Ok, so we have been in Nelson for 9 months, we are well settled and au-fait with most things kiwi now. Rather than give you chapter & verse of how things have gone for us, heres an easily digestable list of likes & dont-likes;
WE LIKE
1. Cold crisp mornings, which develop to an afternoon on the deck in the sun.
2. Laid back kiwi business people. Ordered some flowers for my sister in-law in Tokoroa, bloke is sending us a bill in the post. Never in the UK.
3. Kids freedom. Girls go to the local pool on their bikes and go to the aqua disco on friday nights.
4. Fresh fruit & veg. Damn cheap when its local and in season - just how we like it. Braeburn apples currently 69c a kilo. Love the roadside stalls too.
5. Lack of traffic. We can get anywhere we like in a few minutes, with no traffic jams.
6. Visiting the local reserves. Our local council have installed free to use gas BBQs at alot of their reserves. Just take your meat salads & wine. They are always clean and we have had loads of good laughs with other BBQ-ers too.
7. Swimming is crystal clear rivers in the height of summer - no pollution
8. Friendly schools. Our girls have been welcomed so well into a school of 600 when they came from a school of 34.
9. Catching blue cod in the marlborough sounds and pan frying them for lunch on a deserted beach. Jacky still raves about how good it was - food and scenery.
10. beer-o'clock on a friday. Finishing work a bit early on a friday and having a swift cold one with your work mates before the weekend.
11. Food & wine festivals.
Good wine, good company, live music and PROPER food, not burgers and chips etc. All the local wineries show up, with some bloody good wines - and you get to meet the owners and let them ramble on about how good their wine is. Great fun when they are half cut themselves, if you shower them with compliments as they fill your glass they just keep filling it and filling it.
12. Smoke free pubs and clubs. I think thats the nrom now in the Uk anyway isnt it?
13. Stress free work. Not that work practices are any slackere here, but work pressures dont seem to build up. Might be the beer o'clock time on fridays!
WE DONT LIKE;
1. Lack of central heating. We didnt think it would bother us, but getting up in the cold is a real moral dampener in the morning. Mind you this soon goes when the sun comes up.
2. Hoons. A-holes who race up & down our road at all hours. Bah-humbug, sounding like my dad now. Thing is the drain pipe sized exhausts make a bloody racket, and in the summer when the windows are open we can tell which route they have taken by the sound of them braking and accelerating. Better than counting sheep i guess!
3. Loss of social circle. We are getting a good network of friends now, but its going to take a while to build up good strong friendships. They will come over time.
4. Fish & chips...........Fish can be good but chips are all frozen. Ask for vinegar on them and they look at you a if you have two heads. Not a major gripe, just a niggle. Particulary when your on the way home from the pub.
5. Early closing. Alot of shops near us close for saturday afternoon. Liquor stores close about 8 and the local pub is empty by half nine on a friday. Just a case of getting used to it I guess.
Thats about it, as you can see the likes are much more than the dis-likes. Most of the dis-likes are niggles that really dont concern us too much.
Feel free to add your own lists - lets see if there are any trends going on here.
Cheers
Nick