Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
After three months away in America, we’re finally back home on our countryside homestead in New Zealand — and returning has changed how I see this place, our life here, and what “home” really means.
In this vlog, I’m catching you up on life in rural New Zealand after three months between California and Nevada: pruning the orchard, tackling winter jobs on our 1940s homestead, preparing for spring, spending time with family, and sharing what’s next for the property and this channel.
Living between the USA and New Zealand gives me a unique perspective on both countries. America’s speed, energy and opportunity feel very different from the slower, more grounded lifestyle we’ve built here in the New Zealand countryside. After three months away, those differences feel clearer than ever.
🇺🇸🇳🇿 WATCH NEXT: 10 Biggest Differences Between the USA & New Zealand
youtube.com/watch?v=X_AlRWvKeGg
CHAPTERS
00:00 Back Home After 3 Months
00:30 Life on Our New Zealand Homestead
02:14 Restoring the Orchard
04:59 Cutting Back the Stone Pine
06:05 What We Did in America
08:45 Living in New Zealand vs USA
09:38 What’s Next for the Homestead
12:25 From Nevada Heat to NZ Winter
13:11 Building the Next Chapter
🏡 New Zealand Homestead series:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmhbBmUiJiZmdUqaJjafZ2h8svSCwVNbS
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌍 TRAVEL DEEPER. EXPERIENCE DESTINATIONS, NOT JUST ATTRACTIONS.
I’m Alexander Ayling—an award-winning travel filmmaker, television host and cultural storyteller.
For more than a decade, I’ve traveled through 50+ countries, creating cinematic films, practical travel guides and culturally curious stories designed to help you experience the world beyond the surface.
🌐 Explore my original travel guides, premium itineraries and trip-planning resources:
👉 alexanderayling.com
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🎬 EXPLORE THE CHANNEL
🌍 TOP TRAVEL GUIDES
Practical destination guides, complete itineraries, local insights and lessons learned from more than a decade of traveling the world.
▶️ Watch the playlist:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmhbBmUiJiZkGJUNZTHMFO1C6r96I_PWh
🏡 DIY RENOVATING OUR COUNTRYSIDE HOMESTEAD
Follow our journey restoring, renovating and building a more intentional life on our New Zealand countryside homestead—from DIY projects and extreme weather to gardening, self-sufficiency and rural family life.
▶️ Watch the playlist:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmhbBmUiJiZmdUqaJjafZ2h8svSCwVNbS
🥾 PHYSICAL ADVENTURES
Mountain climbs, marathons, multi-day hikes, wilderness expeditions and outdoor challenges that test the body, expand the mind and connect us more deeply with the landscapes we explore.
▶️ Watch the playlist:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmhbBmUiJiZnPJV9rD3Z9iQ56pNZ0ooE3
🍳 RECIPES, COOKING & FOOD CULTURE
Travel-inspired recipes, international food culture, seasonal homestead cooking and garden-to-table meals that bring the flavors and traditions of the world home.
▶️ Watch the playlist:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmhbBmUiJiZk8OmiPmGyhUiFBf9yOfZXH
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌍 PLAN YOUR NEXT ADVENTURE
Explore original destination guides, detailed travel resources and practical trip-planning advice:
👉 alexanderayling.com
Browse premium downloadable travel itineraries:
👉 alexanderayling.com/custom-travel-itineraries
Need personalized help planning your trip?
👉 alexanderayling.com/book-an-appointment
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ABOUT ALEXANDER AYLING
I’m an award-winning travel filmmaker, television host and cultural storyteller with a background in History and Cultural Anthropology.
I’m a winner of the global travel-filmmaking competition *The Biggest Baddest Bucket List*, former co-host of @Vagabrothers and co-host of the Hulu travel series *Basic vs. Baller*. Over more than a decade, I’ve created travel films and destination guides across 50+ countries, generating more than 115 million views worldwide.
My work explores travel, hidden history, culture, food, physical adventure, personal growth and our journey restoring a countryside homestead in New Zealand.
Whether I’m exploring a new destination, uncovering the history behind a place, cooking a meal inspired by my travels, rebuilding our homestead or taking on a demanding physical challenge, everything is connected by the same philosophy:
**Stay Curious & Keep Growing.**
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
CONNECT
🌐 Website, Travel Guides & Itineraries
alexanderayling.com
📸 Instagram
instagram.com/alexander.ayling
🎥 Subscribe
youtube.com/@AlexanderAyling
📩 Business, Tourism & Brand Partnerships
alexanderayling.com/contact
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Some links may be affiliate links. I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend experiences, products and services I genuinely believe in.
