With respect to kids, one thing that surprised me was that almost everyone I spoke to lived within walking distance of their kids' school and were more than happy to let their kids find their own way to and from school unsupervised! I don't know whether they were just trolling me, but it seems like a lot of the fears we have here in the US don't exist so much in NZ.

Kids walking to school by themselves (once old enough to have decent judgement/not get lost :>) isn't at all unusual in towns in Australia either.

I actually noticed to opposite in some parts of the country - a school bus doing what appeared to be a 20km tour in the countryside :)

But yeah, totally agree on the fears - kids have a lot of freedom there. On the other hand, I believe US is an outlier here too - it's quite frequent in Europe to let kids get back home alone.

Not trolling you. It's a thing here. I did when I was a kid, and still happens today.

> We didn't looked at Christchurch

South Island is best island buddy ;)

> For food, it seems like for the food problem it's also caused by the lack of 'culinary education' as we may call it in France.

Obesity directly correlates to poverty here.

> One thing bothering me a bit is the lack of history / culture, at least as I know it. This is again very biased by my education, but in Europe, you have castles, small villages with rich history literally everywhere

Yep, we're a young nation, I routinely drink in pubs in Munich that are older than my country - but New Zealand's history is older than NZ, Maori have been here since the 1100s at least. Also, our natural history is very compelling .

Your thoughts on culture/history are interesting considering the islands have been inhabited in some fashion for around 800 years at least.

That's why I mention that it's very biased by my 'European culture' sense - old villages, medieval castles, places you read about in the books etc. In NZ, the oldest building has less than 200 years.

Of course, the Maori culture is amazing and I'm eager to learn more about. It's just that I feel like my kids will miss something I had the chance to experience.

If you get the chance, have a look into some of the battles that happened around the country. You can go to many of the sites and key locations extremely easily. They often happened in such recent history that the effects are still relevant today. For example, being able to stand in the room where the battle of Gate Pa was planned and dinner was eaten, then see the site a few KM away gives a good perspective.

Regardless of where you raise them there are experiences they will miss by living there, and experiences they can only have by living there. I can only speak for myself but I wouldn't fret over it.