where we have been....

Dear readers,

Long time no speak! We have a lot to update you all on so grab a snack and get comfortable - let’s get into it!

So, it’s now April. We’ve been in New Zealand since the end of January and in Wellington since February. Last time we updated you all, we were about to head south to the Wellington region. Since arriving, we’ve done some house sitting jobs in Featherston and Waikanae.

Featherston is about an hour away from Wellington and in order to get there, you have to do the windiest drive I think I have ever done. The route takes you around the mountains so if you get motion sickness, be prepared! It’s full of twists and turns but it is truly a beautiful drive and the views are just amazing (especially if you’re the passenger). There’s a viewpoint along the way so be sure to stop off and admire the beauty! Whilst in Featherston, we were looking after the cutest little dog called Douglas. We took him on a short hike nearby called the Remutaka trail. I highly recommend it! We walked for about 45 minutes before turning back around, making it about an hour and half. It goes on for miles so if you’re looking for a longer adventure, there are lots of options. As always, the views were amazing. It was a pretty warm day when we did it but the walk had a lot of shade along the way! It’s not too tough at all but the ground was quite uneven at points and there were some parts of the track that were exposed so make sure you take care if doing it. It was a great walk and definitely worth checking if you’re nearby!

A couple of days after finishing this job, we headed up the coast to Waikanae, about 70 minutes away. It is such a beautiful area and we were lucky enough to be staying in a large property with sea views - which meant we had some pretty great sunsets! The beach was great, too - it’s huge and dog-friendly so we took Alfie, the dachshund we were taking care of, for a little trip one evening. We made sure to grab some fish and chips to eat whilst we watched the sun go down and they were very tasty!
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to explore much around Waikanae because I got a job in Wellington and had to work everyday whilst we were house sitting. It made for long commutes to and from work but the pets we were looking after (Alfie and his feline brothers, Rocky and Tigger) made it so worth it. Limei was able to take in some of the beautiful nature around the property but sadly, that’s about it. It’s such a shame that we didn’t get to explore this area more so we would absolutely love to head back that way at some point in the near future.

That was the end of our house sitting stint so far in New Zealand. As we have said in previous blog posts, we have been using Trusted Housesitters to find these jobs and we absolutely loved it. We were able to see some new parts of the country whilst getting free accommodation and lots of animal cuddles! A win all round in my opinion. We would definitely recommend using a site like Trusted Housesitters to find a place to stay if you’re planning on moving/visiting New Zealand (or any country really!), especially if you are on a budget. Unfortunately, we don’t have the flexibility right now to continue these jobs, otherwise we would absolutely love to. We’re both working now, so having a more permanent base was important to us. That leads me onto our next point - finding somewhere to rent!

As the capital city, Wellington can often be pretty expensive. I have actually been pleasantly surprised by the rental prices. There have been a fair amount of choices for us despite us having a relatively low budget! I’ve been using websites like TradeMe (which literally has a service for everything), OneRoof and RealEstate in order to find properties to rent. They all have a lot of options but it can be quite tedious having to try and schedule viewings for so many places, particularly when the real estate agent doesn’t respond about a property you love! It took us a little while but we eventually scheduled a viewing for a one bed flat by the sea and immediately fell in love with it. It’s $450 a month, which is more than what we were hoping to spend, but the views alone make it so worth it. We had dolphins right across the street from us the other day! The views are amazing but the location is also perfect! There’s a beach only a two minute walk from us and so we’ve spent a few sunsets there and read books, chatted and drank some wine! There are so many op shops (charity shops/thrift shops), cafes, pubs and shops - all a pretty walkable distance! This was important to us because we learned pretty quickly that parking is annoying - paying for parking and finding spots is challenging all across the city. Having the ability to choose when to walk or drive or take the bus is a huge plus! So while we pay a bit more for rent, we think that there are so many more benefits that we get to utilise!

Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do much exploring over the past couple of months. Now that we both have full time jobs (in the same cafe!) it's particularly hard to find time to get out of the city. In addition to the issue of time, there is also the issue of money. It’s no secret that New Zealand is expensive - in fact, I think it’s one of the most talked about things! Being on minimum wage, we’ve really felt the costs of this country lately. Food and petrol are really expensive here - and that’s coming from two people who have been in both the UK and US recently, which are both suffering from cost of living crises right now. So, everything we do here is on a pretty tight budget. That being said, we have been able to explore lots of the city and try out some new food and drink spots. Of notable mention is Maranui Surf Club in Lyall Bay for some INCREDIBLE milkshakes and Evil Twins in Te Aro for some great matcha! We'll do a full blog on our experiences and opinions on Wellington, including cafes and restaurants we've tried, so keep an eye out for that!

We did spend a night in our car in Castlepoint, a small beachside town about 2 and a half hours away from Wellington. It’s beautiful there! We spent $60 for a spot in the campsite Castlepoint Holiday Parks & Motel - right on the beach, which meant that we got to wake up to the most incredible view of the ocean and the lighthouse in the distance. Truly breathtaking. There’s a short walk that you can do up to the lighthouse for some amazing views of the sea and the hills surrounding the town - we highly recommend it! We slept in our car for the first time, only for one night so we could see what we need to bring for the next time and any sort of ways to improve our experience! Setting up and taking down was super easy. In our car, our back windows can push out instead of rolling down, which was nice for circulating air and cooling it down a bit. Two people in a car can feel a bit claustrophobic to some but thankfully Niamh and I are good at sharing spaces and communicating. I think this is a really good test for couples, being in a tight space and only really having each other to rely on. Plus, if there are any problems to come up - how do you both deal with the problem at hand. Thankfully, for us the problems that arose were pretty minor. Niamh hogs the space and I hog the blanket. In all seriousness, there were a few problems that we experienced - the first being petrol, specifically a lack of it. A combination of poor research and a few too many assumptions by both of us led us to a very empty tank of petrol trying to drive over 60 km to the nearest petrol station in Masterton. We knew there was a shop in Castlepoint beforehand, so we decided not to bring proper food as it was only one night - we brought some fruit and snacks for the drive but that’s about it. We arrived at about 3pm and we were both starving! So we drove over to the Castlepoint store (the only one in town) and found it to be closed. On Google Maps it said it didn’t close until 5pm. We were hungry, sad and confused. After some fierce googling we found that the closest shop was 40 minutes away. We had no other option but to go and as we were driving we noticed we had about a quarter of a tank left. I must say that it was worth the trip though because we had the BEST fish and chips since we got to New Zealand. The fish was so buttery, soft, flavourful, and just fell apart in the best way and the batter. Oh. My. God. The batter. It was so crunchy, crispy and perfectly salted. Same with the chips, a nice crunch on the outside and fluffy potato on the inside. Again perfectly salted. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. We also got to play with a puppy and have a great conversation with one of the staff members! We highly recommend going to Riversdale Beach Store in Riversdale! We ate our fish and chips on the beach and then headed back to Castlepoint while panicking that we were going to run out of petrol on our way out the next day! Do not make the same mistake as we did! Fill up your tank, pack some food and do your research!

While we have limited time and funds, we came here to travel and will make more of an effort to go out and explore - which is what we came here to do. I think that it is easy sometimes for us to put travel on the backburner because of work and lack of money. It is good to remember that jobs come and go, money comes and goes but the places we go and the memories we make are so much more important and will have lasting impact. We have limited money but we are actively trying to look for other higher paying jobs or side hustles. If anyone reading this has any tips on finding employment or side hustles, let us know and we’ll include it in our next blog! We want to help as many people as possible who may find themselves in this situation.

Thank you all for reading this week’s blog! We are so sorry for the two month gap in posts - sometimes life doesn’t go the way you expect. We’ll try to make sure that doesn’t happen again so make sure you stay tuned for any future posts we make!

Talk to you all soon!

Lots of love,
Limei and Niamh