New Zealand People

The stories on the blog so far are mainly about the great nature of New Zealand. But the way I celebrated my birthday this year gave me the inspiration for this chapter.

We live now for a little over a year in Wellington. If you make a decision like this, to move to the other side of the world, you do realise that you leave all your friends and family behind. Contact with “the old world” will now only be via e-mail or telephone. The big question is: “Will I make more friends again?” Thereby not forgetting my “old” friends, of course. I asked myself this question quite often. Luckily I can say that it was quite easy to meet nice people. So I can say, I gained a nice group of new friends.



The easiest way to meet people is via your work. I think this especially counts for New Zealand. People not only work together but colleagues often plan social things together. The Friday night drinks are a real good example. For a Dutch (almost) non-drinker like me, this was something I had to get used to, but right now, I can say that I think this is a nice habit. Although I will never drink as much as a Kiwi. This is probably a habit I will never get used to.

Via colleagues you meet other people again. Because people invite people for a party or some drinks and nobody thinks it is strange if you bring other people along. This is the way I met a lot of other friends and so I started to receive e-mails and invitations for more drinks and celebrations.

I do like to custom of every one bringing something to eat and a bottle of their own preference. This gave me often the opportunity to use my bread maker and bring fresh homemade bread. But also I became familiar with the New Zealand specialities, like roast, baked vegetables and Pavlova. Of course I have to mention the barbecue. I’m not addicted to the sausages yet, but I think they are yummie.

Like I said in the beginning of this story, you never know what happens if you start a new life somewhere else. I could never image that I would celebrate my second birthday here in New Zealand with 16 friends. This meant really a lot to me. I specially like to thank Caroline, Fiona and Trudy for introducing me to their friends.

I just wanted to share these feelings with you all. New Zealand not only has great nature but also great people.