Finding Home

The Van der Watt family, from South Africa, have been in Nelson for five years and love it here. Mason and Minette have four children and say Nelson is definitely home now. Justin Eade talks to them about their background, how they came to be here, and what they love about the place.

We celebrated our 11th anniversary this year. We are both Afrikaans-speaking (a sister language of Dutch), as well as English. I grew up in a little farm town called Bethal, in the district of Mpumalanga, near Johannesburg. Minette also grew up in a small farm town, a place called Vryheid, between Johannesburg and Durban, in KwaZulu-Natal province. (Mason)

We decided to move to New Zealand five years ago as we knew there was a large South African community here. We knew the majority of South Africans who move here are happy in New Zealand, but there are also a lot that can’t cope and move back. There were some challenges, including getting my visa approved after I had already received a job offer whilst in South Africa. We packed up all our belongings (pretty much our whole house), but the moving company accidentally sent our container before I got my visa approved. Things worked out though, and we count ourselves very blessed. (Mason)

I’m now a mechanical engineering tutor at NMIT, but in South Africa, I was an engineering foreman at Tendele Coal Mining, the largest opencast anthracite mine in South Africa, just south of the Mozambique border. I worked there for 14 years. Working here is not as fast-paced or as stressful as back in South Africa, and I have some awesome workmates, which helps. I also run my own cell phone sale and repair business. (Mason)

I have a little baking business called ‘Crumb & Get It’. In South Africa, I was a pharmacist’s assistant, but here I am a stay-at-home mum. I’m making South African treats with my main focus on baking rusks in different flavours. They’re nice to have in the mornings dunked in your cuppa, or any time of the day. Being a stay-at-home mum, I decided this would be a nice venture to pursue from home while making a small income. I have started small, just selling to locals, but my big dream is to supply nationwide! (Minette)

The most challenging thing about the move was the first three years. That was the hardest time to adapt to the new life here, as having no family and grandparents around for our kids was quite tough. It’s been such an adjustment, mentally, having the boys (Luca 8, Juah 6, Reuben 16 months and Malan one month) grow up in New Zealand, slowly getting used to the freedom we have here. To go out on bike rides with their dad, go to parks and beaches, and have the kids run around freely. Nelson has some amazing parks, beaches, and rivers nearby that we love to visit. The boys now attend Nelson Christian Academy, which is an amazing school that provides the best support and education to our kids. (Minette)

We can now call Nelson home, as we are eligible for our Permanent Residence status. We love it here as it’s quite central to heaps of activities, it’s not as busy as big cities, and the weather seems to be great compared to other parts of New Zealand. People here are very welcoming, although it was a struggle at first to form lasting relationships. (Mason)

There wasn’t too much of a culture shock. South Africa has quite a diverse culture group, and we were very familiar with having variety. The thing that did stand out to us is freedom. Freedom in South Africa came at a price. The biggest cultural similarity is the rugby. South Africa is the better team, though my Kiwi workmates will not agree, of course. (Mason)

Some of the things we miss about South Africa… I used to surf there, and there’s not much of that around here. I admit I miss that, and the warm weather and thunderstorms (a favourite of Minette’s), they can get quite intense on the Highveld. We miss our family and friends dearly, but luckily we were able to go back and visit in 2022. (Mason)

We enjoy going to Golden Bay, and have friends with a property there. We like camping and roughing it. We also go to Quinney’s Bush, the kids absolutely love it. We have a small creek close to our property and the kids always want to go feed the eels. We enjoy going to Rabbit Island and Tāhuna beach for summer swims. The kids also play soccer at Tāhuna, and we live close to Saxton Field and like to go there to kick a ball around. In the summer we go to Isel Park for the night market. I also enjoy running. (Mason)

With a busy household, entertaining the kids feels like exercise on its own. We enjoy going to church on Sundays and have Shabbat every Saturday, which involves an extravagant dinner with friends. Nelson is definitely home now. Even when we went to visit South Africa, we referred to Nelson as home, even though the kids had an absolute blast there. (Mason)

We are an ever-growing family – Malan was born on 20 September 2024. We joke around, saying, “The playing field is now levelled up, with two South African kids and two Kiwi kids in the house.” Our aspiration for the future is to own a home here, and we are currently saving up for that. (Mason)