Radio New Zealand Calling Home: The More I Travel, the More I Miss New Zealand

I had the pleasure recently of talking to Jim Mora on RNZ's Calling Home. It made me realise just how much I miss and love New Zealand.

Eighteen months ago, when our youngest daughter left for university, my husband Noah and I packed up our lives in Devonport and decided to try something different. Noah works remotely for a company based in Boston, and back in New Zealand, he was getting up at 3am every morning to work. It was taking a toll, so we decided that if he could work from anywhere, we might as well move closer to his work hours.

Since then, we've been living and travelling through the Pacific and Latin America, carrying most of what we own in a couple of bags.

It has been quite an adventure.

I was nervous about how I would manage my artisan food company, Secret Kiwi Kitchen, from the other side of the world. In reality, it has worked remarkably well. The manufacturers and warehouse teams I work with in New Zealand have been incredibly understanding, and being closer to the US has given me more time to concentrate on growing Secret Kiwi Kitchen there.

Two weeks ago, we opened our California warehouse, and our New Zealand-made baking mixes are now starting to ship to customers across the United States. After all the work that has gone into getting SKK into America, seeing those first orders leave the warehouse is pretty special.

But our conversation on Calling Home got me thinking about something completely different: home.

I know I'm biased, but I really do think it is the best place in the world to call home. And it isn't as though I didn't appreciate it before. I used to pinch myself at how beautiful New Zealand is. It is almost ridiculously photogenic, from the beaches and mountains to the green hills and little country roads.

But being away for 18 months has made me notice all the things I took for granted.

I miss the landscape. I miss the ocean. I miss the people. I miss the fresh air and the birds. And I really miss New Zealand food and our extraordinary ingredients.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love New Zealand ingredients Our grass-fed dairy was one of the things that inspired me to start Secret Kiwi Kitchen in the first place. I wanted to create food that reflected the ingredients and flavours I loved at home.

Travelling has also given me plenty of new ideas. I'm constantly tasting new foods, discovering unfamiliar ingredients and seeing different combinations that make me wonder what we could do with them at SKK. I love bringing those ideas back to the kitchen and finding ways to incorporate them while keeping our products unmistakably Kiwi.

That is one of the unexpected joys of this rather unusual life we've created. We get to see the world, taste the world and learn from it, while carrying a little bit of New Zealand with us.

Secret Kiwi Kitchen started in New Zealand, and it will always be a New Zealand company. Our mixes are made there, our inspiration comes from there, and so much of what I love about the country is baked into what we do.

The more places I see, the more I appreciate where we come from.

I love travelling. I love the adventure, the food, the people and the constant surprises. But 18 months away has made one thing very clear.

The more I travel, the more I miss New Zealand.

And the more excited I am to bring a little bit of it to the rest of the world.