I have a love-hate relationship with my life here. I love that things move at a slower pace. I love that New Zealand (overall) is very laid back and chill. But I sometimes hate those things. I know that this sounds silly but its true. You can't go from living in a country of 340 million people to a country of 4 million without feeling some kinda way. Its like stepping on the brakes when you've been driving 60mph. Definitely some whiplash involved. That being said, its been two years now since we've moved and I am still having flashbacks to the convenience of the hyperactive, crazy paced life of the States.
There is a time in every ones life that you NEED to run out to the store and get some cookies at 1am. (No? Is that just me?) Anyway, when things like that come up its nice to know that there is a 7-11 or some sort of 24 hour place just waiting with open arms for you to come in. What's not to love about shopping at Walmart at 1 am just so you can have the whole place to yourself...(No? That's just me again?) I have learned that in small town New Zealand there is no such thing as 24 hour ANYTHING. You're lucky if you can find a gas station open. Forget about such silly things as making a Walmart run or maybe even getting a Snickers bar after 10pm. You will be Snicker-less.
I know, this sounds ridiculous. And it is. It is a silly complaint but a valid observation.
This is what I have observed about our stores in small town New Zealand:
Weird Hours
The major grocery store chains have respectable hours. From 7am-10pm. That is legit. Sucks for you if you have late night cravings. Most other stores like clothing stores, bookstores, etc will close between 4-5pm. I have seen store owners locking doors at 4:50. You may not get the extra 10 minutes. You gotta be sharp and do some goal directed shopping cause the lights can and will be shut off at the stroke of 5. Some places don't even pretend to want to get to 5pm. I actually called a store recently and was told they close at "a quarter to 5pm". This is the best way to ensure you and your staff will be home by 5. And if you are lucky, you can tear outta work and get to another store before they close at 5pm.
"Late Hours"
This is my favorite misnomer. During the holidays many stores will advertise "Open Late for Christmas Shopping!" This will make you THINK you have an extra 5-10 minutes to hang out at work, getting stuff done and then head to the store but "Late Hours" will only buy you time until about 5:30..6pm IF they are feeling extra generous. There was quite a buzz started recently because one of our two department stores in town stayed open one night until 11pm! Everyone in town was talking about it and pretty much half the town was there at night. Mostly staring at each other under the bright neon lights, chatting and having a late night social party. Stuff like that only happens in small towns and once a year. It is on my calendar this year.
Just Plain Closed
This has to be the oddest thing I've ever seen. There is a nice coffee/brunch place in town. I had been there once before with a friend and was looking forward to going back with my family for a nice Saturday brunch. After packing up the little one and driving the whole 5 minutes into town we get to the restaurant and were greeted by a nice, handwritten sign hanging in the window that said:
"Sorry, we are closed for a holiday. We will be back in 3 weeks. Thanks again for you business and see you soon"
I stood there, reading that sign over and over again completely baffled by this idea. How does one close a restaurant for 3 weeks to go on vacation??? I couldn't imagine somewhere like Chipotle or good forbid, Chili's closing for 3 weeks. I'm sure the US would be plunged into anarchy and darkness until they reopened. On the flip side how cool is it that you could take 3 weeks of vacation and NOT loose your livelihood when you returned. I wasn't too sure if that would be possible but sure enough, 3 weeks after the sign went up, the owners returned, the doors opened and they were full and popular again. No one seemed annoyed by their vacation time. Novel idea.
Winter Hours
I didn't know this was a thing but I can totally understand. I am not nor have I ever been a Winter girl. I can't stand the gloomy days, the cold the long nights and seemingly endless darkness. Ugh! Seems like I'm not the only one. Being closed during the Winter totally is a thing here. There have been many restaurants and shops that will just lock the doors and turn on the answering machine for the whole of winter. I cannot tell you how many times we have made plans to go out only to find out something is "Closed for the Season". I totally dig that idea. We should all just jump in some flannel PJ's and snuggle up on the couch for the entirety of the winter months. That would be awesome.
So even though I complain (in jest) I have to admit, I love the fact that you can actually slow down and NOT be expected to be in a 24 hour, fast paced society. This is part of our process in becoming expats. To adjust our expectations and to embrace the norms in our adopted country. For us it means that we have to go into town and shop like everyone else between the magic hours of 9-4. It also means calling a business before heading out to see if they are indeed open (or possibly closed for Groundhog's Day) and more importantly it means stocking up on cookies and Snickers bars because Lord knows when the late night snack craving will hit you...and there is no such thing as a Late Night here. :) Goodnight!
