2021-01-18 03:36
There’s a certain conversation with which anyone who’s lived in Hamilton for more than five minutes is familiar. A friend is visiting – or, more likely, passing through &nd&hell…Read More
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Poms Away! | A British Immigrant's View Of New Zealand Blog
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A British Immigrant's View of New Zealand
2020-12-21 03:55
We spent our honeymoon in a magical place, a private retreat in a secluded dell: a real-life hobbit hole. Seriously, a pseudo-medieval cottage built into a hillside. There was no electricity… Read More
2020-12-14 03:48
My first visit to Hobbiton was nearly seven years ago. I knew then that I wanted to get married there. Ten days ago, I did.
And it was wonderful.
True, it was supposed to happen back i… Read More
2020-09-28 07:32
A few weeks ago, I was contacted by the Kauri Museum in Matakohe. They offered me, among other things, a private tour of a historical building they’d been gifted. As long-time readers… Read More
2020-09-02 03:07
A guest post by Michelle Williams
The country of New Zealand is blessed with a range of spectacular white water rafting trips that will take you to some amazing places. Because of its steep… Read More
2020-08-03 04:51
POMS AWAY!
Like Mount Fujiyama and the River Avon, New Zealand’s Mount Maunganui has a tautological name: it literally means Mount Big Mountain. Officially, it’s supposed to be… Read More
2020-07-27 03:38
POMS AWAY!
Te Henga, or Bethells Beach, is a properly mystical place. No wonder so many films, TV series, music videos and commercials are shot there. Being on the west coast of Auckland, i… Read More
2020-07-20 04:06
POMS AWAY!
Auckland Zoo is one of the best zoos in the world. I first went at the age of ten, when my family had just moved to New Zealand. When we lived in England, we were regular visitor… Read More
2020-06-17 11:25
These are unprecedented times. At last, New Zealanders have the opportunity to visit all New Zealand’s very best tourist attractions – without the tourists! Even better, the tour… Read More
2020-06-05 10:18
As an immigrant, I’ve seen more of New Zealand than most New Zealanders.
Hopefully, in this brave new era of international isolation, that fact’s about to change. A silver lining… Read More
2020-04-13 09:15
It’s day eighteen of lockdown and, in the words of Freddie Mercury, it finally happened. I’ve run out of locations to blog about. As a New Zealand travel blogger, I find this sta… Read More
2020-04-02 14:46
Look at these photos. Just look. I took hundreds and there honestly wasn’t a single bad one. This place is amazing! Beautiful, otherworldly… straight out of a fairy tale. And I… Read More
2020-03-26 04:34
DAY 1 of LOCKDOWN: Aside from my dream wedding at Hobbiton having to be postponed, my life is barely affected. As a writer, I’m used to working from home. As an introvert, I’m pe… Read More
2020-03-19 01:46
New Zealand’s only castle can be found in the South Island, lording it over the Otago Peninsula. But wait, you think: New Zealand doesn’t have any castles! Well you’re righ… Read More
2020-03-09 05:02
You’ve probably heard of the Moeraki Boulders, those strangely spherical rocks on that beach somewhere in New Zealand.
Well that beach is called Koekohe, and can be found on the South… Read More
2020-02-26 10:39
Oamaru is a coastal town between Christchurch and Dunedin. It’s known for two things: little blue penguins and steampunk. I went penguin watching there when I was a kid, so this visit… Read More
2020-02-17 01:59
Once upon a time, a little girl looked up at a house on a hill. It was a big-boned house, built of imposing pieces of timber.
“It must be a giant’s house,” she said.
And so… Read More
2020-02-10 03:40
There are places in the world that make you feel like you’ve tumbled through the pages of an epic fantasy. Castle Hill, in the middle of New Zealand’s South Island, is such a pla… Read More
2020-02-04 03:24
Kaikoura: the only place where a meal from a van at the side of the road costs more than from a posh restaurant. To be fair, that meal consists of freshly caught crayfish. That’s what… Read More
2020-01-29 04:13
Peter Jackson’s old war planes displayed in sets built by Weta Workshop is exactly as awesome as it sounds. I’m not even interested in aviation history and I absolutely love this… Read More
2020-01-13 03:55
Picton: a small port town at the top of New Zealand’s South Island. It’s known as the gateway to the stunning Marlborough Sounds. The Cook Strait ferry sails to and from it, but… Read More
2019-12-27 06:27
The first Lord of the Rings film came out nearly twenty years ago.
