scracha

Well, since my last post in 06, not a lot has changed. If anything, I feel my previous comments about poor housing, drink driving and anti-social neighbors have been backed up by more experience.

Moved a few k's up the road and spent all our (and then some) hard earned "pommie pounds" on a "lifestyle" block. Little slice of heaven; for a couple of years until the local council shafted us, swept our objections under the carpet and put a dog pound up < 300m away. Serves me right for declining the invitation from the local freemasons. Guess I'd best save up my pennies for the double glazing (did I mention poor housing?).

I've noticed that the majority of my friends around here are foreigners (Dutch, Japanese, English, Scottish...some lived here for 30 years). This was not intentional, I've got a handful of good kiwi buddies in the area but I got sick of banging my head off a wall. I think it's a small town thing as seemed to click much quicker with my friends in Wellington and Palmy (ongoing debate, but IMHO Hamilton is far worse than Palmy).

Cost of living seems to have skyrocketed but income has hardly increased. This is probably old news to everyone. By pretending to have assimilated, I've offset this somewhat by doing what the locals do (working 60 hours a week, 2nd job, paying tradesmen cash, terrible DIY jobs, bartering, maxing out credit card, maxing out other credit card, fortnightly trip to PAK N SAVE, homekills, disconnecting speedo on diesel, burning trash, driving with no rego for the odd month, drinking local home-brew and cheap alcohol although I draw the line at drinking HAAST or Ranfurly beer. I'm considering the other popular Kiwi income stream : claiming WINZ, or making a dodgy ACC claim whilst working on the side. Maybe I should just get into the burglary business as most of the rich farmers leave their places unlocked and to be honest, you'd have to murder someone twice to do gaol time here.

With fuel costs its tricky, but I have to escape the area at least once a fortnight. Two weekends on the trot and I start growling at people. I would suggest having a sport or hobby that frequently entails getting the hell out of dodge as being essential to any ex pat living in small town eNZed. With good friends in other towns, at least I'm not getting stung for motels or dossing in the car as much these days.

Money worries aside, I'm now in the situation of being BORED OUT MY SKULL. Were I 20 years older I guess I'd be like a pig in poo. Or maybe not as savings are all gone. Career opportunities out in the wop wops are rare and the job situation nationwide is dire. Wondering if it's this town and whether moving to outskirts of Wellywood would solve many issues. Missus reckons if we're getting jobs, restarting business, making friends, etc all from scratch again we'd be as well in OZ.

My attitude is all wrong and I'm not trying hard enough, obviously.

nelsonpom

Obviously a lot of tongue in cheek but..... Been here 5 years meself and maybe just maybe Oz is a better option. Off on a recce next week

Jan n Neil

I,d go for it in Oz, it aint hard to get bored shitless here and you sound like you have exhausted most of the possibilities, So your not keen on dogs then ?

Neil

kazed

Was going to start a new thread re going to Oz. We are hear 4 years this month (from Ireland). Hubby having a major worry about where NZ is heading, double recession etc! He is self employed and doing really well as far as NZ standards go but know we can earn much more in Oz. (He's in the construction industry). Wants to sell the house and rent instead for 2 reasons, equity on house is getting smaller and wants to be ready to move without being trapped because of sale on house. Only we don't have citizenship. Don't think there is much to gain by staying put. Age is not on his side 46 this year - think cut off for immigration to Oz is 45. Citizenship may be only option. There may be a good work opportunity but it starts in 6 months maybe (it's a specialised skill). All these worries - interested to know how it went. (We would like to move to Melbourne - we think).

Bo-Jangles

Such a badass attitude, aye! At least you came, you saw and you embraced the feral Kiwi ways with a good sense of humour.

Good luck in whatever you decide!!

nelsonpom

Spent a couple of weeks in Melbourne and loved it .....

Gail5

Hi kazed,

This is going off the subject a bit and I apologise but . . .

I see you're in Tauranga and your hubby is doing well in construction. My hubby is in the same industry (he's a bricky) and we are heading to Tauranga (in May/June). He had a job to go to but we've just found out that the business has gone bust so I've been sending his CV 'everywhere'! Would you say there was plenty of work there for us to just come and take a chance at getting a job or carry on searching before we arrive? He's making follow-up calls tonight to those companies I've sent his CV to so hopefully, when they know we're committed and we're on our way, they may just offer him something (anything!)

