A Year in New Zealand
A year very nearly to the day! Yes, after arriving in February 2024, my 1-year working holiday visa in New Zealand expired at the end of January. I could have extended but decided against it – more on that below – so it was time to say farewell to yet another country.
Also, seeing as I moved to New Zealand after a year in Canada, also on a working holiday visa, there will naturally be some comparison between the two throughout this post.
Wellington
I spent the first seven months or so of the year using Wellington as my base. A few people had suggested it to me while I was planning for my move. Most cited the fact that it’s a smaller, artsier city as a potential good fit for me, with a decent amount of outdoor spaces. And being at the bottom of the North Island, it’s pretty central and well-connected to the rest of the country. And on paper, this was all true!
I appreciated the size of the city, though there were a few occasions where it maybe felt a bit too small. Mainly in terms of what shops and amenities were available. Although there were plenty of events and festivals throughout the year, which I appreciated! The city also has plenty of parks and walking routes – and hills! So many hills. And this is coming from someone who has primarily lived in Edinburgh – Wellington’s hills are a different beast! It was a little annoying to have to fly via Auckland all the time, mainly for international trips. Not because of the actual change in plane, but because Air New Zealand are forever having domestic delays, so my journeys always took even longer.
In some ways, I feel similar about Wellington as I did about Vancouver. While it ticks a lot of boxes in theory, the reality is that I wasn’t all that attached to it. A few people I spoke to said there used to be more of an atmosphere and buzz to it, which has faded in recent years. Weirdly, I think looking back now, months later, I feel more attached to Vancouver than I do Wellington. Totally not what I thought when I was living in and then leaving Vancouver!
Social & Home Life
Now this part might be why Vancouver carries fonder memories. I really didn’t make any friends in Wellington or New Zealand. In Vancouver, I found a network of other newly arrived British expats, and I couldn’t locate a similar community here. Maybe fewer Brits choose Wellington as their base? And we’ll come to work stuff next, but I was certainly closer to my Canadian colleagues than their Australian counterparts.
I tried some yoga classes, but couldn’t find a teacher and class that I liked (there are so many styles within yoga!) to attend regularly. Then I went swimming for a while instead, but it’s not exactly a social setting. Plus, I started to get ear infections, which put a pin in that! I met a few people in hostels and on day trips, but nothing more than that, really. In some ways, I was ok with this as I’m fairly used to being on my own. And since this year was always intended to be temporary, it didn’t really matter too much. But it could be why I have even less attachment to Wellington!
One big difference from Vancouver is that I had a permanent address for most of the year. Subletting isn’t such a thing here, so I ended up signing on to a shared 1-year lease. It was a shared 5-bed house, so more flatmates than I ideally wanted, but I’d been to so many viewings! They were perfectly nice (with one stress-inducing exception, but that’s another story), and we’d chat in passing. But none of us ended up being close friends, and we haven’t stayed in touch. I moved out early to go travelling, of course, which also meant finding a replacement for my room.
Work Life
On to the work part of the working holiday! This bit was pretty easy as I didn’t have to look for a new job at all when I arrived in New Zealand. The company I was working for in Canada is global, and I’d been able to get a position with their Australia-New Zealand team. There was a bit of drama with my Canadian manager just before I left, which resulted in me continuing to work with that team for my first month in NZ, while we were manager-less! Then I made the full switch and was working in a team primarily based in Australia.
While my role was the same, this time around, I was the only remote member of the team. Which did feel a bit more isolating as they weren’t as good at including remote staff in that region as they were in Canada. I didn’t get any invites to end-of-year parties or other events! But of course, the massive advantage was that I was able to travel around Australia and New Zealand while working and not have to look for new jobs along the way. Meaning I saw so much more of both countries than I would have otherwise! To me, that was totally worth it overall. And I was still working in the travel industry, building my CV in this field.
Lots of Travelling!
This section should be no surprise to anyone! The whole point of spending these last few years living abroad was to see the world. As mentioned, having a remote job the entire time very much allowed me to maximise my time. I started the year in Wellington, of course, and used various long weekends to explore the North Island, visiting Tauranga, Taupō and Taranaki. Then spent a full week road tripping around the Northland region.
As winter approached – it was weird having the seasons reversed in the Southern Hemisphere! – I fled north to warmer climates. I’d been keen to visit some Pacific Islands and was able to go to Samoa, Fiji and Vanuatu. When spring started to arrive, I left Wellington and the shared house there permanently and spent about six weeks in Australia. Starting in Adelaide, I travelled to Melbourne, Sydney, and up the East Coast to Brisbane. Then did a hiking trip in the Red Centre and finished up in North Queensland!
Back in New Zealand, I spent a week in Auckland for a little sightseeing and visiting family friends. I didn’t write a post about it, though! Most New Zealanders aren’t fans of Auckland, and I have to agree – I was glad I didn’t pick that as my base. Then my last few months were the South Island summer. I had plenty of time to slow-travel the island, stopping for about a week in each town. Starting in Nelson and finishing in Christchurch, I feel like I really made the most of almost the whole island! This side of the world is so far from home for me, and I don’t know if or when I’ll ever be back, so I’m glad I was able to see as much as I did.
Final Thoughts
And now my time is up! In truth, I could have extended my visa, as British citizens can now get up to three years. There were a few reasons I didn’t, including having to pay for a medical exam. My job contract was technically a 1-year maternity cover, so I’d only have a few months guaranteed extension. But more than anything else, I was ready to leave.
After the first few months, I’d loosely planned out the rest of my travels, so I knew I’d fit in all I wanted to see. And by the time this visa expired, I would have been away from home for almost two and a half years! I always intended for these visas, Canada and New Zealand, to serve as a couple of years of travel, before moving home again. And I felt like I’d fulfilled that.
New Zealand is a beautiful country with so much to offer. I got to see incredible scenery and enjoyed learning about Māori culture. And, surprisingly, I got super into birds, with so many native species! There were moments where things didn’t go to plan, or when I felt lonely or stressed. As is normal and I always want to reflect that in what I post online. Instagram shows the highlights, but it’s not always perfect! Overall, though, I had an incredible experience during my year in New Zealand, and the last few years of travel as a whole. I think I did pretty much everything I set out to do – maybe more! Ticking off all seven continents certainly wasn’t in the original plan. And then it was time to go.
What’s Next?
I’m writing this post months and months after I left New Zealand. Life has been busy, and time got away from me this year to keep blogging in real time! I’ll do a full update soon on what’s happened in 2025. But the short version is that I’m back home in Scotland with a new flat and new job. And back living near my family and old friends, which is the best part! However, my journey didn’t go directly from New Zealand to Scotland. Before we get to that, I took a month to return home, with a few more stops along the way – Western Australia, Singapore, Borneo and Hong Kong…
