Paradise tax – CI v NZ supermarket comparison, May 2023

 

With the cost of living crisis top of mind for us all – and even coined ‘Cozzie Livs’ by one uni student on the NZ news last week – I thought it would be an interesting exercise to do a comparison of some of our standard grocery shop items here in Rarotonga v one back in New Zealand. There are three supermarkets here on the island, with the main one, CITC, also owning most of the petrol stations here which stock a decent range of groceries 7 days a week (all but one of the supermarkets is closed on a Sunday which takes getting used to). Supermarkets are supplemented by locals selling their produce on the side of the road, dotted around the island and at the main market on week days and especially on a Saturday when the market’s in full swing.

A recent snap of the imported fruit and veg section at the main supermarket here

We get most Countdown/Woolworths brand foods here, plus Pams items. Often items won’t be in stock for weeks – like mealmate crackers, or the Countdown brand butter, or chicken nuggets for a few weeks there (the kids managed to survive). There’s no basmati rice on the island at the moment, which is less troublesome than late last year when the island ran out of petrol, but it’s still something to get used to. I’ve certainly become far more flexible with what I’m aiming to buy and there is no point sticking to a meal plan. Sometimes there are no apples or oranges aside from extremely expensive ones ($24kg mandarins today for instance), but we can usually find apples, and always bananas or tinned fruit. This means we tend to stock up on things when they are in the supermarket and are glad for our chest freezer and good sized pantry to let us do so.

When it comes to milk, we buy a carton of 12L of long-life milk at $33, compared to $2.20 a litre for long life milk at Countdown. The price of bread is regulated and there is only one provider of loaves of sandwich-type bread. It all tastes bland but is passable for toast or a toasted sandwich but is 1.5 times the price for similar bread at Countdown. The real killer for us is the cost of butter which is currently $11.50 for 500g compared to $6.50 in NZ. Perhaps we should become vegan?

Oddly, the price for 400g of dried apricots is pretty much the same, at $12 in NZ compared with $12.30 here. It looks like mince is about the same price too, and a 12 pack of Corona is $1 cheaper here.

The really big difference is the lack of range here. There aren’t specials with brands competing against each other on price – the selected is too limited. It’s interesting to compare that to the number of special prices/discounts on my fake Countdown order. The main time there are specials is for stock that’s expired or near expiry, and yep, we buy expired stock all the time, especially if it can go in the freezer (we currently have 8 bags of 6 mini bagels at half price, $3.70, on special for school lunchboxes, and chocolate chips for baking are often on special and live in our freezer). Nor can you get a 3-for-the-price-of-2 deal, or things like baked beans in a three pack. Often biscuits have had a rough ride on the boat to get here so are crushed before they’re even open, so they get saved for baking.

Our diets are much simpler here, with far less variation. Frozen chickens are always in stock so we have roast chicken on the bbq once or twice a week, with local veggies (, cucumber, lettuce) topped up with imported veggies like carrots, potatoes and capsicum ($10.50 a kg this week). If we’re lucky, a friend’s avocado tree has just produced, or we spot someone selling tomatoes on the side of the road, or we saw expired feta at the shop to jazz things up, and we supplement with frozen veggies too. When in season, there are plenty of fresh fruit around, with J a fan of starfruit especially, but none of us that hot on pawpaw. We make our own easiyo which works out at half the price of a kg of Fresh and Fruity or similar here, although J hates it and E isn’t a massive fan so they don’t get yoghurt unless it’s in a smoothie. And as I’m not working full time, I do much more baking for lunchboxes, although with the price of butter I don’t think that makes financial sense some weeks tbh.

An interesting exercise to do, with the cost of my fake shop here in Rarotonga coming in at $203.90 compared to the Countdown online order at $162.95. A whole other framing for this is that the minimum wage here in the Cook Islands is $9 compared to $22.70 in New Zealand, and Dean’s salary is half what it was in NZ, but it’s too nuanced a comparison to capture fairly in a blog post, so I won’t!

Instead, come visit, bring us groceries, and see for yourself.

