[Michelle&Carl]

Hubby had sought after job here;
We looked at moving in the UK but we couldn't decide where and we heard an advert for migrating to NZ on the radio so we checked it out;
Checked out the websites we were advised to look at and found:

crime rate: low
schools - free education
COL - same as UK
better weather

The above was all crap, as we found out when we arrived BUT it was better than where we came from, for sure!

We wanted to give our kids something we never had as children, opportunities and options!
I went to Uni and gained my Bachelor of Education, something I would never have done in the UK (now looking at doing my Masters);
Erm... can't think of anything else.

I haven't regretted living here because my kids have gained so much despite my love/hate relationship with NZ. I have seen things here that have opened my eyes to many things that I may never have seen in the UK. I don't regret coming here, but NZ in the future isn't for me. My eldest is already talking about leaving NZ in 3 years...

[Dumbledore]

My reasons :-

- outdoor living (adventure activites, beautiful country, tramping, sailing etc)
- thought would be similar culture to UK (prob truer when I arrived 14 years ago than to today)
- better weather
- I was single and only in my mid 20s at the time & thought what the hell. Had no ties in the UK. Shipped 8 small boxes. Worst case scenario would have been jumping on a plane home if I'd hated it. However 2 year work permit ended up with getting citizenship & marrying a Kiwi !!

BTW - had never been to NZ when I first came. Main source of encouragement was a friend who had been in NZ on holiday for 3 weeks / Michael Palin's "Around the World in 80 days" / the Lonely Planet Guidebook of the day.

To anyone coming over on their own to settle - it can be tough (prob took me close to 18 mths to 2 years to get settled in NZ) and you really need to get out there and make huge effort to socialise / join clubs etc to make some friends. Some days will be quite emotionally tough (still are !! - esp Christmas & family occasions). Kiwis are quite difficult to properly get to know - takes a while to go beyond the niceities of conversation and even now a lot of my good friends are expats also. Aussies are definitely more outgoing and extroverted (as a generalisation, of course)

[Jan n Neil]

Never ever dreamt we would move to NZ, had never looked at it,hardly knew where it was.

But I got headhunted. They flew us both here for a week of interviews for me. I LOVED the job - never even had time to sightsee though Neil did a lot of looking around to see if he could get work too.

5 months later we were here permanently with our three dogs.

The job was hugely changed by the earthquakes of course, with fewer facilities left and a much more challenging financial environment. But I still love it. And I fell in love with NZ after about 2 weeks I reckon.

I will admit to coming here for a bigger salary than I had been on in the UK. That does make a big difference to how you can enjoy NZ because some of the bills appall us (electricity for one!).

Jan

[peliqueria]

Originally Posted by love30stm Mortgage free (Nope) work less hours (me yes husband nope) better weathr (Yep) financially better offr (yep but dont have mush disposable income) more time to do hobbies (yes we make time) more time to travel (only in NZ) change in lifestyle (maybe) better for my kids (nope eldest hates it) and i miss a city and didnt think i would but we do live in a nice area of Wanganui and the houses are pretty reasonable, plus get to socialize lots more so look on the positive side. and im fitter and look better

Quality, plus you dont have crap bands like, er, wots them types that sing about dodgy fake tree things..

???

[Tom1983]

1: Getting away from being ruled by the Human Rights Brigade
2: Getting away from the political correctness brigade
3: Getting away from The Guardian and The Daily Mail
4: Getting away from being run by clueless idiotic morons that are politicians. These here aren't the best but they're a billion times better than the UK destroyer Blair!
5: Getting out of London, seeing the city turned into a ghetto being ran by a numpty of a mayor, and having competition well no competition for his place
6: Getting away from tax tax tax!
7: Getting Sarah way from being a healthcare worker in the UK and find a country that appreciates their effort
8: Getting away from a country where workers go on strike if they've burned their toast
9: Getting away from a country where it's ok for losers to go looting and on the riot etc, only to have even more losers saying it wasn't their fault
10: Getting away from a country whos education system is so embarrassingly bad it's almost gone. A few job applications whilst at a financial broker actually had text language on there. Unbelievable

There's so many more but basically I wanted to get out of this country after all the damage Tony Cretin Blair did to the UK, and seeing the current mob not doing anything about it

[barnsleymat]

The thought of the possibility of bringing a child into the world and growing up in the UK was enough for us. The UK is on it's arse especially the North, NZ ain't perfect but it's a million miles better than the UK.

I know I enjoy giving NZ a bit of stick but in reality it's where I see us being for a very long time.

[benhila]

Originally Posted by Tom1983 1: Getting away from being ruled by the Human Rights Brigade 2: Getting away from the political correctness brigade 3: Getting away from The Guardian and The Daily Mail 4: Getting away from being run by clueless idiotic morons that are politicians. These here aren't the best but they're a billion times better than the UK destroyer Blair! 5: Getting out of London, seeing the city turned into a ghetto being ran by a numpty of a mayor, and having competition well no competition for his place 6: Getting away from tax tax tax! 7: Getting Sarah way from being a healthcare worker in the UK and find a country that appreciates their effort 8: Getting away from a country where workers go on strike if they've burned their toast 9: Getting away from a country where it's ok for losers to go looting and on the riot etc, only to have even more losers saying it wasn't their fault 10: Getting away from a country whos education system is so embarrassingly bad it's almost gone. A few job applications whilst at a financial broker actually had text language on there. Unbelievable There's so many more but basically I wanted to get out of this country after all the damage Tony Cretin Blair did to the UK, and seeing the current mob not doing anything about it

This is a "getting away from" list, nothing to do with choosing NZ in particular.

