Work and Food

            After three nights in Wellington it was time to move on. We had only planned to stay for two but after all the traveling we decided to take an extra day to sleep in and rest. Chelsea also wanted to spend time creating a CV so she could start applying for jobs. In New Zealand a CV is their form of our resume. It is set up a little differently. I have noticed that people in NZ have very strong work ethic. Even in fast food restaurants such as McDonalds, kiwi employees take pride in their work. Minimum wage is around $13.00 and each person in NZ is covered medically for being citizens, not because of limited benefits within a job  (their health care system seems to be great from what I have learned). Servers and bar tenders do not depend on tips or become bitter from the lack there of because they are paid hourly. While food is slightly more expensive here it is nice that while going out to eat tipping is not necessary because the employees are being paid well. I have noticed that service while eating out is definitely of better quality than the US.

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Before I came to NZ I tried to remind myself to buy some Heinz ketchup to put in my suitcase before I left. I remember being in Europe and missing ketchup because their form of tomato paste didn’t cut it for me. I was pleasantly surprised that in NZ there was Heinz ketchup and it actually tastes quite great! Looking at the list of ingredients of many similar products from the US really surprised me. The number of ingredients is much smaller and artificial products in foods are avoided. Oreos taste incredible here, which is nice because it is a dairy free food. It has been a little more challenging avoiding dairy; it is used in high quantity on a lot of products. Also, many employees do not know whether or not dairy is used in some of their products when I ask them. I have only seen one product labeled vegan since I have been here. I can’t complain though because all the food I can and have been eating tastes so good. Fruits and vegetables are fresh, especially avocados. Eggs taste wonderful and look almost florescent yellow compared to eggs back at home. Soymilk is also particularly tasty with less preservatives and fillers. Can you tell I’m hungry?

            Anyways, Tauranga was our next destination. There are so many small little beach towns along the costs that all have their own vibe and even look. It took us seven hours from Wellington to this beach town and again the drive went by in a flash because of all the beautiful scenery. We arrived at the hostel just before the sunset. Our hostel mate was an English girl who had once been a fruit picker in Australia. She came down to NZ to travel the South Island and do the same. A lot of farms in the south will hire young adults as fruit pickers in exchange for housing. NZ is split into two islands with a ferry in between. Where the north is considered more developed and warmer, the south is considered MUCH more beautiful, desolate, and cooler. Auckland and our travels so far have all been in the North Island. The sights have been so amazing already that I can only imagine what the South has in store. I want to plan a trip there during a longer break since it is quite far away and is something that can’t be missed.

            While we were in Tauranga we went on a walk towards the harbor. When we reached the water I started kicking myself I did not bring my camera. I need to stop the mentality of “I won’t need to bring my camera right now” because in new places you never know what you are going to see ahead. The bridge we were walking on was awesome and had a spectacular lookout on all the boats. The time of day was perfect too for pictures- dumb, dumb, dumb! After walking around we found a strip of restaurants and bars along the water. I didn’t even realize what day it was until I saw signs for “Valentine’s Day Special Tonight.” It never feels great not having a Valentine, but having discounts on food and drinks helped heal the pain, haha. It was a weeknight and I was surprised to see that we were one of the last customers. I assumed because the restaurant had an open bar that it would stay open late. Not the case, the entire town both bars and restaurants shut down starting at 5 pm and the ones left open closed no later than 10 pm. It seemed that every time Chelsea and I thought to go shopping in NZ it was after 5 pm and nothing was open. I like that about NZ though, the society is clearly not demanding or driven by money and work.