Photo: Rudy Balasko/Shutterstock

Places That Changed Us: New Zealand

New Zealand Auckland Travel
by Rulo Luna Ramos Jan 1, 2025

This is part of the “Places That Changed Us” series, a compilation of 20 trips that have had a lasting impact on the Matador Network team. To see the other 19 places, click here.

I escaped to New Zealand in 2011, uncertain about what to do with my life. Just weeks after graduating with a master’s degree in environmental biology, I secured a working holiday visa and convinced two of my closest friends to join me on this adventure. We arrived in New Zealand and settled in an old Victorian house in suburban Auckland which, thanks to Couchsurfing and a series of random events, quickly became our home. There, we began searching for jobs to secure our stay in the country for the next year.

Once I was settled, I realized this impulsive adventure was about more than escaping uncertainty, it was about finding myself beyond the expectations of others. Being far from my home in Mexico, my family, and most of my friends, I felt completely free for the first time in my life. That sense of liberation was intoxicating and propelled me into a whirlwind year of opportunity, friendships, learnings, and choices that felt more meaningful than ever.

The setting only heightened these feelings. Everything about New Zealand felt unfamiliar, from the birds chirping outside my window, to the incomprehensible grocery aisles, to the daily commute on the Devonport ferry. After a series of odd jobs, I found myself managing one of the busiest Mexican restaurants in downtown Auckland. There, I found my tribe: a group of Latin American designers, TV producers, social scientists, and recent graduates, all working as dishwashers, waitstaff, and cooks. This became my very own version of New Zealand: a land that looked, smelled, and felt foreign, but was shared with a crew of outcasts discovering themselves amid the locals’ quiet normalcy.

By the time my year was winding down, I embarked on what became my New Zealand epilogue. I bought a car, packed up everything, and set off on a two-month road trip across the South and North Islands. This was where the country’s renowned natural beauty truly struck me. I watched two oceans meet under a spectacular sunset at Cape Reinga, woke to find my tent surrounded by wild horses in the middle of the night, witnessed starlit skies I thought impossible, walked on glaciers, stumbled upon hidden black sand beaches, and even spotted a kiwi bird in the wild.

The rhythm of my New Zealand adventure compelled me to write a journal, trying to capture the rush of experiences shaping my life at the moment. It’s safe to say that this trip kickstarted my writing career. It’s also safe to say that my life would be very different had I not taken this small escapade into the unknown.

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