Kiwi Flag
Friday, November 13, 2015
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Island Hopping
When you decide to uproot your entire life and move to a foreign country things will have to change. For us, that meant tightening our budget. Food and entertainment are a lot more expensive than they are back in the USA. For us its not an issue. We have more family dinners and more time to explore outside rather than go to movies and basketball games. We had to give a lot of that up. Another thing we LOVE that we had to significantly scale back was our travel budget….GASP!
ANYONE that knows us KNOWS that travel is our life blood. We spent 6 of the greatest months of our lives traveling around the world, living out of suitcases and spending months in countries pretending to be locals :) For anyone that wants to re-live that wonderful adventure click here.
Anyway when Bruce told me that we were not going to be traveling any farther than the immediate area at first I went through the classic stages of Denial:
-First I thought he was joking. There is no way I could not travel. He wasn't joking
-Then I thought I would go nuts. I can NOT NOT travel!!!
-Then I thought I could run away. Hard to do that with a job and family (darn it!)
And come to find out, unless we figure out how to kick this nasty habit of needing food and shelter it looks like we will be working for a while…
So according to Bruce's budget rules we would have to find really good deals and we would need to limit our travel distance to less than 5 hours from home (by flight)
I was devastated. That meant no Scandinavian trip next summer or a Middle Eastern visit to my brother in the spring. We would be stuck…..hmmm, or would we??
What is WRONG with me??
I grabbed my trusty Lonely Planet guide and my eyes lit up with the delicious "problem" that I had.
We friggin live in the South Pacific!!!!!! OMG!
So it looks like my only trips would be restricted to the lovely islands surrounding our home country of New Zealand.
What a great problem to have! (Thanks Bruce!)
So with this new realization, I started flipping through the book, did some flight research and within one week we were off on a plane to Samoa!!!
Samoa is a beautiful island nation about 3.5 hours from Auckland. Settled by early Lapita Polynesian peoples about 3,000 years ago, Samoa became colonized by the Europeans in the 18th century.
They finally gained their independence from New Zealand in 1962 and subsequently part of the eastern island became a territory of the United States and is now known as American Samoa. We actually visited the "real" Samoa and not the American territory. Interestingly enough, the American territory is very underdeveloped as far as tourism and has few hotels or resorts but is known to have BEAUTIFUL beaches and reefs for snorkeling and diving.
Samoa itself is just jumping onto the tourism wagon. In fact, it seems like Hawaii circa 1940's. There are only a handful of hotels and beachfront resorts. There were lots of stretches of pristine beach without civilization around for miles! I'm sure you'd NEVER find anything like that in Tahiti or Hawaii.
We landed in Samoa and were smacked in the face with the incredible heat and humidity.
It was lush, green and beautiful…exactly as we expected.
We arrived at our resort which was on the northwestern side of the island it seemed a bit…empty.
At first I just thought it was because we arrived so late but I didn't see or hear anything that you would expect for a bustling beach resort. The next morning we were so excited to see daylight and to explore our surroundings. With Noa in tow, we jumped up and left the room. We passed by room after room noticing open curtains and emptiness. By the time we arrived for breakfast we realized…we were the ONLY ones there. We had breakfast in the restaurant alone and then ventured out to the beach front. Instead of the usual throngs of people clamoring to get beach chairs we saw nothing. No one. Just us.
For some people that would have been a bummer but for two old parents in their 40's we were like "WHOO HOO!" That means no one around to witness any tantrums thrown by Noa, no worries about baby toys being chucked too close to sleeping sun bathers, no one around to ask us to turn music down.
We had the ENTIRE beach to ourselves. The even cooler part was the resort staff. They were AMAZING! I'm not sure if it was because we were one of 4 families staying at a resort that can hold 200+ or if it was the wonderfully warm Samoan hospitality but I think it was both. The Samoans were warm, welcoming and loved to chat with us. We learned the name of everyone that worked at the resort by the 4th day we were there. They loved Noa and doted on him constantly. For whatever reason, no one could grasp the idea that he is a boy. I don't know if its the big curly hair or what but poor Noa was called a "sweet girl" more than I would have liked.
After 5 days of blissful chilling around the beach and pool, we got back into our "usual" selves and decided to go out for some exploring.
