 Hey, welcome back to my channel. Today we're gonna talk about the 10 things not to do in New Zealand. If you haven't seen my previous video, I will link it above. And I just got a huge response. It's probably my best video on this channel. And there is a lot of things that I did not cover and it's been years now. And so I've thought of other things and you guys have commented. So this is part two of the 10 things that you should not do in New Zealand. Here we go. We are a family of six that have moved from the US to New Zealand and have been here for eight years. If you're thinking about moving to New Zealand, definitely check out my free 50 minute masterclass that's in the description. It's free and it's kind of insightful on everything you need to know about moving here. So here we go. Now I've thought through this list and the first one that I'm gonna say and I just, I couldn't come up with something better as my number one thing to recommend to not do when you come to New Zealand is don't get frustrated when things are done differently. Okay, they do things differently here. They say different words that you're not familiar with. They have smaller coffees than you're familiar with. They do things differently and just embrace that, okay? Embrace the fact that you come to a different culture. Don't try to find the same things. Don't try to find your people, okay? Now that can be very comforting and that could be a part of your life if you end up moving here, but just embrace a new experience, embrace a new food, try the meat pies, try the sausage rolls, try things you thought I would never like that and having a sausage on a slice of white bread. Just go for it, just do it. Okay, number two. Number two of the thing that you should be aware of that you should not do, you should always have a bike helmet when you are on a bike in New Zealand, it's required. Whether you're a child or an adult, let me tell you, I've been here for eight years and I make this mistake every time and I get yelled at. People will yell at you while you're on the bike. They're like, hey, where's your helmet? You know, it's required. So don't come to New Zealand and go on a bike without a bike helmet. Okay, number three. Number three, now this is a value and a tradition of the Maori culture. Do not sit on a table. Don't sit anywhere where food is typically served. This is something that you just need to know. Don't do it because the whole room will go, it's like, no, don't get off the table. You know, like you don't always know. Now there isn't a lot of situations that you're sitting on the table, but even if you're on a park and you're sitting up on a picnic table or you sit up on the actual table part, don't do that. Don't sit where people generally eat food and you'll be okay. Okay, number four. Number four, do not go on a hike unprepared. Okay, think about, check the weather, check the elements, have something on underneath. Just be aware, be prepared for rain, wear the right shoes, whatever you do, just prepare for it because there's mountains here. The weather changes a lot and a lot of people get in bad, precarious situations and they're like, oh, let's go for a hike or really find out how far it is, make sure you know where you're going. All these basic things, but I'm just telling you, it's just a very common thing to do in New Zealand is to go hiking or trekking or whatever you're doing, but just be prepared and kind of ask questions. You know, you visit the ice sites and just check out, know what you're doing and just be prepared for every type of thing that could happen, bring enough food, bring enough water. You should be good to go. Number five, when you go to someone's house, if they invite you over to something, make sure you bring a gift or a contribution of food or drink to the meal that you're going to. This may be normal for you, this may be what you already do, but let me tell you, there's a lot of people that don't do that. Okay, and so it is just like, nobody's gonna be mad here if you don't show up without something, but it is kind of expected. And so if you don't know that, that isn't normal for you for wherever you're from, just make sure that you bring something, bring a bottle of wine, ask, hey, what can I bring? And they'll generally tell you, just don't show up empty handed, just be, come prepared with something because it's just kind of the culture and expected. And it's so funny because I've said this many times and people in New Zealand are like, wait a minute, what? Like, why would you have to say that? My mom raised, not everybody's been raised like that, okay? And in fact, sometimes when I have people over to my house and they ask what they can bring, I like really don't need them to bring anything. Like I have everything figured out or I know they've been going through a hard time and I just really want to do everything and I don't want you to think about anything, but that's hard for them. They're always