christmas with Rob's family.
And now we have a list of our favourite things about New Zealand and the life we've built here over the last year:
1. Vacation, all I ever wanted
If you mostly keep in touch with us through this blog and Facebook, it is easy to forget that we both have full-time, high-pressure corporate jobs. We work nights and weekends (although not as much as we did in Chicago), and are expected to be at a place working for at least 40 hours a week. You may be wondering how we have the time for all these adventures, and I think there are three components to this:1a. Mandatory annual leave, plus holidays
The New Zealand government requires employers to give their employees four weeks of paid annual leave a year, plus 10-12 days of stat holidays. Our work allows you to purchase an additional two weeks of annual leave a year, which we did this past year and plan to do again this year. You also get up to 10 paid sick days, so if you're sick, you don't have to use vacation time to recover.
1b. An attitude adjustment
Before moving, we made a promise to ourselves that we would spend every spare penny we make on travel and adventure. We learned how to cook, stopped shopping, and started drafting itineraries.
Our attitudes weren't the only ones that underwent an adjustment - we found the workplace to be surprisingly supportive of our new life plan. Corporate America has a strange perception that if you want to take vacation, you're obviously not devoted enough to your job. The attitude over here is completely different. Partners will take off a whole week without any access to email, and when you tell them you're doing the same, they get excited for you and ask where you're going. The entire work/life balance culture is completely different, and it is most apparent in the attitude toward taking time off.
1c. The proximity of adventure
Many of the things we have done were over a weekend, and didn't require any additional time off. There is so much adventure within a 3-4 hour drive that it makes it easy to squeeze it in to a weekend.
2. The Vespa
We don't talk about this as much anymore, but we still ride our Vespa nearly every day to and from the ferry that takes us to work, and we love it every single day - even when it's cold and rainy and windy (a ski jacket really helps). We are really looking forward to summer so we can take it out for longer rides along the shore.
3. The night sky
Despite living a 10 minute ferry ride from downtown, we can still see dozens of stars from our driveway. But the sky really starts to shine outside the city. After driving for just an hour you can see thousands, if not millions, of stars (you can see the Milky Way with the naked eye!). We're still learning about the Southern Hemisphere sky, but you don't have to be an astronomer to know that it's stunning.
4. Oh the places we've gone
We've been so many amazing places in New Zealand that it's hard to pick just one favourite, so here's a whole list!
4a. Devonport
We moved to the town of Devonport in January, and we love it. Despite being really close to the city, Devonport has the feel of a seaside resort town, making it easy to forget about all the worries of work as soon as we step off the ferry. The town has plenty of restaurants and bars and even a micro-brewery. We are a 10 minute walk from multiple beaches and there's scooter parking everywhere. Oh, and the views from our apartment are like a postcard - we wake up to the sun rising over Rangitoto (a dormant volcano) every morning.
4b. Waiheke Island
Just a 45 minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland and filled with wineries and beaches, this island is an instant vacation. We enjoyed a day of wine tasting at Waiheke our first month here, but fell in love with it over Christmas, when we rented a beach house with friends. Our Scooter Camping trip in April was one of the best weekends we've had in New Zealand.
4c. Martinborough
Once called the "Stars Hollow of New Zealand" (by myself), Martinborough is a lovely small town outside of Wellington surrounded by vineyards. We spent a couple of days there over Christmas, and are heading to the Jazz Festival in September to celebrate Rob's birthday.
4d. Whangaui River
Our canoe trip in April was another one of the best weekends we've had here. The river is one of the most remote places I've ever been, and there was something magical about being out there with just a canoe, some friends and seven hours of paddling between us and the emergency radio to the outside world. It was also one of the hardest, most exhausting weekends of my life, but it was well worth it and we're already planning to do it again.
4e. Waitomo Caves
Black water rafting in the glow worm caves was at the top of my to do list on our arrival in New Zealand, and we finally got the chance at Christmas. It was even better than anticipated. This is one thing that is completely unique to New Zealand, and there's a reason it shows up on so many global Must-Do lists.
4f. Queenstown
A recent addition to the list, Queenstown stands out as one of the most beautiful and adventurous towns in one of the most beautiful and adventurous countries in the world. Our winter weekend there gave us just a taste of all that Queenstown has to offer, and we've already planned a trip back there to celebrate Christmas with Rob's family.
No comments:
Post a Comment