Hope you can give me some idea/help/advice/anything/whatever!

Thanks

Gay

kazed

Hi Gay ... it is all 'word of mouth' in this country so do your homework before you arrive. It is an extremly tough market esp for brickies. Building has slowed down incredibly. You may be aware of the earthquake that happened today in Christchurch - they will certainly need brickies there but they continue to have aftershocks - these can last a year I'm told. Tradestaff is who we contacted in Tauranga - they were very good!! My husband is more in the Civils Industry and set up his own business. Setting up your own business is the way to go if you want to make better money (again money is not great so bear this in mind - you will not earn what you do in the UK). Sorry if I sound blunt but I just want to make sure you do as much research as possible. There will likely be more work in Auckland. As far a places to live I much prefer Tauranga! I did have a job in the utility industry (admin) but was made redundant a year ago. I have not been able to find work - I am I fear overqualified and that might put people off. (I have been working 2 mornings a week in a playgroup - not my thing and in fact tomorrow is my last day. I am persuing the Oz thing - all my efforts are focused on that. I could go on and on and hope I have been helpful. Best advise is arrange your work BEFORE you arrive. Cheers Karen

iamthecreaturefromuranus

How about if we just make NZ another Australian State. That way you could all move to Oz without having to actually move.

kazed

That would be brilliant!!! I come from Ireland - I would love to hear the reaction of someone in Northern Ireland saying same thing about making it an All Ireland and not a South and North thing but hey that's a whole other ball game!!!

iamthecreaturefromuranus

Just a bit !

Genesis

Kiwis eh? Weird bunch to try to get to know in a meaningful way. All my good friends are non kiwis too. The mums at school at BOTH schools have been well cliquey. Service re local trades persons is rubbish, as is driving and the general feel the way NZ is going does not look good to me. We have been here 6 years now and whilst I can now see all the cracks in NZ and we have had our own share of huge bad luck surrounding the shite way NZ runs itself we do inspite of all the latter have a better life here than we did in the UK. Inspite of losing $80k in the finance house rip off we are way better money wise and we live in the kind of neighbourhood and large shed that we could only dream of in the UK. So I know where you are coming from mate. I would not go to Oz myself as really it would be the same shit diffo bucket. Whilst the current bucket is tatty and showing signs of excess wear the UK bucket was full of dents, the handle was missing and the rust was terminal.

nelsonpom

Well we have decided we may try another city before giving up completely, so ............ Auckland come on down !

kazed

Good luck - we gonna check out Oz soon ... then decide our next steps.

Ex Aucklander

I sympathize with you as I know how difficult it can be, but before you move out of NZ maybe the key is to give another area a go.

I am sure Auckland would have more opportunities than Tauranga simply because of the population. Christchurch will also offer a lot of opportunity once the rebuilding can start.

Just by way of example when we first arrived in Australia (1967 I know centuries ago) we went to Newcastle first which is 162 Km north of Sydney because at the time we were told that was where the jobs were. Big mistake spent a lot of money getting settled only to find my husband could only get odd jobs & no jobs for me. The policy at the time was not to give a married women a job because of a shortage of jobs.
So after 4 months we upped & went to Sydney to start the whole process again but this we both found jobs & we stayed there for 29 years, & have to say it was the best move ever.

However moving on to 2011 & the world is different. Many countries are suffering with high prices for many reasons: Unrest in the Middle East & Floods & Droughts in other parts which in turn all push prices up.
Here in Spain 30% unemployed! makes NZ look brilliant by comparison.

My son is Australian born & lives in Brisbane. Working for the last 20 years in the building industry self employed & normally does extremely well. He works by word of mouth in a group of various trades people involved in the building industry & mostly on homes in the top bracket.
However even this has dried up & he is now working for someone else & after hours he is working on his private jobs. Because he is supporting a family & a house build started before the downturn he has no other option but to keep his head down & work longer & harder to survive.

So the point I am trying to get across is don't think life in Australia is rosier than NZ at the moment. A lot of people are doing it tough there also but from my experience there has always been these 10 year troughs. After every period of growth the market shrinks then it takes off again. Bit like a see saw.
I was in business in Australia & managed to survive through 3 of these recessions in 32 years.

I hope you will find a solution to what is best for you.