Birds – On my initial visit to New Zealand several years ago I was struck by the silence of the forests. Nothing stirred, very few birds calling, nothing scurrying from the walking tacks before me. For a real ‘birdo’ like me it felt like uninhabited forests and blank skies.
Long-term relationships – You can’t beat the sensation of having close contact with people who have known you for most of your life, if not all of it. Family and friends I am close to are truly missed. People who know everything about you and still enjoy your company.
Flowers - A similar story to birds. With so much vegetation covering the landscape, it remains green the majority of the year. However, it is never punctuated by the mass flowerings of plants back home like eucalypts, acacias and grevilleas. It’s just continuously green.
High clouds – Simple but true. Cloud cover is usually low over here, hence the high rainfall. I miss the long wispy clouds of an Aussie summer spread across the sky, frequently culminating in remarkable sunsets.
Good wages – NZ has had a poor economy for a few years now and wages are low compared to the cost of living. It was even like this before the global financial crisis and wages are generally 20% less here than in Australia. Lucky for us, having one car, no kids, no mortgage and a simple lifestyle allows us enough money to travel.
Quality news programmes – The only way to describe what New Zealand news bulletins discuss is contrived babble. Not much interest in the world beyond NZ shores so the limited number of news bulletins struggle to fill their time slot with anything of real significance.
None of the above is intended as a harsh criticism of New Zealand as a whole just some of the things I miss about Australia. For any offended Kiwis, a future posting will be things that I DON’T miss about Australia. That will be interesting……
There must be something in the autumn wind, or maybe it is the change of seasons or the recent moving of house……but things are going great and here’s why. I have become uplifted with grace and vigour, leaping into opportunities and challenges with fervour. An earlier post spoke of much promise and encouraged personal growth and all things bright and shiny. I am an idealist and I make no excuses or apologies for being so. However, somewhere along this road paved of sparkling green grass and shiny pebbles, life sometimes gets in the way and pushes me in directions I am less inclined to seek. It is all too easy to let these things set the rhythm of life and not the pleasant challenges that line the sparkling green grass paths of my fertile mind. So time to get back to the open field and run towards a few new challenges. First up, I have been tracing my family roots on my father’s side. I know almost nothing about my father’s life before us kids and ever since he died, I have been planning to do so. So, start tracing family tree - Tickü. Second thing was to get a bit more creative and this is going to see me advance in a few different directions. First, I have enrolled in a photography course so I can learn more about the impressive camera I bought and hopefully illuminate the walls of our new home with bold statements and memories. The other creative venture I have embarked on is a mosaic course. I have always marvelled at ancient mosaics and the lavish and elaborate craft work that many Middle Eastern buildings have, all done with tiles, mortar and amazing patience. I can only hope to achieve a small fraction of the aforementioned. So, creative genius - Tickü. Let those sparkling green grass paths lead me astray.
