This was evident at Dunedin airport yesterday afternoon when he was piped into the city by the RSA Mosgiel Pipe Band.
"I feel I haven't changed much as a person, but my experiences and the things outside of me have changed," he said.
The North Harbour B rugby team which plays Otago B at Carisbrook today travelled from Auckland on the same plane as Willis and his wife, Sierra.
"The guys in the team congratulated me and wished me luck," Willis said.
"That was a unique experience for someone from athletics to have rugby guys congratulating me. Usually it is the other way round."
Willis (25), who flew into Dunedin yesterday at the start of a whirlwind three week promotional tour of the country, is experiencing life as a celebrity.
He picked up a new car in Dunedin yesterday to travel around the country to show off his medal and inspire young athletes.
Willis will be the guest of Athletics Otago at the official opening of the track and field season at the Caledonian Ground today, where he will give advice and encouragement to young athletes and join in a celebration run around the track at 3.15pm.
What does the Olympic medal mean to Willis?
"It is a tangible reward for all that I have worked towards," he said.
It also made him realise that it would have been impossible to reach that level by himself.
"God had a special plan for my life and he has used lots of people to help me," Willis said.
"There have been people in my running community and my family who all contributed to my bronze medal at Beijing."
Willis lives at Ann Arbor, a university city of 100,000 people in the state of Michigan in the United States. The university has 40,000 students.
He recalled his last visit to Dunedin in 2003 when on a break home during his first year of study in the United States.
He was visiting some mates from his home town of Hutt Valley who were studying at the University of Otago.
"I had a memorable day at St Kilda Beach walking along the sand dunes," Willis said.
"I hadn't seen the ocean for a year and I walked along the beach to St Clair and up on the cliffs."
The tour of New Zealand coincides with Willis's three week break from all running. He will then have three weeks easing back into training by running easily every other day.
"I will be slowly getting my muscles and my bones used to it again," he said.
"November 1 is when I will start getting serious again."
His next big goal is to contest the 1500m at the world championships in Berlin next year.
Before that he intends to race either the 800m, 1500m or 5000m at the New Zealand championships in Wellington next March.
"It is special for me to come home for this because I will be there to celebrate Dad's [Richard] 60th birthday a week before the championships," he said.
