[BoroCraig]

Hello All,

We are flying off in 3 weeks to start our new life and since telling everyone what we are doing several people have mentioned to me that neighbours in NZ regularly just pop around to your house without invite and that you are expected to welcome them etc.

Just wondered if this is just people winding me up or whether this a typical NZ thing?

What other types of customs/trends has anyone found strange or difficult to come to terms with?

I only ask as we Brits are in the main quite reserved and used to the way we do things and I think it would useful to know what to expect so it's not too much of a shock.

Thanks,

Craig

[Alan]

I have read in a few places that this is absolutely the way and to expect sometimes to have a house full completely unannounced.

[Philip10]

Yes I've heard that as well, my friends in NZ tell me, quite often people who live near by, will drop in without warning and at the very least expect a cuppa. As Alan said when your next door neighbour sees you have visitors they will often pop in to say hello and sometimes this can lead to a house full.

[CJ22]

when your next door neighbour sees you have visitors they will often pop in to say hello

Blimey, it's like they're from another country or something.

[catt]

sounds great to me.........perhaps we brits are too reserved :clap

[yossarian]

well it then seems kiwis are too friendly? on the contrary, i heard from some post over here that they are aloof..

[Alan]

Excellent comment CJ love it and yeah I think most Brits are too reserved like this, sounds just so much more sociable to me, something that's been missed for a long time in the UK.

[mikewalkerfrom]

I'm from NZ (left when I was 26, returning next week when I'm 36!).

Entirely normal to drop in unannounced. If you're driving close by a friend, you just drop in and say hello. Unless they're going out the door you usually stay for a cuppa / beer / dinner what ever. And they'll drop in on you in turn.

[shakyle2906]

Yes, ive found that.

Our neighbours and friends say just to drop by 'anytime', like an open house............ we've not had many just turn up at ours.

People are so so friendly and to not turn up can be see as being slightly ignorant i am told by another friend from the UK.

Sharon
x

[James 1077]

Our neighbours dropped by to say hi and regularly come in to see how we are doing and if they can help with anything to let us settle in quicker.

To be honest it has been great as it has saved us a fortune in buying things while we wait for our container to arrive as everyone seems to have spare furniture / crockery etc.

I think that my wife is about to do her first "pop in unnannounced" today as apparently one of the ladies a bit further up the street has a baby the same age as ours so she wants to go and meet up! This after less than 3 weeks in the country! :)

[dawn]

I think it happens more in smaller towns, where everyone knows everyone. We're in Palmy and it's only happened once to us.

[RamblingPaddies]

i wish our neighbours would drop in .... then again we do live in a tower block with mainly 70yrs + inhabitants !!

looking to move to a more family friendly neighbourhood shortly :exit

[mgbridges]

Sooooo glad one of our neighbours came to introduce herself (& 2 young kids) not long after we moved in. She and her family are becoming firm friends and she has helped out with a number of things.

Now I need to get over my British reservedness (is that a word?) and go say hello to a few of the other neighbours in our ROW. Not least next door to talk to them about trimming the hedge thats going a bit mad!

I think its a wonderful thing but it takes some getting used to!

Anneliese

[Moorf]

Absolutely - in all three places we've lived we have had neighbours round within a few days introducing themselves, bringing welcome gifts, etc. After we had been in our Brighton (chch) home a week a group of ladies appeared on the front doorstep, each with a bottle of red wine. I'd never seen anything of them but they were all neighbours and they all wanted to welcome us to the neighbourhood!!!

Where we are now, we had both neighbours round within days and I'm really close friends with one of them now, we have coffees round each others houses twice a week.

UNFORTUNATELY, I work from home and I did have to put a stop to them just turning up during the day out of the blue and ask them to call first now!!

[Ojai]

I was in the garage restoring some furniture we got from the Sallie and our 70 year old neighbour saw I was there and dropped by to talk for a quick couple of hours.

A bit surprising to me, but it was fun as he reminisced about going to Wai-O-Tapi when he was younger and chucking bars of soap in the Knox geyser to make it go off ("I suppose you can't do that anymore, shame really..."). :laugh

[Sam B]

We have been in this house for 8 months now and we have never even seen the neighbours, I don't know what they look like. We have plenty of friends, but none of them seem to come without ringing to check we are in first. Just like Britain it seems to me.