One of the lovely guys that worked at the resort was sweet enough to offer us a day of exploring some of the sights and beauty that Samoa has to offer.
We loaded up Noa and were off to circumnavigate the island of Upolu.
Our first stop was the beautiful waterfall of Sopoaga. It is located in Lotofaga village where there was even a demonstration on how to make coconut cream!
Next stop was To Sua Ocean Trench. OMG! It is the most amazing natural feature i'd ever seen. It was formed from a collapsed cavern that filled up with sea water. There is a HUGE ladder that descended into the trench which I was nominated to crawl down. It was TERRIFYING! The ladder was long, slippery and seemed to plummet into the earth. I shook with every step down but I had to do it! I didn't want to regret the opportunity to swim in this amazing water.
Last stop was the pristine beach of Lalomanu. I thought it was beautiful at the beach on our resort. I was so WRONG!!! White sand beaches, turquoise ocean and NO HOTELS in sight! How is that possible?! I kept thinking that if this was Hawaii, Miami, Rio or any other spot in the world with a beach we'd be surrounded by high rise condos, beachfront resorts and throngs of people.
We enjoyed a much needed plunge into the bath temperature waters and admired the view.
Unfortunately, the rip current and waves were a lot bigger than on the north side of the island. Noa was used to playing in the harmless surf near the hotel. He almost got smashed by a couple of waves and before he could be swept out to neighboring Tonga, we decided to leave.
Lunch was hosted at the village of Saagafou. It was some of the best hospitality we'd ever experienced. It was like we actually lived there. The family that hosted us make their traditional fish dish, oka. It was raw fish marinated in a beautiful coconut cream sauce with onions and seasonings. We also had jackfruit, taro and mangoes. The lunch was superb and was even better because it was such a relaxed atmosphere. We felt like we were at home. We relaxed and Noa played with the kids. It was so beautiful to see. They couldn't understand each other but they still had a ball running around and playing some type imaginary game that involved lots of noise.
The trip would have been perfect except for some little bacteria that decided to hitch hike inside our wonderful lunch at the village. Within 24 hours I knew every nook and cranny of our beautiful bathroom. I was barely able to make the trip home but thankfully after 3 liters of IV fluids, some anti-nausea medication and 15 unnecessary pounds later we were safe and sound back in New Zealand.
Samoa is a great place and I HIGHLY recommend a visit there. It still relatively undeveloped compared to some other Polynesian islands but holds a beautiful charm and we will definitely see it again…
Unless of course we get to New Caledonia, Tonga, Tahiti or Vanuatu next...
ANYONE that knows us KNOWS that travel is our life blood. We spent 6 of the greatest months of our lives traveling around the world, living out of suitcases and spending months in countries pretending to be locals :) For anyone that wants to re-live that wonderful adventure click here.
Anyway when Bruce told me that we were not going to be traveling any farther than the immediate area at first I went through the classic stages of Denial:
-First I thought he was joking. There is no way I could not travel. He wasn't joking
-Then I thought I would go nuts. I can NOT NOT travel!!!
-Then I thought I could run away. Hard to do that with a job and family (darn it!)
And come to find out, unless we figure out how to kick this nasty habit of needing food and shelter it looks like we will be working for a while…
So according to Bruce's budget rules we would have to find really good deals and we would need to limit our travel distance to less than 5 hours from home (by flight)
I was devastated. That meant no Scandinavian trip next summer or a Middle Eastern visit to my brother in the spring. We would be stuck…..hmmm, or would we??
What is WRONG with me??
I grabbed my trusty Lonely Planet guide and my eyes lit up with the delicious "problem" that I had.
We friggin live in the South Pacific!!!!!! OMG!
So it looks like my only trips would be restricted to the lovely islands surrounding our home country of New Zealand.
What a great problem to have! (Thanks Bruce!)
So with this new realization, I started flipping through the book, did some flight research and within one week we were off on a plane to Samoa!!!
Samoa is a beautiful island nation about 3.5 hours from Auckland. Settled by early Lapita Polynesian peoples about 3,000 years ago, Samoa became colonized by the Europeans in the 18th century.
They finally gained their independence from New Zealand in 1962 and subsequently part of the eastern island became a territory of the United States and is now known as American Samoa. We actually visited the "real" Samoa and not the American territory. Interestingly enough, the American territory is very underdeveloped as far as tourism and has few hotels or resorts but is known to have BEAUTIFUL beaches and reefs for snorkeling and diving.