A screenshot of the 'fake' Countdown order I did as part of this post, demonstrating the items with savings

Living in the Cook Islands

 

In some ways, Rarotonga feels like a tropical small town in New Zealand – perhaps somewhere remote in Northland but hotter and with more coconut trees. You can buy most of the food brands we have in NZ, so the kids still have their weetbix and marmite, and the petrol stations sell the most enormous Tip Top kiddy cones in the world for $1. In others, this really is a different place altogether. The kids put together a few things they have found especially unique about our first few weeks in Rarotonga. 

The kids and me before school began, at one of our favourite spots, Muri beach

1. 1.  The money

While the Cook Islands uses NZ currency, they also have some unique coins and notes: the $5 coin, the triangular $2 coin, the $1 coin, the 50c coin, and the $3 note.

 

 2.   Drinking water

Tap water is not safe to drink here, so the island is dotted with free water stations. Every couple of days we take our huge water bottles down the road to re-fill them with filtered and UV treated water that’s safe to drink and brush our teeth with.

Filling one of our bottles at the free water station near our home

 

 3.   Swimming

Rarotonga is surrounded by a lagoon, with the reef some way off shore. This makes for a beautiful natural 'swimming pool' that’s always warm, shallow, and almost always calm. Perfect for an evening dip, sailing lessons, fish spotting, and even school swimming lessons! No pool, no worries, swimming lessons take place a short walk from school at our local beach.

School swimming lessons

 

4.    4. The animals

One of the biggest culture shocks when we first arrived was the number of animals wandering everywhere – around our house, across the roads, along the beaches, at the market. Everywhere. Dogs are very popular pets here and they are free to wander about during the day. They’re inquisitive and gentle, and leave you alone if you don’t show interest in them. Even E who was frightened of dogs when we arrived has learnt mostly to ignore them. There are also loads of chickens and roosters all around. We have gotten used to the constant noise during the night. Moko (geckos) are also plentiful, especially at night as they crawl along the ceiling of our deck areas. We hear they eat mosquitos, so we’re happy to have them camp out at our place. We're also enjoyed spotting the many hermit crabs on the beaches, especially in the evenings.

 

5.   5. The pace of life

No shoes, nothing open on Sundays, no traffic, no time pressure. Also no tv, no library (well there is one but it’s crammed to the roof with old dusty books so not quite what we’re used to - we are so lucky with our libraries in NZ), no online shopping, no grocery deliveries. The internet is also a lot more expensive and slower, so these blog posts won't be too regular. We have embraced this slower pace, enjoying Saturday morning markets, eating out, swimming, sailing, and spending plenty of time reading in the hammock we brought with us. Chores like grocery shopping also longer, and the house needs cleaning more regularly but that's ok, time is on our side.

We’re also enjoying living closer to school than we did in Wellington, walking most days so long as it’s not too wet or hot (it’s the rainy season so we have some downpours!). J made a video of the walk to school here.

Reading in the hammock

Outside the library and museum

Sunday bike ride - hiding from a downpour!

A long time between drinks - the von Yarralls are on the move again!

Over five years have passed since we last posted here, but we're starting up the blog again having moved to another new country!

A potted history of the past five years so the next posts make sense:

• we moved back from London to New Zealand in October 2017
• baby number 2 arrived in early 2018
• we bought a house in Wellington, we had jobs, we made friends, we had hobbies, we raised kids, we survived pandemics and lockdowns and working with toddlers

Then we got itchy feet, and in January 2023 we moved our family to the Cook Islands where Dean has a job for a couple of years. It's a chance to immerse ourselves in a different culture (English and Cook Islands Maori are both spoken) and a different way of living as a family for a bit.

For our readers outside of NZ or Australia, the Cook Islands is a country comprising 15 islands a four hour flight from NZ. The largest island, Rarotonga, is where we're now living. It has a population of around 11,000 and takes 40 minutes to drive right around. Tourism is by far the country's main earner, and the next posts will illustrate why - picture white sandy beaches, crystal clear water, tropical warmth, and a gorgeously simple, slow pace of life.

Follow us for updates about island life, and please come and visit!

Dean, Lou, J and E x

                                                    Lou, E, Dean and J in winter 2022 in New Zealand

San Sebastian, Spain

Dean’s folks and one of his sisters paid us a visit in May/June, so we joined them for a week in San Sebastian, in Spain’s Basque country. It’s a foodie paradise, with more Michelin star restaurants than anywhere in the world. So yes, we ate!

