Our life in NZ

Hello, Sonia’s classmates! We are Paula and Leandro, and we live in Hamilton, New Zealand. Today we want to show you our life here.

Choose the language with the buttons at the top.

Let’s start
Paula and Leandro
That’s us!

On the other side of the world, in the South Pacific. It is more than 10,000 km from Argentina.

Map of the South Pacific showing Argentina and New ZealandArgentinaNew ZealandNueva ZelandaAustraliaPacific OceanOcéano Pacífico10,200 km10.200 km

🇳🇿 Now in New Zealand

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🇦🇷 Now in Argentina

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When you have dinner, we are having lunch… the next day! 😄

  • 5.4 million peopleArgentina has about 46 million.
  • Capital: WellingtonThe biggest city is Auckland: 1 in 3 Kiwis live there. Its Sky Tower is 328 m tall.
  • English, Māori and Sign LanguageYou see Māori words every day: “Kia ora” means hello.
  • Same seasons as ArgentinaChristmas is in summer: barbecue and beach!
  • Four seasons in one dayThe weather is mild, but it changes very fast. Always take a jacket!
  • We drive on the leftAnd the steering wheel is on the right!
Map of New Zealand: North Island and South IslandNorth IslandIsla NorteSouth IslandIsla SurTasman SeaMar de TasmaniaPacific OceanOcéano PacíficoBlack sandArena negraWhite sandArena blancaAucklandHamiltonWellington(capital)

We live in the North Island, in Hamilton, between two very different coasts.

Raglan beach

West coast

Black volcanic sand, a green sea, big waves and moody skies. Great for surfing.

Careful: in summer the black sand gets very hot!

Mount Maunganui beach in Tauranga

East coast

White sand and a blue sea. At Mount Maunganui, next to the beach, there is an old volcano you can walk up.

The middle of the North Island is full of volcanoes, and some are still active.

Lake Taupō

Lake Taupō

NZ’s biggest lake is inside an old supervolcano: three times the size of Buenos Aires city!

The Waikato River starts here and goes through Hamilton.

Geothermal area in Rotorua

Rotorua

Geysers, hot pools and boiling mud. It smells like rotten eggs (sulphur)!

And lots of Māori culture.

Mount Taranaki

Mount Taranaki

An almost perfect volcano, next to New Plymouth. Since 2025, by law, the mountain is a “person”!

Snow on the mountain
❄ 3 h

Snow, 3 hours away

Mount Ruapehu, south of Lake Taupō, has ski fields. Taranaki is white in winter too.

The Māori

They were the first people here. They came from Polynesia in big canoes (waka), about 700–800 years ago.

Today about 1 in 6 New Zealanders is Māori. Their name for the country is Aotearoa: “the land of the long white cloud”.

You know the haka: the All Blacks do it before every game… against Los Pumas too!

Many cultures

Almost 3 in 10 people who live here were born in another country, like us!

So you hear many languages and eat food from all over the world.

Tap a card to see what it means.

And a classic: Kiwis say “fush and chups” instead of “fish and chips”. 🐟🍟

Hamilton
Hamilton · Kirikiriroa

NZ’s fourth biggest city, with about 190,000 people, in the Waikato: a green farming region (with lots of cows!).

  • Balloons over Waikato

    Every March, hot-air balloons fill the sky, and at night they glow to music.

  • Hamilton Gardens

    Gardens from many countries: Japanese, Italian, Indian…

  • Fieldays

    Every June, the biggest farm show in the Southern Hemisphere. Like La Rural!

  • Hobbiton

    The village from The Lord of the Rings, 45 min away.

  • Waitomo Caves

    Caves with glowworms that shine like stars, 1 hour away.

Kiwi

It can’t fly, it comes out at night and its egg is HUGE: up to 20% of its body!

“Kiwi” is also a fruit… and the nickname for New Zealanders!

Kea

The only mountain parrot in the world. Clever and naughty: it pulls the rubber off cars!

Tuatara

It looks like a lizard, but it is a “living fossil” from the time of the dinosaurs.

Wētā

Giant insects. Some are heavier than a mouse!

  • No snakes!And the only native land mammals are… bats!
  • About 4 sheep per personIn 1982 there were 22!
  • 1893The first country in the world where women could vote.
  • The Lord of the RingsIt was filmed here. A volcano near Taupō was “Mount Doom”!

Leandro

Gallagher

A Hamilton company, since 1938. It all began with Joe, a horse that scratched himself on the family car. Bill Gallagher electrified the car… and that gave him the idea for the electric fence!

Today they make electric fences and smart collars for cows: the farmer draws a fence on the phone, and the collar tells the cow where to stop.

My job: when a collar breaks, I find out why. I’m a product detective! 🔍

Paula

Inland Revenue (IRD)

IRD is the tax office of New Zealand, like ARCA in Argentina. Paula works in customer service.

Every day she:

  • puts customers’ accounts in order
  • helps and teaches people to keep their accounts in order
  • calls customers who owe money, to agree on a payment plan

Don’t worry: she is very nice on the phone! 😄

From Monday to Friday, life is simple:

  1. 1

    We go to work

  2. 2

    We do the housework

  3. 3

    We run errands

Kiwi life is a bit different

  • Dinner is early, at 6 or 7 pm. Not at 10 pm like in Argentina!

  • People say “thank you” to the bus driver.

  • Some people walk barefoot… even in the supermarket!

Our house
Our home

Our two cats. They are the real bosses of the house. 😼

Gordon the cat
Gordon
Gregory the cat
Gregory

In NZ, 4 in 10 homes have a cat: one of the highest numbers in the world.

On weekends we meet our friends, explore new places and go tramping (that’s how Kiwis say hiking).

With our friends
With friends
Tramping
Tramping
Map of the North Island with the places we have visitedTaranakiRuapehuWellington1Russell2Whangārei3Auckland4Raglan6Tauranga7Blue Spring8Rotorua9Taupō10New PlymouthHamilton
  1. 1Russell

    A historic little town in the Bay of Islands.

  2. 2Whangārei

    A city with a big waterfall.

  3. 3Auckland

    Sky Tower, beaches, islands and volcanoes.

  4. 4Raglan

    Surf and black sand, 40 min from home.

  5. Hamilton

    Home!

  6. 6Tauranga

    White sand and a volcano you can climb.

  7. 7Blue Spring

    Water that travels underground for 50 to 100 years!

  8. 8Rotorua

    Geysers, hot mud and Māori culture.

  9. 9Taupō

    The giant lake and the Huka Falls.

  10. 10New Plymouth

    Next to Mt Taranaki, with a long walk by the sea.

…and many more!

How much do you remember? Choose one answer.

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Any questions? We are happy to answer.

And come and visit us! 🥝

Maps made with Natural Earth data.

Paula and Leandro
See you soon!