Let that sink in.
The Fellowship of the Ring hit cinemas in December 2001, not five months after I arrived in New Zeal… Read More
2019-12-17 03:52
Way back in the mid-noughties, my generation became suddenly and inexplicably obsessed with a certain unicorn named Charlie. Charlie was a cynical soul who just wanted to sleep, but two youn… Read More
2019-12-10 01:23
Who shall call them from the grey twilight,
the forgotten people?
He shall pass the Door to the Paths of the Dead.
These words are part of the prophecy recited by Aragorn in The Lord of the… Read More
2019-11-25 05:22
New Zealand’s most complete main street of wooden Victorian buildings – that was what attracted me to Greytown. Nestled in the vineyard-rich Wairarapa, just north of Wellington… Read More
2019-11-19 03:40
I love stone circles. I’m not a ‘spiritual’ person, but such ancient monuments fill me with awe. My favourite is the Ring of Brodgar in Orkney, which I visited last year. M… Read More
2019-11-12 04:33
Waimangu Volcanic Valley is the youngest geothermal system in the world. Tourists were flocking to the area before it was even formed, to see the Pink and White Terraces. Then, in 1886, Moun… Read More
2019-10-25 05:00
New Zealand continues to amaze me. Even after all these years, I’m finding new places to visit and being re-enchanted by old ones. My recent New Zealand campervan trip was a perfect ex… Read More
2019-09-12 19:56
James Cowan, courtesy of wellington.recollect.co.nz
In 1903, New Zealand journalist James Cowan met an old man with an extraordinary story. He was American, he said, but after decades of liv… Read More
2019-09-02 07:44
Yesterday was the first day of spring. The sun was shining and I couldn’t resist the allure of one of my favourite places in New Zealand…
… the Hamilton Gardens. Armed w… Read More
2019-08-12 09:51
Something strange has appeared in the centre of Hamilton, New Zealand. Something that would not look out of place in Doctor Who.
Have the Borg descended? Do we finally have solid evidence t… Read More
2019-07-24 09:49
People keep asking me what the best university in New Zealand is. Of course, I have to be loyal to my alma mater and say Auckland. The University of Auckland is New Zealand’s only univ… Read More
2019-07-17 09:53
A few years ago, a certain would-be politician became New Zealand Cat Enemy Number One. He denounced cats as sadistic serial killers and called for their eradication. Not only did he want ev… Read More
2019-06-25 05:05
Yes, that was really what was written on the sign: A Town Like No Udder. We were unable to suppress our groans as we drove past it. We knew Bulls was famous for bad puns – that was why… Read More
2019-06-10 06:59
Qualifying for the National Harry Potter Quiz – see last week’s post – meant an unexpected trip to New Zealand’s capital city. I’d been to Wellington before, on… Read More
2019-06-04 02:46
It was amazing, really: New Zealand’s hundred nerdiest Harry Potter fans gathered in one room. We were in a pub in Wellington, magically decorated with Hogwarts flags and fairy lights… Read More
2019-05-15 04:48
Worcestershire, 1796. A teenage girl is convicted of housebreaking and sentenced to hang. Torn from her poverty-stricken family, she is thrown in gaol to await her fate. Her sentence is comm… Read More
2019-04-09 04:00
One of the most important events of the Hamiltonian year is the Waikato Show. It’s been held every year since 1908, which means this year’s show was the 111th in a row! I’d… Read More
2019-03-11 04:22
I went to a cool, little festival the other day. There were classic cars, steampunk market stalls, old motorbikes, bands, vintage pin-up girls, army vehicles, awesome costumes and even an el… Read More
2019-02-18 05:19
You know when your tent starts glowing with the light of dawn? And the sounds of nature gradually permeate your dreams? Cockerels cock-a-doodle-dooing. Cicadas building to their perpetual cr… Read More
2019-02-10 01:15
One of the first things we did upon returning to New Zealand was visit the Hamilton Gardens. During the six months we were overseas, a new garden had opened as part of the Fantasy Collection… Read More
2019-01-14 04:34
It was New Year’s Eve and we were on our way to Berlin. As we’d purchased the cheapest train tickets possible, we weren’t speeding between cities, but meandering from small… Read More
2018-12-03 23:09
I’ve been in Europe four months. Two left. People back in New Zealand keep asking how I’m coping with the cold. They’re experiencing a warm, humid spring whilst I’m e… Read More
2018-11-14 22:20
This is a guest post by Kristina Bijelic.
