Helen Writes - Life in New Zealand
Helen Leggatt is a British freelance writer living on New Zealand's South Island. Here she reports some of her experiences of life in rural Canterbury.
Style on a Lifestyle Block
The soil has manicured my nails and the rain has frizzed my hair. I can't tell if I have blackheads or if I forgot to wipe my hands after shovelling the coal.
No Place Like Home
The taxi took us through suburbs stuffed to the gills with mock-Tudor mansions and roman-pillared monstrosities. Confusion set in. What were humungous concrete castles with grass verges for gardens and six-foot fences for outlooks doing in NZ?
May Contain Nuts
"It's the summer months, and your children will be outdoors playing more often and could seriously hurt themselves." This announcement remains ingrained in my mind; it was made on the BBC during their prime-time news spot in the summer before I left for New Zealand.
Food for Thought
I have heard of fellow ex-pats who have had to resort to asking friends back home to scan and e-mail the list of ingredients from precooked dinner packaging so their dinners taste "authentic" -- albeit authentically Kraft or Tesco.