Hey, we're the Boronds!

Two adults, three kids, five luggage. That is how we left Hungary in June 2017, and that is where the blog name comes from -- "Ötbőrönd" means "five luggage" in Hungarian. We landed in Auckland not knowing much beyond the fact that we wanted to try life on the other side of the world.

Who we are

We are Mate and Zsuzsi. Our kids are Gergo, Reka, and Anna. When we arrived, Anna was still a baby -- she shows up in the early posts as "Potyi" -- and the older two were just starting school. Since then, everyone has outgrown at least three pairs of shoes and two schools.

We both work remotely, which eventually freed us from staying in Auckland. We started out in Gulf Harbour, moved across Auckland, then to Tauranga, and finally found our home in Nelson on the South Island -- literally, because we bought a house there.

Why New Zealand?

Nothing was broken back home. We just wanted to see what life looks like on the other side of the planet, and we wanted our kids to grow up knowing that if they ever decide to colonise Mars, they should have the courage to try.

The first two years were tough. We were scraping by on a salary that barely covered rent, Zsuzsi cleaned houses to fill the gap, and there were moments of genuine despair. But we knew this was the country for us, and giving up was never really on the table.

What this blog is about

This blog is a family journal. We write about the ordinary days, the hard days, the stunning landscapes, and the strange reality of your children speaking better English than their parents. There are posts about visas and school choices, but also about the time Reka decided to paint on the carpet despite being told a thousand times not to.

Most of the blog is in Hungarian -- we started writing for family and friends back home. The English posts are adaptations rather than literal translations, written for anyone curious about what it actually looks like when a Hungarian family packs up and moves to New Zealand. We do not sugar-coat things, but we do not complain much either. We hope you find something useful here, or at least a good story.