Nothing made me feel more homesick than when we had been in the country a few months and I pulled up at the shop and asked my daughter to pop in and get me a newspaper. She asked, “Which one, Mum?” to which I had to reply,” there is only one”. There is one newspaper for each area. The Herald in Auckland, The Dominion in Wellington, The Press in Christchurch and the Otago Daily Times in Dunedin. It is to these main papers that New Zealanders turn for all their information. All the local and national news can be found here as well as a limited amount of International news. It is difficult to say whether any publication pushes a particular political viewpoint. Most of the news is local and I would describe the reporting as lightweight. It is unusual to read anything about the private life of any celebrity.
In addition to what is happening in New Zealand and to a much lesser extent, around the world, this daily paper also carries information you would normally associate only with the local paper, such as property for rental, what’s on, *garage sales etc. It is here that you will look for property, employment and goods for sale. Wednesdays and Saturdays are traditionally the best for classified ads nationwide.
Another publication is the Trade and Exchange, it comes out every Thursday and each area offers a different selection of second-hand goods for sale. It also carries a selection of articles that are being given away free.
Free local papers are delivered regularly, they carry local news and classified ads. Leaflet drops are a regular occurrence and letter boxes, which are by the front drive, are often overflowing with booklets from supermarkets and local stores advertising their special offers.
Women’s magazines produced here and in Australia are on similar lines to those in England. Not so well written, their problem pages are mostly answered by clairvoyants.
“North and South”, “The Listener” and “Metro” are the main quality magazines enjoyed by both sexes covering mainly social issues of the day. There are many specialised magazines. There are very few comics or magazines for teenagers. Some places sell English magazines and comics at a price.
When I first lived in New Zealand, although I read the papers, I did not know the issues that were being written about and they held very little interest for me. I would scour the newspapers for news of England and would feel really disappointed if I could not find some snippet about home.
In fact you do not often get any coverage of England. It took a few months to get over the obsession of needing to know was going on and whenever I felt in need of a good read, I turned to The International Express, which is published weekly and relays the very worse of what is happening in the UK as well as all the gossip.
* Garage sales are held mainly on Saturday mornings. Here people sell their unwanted items from their home garage and people drive from different garage sales picking up ‘bargains’ - ‘boot’ sales are not so popular here as they are in the UK.