We stayed in a fabulous big apartment right on Zurriola beach and I think one of Mini-Yazza’s highlights was running around in that, he’s not used to so much space, sadly.

Other highlights included days on the beach (the nude beach is perfect for swimming with little ones, and it’s fine to get them nude too!), eating icecreams, wandering the old town with its gorgeous churches, enjoying the aquarium on a rainy day, exploring the famous La Concha beach and walking up to the top of Urgull hill to take in the views from the 12m tall statue of Jesus. For mini, the highlight was going on a tourist train (‘Car! Car!’), stuffing a whole plate of fresh tuna in his gob, stealing my entire icecream when I offered him a lick, and having so much quality time with family.

Spot the stowaway

Bliss.

 

Fly: Easyjet to Biarritz in France, then it’s a 30-40 minute car trip. We arranged a van for the 5 of us, including a car seat for mini at £120 each way which was a bargain.

 

Stay: Hollywood Zurriola – can’t recommend this place enough, 4 huge double bedrooms, a well-equipped kitchen and loads of space. The bakery/café downstairs has the most friendly staff (Mini got loads of kisses) and just a block to the beach. Also plenty of outdoor playgrounds in the neighbourhood and a supermarket a couple of blocks away.

 

Eat: The in-laws became regulars at Bodega Donostiarra around the corner from our apartment which was busy every evening with locals. We also ate plenty of churros and plates of pinxtos as we wandered the old town, including a highlight of beef cheeks at Atari Gastroteka in the Old Town.

The view from our apartment

Weekend in Prague

Prague had long been on our list of must-visits, so we cashed in some frequent flyer miles to get there in May for two nights. It was the ideal city break with a Mini-Yazz – everywhere was easily walkable, the food was cheap and tasty and often eaten in beer gardens with play equipment for little ones, and most of the sights were free and outdoors.

 

In two days, we covered pretty thoroughly the old town and related sites, including the famous clock tower, the Charles bridge, and castle. Top tip: You can actually access much of the castle without paying entry, you still need to join the queue for a bag search, then you’re in the castle grounds where you can admire the outside of buildings and get into both church foyers. It’s only once you’re in that you have the option of buying a ticket to access some of the areas, so don’t be put off by the queue.

Lots of steps to the castle

 We also took the funicular to the top of Petrin Hill for an explore and enjoyed the walk back down through lovely gardens.

View from the Castle

Stay: Royal PragueCity Apartments – spacious with a kitchenette and supermarket down the road

Eat: Trdelník or Chimney cake – you see these everywhere roadside, cylinders of pastry rolled in cinnamon and stuffed with cream or icecream.

French fancies

We were lucky to have Lou’s mum visit in springtime and to be invited to join Lou’s Switzerland-based sister and her kids on holiday on the coast in France.

Cousins exploring

It was a week filled with cousin fun, French pastries, BBQs, sunshine and the beach. The Easter bunny discovered where to find us, so the kids enjoyed an Easter egg hunt too.

Oh yeah, and plenty of French wine with these lovelies

Mini-Yazz especially enjoyed being strapped onto the back of a bike (so much so he fell sound asleep one day) and boisterously jumping on the trampoline with his bigger cousins.

Dean tried his hand at sea kayaking while Lou wiped out on the bodyboard. Another tremendous time with family to remember.

Trampolining fun for the big kids too

Christmas in Suffolk

A few photos from our week in Suffolk with Lou’s bro and family just after Christmas 2016.

We were lucky to find a huge house for hire with plenty of space for the three kids to play in the village of Southwold, with loads of toys and activities to keep them entertained and lovely shops for the Mums to peruse. It was a low-key week with lots of wanders along the beach and through the pretty little town, and a boozy grown up New Year's Eve. The Two magpies bakery was a regular stop for delicious nibbles and even did fab pizzas on Saturday nights. A great get-away within an easy drive from London.

Happy New Year!

Rhodes relaxation

September saw us spend a week at a Mark Warner resort in Levante, Rhodes. The priority in our search was somewhere with childcare, as living in the UK without much extended family meant in almost a year we hadn’t really had a break and as much as we love Mini-Yazz, we were dying for some quiet time poolside!

