Our values & hobbies
Our Values
Here are some of our core values that we do our best to live by:
Simple Living
Simple living to us means that we prioritise relationships and meaningful experiences over accumulating material possessions and immense wealth. We purposely moved out of Auckland to enjoy a slower pace of life with less noise, ample space, fresh air and become more self-sufficient by living off the land.
Compassion, Equality, Diversity
We believe in a society that is compassionate and strives for equality when it comes to basic human rights such as housing, education and healthcare. Our friendship circle is diverse in age, backgrounds and cultures, which we love and cherish. At the end of the day, we are all human, and diversity in people is an opportunity to learn, share and embrace our differences.
Pragmatic Environmentalists
We fully support protecting the environment from exploitation but focus on practical, realistic solutions that we can sustainably manage over time such as reducing plastic use, composting, buying organic/spray free where possible, supporting local growers and being concious of not contributing to consumerism as much as we can.
Our hobbies & interests
Hiking
There’s something about being immersed in the wonders of nature that calms the mind, makes you forget about the stresses of life (even when you’re gasping for oxygen and the legs are getting tired) and recharges your battery.
We love to get out when we can on day/multi-day hikes and explore new trails that we have not done before. One of our life goals is to complete all the New Zealand Great Walks one day, having done the Milford and Heaphy together, while Nann has also completed the Abel Tasman and Kepler tracks also. We’re so lucky in to have access to many great trails around New Zealand and D.O.C do an amazing job looking after some of the most well traversed ones!
Food & Travel
We enjoy trying different cuisine from around the world, and are always on the lookout for hidden gems when we travel locally or internationally. We both take turns cooking at home and Ryan is a very good baker!
With Nann working in the travel industry, we get the opportunity to do some travel every now and then, with a recent highlight of spending time in Moorea (French Polynesia) with a group of friends to celebrate Nann’s 40th. People think French Polynesia is expensive, but if you plan it right, any trip can be enjoyable without breaking the bank!
D.I.Y (Do it Yourself) & Gardening
In 2024, we bought a property together which needed some TLC. Since moving into our home in 2025, we wanted to give D.I.Y a go with the added bonus of saving some money and now we’ve got the D.I.Y bug - well Nann does anyway! We learn as we go, made some mistakes, wanted to give up at times but it’s all worth it because when you sit back and marvel at what you’ve accomplished, it was worth the blood, sweat and almost tears!
We have a bit of land on our property and we’ve definately underestimted how much work is required for upkeep! Slowly but surely, we’ll get there - the goal is to become more self-sufficient by growing our own food and do some restoration by planting natives. Ryan definately has the green fingers and is doing an excellent job at growing vegetables!
