.
First of all the site is prepared for building. That may mean that some digging has to be done so that a part of the slope of a hill ends up in a flat section. Then a lot of concrete is cast on which the actual building will take place. As soon as the concrete is hardened the actual constructing can start. A timber skeleton is built. Nowadays insulation is fitted inside the frames and afterwards the frames are closed with plaster board. In the more luxury homes plywood is used before putting the plaster board. This way it is easier to put something on a wall, which is a bit uneasy with only plaster board. Most houses have outside walls with partially overlapping horizontally shelves. There is a tendency to build new houses with a brick wall on the outside. In case an earth quake might happen these walls collapse to the outside of the house, so that the timber frame remains in tact. More and more people are starting to insulate their homes in a better way. Nowadays hardly any house has thermo pane windows. And New Zealand's natural gas amount is estimated to be sufficient for the next 10 years.
The so called sections have different sizes. The smallest sections are at least 400 m2 (0.1 acre). But a bit of a house needs at least 200 m2 because almost every house is single storied. And that way there is not much left for a garden, because almost all houses are on it's own. And the cost of a sections depends on the usability of it. When a house is built on a section of 800 m2, of which 300 m2 is on the steep slope of a hill, then that part is hardly of use. And that way three different sized adjoining sections can still be the same price.
It is also remarkable that house prices can differ from each other within the region. Living in the city (Wellington & Auckland) has advantages regarding traveling (see further down). Therefore the cost of living in the city is much more expensive (dearer, as they say here) compared to neighboring towns. An example: a 150 m2 3 bedroom home on a 400 m2 section costs in Wellington (150.000 citizens) approximately NZ$ 400.000. A comparable home in Lower Hutt (90.000 citizens; 20 minutes by train north east of Wellington) would cost NZ$ 300.000. The same home in Wainuiomata (5000 citizens; 15 minutes by bus south of Lower Hutt) costs less than NZ$ 225.000. This price difference is not only valid for houses, but also for cars, the hair dresser and groceries. A carton with pineapple juice from Starmart (retail chain) in Wellington costs NZ$ 3,48. The same juice in a supermarket in Wainuiomata costs NZ$ 1,85.
Public transport is not comparable to that in the Netherlands. The railway system looks more like vice versa running underground. The carriages have little comfort, but during rush hour they run every 10 minutes. And pretty much on time. There are 2 train inspectors (guards) in a carriage. Each carriage consists of 2 segments. The front segment and back segment have 2 entrances to let passengers in and out. Sometimes a train consists of 2 carriages, and then there are 4 guards running around. And after each stop at a railway station they go clipping tickets through their compartment. If you don't have a valid ticket (some stations have no ticket office) you cab buy one from the train inspector. That's just as expensive as at the ticket office. There are two types of tickets: peak hour and off-peak tickets. A train tour of 50 km's lasts about 1 hour and the train stops at some 12 stations. The trains usually never ride faster than 80 km's per hour. That's why driving along the motorway they are commonly overtaken by cars; even trucks. An off-peak return ticket costs NZ$ 10,00 for the 50 km journey.
Busses have a similar comfort and service. Even the prices are similar: 20 minutes by bus from A to B costs NZ$ 2,00 per person. Oh, and in order to tell the driver you want him to stop so that you can get off the bus, there is a shared bell. On both sides inside the bus there is a clothesline-like fabric rope from the back to the front pulled through rings. When you pull the rope you'll hear a clear bell sound. And a large lamp behind the driver will start burning.
Passengers maintain the English courtesy: no stampede, but neatly and quietly queuing, giving way to others and helping people who can't manage to get on or off the bus on their own.
The friendliness of the New Zealanders is something that really caught our eye. People show a tremendous interest and they are always willing to help. And without being pushy. That was obvious when we entered a car dealer's outside exhibition area looking for a car. We told the man who came over to us that we were just orientating and explained him why. He accompanied us and provided us with all thinkable information regarding origin and car's features and invited us in for a drink. He let us go without grumbling after half an hour without having sold a thing. We found out that telling that you're from overseas before asking anything, people will do their utmost to please you and to make you feel comfy. That turned out once more when we - looking for an internet cafe - ended up in the local library. A very friendly passer-by told us that was the cheapest opportunity. When we finally got there (like with each and every library just outside the shopping centre) we explained to one of the managers it was out first entrance and we were not aware of the customs and habits. After that we were told most friendly how things were supposed to be done and that checking out email was for free, as long as it was with a New Zealand provider. In our situation that not being the case it cost us $1,00 per quarter hour. Meanwhile we could do other things like internet banking, right from a New Zealand city library with the ING-Bank in the Netherlands. Unfortunately we managed only partly because some hacker protection (a so called firewall) prohibited all kind of data coming through. We asked the manager of the internet facility for help again, which was provided fast and adequate: "Please use my PC. Maybe it will work there." No luck, however. New talks with the manager learned that the city library offered wireless internet access via the so called cafenet. The laptop we took with us was of help, so that after half an hour hard labour and some help of the manager we were able to do the things over the internet we came for.