Friends had recommended this particular Mark Warner, and having booked early we were upgraded to a family room which meant we didn’t even need to share with Mini, double win.

It’s a gorgeous resort, still fairly new so in great shape. Each day we’d gorge on breakfast before playing in or around the pool with Mini, who also enjoyed time in the small playground and on the beach. After his lunchtime nap, we’d drop him off at the excellent childcare facility for 3 hours of fun. This was our first time leaving him with strangers and in a nursery-type environment so we weren’t sure how he’d manage but apart from turning on the tears when we’d drop him off, by all accounts he had a blast. The team of nannies (all UK-trained) were friendly and confident, and clearly formed a bond with all the kids in their care. This resort did a kids meal at 5pm, so Mini could eat while we enjoyed a G&T before delivering him back to the childcare facility where he could sleep. While we  extra paid for each afternoon of childcare, this evening care is a free benefit available to all families at the resort. Mini wasn’t great at falling asleep there though so we only did this a couple of times, but it was fab to eat alone and pretend we were grown ups again.

 On our free afternoons, we made the most of the hotel facilities, trying paddle boarding, sailing and kayaking, a game of water polo, and even a couple of open-air pump classes. Dean took part in the resort mini-triathlon one evening, rocking into second place alongside some much more serious competitors. Proud wife and son moment.

We hired a car one day to explore the old town in Rhodes city which is an ancient walled town boasting cobbled lanes and a lovely, strollable harbour – the site of the legendary Colossus of Rhodes statue, destroyed in an earthquake more than 2000 years ago. That means we’ve been to 3/7 ancient wonders of the world – Rhodes, Ephesus and Giza. Still a few to tick off the list then!

All up, just what the Doctor ordered. Mini-Yazz charmed the pants off the nursery staff, who awarded him the Robin Hood award for stealing the nannies’ hearts, and so we all returned rested, and ready to face the London autumn.

 

Cottage life in Slovakia

What luck that our friends from Sydney, Marcel and Kate, were visiting Marcel's family in Slovakia for a few months over summer with their boys, and that we hadn't yet been to Slovakia. Another country for the list*!

We enjoyed an absolutely fun-filled, chilled out few days with them in a holiday cottage really in the middle of nowhere, near a tiny town called Ilava, about 90 minutes from Bratislava.

Sampling the local food and drink

With three boys under three, we spent a lot of time mooching at home juggling nap times and chasing naked boys around the property and in and out of the paddling pool. Mini Yazz thrived on the experience of being around other kids constantly, and loved being able to crawl around in the nud.

Our cottage

Slovakia is full of thermal areas too, so we spent a lovely day at nearby Zelena Zaba thermal pools. Mini proved he's fearless when it comes to water (a good thing or a bad thing?) throwing himself around and especially enjoying a rather fast and crowded whirlpool feature. We also spent a morning exploring the castle and cobbled streets of nearby Trencin. And on our way from Vienna (the best flight option for us was from London to Vienna, where we spent a night in a hotel at the airport before hiring a car to drive to Slovakia) we popped in to Bratislava, waltzing across a bridge spanning the Danube and exploring the old town there too.

View from Trencin castle

All up, exactly the break away we needed, with plenty of sunshine, top-class company, food and booze. A heartfelt thank you to Kate and Marcel for being locals and arranging everything including goulash and Slovakian 'tea'. Blog post to come on the realities of traveling with babies though!

Mini-Yazz trying to break free

*A timely reminder to do a list of countries visited since moving to the UK before we lose track: Abu Dhabi (Dean), America, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Canada, Croatia, Denmark (Lou), Dubai (Dean), Egypt, England, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India (Dean) Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Luxemburg, Malaysia, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Singapore, South Africa, Wales.
And before we made the move: Australia, Hong Kong, New Caledonia, Rarotonga (Dean)

UK sand and sun - a weekend in Camber Sands

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside! Especially when the seaside is 7 miles of golden sand, who'd have thought that existed just two hours from London?

Well it does, and it's called Camber Sands. But as gorgeous as that sounds, we rather quickly realised that sand and an uber-curious-everything-in-the-mouth-nearly-crawling-six-month-old don't really mix that well. They mix - in a sort of sand everywhere, in the mouth, in the eyes, in the nappy - kind of way, but not well in terms of cleaning it all up when the six month old is so wriggly you'd think he permanently has ants in his pants.