In recent years, many Americans have made the decision to pack up their memories and start a new life in New Zealand. Once that major decision has b… Read More
2018-10-10 18:58
I found it in a secondhand bookshop in Scotland. It was called Old New Zealand: A Tale of the Good Old Days, by A Pākehā Māori. I immediately looked for the publicat… Read More
2018-09-27 17:07
While I’m off travelling the world, my little sister’s having her own adventure in the South Island. She’s studying wildlife conservation, which, for a girl who’s bee… Read More
2018-09-20 18:27
New Zealand keeps cropping up in the most unexpected of places. A few weeks ago, I embarked upon a road trip around Scotland with my Kiwi fiancé and our Kiwi friend. We drove from Edi… Read More
2018-09-01 17:20
Each and every year, thousands of people from all over the world relocate to New Zealand, and it’s easy to see why. With a relaxed, laid-back lifestyle and outstanding quality of life… Read More
2018-08-21 13:52
I’ve been thinking about this non-stop since Tim proposed.
Oh yeah, Tim asked me to marry him last week! He got down on one knee during a zeppelin flight over Lake Constance, between S… Read More
2018-07-30 03:21
People are always saying how warm and sunny New Zealand is.
In 2014, my Kiwi partner and I were in Britain visiting relatives, and he was baffled to find that the British summer was warmer a… Read More
2018-07-16 05:21
In two weeks, I’m leaving New Zealand for six months. I’m flying with Tim to Switzerland via Singapore, before visiting his family in Germany; then flying to Ireland and visiting… Read More
2018-07-11 04:27
POMS AWAY!
I moved to New Zealand when I was ten years old. Before that I lived in a small town in England, so while moving to New Zealand wasn’t a total shock to the system, there we… Read More
2018-07-04 05:42
POMS AWAY!
I live in Tauranga, New Zealand. But not for much longer. The time has come to fly the nest.
To Hamilton.
Laugh all you want. Hamilton’s a nice place. (I’ve written… Read More
2018-06-25 05:06
The world had been grey for so long that the blue sky above Bethells Beach was a beacon. We were drawn to it, as were many others. The air was frigid, but the sand was sparkling, silver and… Read More
2018-06-19 05:37
POMS AWAY!
New Zealand has so many great places to visit. I’ve written about a lot of them, here and on other websites. Lately, though, people have been asking me for some more genera… Read More
2018-06-12 05:20
I’m always surprised by how quickly darkness falls in winter. We were driving home from my parents’ the other day – not that late in the afternoon – when I realised t… Read More
2018-06-06 04:14
Much as New Zealanders claim to hate Australia, they seem to love going on holiday there. Of course, this is partly to do with Australia’s relative proximity to New Zealand. The rest o… Read More
2018-05-28 06:26
POMS AWAY!
When I was a child my dad took me into the backyard one clear night to show me some constellations. He’s a science teacher, my dad, and he really likes astronomy. He pointe… Read More
2018-05-23 04:34
It’s a frightful day. The rain’s so loud I can barely hear myself think. I look outside and see a slush of autumn leaves. The last surviving flower in our front garden, a perfect… Read More
2018-05-07 05:06
POMS AWAY!