Another example of helpfulness is the unasked advice to buy a car in a neighbouring town. Upper Hutt seems to be cheaper than Lower Hutt. We were also advised to visit Christchurch some time. It's one of the few towns where you can still find buildings from 1840. Christchurch is also known as the flower city of New Zealand.
This friendly attitude is typical for New Zealanders. Everyone says hello, even if you don't know each other. And that leads to a short conversation. The traditional "good morning" is here "Hi, how are you?" with the accent on "you". This formality is usually replied with "fine" or "not (too) bad", followed by "How 'bout yourself" or just "Yourself?" We once said hello to a young man in a wheel chair who was riding on a footpath along side a main road which slightly went up a hill. He waited for us to pass at a bus stop as the footpath was not wide enough for a wheel chair and a pedestrian. So we wanted to thank him for letting us pass and he replied to our phrase with the statement: "Could be better. I'm hot". The other side of the coin is that the New Zealanders are some or what forgetful. Being late for an appointment is rather habit than exception. We once had an appointment with an acquaintance, but it was canceled without warning. We would have had a phone call regarding where to be picked up, but the phone call was never made. Bad luck. This way we had an unexpected evening off. Recently we read an article in the local newspaper about a waitress in a cafe who was fired as she appeared late at work in several occasions. This, combined with an "odd fellow approach" of customers, her employer fired her after 6 months. The word "mate" is very commonly used. Even more if someone has something to do with Australia.
Prices of groceries really struck us. New Zealand is - like the Netherlands - an agricultural country. Therefore one might expect that dairy prices are comparable. A liter of milk costs NZ$ 1,85, approximately € 0,90. In the Dutch supermarket Dirk v/d Broek this buys you 2 liters. The same thing for yoghurt: 1 liter (here it's sold per kg) costs NZ$ 4,45, appr. € 2,20. But the good news is that you can produce your own yoghurt at appr. one third of that amount. And: Meat is dirt-cheap. 500 grams lamb mince: NZ$ 5,59. Bargain-hunters (like us) buy their groceries by the end of the day and purchase it at NZ$ 2,99. We had lamb leg without bone. It costs almost nothing. Strange thing is: You'd better eat beef, veal or lamb than chicken, because chicken is most of the time more expensive than the rest.
Our stay here will remember us to the Netherlands for long, because beside all the exotic flora and fauna we see here daisies, forget-me-nots, poplars, willows, squirrels, black birds and thrush. Not to mention the dogs, cats, horses, sheep and cows. Dutch names are found everywhere. At our real estate agency all staff have a badge with their name on it. The woman at the reception desk is named "van Ooijen". She is married to a Dutchman. Almost every non Maori of Polynesian has his roots overseas. A taxidriver told us that her grandparents were Scottish who arrived in New Zealand in 1924 by the age of 17. Each and everyone we speak hears instantly that we are no Kiwi's. But they can hardly locate our origin. Some guess Ireland, others don't take the gamble. But almost everyone compliments us on our English. And that is good to hear for new immigrants.
Because of his stay in Israel, Guus is spoilt to the bone when it comes to eating fruit. He used to eat banana's with lots added sugar in yoghurt, but not before the peal turned brown. He never ate watermelon since. Any other different type of melon had to have a special smell and stay on the fruit bowl for a couple of days in order to ripen a bit more before he would eat it. And there are lots more examples of his restraint regarding fruit consumption. What he did eat was fruit salad, most of the time with a little help of sweeteners. What the reason might be is not yet clear to us, but fruit in general tasts better. It is sweeter and more tender without being rotten. And Guus is back to eating fruit again. Spontaneously. Just like that, after a sandwich. Just a kiwi fruit (NZ$ 2,69 / kg) or a banana )NZ$ 1,69 / kg) or a delicious sweet-n-sour and juicy Royal Gala apple.
We already mentioned courtesy, but I'd like to write an extra paragraph on the pedestrian in daily traffic. Now that we are depending on public traffic we walk much more than before. And car drivers courtesy regarding pedestrians stroke us. As soon as you approach a crosswalk at about 2 meters obviously wanting to cross the road car drivers stop to let you go to the other side. Not used to these habits we usualy thank the drivers by waving at them. And people are obviously not used to this, as they wave back.
Some more issues of interest
The air in New Zealand is very clear and pure. Sun glasses are essential eye protection as the sun light is very intense and bright.
Tap water is without any calcium. We discovered no scale on kettles heating spirals. But in some towns drinking water has a very strong chloride taste. And that is not very tasty.
Wall mounted power outlets have a switch with which the outlet can be activated and deactivated.
Not only traffic is different from what we are used to, also the warm and cold water tap sometimes switched places. And not only driving on the left hand side, also walking on the left side of the walkway. So, when crossing the road: first watch right.