After three months away in America, we’re finally back home on our countryside homestead in New Zealand — and returning has changed how I see this place, our life here, and what “home” really means.
In this vlog, I’m catching you up on life in rural New Zealand after three months between California and Nevada: pruning the orchard, tackling winter jobs on our 1940s homestead, preparing for spring, spending time with family, and sharing what’s next for the property and this channel.
Living between the USA and New Zealand gives me a unique perspective on both countries. America’s speed, energy and opportunity feel very different from the slower, more grounded lifestyle we’ve built here in the New Zealand countryside. After three months away, those differences feel clearer than ever.
🇺🇸🇳🇿 WATCH NEXT: 10 Biggest Differences Between the USA & New Zealand
youtube.com/watch?v=X_AlRWvKeGg
CHAPTERS
00:00 Back Home After 3 Months
00:30 Life on Our New Zealand Homestead
02:14 Restoring the Orchard
04:59 Cutting Back the Stone Pine
06:05 What We Did in America
08:45 Living in New Zealand vs USA
09:38 What’s Next for the Homestead
12:25 From Nevada Heat to NZ Winter
13:11 Building the Next Chapter
🏡 New Zealand Homestead series:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmhbBmUiJiZmdUqaJjafZ2h8svSCwVNbS
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌍 TRAVEL DEEPER. EXPERIENCE DESTINATIONS, NOT JUST ATTRACTIONS.
I’m Alexander Ayling—an award-winning travel filmmaker, television host and cultural storyteller.
For more than a decade, I’ve traveled through 50+ countries, creating cinematic films, practical travel guides and culturally curious stories designed to help you experience the world beyond the surface.
🌐 Explore my original travel guides, premium itineraries and trip-planning resources:
👉 alexanderayling.com
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🎬 EXPLORE THE CHANNEL
🌍 TOP TRAVEL GUIDES
Practical destination guides, complete itineraries, local insights and lessons learned from more than a decade of traveling the world.
▶️ Watch the playlist:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmhbBmUiJiZkGJUNZTHMFO1C6r96I_PWh
🏡 DIY RENOVATING OUR COUNTRYSIDE HOMESTEAD
Follow our journey restoring, renovating and building a more intentional life on our New Zealand countryside homestead—from DIY projects and extreme weather to gardening, self-sufficiency and rural family life.
▶️ Watch the playlist:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmhbBmUiJiZmdUqaJjafZ2h8svSCwVNbS
🥾 PHYSICAL ADVENTURES
Mountain climbs, marathons, multi-day hikes, wilderness expeditions and outdoor challenges that test the body, expand the mind and connect us more deeply with the landscapes we explore.
▶️ Watch the playlist:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmhbBmUiJiZnPJV9rD3Z9iQ56pNZ0ooE3
🍳 RECIPES, COOKING & FOOD CULTURE
Travel-inspired recipes, international food culture, seasonal homestead cooking and garden-to-table meals that bring the flavors and traditions of the world home.
▶️ Watch the playlist:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmhbBmUiJiZk8OmiPmGyhUiFBf9yOfZXH
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌍 PLAN YOUR NEXT ADVENTURE
Explore original destination guides, detailed travel resources and practical trip-planning advice:
👉 alexanderayling.com
Browse premium downloadable travel itineraries:
👉 alexanderayling.com/custom-travel-itineraries
Need personalized help planning your trip?
👉 alexanderayling.com/book-an-appointment
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ABOUT ALEXANDER AYLING
I’m an award-winning travel filmmaker, television host and cultural storyteller with a background in History and Cultural Anthropology.
I’m a winner of the global travel-filmmaking competition *The Biggest Baddest Bucket List*, former co-host of @Vagabrothers and co-host of the Hulu travel series *Basic vs. Baller*. Over more than a decade, I’ve created travel films and destination guides across 50+ countries, generating more than 115 million views worldwide.
My work explores travel, hidden history, culture, food, physical adventure, personal growth and our journey restoring a countryside homestead in New Zealand.
Whether I’m exploring a new destination, uncovering the history behind a place, cooking a meal inspired by my travels, rebuilding our homestead or taking on a demanding physical challenge, everything is connected by the same philosophy:
**Stay Curious & Keep Growing.**
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
CONNECT
🌐 Website, Travel Guides & Itineraries
alexanderayling.com
instagram.com/alexander.ayling
🎥 Subscribe
youtube.com/@AlexanderAyling
📩 Business, Tourism & Brand Partnerships
alexanderayling.com/contact
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Some links may be affiliate links. I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend experiences, products and services I genuinely believe in.