Yes, I’m writing about another gorge. Karangahake Gorge last week, Taieri Gorge this week – I seem to be gorging myself.
Sorry.
I was just looking through some fami… Read More
2018-04-30 05:39
In three years, I will have lived in New Zealand for two thirds of my life. You’d think, therefore, that the days of hearing “deck” as “dick” and being laughed… Read More
2018-04-25 06:02
It’s not often you see a tower like this in New Zealand. It’s called Firth Tower and it’s in Matamata, not far from Hobbiton. What’s a stone tower doing in a Wai… Read More
2018-04-09 05:29
Katikati is a small town on State Highway 2. Like many small New Zealand towns, it has attempted to make itself more interesting by adopting a quirk. Paeroa has a giant L&P bottle; Bulls… Read More
2018-04-04 05:00
The Goblin Forest of Taranaki really does have to be seen to be believed. It’s like stepping into a fairy tale.
But I’ve already waxed lyrical about it in a previous post, calle… Read More
2018-03-28 04:20
This magically lit waterfall is in Pukekura Park, in the middle of New Plymouth. Scroll down and you’ll see why Pukekura Park is one of the best city parks in New Zealand.
This is a p… Read More
2018-03-22 04:00
WOMAD stands for World of Music and Dance, a massive hippy festival held in New Plymouth every March. My favourite thing about it isn’t the music, or the food, or the stalls selling en… Read More
2018-03-07 03:56
That’s right. There’s a tree church… in Ohaupo.
It was made by this guy whose job was transplanting trees, so he decided to transplant some into his own garden in the sha… Read More
2018-02-20 05:10
The 2018 Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival has been fantastic. From Shirley Valentine performed in the Italian Renaissance Garden to A Midsummer Night’s Dream performe… Read More
2018-02-06 04:09
Sounds idyllic, doesn’t it?
Well it used to be.
A river that sauntered between rolling hills and bush, so clear as to seem invisible and thick with flowing greenery, it had a swimming… Read More
2018-01-31 04:54
Sometimes, stepping into a secondhand bookshop is like stepping into a magical world. Such is the case with Hard to Find Books in Onehunga.
It’s a labyrinth. Mysterious staircases lea… Read More
2018-01-24 04:43
I got a new camera for Christmas. Keen to practise using it, I persuaded my family to visit one of the few easily accessible waterfalls in the Bay of Plenty I hadn’t already seen, Oker… Read More
2018-01-17 03:49
I’d wanted to visit Russell ever since I’d read it was once known as ‘the hellhole of the Pacific’. New Zealand’s first European settlement, the port seethed wi… Read More
2017-12-20 05:23
This is the tourist information centre in Matamata, a town in the Waikato Region of New Zealand. Why does it look so awesome, you ask? Well, this is the town’s other, unofficial name&h&hell…Read More
2017-12-12 03:45
My skin crawled with sweat as I wrestled the tinsel around the tree. I was only wearing a slip, but summer had come hard. I sighed and dug through the bag of decorations: relics of my childh… Read More
2017-12-04 05:14
For years, I thought that awkward tiptoeing around was how everybody did it. Everyone was dithering and clueless when it came to asking people out.
American sitcoms made it look easy, but th… Read More
2017-11-29 04:18
We’ve lived in Hamilton nearly three years now and our Auckland friends still mock us for it. In all honesty, though, it’s a great place to be. Here’s a list of my top ten… Read More
2017-11-22 03:58
I hadn’t long been in New Zealand when I was confronted by the sight of sheep on the school field.
And cows.
And goats.
Walking amongst them was a surreal experience. Adding to my surp… Read More
2017-11-14 04:54
The first time I saw the Craters of the Moon, I was crying. The hot, white, sulphurous fumes mingled with my tears, which made my face feel very strange indeed.
