A tourist visiting our beautiful Aotearoa is going viral for gushing about how friendly everyone is - especially compared to back home in Europe.
Sasha, a travel content creator, has been documenting her trip around New Zealand, sharing everything from local quirks to the stuff she reckons we’re getting VERY right over here.
After sitting at a park in Tauranga for just 20 minutes, she noticed five people had smiled or stopped to say “hello” - which, to her, felt like a pretty big deal.
“New Zealanders know how to live life,” she captioned her Instagram post.
“If someone in my country says ‘hello’ to me, I’ll just look at him [confused], like ‘do I know you?’” Sasha laughed.
She reckons we’ve just got a totally different mentality down here, "where it's okay to smile".
I like it here so much. I like the people so much. I like this country.
One of the biggest standouts for Sasha is the way our older generation lives.
She says it’s refreshing to see older Kiwis still active, happy, and out enjoying life - something she reckons is rare in Europe.
“It’s very different,” she said. “I admire them and want to learn from their way of living.”
Honestly, not something we usually stop to think about, and if we do, sometimes we assume -or at least I have - is the opposite.
Kiwis in the comments were quick to return the love.
“Thank you for reminding me how lucky I am to be from NZ ☺️,” one person wrote.
“Welcome to the beautiful New Zealand, sister! Where our people may look scary… but we’ve got the biggest hearts! ❤️” another joked.
“New Zealand is a magical country 🥰 I hope you're enjoying your stay ✨️ ,” added a third.
It really is a good little reminder that even when we get caught up moaning about the small stuff, there's a lot to love about our little corner of the world.
