Northland the grass filled tropical paradise of New Zealand

Northland, the tropical region of New Zealand, home to the majority of Maori population and the place where I've met a lot of amazing people.

The wallet gets slim fast

It is three months now that I've been in this region, and as you may guess, many things have happened since the last time I have spoken to you. I've built two websites, seen almost every corner of Northland, and worked as a driver, landscaper, gardener and dishwasher.

As I first arrived in the north, I realised the cost of living isn't much lower compared to Auckland. You can expect you will be paying around 140 nz$/week for accommodation and at least 100 nz$/week for food, not counting the alcohol, ouch!

From fifty shades of green to badlands

I'm yet to experience the weather in the other regions of New Zealand, but people told me countless times already that this area is really hot and dry. And they were right. In all the time I'm up here if it was raining, it was usually only for a few minutes, rarely a few hours. I think in three months, there was only one day where it was raining all day long.

Of all this dryness, the green grass I experienced the first few weeks of November all turned sand brown. There are a lot of fire hazard meters placed next to the road everywhere, and most regions have a total fire ban. You can still light a fire, but you need a fire permit, a nearby hose with water, and nights watch in other words, too much trouble.

If you are not rich, you have to work to enjoy New Zealand properly

Looking for work? There are dry weeks around the new year holidays, but otherwise, as long as you're prepared to work hard, there is plenty of work in agriculture, hospitality, landscaping, and construction. The only catch there is employers will require you to have some previous work experience (agriculture is an exception). I was quite lucky to land a job in a restaurant without any experience, and only because my travel buddy Simon who has waitering experience, turned his offer down and gave a good word for me.

Working in gardening was another amazing experience. Few hectares of private parks, 4 ponds with walkways and benches, a few villas, and boats parked in the below sea. I was working for an engineer that used to have a company that supplied Formula 1, Le Mans, Nascar,... with gearboxes. A kind, goodhearted and simple man that treats you as an equal. He is always helping gardeners with their tasks, and I've spent maybe one hour working only with him. He was constantly supplying us with cold beers, and on the last day, he gave me wine from his small vineyard, where he spends 30.000$/year just for having it and produces only around 400 bottles of wine. I still don't know if the wine was that good or if it was only the idea of drinking such an expensive wine that made it taste better.

Kiwis and late-hour parties

I soon learned, that Kiwis don't like to stay up late and that they have no real outgoing tradition. Even in the restaurants, people start leaving by 8:30 PM and everything closes at 10:00 PM. I learned the hard way that If there is an event in town, everything ends at around 8:00-9:00 PM. My friend and I went out at around 8:30 PM, and we couldn't even get a beer, because people were leaving already and organisers were taking apart the stands. New years Eve was quite similar. In one of the most crowded nearby cities with mere 5-minute fireworks, everything ended at around 1:00 AM. So yeah, if you want to party, you'll have to party with amazing foreign people in hostels.

Backpacking hostels are a thing to do

For the last month and a half, I'm staying in the most incredible hostel ever. Even though we have a pool, our own rooms, a large living room with Netflix, and unlimited high-speed Wi-Fi it is not a hostel by itself that makes the experience great, but the people that are residing here. In the weeks spent here, I got to know beautiful individuals from France, Australia, Argentina, South Africa, Brazil, Chile, USA, Japan, Scotland, Italy, and Germany. Oh yes, Germans, a lot of Germans everywhere.

From trips to the nearby waterfall to jump off, whole day trips with cars, chasing Kiwi birds in the forest at night, cooking, learning foreign recipes and eating dinners together, to sharing stories and feelings over a drink, playing cards, trusting each other as if are a family and generally having a great time.

Adventure awaits

In a few days' time, my brother will visit me, and we are going to travel the North and South Island for a few weeks. After that, I have no real plans. If friends from the hostel will still be hanging around, I might even consider coming back to Northland, just to spend a few more days/weeks with them, but I already know that I'm going to miss them a lot.

And if the road ever takes them to Slovenia, they will surely have a wide-open door and a warm bed waiting for them.