| Since we arrived in NZ, things have gone from bad to worst. We convinced ourselves it was all Auckland and relocated. But its not. I never liked New Zealand, which is what angers me about it even more. I had no desire to come here when I was globetrotting. Even when I met Steve in America, he asked me to spend some time in NZ with him, which I wasn't terribly keen on. I had plans to teach English in Africa. But I came, and a tourist visa became a work visa. Our feelings for each other became love. And so the rest is history. When faced with finding a home for our family, we had England or NZ. We didn't want visa trouble, and we knew we could live in either country. We opted for the latter simply because of having children - it seemed the right thing to do. Plus we were going insane living with my parents and hopping on a plane to the furthest possible destination appealed! Most people see NZ as being like the UK. Its green, the people are quite similiar, the weather is quite similiar. For me, I find NZ boring, I find the people tedious, the services are ineffecient. The culture is so insular and so far removed from the rest of the world it suffocates me. Yesterday, by the time Steve got home I was in tears. I felt so desperate, so fed up, so sick of it all and we shouted and cried. Things have been tough before, but this really is just too much. There's been the car accident, the bad experience in our first rental, the really bad experience in our second rental, eventually resulting in court action. We've had hassles with just about every aspect of services in Wellington. Now being pregnant, the holes of the healthcare are huge and overwhelming. Even paying for private care does not bypass the only place to give birth in Wellington. Steve and I are at our most miserable. For the icing on the cake, Steve got some speeding fines, they were sent to our old address in Auckland, so he was unware of them. Until he went to pay another one within Wellington and discovered they were through the courts. They had added so many other charges on top of the initial couple taking it to nearly $1000. Turns out he could have argued that he didn't have notice because they were sent to the wrong address but there's only a window of time to do that. it was too late. The fines are his fault of course, and so he duly set up a plan to pay them off. Every week he's been paying. This morning we were alarmed to receive a letter from the courts adding more money onto the amount owed. Turns out, he should have signed something to agree to the payments and by not doing that, inccured more charges. He argued that by agreeing over the phone on a recorded line and then making the payments, this should act as a contract. They agreed with him and so further addons were taken off. The bad news, a copy of the letter was sent to Steve's boss. The privacy act is a joke. They were able to inform Steve's boss that he was in trouble with the courts ,but unable to say why! When Steve called his boss, his boss said that this had jeapordised his position. Steve explained it was for speeding fines, and his boss was relieved and said that was OK, but went onto to question why had Steve not paid the whole thing? Were we broke? Obviously this has reflected poorly on us. The issue is not the fines, the issue is the crappy way the courts handle this. He was paying the damn thing ,they didn't think what sending a letter like this would do for someone who works within the finance sector. Its damaging. And for them to say to Steve, oh yeah, don't worry about it, our mistake AFTER they've involved his boss is unforgivable. But this is an example of how things work here. People just don't think. No one cares about anyone else. The ignorance we saw in Auckland is just Kiwis in general. I love travelling ,I've been to some great places, met some awesome people. But I have NEVER been anywhere that I despise like NZ. I have never yearned to get out of a country as much as I do, NZ. Self righteous, ignorant Kiwis with delusions of granjur - you can keep your lousy country. |