Samoa itself is just jumping onto the tourism wagon. In fact, it seems like Hawaii circa 1940's. There are only a handful of hotels and beachfront resorts. There were lots of stretches of pristine beach without civilization around for miles! I'm sure you'd NEVER find anything like that in Tahiti or Hawaii.
We landed in Samoa and were smacked in the face with the incredible heat and humidity.
It was lush, green and beautiful…exactly as we expected.
We arrived at our resort which was on the northwestern side of the island it seemed a bit…empty.
At first I just thought it was because we arrived so late but I didn't see or hear anything that you would expect for a bustling beach resort. The next morning we were so excited to see daylight and to explore our surroundings. With Noa in tow, we jumped up and left the room. We passed by room after room noticing open curtains and emptiness. By the time we arrived for breakfast we realized…we were the ONLY ones there. We had breakfast in the restaurant alone and then ventured out to the beach front. Instead of the usual throngs of people clamoring to get beach chairs we saw nothing. No one. Just us.
For some people that would have been a bummer but for two old parents in their 40's we were like "WHOO HOO!" That means no one around to witness any tantrums thrown by Noa, no worries about baby toys being chucked too close to sleeping sun bathers, no one around to ask us to turn music down.
We had the ENTIRE beach to ourselves. The even cooler part was the resort staff. They were AMAZING! I'm not sure if it was because we were one of 4 families staying at a resort that can hold 200+ or if it was the wonderfully warm Samoan hospitality but I think it was both. The Samoans were warm, welcoming and loved to chat with us. We learned the name of everyone that worked at the resort by the 4th day we were there. They loved Noa and doted on him constantly. For whatever reason, no one could grasp the idea that he is a boy. I don't know if its the big curly hair or what but poor Noa was called a "sweet girl" more than I would have liked.
After 5 days of blissful chilling around the beach and pool, we got back into our "usual" selves and decided to go out for some exploring.
One of the lovely guys that worked at the resort was sweet enough to offer us a day of exploring some of the sights and beauty that Samoa has to offer.
We loaded up Noa and were off to circumnavigate the island of Upolu.
Our first stop was the beautiful waterfall of Sopoaga. It is located in Lotofaga village where there was even a demonstration on how to make coconut cream!
Next stop was To Sua Ocean Trench. OMG! It is the most amazing natural feature i'd ever seen. It was formed from a collapsed cavern that filled up with sea water. There is a HUGE ladder that descended into the trench which I was nominated to crawl down. It was TERRIFYING! The ladder was long, slippery and seemed to plummet into the earth. I shook with every step down but I had to do it! I didn't want to regret the opportunity to swim in this amazing water.
Last stop was the pristine beach of Lalomanu. I thought it was beautiful at the beach on our resort. I was so WRONG!!! White sand beaches, turquoise ocean and NO HOTELS in sight! How is that possible?! I kept thinking that if this was Hawaii, Miami, Rio or any other spot in the world with a beach we'd be surrounded by high rise condos, beachfront resorts and throngs of people.
We enjoyed a much needed plunge into the bath temperature waters and admired the view.
Unfortunately, the rip current and waves were a lot bigger than on the north side of the island. Noa was used to playing in the harmless surf near the hotel. He almost got smashed by a couple of waves and before he could be swept out to neighboring Tonga, we decided to leave.
Lunch was hosted at the village of Saagafou. It was some of the best hospitality we'd ever experienced. It was like we actually lived there. The family that hosted us make their traditional fish dish, oka. It was raw fish marinated in a beautiful coconut cream sauce with onions and seasonings. We also had jackfruit, taro and mangoes. The lunch was superb and was even better because it was such a relaxed atmosphere. We felt like we were at home. We relaxed and Noa played with the kids. It was so beautiful to see. They couldn't understand each other but they still had a ball running around and playing some type imaginary game that involved lots of noise.
The trip would have been perfect except for some little bacteria that decided to hitch hike inside our wonderful lunch at the village. Within 24 hours I knew every nook and cranny of our beautiful bathroom. I was barely able to make the trip home but thankfully after 3 liters of IV fluids, some anti-nausea medication and 15 unnecessary pounds later we were safe and sound back in New Zealand.
Samoa is a great place and I HIGHLY recommend a visit there. It still relatively undeveloped compared to some other Polynesian islands but holds a beautiful charm and we will definitely see it again…
Unless of course we get to New Caledonia, Tonga, Tahiti or Vanuatu next...
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