A Canadian Tourist’s Impressions of New Zealand (Part 1)
May 4th, 2009I’m a little over half way through my 4 month visit to New Zealand. Jessica Fodor, a friend (and fellow fair-trade coffee enthusiast) from Toronto, is gearing up for a trip to New Zealand and sent me some great questions.
First, aside from a few hours layover at the Auckland airport, I haven’t visited any of the north island. I’ve been living in Christchurch, the largest city of the south island.
What’s the currency like?
The paper money is quite plasticy. I bet they would survive a load in the wash. All of the bills are different sizes, which makes cramming money in my wallet a little less than elegant. $1 and $2 pieces are only slightly different in size. It makes me appreciate the 2-tone toonie. If I were to count the coins in my pocket, I often mistake 2′s for 1′s. (I know that wasn’t really your question, but I found it note-worthy.)
At the time of writing, $1 Canadian is roughly $1.50 NZD.
Cost of living compared to home?
Things seem more expensive. (But then I have to get my head around the conversion.) It is not unusual for items to have a dollar number value of 1.5x what I would see it for in Canada. (That means it only seems more expensive.) Books for example. Phew! Bookstores make me cringe.
When I need cheering up, I wander into the local EB Games. The average “new release” PS3 or Xbox360 title is between $120 and $140. New release Nintendo DS games are $80. Srsly.
Music scene much?
I haven’t actually encountered (or sought after) the music scene as much as I thought I would. I’ve been following a very interesting electronic musician Tom Cosm. His music is all released under Creative Commons. With his blessing, you should download, burn it to CDs, and leave them in friend’s cars.
There is a “Groove Guide” published weekly, both in dead-tree version, and in 1s and 0s.
Difficult to find a job?
The New Zealand equivalent of Monster would be Seek. No comment on difficulty. I’ve been keeping myself… otherwise occupied. ::suspicious grin::
That’s it for today. I’m off to enjoy another beautiful, crisp autumn day. Part 2 will be my “Highlights, Lowlights, and Bloopers” thus far.
Tags: New Zealand, travelling
Posted in Ponderings | Comments (2)
May 13th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
having just arrived back home i now find myself wishing i had gone to liverpool. why didn’t i go – perhaps simply blinded by the lights of london. leave no stone unturned my friend.
May 17th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Thank you. You are absolutely right. Sometimes, I get stuck on the notion that there are too many stones; I will never unturn them all. The impossibility of such a task is irrelevant. It is no excuse for not trying.
Glad you got back to Canada safe. I look forward to meeting up in July.
Onwards.