Anna in Aotearoa

We live on a hill in a high wind area where pretty much nothing but the hardiest of plants grow. So I have a lot of lavender and rosemary on the property. Look at how well they're flowering!! In warmer weather these attract a LOT of honey and bumble bees.

The lavender goes alongside the entire inner fence line, all plants grown from one mother plant struggling in a weird spot on the property when we moved in. I'm no gardener but I'm quite proud of my ultra-on-a-budget lavender hedge. Ha!

What's your garden looking like this year?

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6 days ago | [YT] | 77

Anna in Aotearoa

For anyone who may have tried to email me, technical issue now resolved! Thanks to Robert for pointing out that something was amiss. In other news, look at this rotund Kereru my friends and I were bewitched with on a walk yesterday. Rotund and a bit sleepy... I relate to this creature so much!

#newzealand

1 week ago | [YT] | 65

Anna in Aotearoa

Um. The courier driver spotted me walking around the neighborhood earlier today and passed me my parcel through the van's window! One of the perks of living in such a small place, I suppose. xD

1 month ago | [YT] | 65

Anna in Aotearoa

Shout-out to my friend for getting us these mugs after we saw them randomly online and freaked out about them. (Incidentally, I'm STILL waiting for Peter Jackson's call. I've been living in NZ for many years as a massive LOTR fan, it's about time!)

In the background (though hard to see), we have Piper, a.k.a. The Limpet. We also have the famous monstera plant from my first viral-ish video where I repotted it. It is in fact alive - yesterday a new leaf sprouted. I was actually legitimately concerned I had killed it with my repotting skills, but it seems to have toughed it out!

1 month ago | [YT] | 113

Anna in Aotearoa

81% of our audience are now Kiwis (combination of born and "adopted", which is how I like to refer to myself). The rest of the audience is from all over the place, which is so so cool.

We went skiing a few days ago (a first for our family). At the end of a long day was the only time the kids watched any TV, to wind down before bed. Here they are GLUED to a Simpson's episode, playing on regular ol' free-to-air TV which means there were long ads/commercials every few minutes. To my delight, the kids seemed to LOVE the ad breaks and would use them to run to the bathroom or get more snacks or whatever, rushing to get back before the break was over. SO reminiscent of my own childhood... both the show and the ad break shenanigans.

For anyone interested, we stayed at Skotel near Whakapapa!

1 month ago | [YT] | 95

Anna in Aotearoa

Hello friends! We've been doing quite a bit of nature walking together lately (thank you for coming along.. don't forget your hot drinks.. it's WINTER here). Do you enjoy the subtle music in the background of those videos or would you prefer no music? Let me know! Most walks don't have much in the way of "nature sounds" as I don't generally go early enough for all the birdsong etc. So it's basically me yapping, with or without music.. which do you prefer? xD

1 month ago | [YT] | 33

Anna in Aotearoa

Friends, it's been a while since I've written a post so let me present to you my limpet... Yes it is in fact a limpet, don't let the cat costume fool you. This was late afternoon just the other day, and by this point I was wondering how to politely explain to this creature the concept of personal space. She had been supervising me non-stop as I worked from home that day... talk about micro-management!!

I sometimes wear my beanie indoors as even with central heating (which is a rare concept in NZ), the house can get quite chilly. I think our insulation is not amazing, despite it being a relatively new-ish build. The place did used to have a fireplace but the previous owners got rid of it in favour of a heat pump. Blasphemy!

#newzealand #catlife

1 month ago | [YT] | 147

Anna in Aotearoa

Fess up - who is watching my big noggin' yappin' about things on the TV? xD

I thought you mind find this statistic from YouTube Studio interesting. I remember the early days of YouTube... it was so different back then, and certainly no one was watching it on the TV. I suppose now it's almost like another cable channel or streaming service like Netflix etc.

2 months ago | [YT] | 33

Anna in Aotearoa

I thought you might find this interesting from our analytics. Look how many Kiwis we have! I admit I didn't think people who already live here would be interested in listening to me drone on about what it's like to live here, but shows what I know (which is... very little).

A lot of people have asked about immigration and related questions, so I'll get in touch with someone who actually works in immigration and see if we can put some kind of resource out to help those interested.

Oh and also I can't tell you how much I appreciate the general positivity in that latest video's comment section. I am humbled!

#newzealand

3 months ago | [YT] | 82

Anna in Aotearoa

Folks, it's me again. I can't tell you how pleased I am that people have generally liked my NZ video, and I am surprised at how many Kiwis in particular have popped by to say hello and generally be so kind and welcoming. I love it. This is what YouTube is about, for me.

I thought in a future video I could show you our house here in NZ. Our decor, the good things, the things that need repair, how a typical house might differ from a typical US house, cost, that kind of thing.

Anything else you'd like to see, let me know any time.

3 months ago | [YT] | 95