{"id":211838,"date":"2026-01-01T17:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T17:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/211838\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T17:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T17:18:08","slug":"i-moved-to-new-zealand-from-the-uk-these-five-things-surprised-me-most","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/211838\/","title":{"rendered":"I moved to New Zealand from the UK: These five things surprised me most"},"content":{"rendered":"

Weather<\/p>\n

I was very excited to go from one summer to another \u2013 and I\u2019m glad the weather has started to become much sunnier in Auckland \u2013 but initially, I found it odd that the weather was not too dissimilar to England.<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t expecting a constant oppressive heat, which many back home believe the weather is like (purely because New Zealand is close to Australia). Still, when I saw overcast days and plenty of drizzle, it did give me flashbacks of my time living in London. <\/p>\n

However, there are some key differences. I make sure to put sun cream on when stepping outside on a sunny day, something I would probably overlook in the UK, and I\u2019m prepared to be hit by gale-force winds regularly around Auckland \u2013 I thought only Wellington was known for its wind. <\/p>\n

\"AlthoughAlthough the hot weather has started to ramp up, much of New Zealand’s climate feels similar to that of the UK. Photo \/ Alex Burton <\/p>\n

Pubs<\/p>\n

A staple of every British city, town or village is the pub. No matter where you are in the country, there will be a place for you to head down and have a drink and some food right at the heart of the community. <\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t to say New Zealand, and Auckland in particular, doesn\u2019t have great pubs. I\u2019ve done my best to survey as many of them as I can and had a great time doing so. <\/p>\n

What stands out to me is that they aren\u2019t at the heart of every community. Where I\u2019m staying in East Auckland and in some of the surrounding suburbs, I feel I can\u2019t just head down to the pub on an afternoon and have a drink. I might have to drive somewhere further away and I\u2019m not sure that is the brightest idea.<\/p>\n

The local boozer is a sacred place that should be only a brisk walk away \u2013 more of these would certainly help to improve community spirit. <\/p>\n

\"ExperiencesExperiences of pub culture in the UK have been quite different from those in New Zealand. Photo \/ 123rf<\/p>\n

Driving<\/p>\n

This might be more of a realisation for me after living in London for the past few years, but it feels weird to have to use a car to move around the city.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve used the public transport network as much as I can in Auckland and I will say the trains are regular and the buses are clean. Even so, if you need to go anywhere important, a car is essential. <\/p>\n

The problem is that driving itself is a risk. I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ve ever felt as stressed as I have on Auckland roads. The car seems to completely change everyone\u2019s mindsets, and journeys become a race. <\/p>\n

\"CarsCars and driving have become a much-larger part of life since moving to Auckland. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray<\/p>\n

Pace of life<\/p>\n

This was a good surprise. I\u2019ve been used to constant intensity in everyday life, loud noises and bright lights everywhere \u2013 there was no escaping it. <\/p>\n

So, I was quite confused when I came out here and found the pace of life was much slower. <\/p>\n

People were much more relaxed in almost every aspect of life \u2013 except driving \u2013 and that was something I needed to embrace. There was no need to always be at 100%, it\u2019s usually fine to take a step back and be calm about things \u2013 something I\u2019m grateful to New Zealand for teaching me. <\/p>\n

\"LifeLife has been much more relaxed since moving away from the UK. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray <\/p>\n

Rugby<\/p>\n

I think most people are aware of New Zealand\u2019s love for rugby, but I had forgotten how intense that love can be. <\/p>\n

Coming over from England where football (I can\u2019t bring myself to call it soccer) is the No 1 sport dominating the media and is a part of everyday life, it was strange to see rugby so prominent everywhere. <\/p>\n

Considering rugby union is probably the third-biggest sport in England after football and cricket, while rugby league is popular in the north of the country, I can relate to the love I\u2019ve seen for teams like the All Blacks, the Warriors and teams of all sizes for both codes. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been to a Blues game when I was much younger and when the season comes around, I\u2019m looking forward to watching a Super Rugby game and finally going to my first All Blacks match. <\/p>\n

\"ComingComing from a place where football takes top billing, the dominance of rugby is interesting to see. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Weather I was very excited to go from one summer to another \u2013 and I\u2019m glad the weather…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1443,12889,9869,1342,1874,71,34393,8454,194,424,14909,3025,32033,117,111,43,139,69,2989,1517,39594,116572,43766,16124,1361,223,24359,6035,61,1613,30645,5592,80],"class_list":["post-211838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-about","tag-aotearoa","tag-arrival","tag-five","tag-found","tag-from","tag-habit","tag-including","tag-kiwi","tag-life","tag-me","tag-most","tag-moved","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-positive","tag-reveals","tag-scary","tag-sherry","tag-stresses","tag-surprised","tag-that","tag-the","tag-these","tag-things","tag-to","tag-uk","tag-unexpected","tag-weird","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}