Why New Zealand Is Good For Your Health!

Well, it's been an interesting week, Simon was disappearing off for three weeks to Sydney for work, the house was calm and then the following morning I was ill. Nothing major but five days later I was so ill that I ended up being admitted to hospital. Fortunately I was able to call my mum (an advantage of moving back from New Zealand, I think a 24hr flight may have been a little beyond the call of motherly duty!) and she looked after the sprogs for me (Thank you Mum!).

I am heading in the right direction health wise now but of course my mum has returned home and Simon is still away.

This is the reason for why New Zealand is good for your health.  We moved to NZ in 2006, and lived in a suburb called Ngaio in Wellington. Having moved from the UK where we didn't speak to our neighbours and didn't really know anybody in the area we lived I found I had to completely change my attitudes or lead a very lonely life!

I made wonderful friends in Ngaio.  Paula, Pip, Jemma, Ali, Jo....in fact too many to mention. They all showed unconditional friendship and never hesitated to help when they could (and there was always a least one of them in Cafe Villa getting a coffee!). In fact I nicknamed Pip, 'Pip of Ngaio' because there wasn't a person she didn't know or who didn't know her.

When we made the decision to return to the UK I said I wanted to emulate my life in Ngaio back in the UK, I wanted to be Toni of Southampton. Now to be fair I had forgotten quite how big the whole of Southampton is but I made it my mission to knock on all of my neighbours doors (no matter how peculiar they thought I was!) and to talk to every parent at my son's school and basically 'network'.

It worked because during this last week I have been overwhelmed by the support I have received from neighbours and friends, from phonecalls telling me they're going to the supermarket and do I need anything, walking my sprogs to school, driving my sprogs back from school, knocking on my door to check that I am still upright and generally looking out for me.

So New Zealand (or at least the way of life) is most definitely good for your health!