New Zealand First Impressions (not what I expected)

Not what I expected (New Zealand first impressions)

We have touched down in Queenstown, New Zealand and we are already mindblown by how beautiful this country here. After moving here from Canada to New Zealand on a working holiday visa, we had *some* expectations, but some things came to us a complete shock. Join us on our first 72 hours in stunning Queenstown, Otago on the South Island of Aotearoa NZ as we completely fall in love with our new home. #newzealand #queenstown

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➤ ABOUT US: Hi! We’re Nick & Raychel, the couple behind the blog Not Luxe - where we write travel guides & help people open their eyes to alternative living, whether that be teaching English online, moving to Cambodia, taking advantage of working holiday visas (like in Australia) or building a DIY stealthy camper van to live & work on the road. Right now, we’re living the van life and travelling throughout Canada, Mexico and the USA.

Our goal here is to bring you weekly content where we hope to inspire you to break free & live the life you desire. On this channel, we talk everything from finances to minimalism to working online to mindset and post a weekly vlog of our daily lives. We hope you join us on our journey to see the world, save money, live minimally, and most importantly, have fun.

So if you're looking for a channel about van life and budget travel, you're in the right place.

Love,
That couple that lives in an ambulance

#vanlife #alternativeliving #budgettravel

[nickandraychel]

Thank you for watching this video and OMG we are soooo excited to be here (and have already secured our next overlanding vehicle!) - see ya next week xx

[Steez]

How awesome! I'm a New Zealander living in Australia! You're making me homesick!! Welcome to your new home, New Zealand ❤

[jimedwards]

I’m from the Uk and 23 years ago I was doing exactly what you guys are doing.
Moved to Queenstown and about fifteen years ago moved over the hill to Wānaka love the lakes district and have been having a wonderful life in New Zealand all the best of luck with your journey.

[angusmcdonald]

That tree you saw isn't actually a palm tree but a cabbage tree, which are giant tree lillies.

[Psi]

The seller of the car also does their own change of ownership form online, or at the post shop. When both forms are processed the change of ownership is official.
Before then it's in an intermediate state, Any speeding tickets go to the new owner, etc.. The system seems to work well. I've never had any issues with it, and it is super convenient.
Its important to sort out your car insurance before you drive it, just in case you have an accident you want to be covered. But it's technically not required, car insurance is optional you can drive uninsured if you really want to. Whenever I buy a car privately I arrange the exchange of the car in a location with a car insurance retail office nearby.

[thebrewguy]

as a Canadian i went for 3 months spent xmas and New years in queenstown...I loved everything about the country..the sights the people the friendliness outside the tourist areas. I would give my right arm to live there.

[harpyhill]

There are 3 cities with a number of freeways
-Auckland
-Wellington
-Christchurch

[Melissa.Williams]

Loved this little sneak peek at what the next year will look like. NZ looks beautiful, can’t wait to see what adventures you’ll get up to during your time there! Also sick new rig 😎

[ISBayHudson]

Don't forget to slip, slop, slap!

The sun can get pretty intense when/if summer arrives

[dnavl]

One of the true beauties of New Zealand is you don't got to worry about running into wild animals like bears or snakes while hiking or camping

[Froggability]

3 hour Drive from central Otago to Haast; or Fiordland the change in climate is amazing, from desert dry to thick green bush in a couple hours drive

[ChooseThePathYouTake]

Looks like an awesome time already and omg that food looked soo amazing! Can’t wait to continue to follow along with journey ❤

[soulhuntah]

Welcome home!~ we are happy you've chosen our little country to call home!!

[gillybertviernes]

I'm glad you're loving NZ. It's pretty cool here, and there's a lot more to see. NZ is quite a small country, and the population is very small too, there's only 5M people living in NZ. Queenstown has less than 30k people so don't expect freeways haha. (we call it motorway here). Get ready for the weather here, sometimes it's unpredictable, "four seasons in a day" lol. NZ weather is less harsh or extreme. Summers here are like spring in Canada, and winters are like autumn in Canada. You're right, outdoors here is awesome as you don't have to think or worry of any dangerous animals. There's no snakes, bears, tigers, wolves, etc anywhere in NZ. I can live in a tent in the middle of the forest forever.lol. Some parts of NZ have sandflies, they go out during the summer and are so annoying when you got bitten, must have insect repellant. I love NZ. Kiwis are so nice and friendly. The nature is so beautiful and safe. So laid back and peaceful. I live in Wellington

[BallisticCoefficient]

Oh, and beautiful content and remarks. Thank you. You guys have nice energy.

[AgunziLFC]

Its actually a criminal offence not to go to Fergbugers when in Queenstown. I live in Christchurch ( 6hr drive north of Queenstown ) and i absolutely love going down there. Im an adrenalin junkie, and get down there whenever i can. Love it!

[zeeyifn]

Queenstown local here. Welcome to my hometown! Also…we’re also known as Hockeytown, the rink is closed at the moment for a private event but re-opens for summer, check out the hockey in town especially over the winter season. Lots of hockey mad Canadians in town!

[geotruthnz]

Hope you have a great time in Queenstown but as it is a full tourist town it is very different to the rest of NZ in particular it is generally more expensive. Also being an alpine town in the south it is often colder than the rest of the country but can turn and be very hot as well but being alpine it can still have winter blasts all year round. Other parts of the country are summery already with consistent temperatures above 20 degrees so do get out and experience the rest of NZ as well.

[NZSTROKE]

Whatever you do dont ever leave stuff in your car when parked for any length of time if you dont want it stolen

[stephenbaxter]

Welcome! Just know that while we are a "small island in the pacific" and it sometimes it feels like that, many of our larger cities have big town vibes (other than Auckland or Wellington) geographically we are a large island and id encourage you to explore as much as you can!

If you placed New Zealand over a map of Canada with Vancouver in the same place as Queenstown, Wellington would be the equivalent of travelling to Edmonton (except you would have to also take a ferry across to Wellington)
And going to the tip of the North Island (Cape Reinga) would be like going to Kakisa in the Northwest Territories.