But back to the break away: we recently spent four nights at Camber Sands, an easy drive from London and just five minutes from the beautiful old town of Rye. With the aforementioned six month old in tow, we didn't do much, but we did all relax and sleep amazingly being away from the everyday. One morning we just plopped mini-Yazz between us in our super king sized bed and all snoozed off for an extra hour. Must have been that sea air!

As well as a couple of wanders along the beach and an aborted attempt at fish and chips on the beach in the wind with the wriggler, we explored Rye by wandering its steep cobbled streets complete with timber houses from the 16th century and the look-out at Ypres tower over the marsh land. The best find was Knoops chocolate shop which does hands down the most incredible, chocolatey milkshakes and hot chocolate we've ever had. And we've tried more than our fair share of those over the years. They make it with loads of huge chocolate chunks, and you choose what chocolate you want - like an 80% from Uganda, or a 30% milk, and then choose other bits to add, like chilli or peppermint. 

One rainy day we drove to New Romney where mini-Yazz discovered his squealling singing voice for the first time over lunch at the lovely Aboyne House restaurant. Top timing. It's still a weird sight for us having him sit at the table with us and gobble down morsels from our plates (the one - ONE - trait he seems to have from his mum is a love for burgers. Seriously this kid is 99% a mini-Dean). We followed up with a quick walk at the Romney Marsh wildlife centre which was smaller than expected but a pleasant stroll with some history thrown in.

Learnings from this trip:

• babies and sand. Stupid idea.
• our Ford Focus is at the very limits of space when travelling with a wee one.
• we need a super King bed.

First trip with mini-Yazz - may as well go to the other side of the world

Our trip to New Zealand to show off mini-Yazz was looming and Dean was lucky enough to get a month off work, so we were on our way.

Normally we'd share a pack between the two of us for a couple of weeks away, packing perhaps the night before or, if feeling super organised, we'd pack the bulk the weekend before a trip away. Hand luggage meant a handbag with a book, a spare pair of knickers and a hydrating face cream I'd never remember to use on the flight.

With a little'un though, the packing started weeks in advance - we needed clothes he'd fit while away, but not yet; sheets for travel cots, but not his own cot size; formula which costs 1/3 of the price in the UK than NZ; toys; books; nappies; yadda yadda yadda. The lists were long and endless. And strewn about  our tiny two-bedroom London pad.

But we did eventually get to the airport (a good hour before we normally would), with seven pieces of luggage. Boy there is just so much STUFF with a baby! And not stuff you can do without to save space - yeah we could have done with fewer baby gros, but there are the absolute necessary pieces of kit to lug into the airport: car seat, buggy, cabin-sized suitcase full of nappies for the ride. The first thing we learnt was there was no point keeping the stroller until we boarded. We'd thought we'd need it for mini to have a nap but no way in hell was he going to snooze at his normal bedtime in the excitement that is Heathrow. The lights! The people! The noise! 

We flew Singapore Air and were lucky the first leg was pretty empty and we had a lovely air stewardess who helped us get the hang of things. That flight was pretty relaxed as we knew we were stopping for a break in Singapore, so we all got a few hours' kip (although none of the usual glass of wine, a film and a sleeping tablet - those days are now a sweet and distant memory). Our mate Megan was waiting for us at the other end and we enjoyed two nights with her and her family at their house, swimming, eating, enjoying fantastic hospitality and breaking the jetlag. This was mini-Yazza's first taste of heat after being born in late Autumn in London, and he had his first swim in Megan's pool - he took it all in his stride like the chilled out dude he is. And Lou and Megan spent most of their time acting like teenage girls again, creating dances in the pool to the soundtrack of our youth.

The flight from Singapore to NZ was pretty smooth too, a bit of rest and the promise of Dean's parents excitedly waiting for us in Christchurch for our first stop at the holiday home in Akaroa. 