[andrewandjane]

we had our neoghbours turn up, they even invited us to a party. then found out it was for all the neighbours to meet us!! on the whole its pretty cool. we did get one woman who just came straight into the house who said she knew someone we knew but couldnt remember their name! she had had a few drinkies too!! i thought my wife knew her as she started talking to her and was freindly to her etc..when she went i said whos that and she didnt have a clue!!

weve started to keep the gates shut now hehehe

[Familyofmonkeys]

I think its a wonderful thing but it takes some getting used to!



That is exactly how I feel. We rarely spoke to the neighbours of our old rental....got the impression that they were not interested as we were renting. Our neighbours for our new rental are Brits and we sometimes have a chat outside, but not gone as far as getting together for a cuppa yet.

I would feel pretty uncomfortable turning up at someones house uninvited........especially with kids in tow. If someone says to pop round I always ring first to check it is OK. In UK we used to take it in turns having cuppas in friends houses several times a week , but most people had known my kids since they were babies (so knew what breakable things to hide out of the way befpre we turned up).

[gil]

Hmm. This was common practice in all the areas of Cardiff I've lived in. My Irish and Scottish friends expect it too - is it just me and them, or a total Celtic thang? Nuala was bemoaning the fact that English people she knows insist on ringing first, even though she's told them to just drop in! :D

Gil

[BoroCraig]

Have to be honest that I think my o/h will take some getting used to this - this and people walking round in bare feet which she has a real phobia about!!!

[Grey Granite]

We're still at 'selected' stage, so holding our breath and crossing everthing crossable!

Reading the post, I'd say this was a fairly Scottish/Celtic 'thang'. We're 'aye' popping in past our pals without warning.... and we too are always feeding folk. Some weeks we'll have had meals with our pals on 3 or 4 of the nights, but sometimes we're at theirs or they are at ours... We must just be a really sociable lot!

I reckon it's because, as adults, we are soooo busy with day2day stuff that the only time you get to sit down and catch breath is when you are eating. The thing is, having a meal at ours, unplanned, is a bit of a 'who-flung-dung' affair and you get whats on the go - nothing fancy.... If however, it's a planned affair, then you get the full works, including a nicely set dinner table and candles if you are lucky!

I think it will be like a home from home for us.... looking forward to it, and its a great way to meet new folk too....

Mrs Granite

[StevieD]

Yes and no really, depends on the neighbours obviously, but we have had people turn up at the door or the gate for a chat, usually invite them in, but I wouldn't say that they are any different to your average people. Some can be aloof, some can be downright nice, it just depends, like people anywhere I imagine.

There have definitely been more invites to hoiuses and vice versa because that is the way it is done here more than the pub lifestyle.

[marcia]

When my parents were here for 3 months (seems sooooooo long ago now! :wah ) They commented on how we semed to have people just popping in all the time - and thats living in a rural area too!

Everyone says just pop in, but we like many others always ring first to see if its conveneant..........(sp) 'ok' to call around! They keep saying you don't have to ring first - but its a hard habit to get out of!

[nippa&pippa]

We get farming neighbours turn up instead :laugh after all we live in farming areas! But we have found them very useful and helpful as they are happy to help each other out with lands for grazing (currently we got our neighbour's 130 sheep grazing in our bigger paddock!!) and gave us advice on our sickly calf as they have "save" our sickly calf from put to sleep, as vet's suggest, by give her different treatments involving using jar of marmite :laugh and pure milk for free :nice1

[cappuccino]

My neighbours haven't introduced themselves yet and to be honest I have been so busy with work and then unpacking my stuff that I haven't had time or the inclination to go knocking on their doors.

My immediate next door neighbour (man of the house) doesn't seem to go out to work and spends his time 'fixing' several cars he keeps on the frontage of his house. Today (Sunday) he has been revving up the engines and generally making a real noise (along with radio at full blast). I don't want to go and ask him to tone it down cos I don't want to fall out with them so early after moving here.

[ers99w]

That sounds fun! No one has done that to me since I lived in the college dorms and people would just drop by whenever--I loved it and the informalness. However, I don't cook so my friends will quickly have to learn that we'll have to get takeout or they'll have to bring their own food. :) I certainly wouldn't expect someone to feed me dinner if I had dropped by unannounced! I could keep some tostitos and dip on hand, but a full meal? I don't even cook that for my boyfriend!