used to bringing something. So just be aware of that. Number six, do what you can to avoid using plastic. It is not a, you know, they don't have plastic in the grocery stores anymore. They aren't gonna pack your bags up in plastic. Like plastic is kind of like, don't use it, okay? Don't show up with all of these prepackaged things. Don't wrap your kids lunch in plastic. Plastic is no good here. Like they've moved beyond that. They're very good with environmental things. Not perfect, nobody's perfect, but they're just way farther along than let's say Americans, okay? I don't know where you're from, but just be aware of that plastic is kind of like, no, we don't do that. You know, we don't wrap everything in plastic. They have like these beeswax wraps that you can wrap things in or you know, they're just very creative in how to honor the environment a lot better in the way that they do things. So just be aware. Number seven, do not disrespect the rips and the currents any warnings that you're seeing when you go to the beach. People drown here. Things happen. It's not a joke. It's not like, oh, it won't happen to me. It will happen to you, okay? I was even at a beach a couple summers ago and someone drowned. Just like right there when I was there, they drowned, they got caught in a current and a rip and they died. And it's just, it's horrific, but it happens all the time. It's just, we live on an island here and so that's what happens. So just pay attention. Don't think that you're above that and be cautious when you're swimming and just being aware and being honest. Make sure people know where you are if you're going in and just, just don't be dumb. Okay, number eight, do not expect to get places quickly. Okay, do not expect to get places quickly. If you go from Wellington to Auckland is eight hours. Don't expect to get there in eight hours. The roads are winding, very winding. So you can't just go at the full kilometers per hour that you would all the way there, okay? Just be aware of that. Also be aware that people drive slow here. I'm sorry, if you're from New Zealand and you don't drive slow, you do. You drive slow here. Everybody drives slow, nobody's in a hurry. It's just part of who they are and what they value and it's a great thing. So just embrace that, go slow. Okay, I could learn a lesson or two from that, to be honest. And take breaks. You'll even have signs on the road that say, take a break, get a coffee. There's cafes everywhere, okay? There's just, and then people also stop for pedestrians all the time, even in the weirdest spots. Like you're in the middle of a roundabout and they're stopping to let someone go. And it's just, it's very dangerous actually from a road rules perspective. But they do and so they will always stop. So just be aware of that when you drive into the small towns, go slow. People are gonna stop, okay? I don't want you to rear end anybody. Number nine, do not litter. Do not disrespect nature, okay? Win whatever you pack in, pack out at any sort of height. Do not drop anything. It will be like, it's like if you're walking across the street and you accidentally drive, you're eating something and you drop the wrapper. It's like everybody will freak out around you, okay? You shouldn't litter anyway. But if you have a bad habit of that from wherever you're from, just be aware. Do not do that here. Do not leave anything when you're on a hike. That's a huge no-no. You'll even see signs for it. And it's just not good. People, they get really mad. So you are in your country. You need to respect the way that they do things and that's a big one here. And number 10, I have to say this because this is probably one of the things that I am absolutely the worst at. Do not speed. Do not speed. Don't go over the speed limit. Sometimes it's hard to tell when you're on the off roads, like how, what the speed limit is, but do the best that you can because there's cameras everywhere. And what you will do is you will get a speeding ticket in the mail. You'll have no idea you're going down a hill and you get a speeding ticket. Don't speed. Don't speed. Be aware of the parking, okay? If you need to pay for parking, read the sign, figure it out. Or you'll get a ticket. And the tickets are not cheap, okay? A parking ticket is not $15. It's at least 30 to $45, a speeding ticket. I get them $100 here, $200 here all the time. Like it's crazy. And it's like sometimes they're in like speed traps where they kind of catch you or just like everybody's going down a hill or whatever, be aware. Do not speed. It's not gonna be good. You'll get tickets in the mail. All right, I hope you enjoyed the video this week. Definitely comment below. Let me know some things that I might have missed about what not to do. I will also link the previous video above and definitely check out my 50 minute master class. If you're moving here, it's everything you need to know in all your first steps. And I will see you guys next week.