Akaroa harbour early on the first day

The view from home, Akaroa

Akaroa lighthouse

So to New Zealand: 24 nights, three cities, two families full of love and attention for the wee one (and for us!). Akaroa was its usual gorgeous, relaxing self. Wellington seemed to be much more upbeat than previous visits - it felt the economy had improved, and we were pleased to find Boulcott St Bistro chock full on a Monday night, a really positive sign for the capital city given so much business has moved to Auckland. And Hawke's Bay was sunny and chilled out as always. Each day started with a walk down to Havelock North village for a coffee, and many afternoons were spent on the deck at my family home in the sun with a glass of wine. We enjoyed a fabulous Mexican meal at Havelock North's Mamacita's too, complete with a couple of margaritas. Yep, we made the most of the free babysitting, thanks families x

Eastbourne beach, Wellington

His favourite spot with Poppa

With Dean's family

Enjoying the kiwi cafe scene in Greytown

Riding the miniature train at Keirunga Gardens, Havelock North, with Daddy and Granddad

A highlight was having mini-Yazz baptised at Lou's family's church in Havelock North, with the baptism font her Dad made and both families there to celebrate with us. I'd love to say he was an angel during the service - and he was in a way, with no tears during the baptism and a snooze on this Godmother Liz's shoulder after - but, as boy babies seem to do, he managed to find the smallest chink in his nappy as we prepared to enter the church with the Priest, and baptised the entry to the church, and Dean's shoes, on the way in. Rascal.

Snuggles with Granny Nik in the sunshine

Strawberry picking, Havelock North

We were of course sad to say goodbye to NZ and family, but were looking forward to getting back into our London routine too. It seems we'd saved our only travel mistake until now: travelling straight through from Napier to Auckland to Singapore to London - a 50+ hour trip with a wee one. The final flight from Singapore to London, at 13.5 hours and during the day, was like no hell you can ever imagine. Mini-Yazz didn't really cry, but he didn't want to sleep or stay still, so we were all up and down like yo-yos trying to keep him and ourselves sane. By the time we got through the immigration queue at Heathrow, we were all swearing we'd take the mail boat next time. Oh and then there was the baby/mummy jetlag which went like this:

Mummy can't sleep.

Mummy's trying to sleep while Daddy and baby sleep

Mummy's so close to sleep but just can't fall into it.

Mummy finally falls asleep.

Baby wakes to feed.

Baby can't go back to sleep.

Mummy's so tired!

But baby's awake.

Repeat.

Lucky for this mummy she had a daddy who happily got up at around 5am for three days running, even though he was working full days back in the office, to entertain the wee one while I got a snooze. And with the advice my Dad gave me as we said goodbye ringing in my ears ('it will pass'), we got through it, and after five nights back home we were into our old routine, with wee one in his new big cot and nursery and all sleeping soundly.

Would we make the trip to NZ again in a hurry? Sadly, no. Even though we'd be more streamlined next time, there's just no way of having a pain-free experience once you have a baby in tow. But we are planning a few European breaks in coming months which should be easier, although we will still need to lug a car seat and stroller everywhere we go.

Top tips for travelling with a wee one:

• check in your stroller unless you need it in transit. The fewer pieces of stuff you have, the easier it is to get around the airport (no shit Sherlock). Although if you are taking the stroller to the gate, know that you'll need to take baby out during security (bummer if they're asleep huh?!), and the bags offered at the gate were perfectly adequate. We'd bought our own buggy bag for £20 which was useful though because we could throw way more stuff in it, using it like an extra piece of luggage. 
• we didn't realise this (proud rookies) but any time there's turbulence, you need to take baby out of the bassinet. Even if you've just that second gotten baby to sleep. We feigned sleep a couple of times and got away with it (you know the moment you remove your sleeping baby and strap them to you, the seat belt sign will go off, right?); but other times the air stewards were all over us like poo on a white babygro.
• the problem on the flight may not be your baby - we were lucky mini-Yazz had clearly travelled enough before being born (11 countries!) that he was fine on take off and landing, and generally slept pretty well. But if there's another unhappy or wriggly or noisy or generally interesting-looking baby in your aisle, that will make it hard to settle your own wee one.
• don't even think of doing a long trip in one leg. Break it up overnight, somewhere with fresh air and a pool preferably. Yep it'll add time and money to the trip, but I promise that is better than the hell of a 50 hour trip in one go. I promise you.