I was crying because I was ti… Read More
2017-11-07 03:03
The majestic rock carving you see behind us is at the edge of Lake Taupō. It’s the face of Ngātoro-i-rangi, a semi-legendary priest who navigated a canoe to New Zealand from… Read More
2017-10-30 04:59
I used to think the east coast city of Napier was boring. We had a holiday there when I was a child. As far as I was concerned, the only things to recommend it were a beach – hardly un… Read More
2017-10-25 04:17
What rotten luck: we arrive at one of the most beautiful places in New Zealand and it’s shrouded in mist! The dramatic vista of snow-capped volcanoes is simply non-existent, the landsc… Read More
2017-10-17 03:53
Tongariro National Park is home to the most stunning scenery in New Zealand’s North Island. It contains three major volcanoes, Tongariro, Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe, which, come winter, are… Read More
2017-10-10 04:02
A natural bridge… Sounds cool, right? We thought so, which is why we went to see the Mangapohue Natural Bridge before leaving Waitomo.
The weather was lovely. Considering the especial… Read More
2017-10-04 03:34
I’m sitting in Hamilton’s Italian Renaissance Garden and my day has just been made.
It’s sunny, but cool. Tim’s working next to me and my parents are geocaching in on… Read More
2017-09-25 03:42
It wasn’t raining, but it had been. The air was as grey as the carpark behind us. Before us, the path disappeared into the moist, black trees. Everyone we’d met in Waitomo had to… Read More
2017-09-18 03:42
I was twelve the first time we visited Waitomo. We stayed at the historic Waitomo Caves Hotel. Part of it was almost a hundred years old! The part our room was in, I think. The Victorian Win… Read More
2017-09-13 04:37
We’d both visited Waitomo before, but this time it was different. This time, we were visiting as adults – without our parents!
It was oddly exciting. Here we were in this natural… Read More
2017-09-06 05:33
There’s something strange going on in Norsewood. A small, sad town on the way up to Napier, its main tourist attraction is a shop selling woollen socks. Most people don’t bother… Read More
2017-08-22 04:01
The South Island of New Zealand is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. My mum, dad, nana, sister and I travelled around much of it in a campervan; it was the best family holiday… Read More
2017-08-15 06:14
I’ve been going through Dad’s old photographs, watching my sister and I grow up. The photos from 2001, our first year in New Zealand, brought back so many memories: places I&rsqu&hell…Read More
2017-08-08 05:36
You know something? I’ve lived in New Zealand for sixteen years and I still think the emergency number is 999.
“I mean I know it’s 911…” I said to my partner t… Read More
2017-07-25 06:00
It’s not a trick question, but I bet you’d have a hard time telling me the answer…
My little sister, me, my mum and my grandpa at the summit of One Tree Hill
Cornwall Park… Read More
2017-07-20 02:19
Many New Zealanders think Hamilton is a cultural (and actual) wasteland, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Since moving here, I’ve infiltrated the local theatre scene… Read More
2017-07-11 06:15
“Better” is a subjective term, but we’re doing this anyway, so hold onto your monocles, Brits!
1) New Zealand is less crowded than England
The population of England is appr… Read More
2017-07-05 05:54
That’s right – we’re doing this. Suck it, Kiwis!
1) England has better pubs
The oldest pub in England dates back to 1189 and is built into the sandstone beneath Nottingham… Read More
2017-06-22 02:12
For many, New Zealand is the ultimate holiday destination. It’s a small country, far away in the South Pacific, but it’s well worth visiting. Here are ten reasons you should put… Read More
2017-06-06 05:07
You wouldn’t expect to find New Zealand’s first library down an unassuming street in Tauranga. Nor would you expect it to contain a secret trapdoor, under which treasures (and pe… Read More
2017-05-30 02:28
It’s one of those small towns you drive through on the way to somewhere else. It’s a pleasant, forgettable settlement whose only claim to fame is that Tim and Neil Finn (of Crowd… Read More
2017-05-25 07:25
I’ve lived in Hamilton, New Zealand for nearly two-and-a-half years. Here’s a list of the best restaurants, bars and cafes I’ve found so far:
1) Victoria Street Bistro
Desp… Read More
2017-05-16 06:15
You know what’s great about my parents living in Tauranga? It’s less than an hour’s drive from Rotorua. Now I’m not saying there’s nothing to do in Tauranga &nd&hell…Read More
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