Anyway, Getting away from The Guardian and The Daily Mail in favour of the NZ Herald??? Really.

[theghostofdustybin]

Originally Posted by Tom1983 1: Getting away from being ruled by the Human Rights Brigade (so human rights are not important to you?) 2: Getting away from the political correctness brigade (do you believe that just cause you have the right to think something that it is acceptable to upset people because your ideals and theirs differ?) 3: Getting away from The Guardian and The Daily Mail (random, but I miss having a variety of published viewpoints) 4: Getting away from being run by clueless idiotic morons that are politicians. These here aren't the best but they're a billion times better than the UK destroyer Blair! (moving to a democratic country seems a poor idea if you dont want to have politics) 5: Getting out of London, seeing the city turned into a ghetto being ran by a numpty of a mayor, and having competition well no competition for his place (I can understand wanting to leave London..) 6: Getting away from tax tax tax! (you'll never get away from tax, especially not here, try Monaco) 7: Getting Sarah way from being a healthcare worker in the UK and find a country that appreciates their effort (good for you, people should be happy in their work) 8: Getting away from a country where workers go on strike if they've burned their toast (can sya that i was really ever affected by strike here or UK so in no position to comment) 9: Getting away from a country where it's ok for losers to go looting and on the riot etc, only to have even more losers saying it wasn't their fault ( fair point, although no riots in Newcastle, they were too busy having a pint) 10: Getting away from a country whos education system is so embarrassingly bad it's almost gone. A few job applications whilst at a financial broker actually had text language on there. Unbelievable (cant comment, although reading real estate agent adverts and comments on trade me dont bode well for nz either) There's so many more but basically I wanted to get out of this country after all the damage Tony Cretin Blair did to the UK, and seeing the current mob not doing anything about it

It's odd that I remember what the tories did before Tony, but such is life. You give your vote and take what you get.....

Just for the record don't take this post the wrong way, we all have our reasons for being here and as long as you are happy here, who really cares what drove you to come.

[benhila]

Originally Posted by theghostofdustybin You should have gone to France, much cheaper and closer

Yes, but they do tend to speak French

[theghostofdustybin]

Originally Posted by benhila Yes, but they do tend to speak French

Indeed, but so do i

[love30stm]

Originally Posted by peliqueria Quality, plus you dont have crap bands like, er, wots them types that sing about dodgy fake tree things.. ???

Don't agree on the crap band thing that's something the UK is great for! Good comedy and good bands.

NZ crap bands and crap comedians and crap Tv. I mostly watch UKTV

[sparkie down under]

Originally Posted by Tom1983 1: Getting away from being ruled by the Human Rights Brigade - Human rights, ugh, no one wants 'em, the down trodden wanting the same as the rest of us, what ever next, Gipsies 2: Getting away from the political correctness brigade, Quite right to Major, now Miss smith take a memo 3: Getting away from The Guardian and The Daily MailYeah man give me the Sun any day like enit 4: Getting away from being run by clueless idiotic morons that are politicians. These here aren't the best but they're a billion times better than the UK destroyer Blair!"Yeah right if you were born as your name suggests in 1983, you were one year old when good ol' Thach started to ruin the country 5: Getting out of London, seeing the city turned into a ghetto being ran by a numpty of a mayor, and having competition well no competition for his placewouldn't know about that was never there 6: Getting away from tax tax tax!Yeah no-one taxes us here in the land of honey 7: Getting Sarah way from being a healthcare worker in the UK and find a country that appreciates their effortI hope they do - but I bet a drunk in this country is the same as a drunk in the UK 8: Getting away from a country where workers go on strike if they've burned their toastSack 'em lazy buggers - hang on that's what we do over here 9: Getting away from a country where it's ok for losers to go looting and on the riot etc, only to have even more losers saying it wasn't their faultIf the system is broke why not fix it 10: Getting away from a country whos education system is so embarrassingly bad it's almost gone. A few job applications whilst at a financial broker actually had text language on there. Unbelievablehang on, they were bilingual - isn't that a good thing There's so many more but basically I wanted to get out of this country after all the damage Tony Cretin Blair did to the UK, and seeing the current mob not doing anything about it

Long live politics and viva the revolution comrade

[sr71]

Originally Posted by Tom1983
1: Getting away from being ruled by the Human Rights Brigade (so human rights are not important to you?)
2: Getting away from the political correctness brigade (do you believe that just cause you have the right to think something that it is acceptable to upset people because your ideals and theirs differ?)

Requoting with the format seems to hard, so I'll just comment on the two responses to the two original reasons.

1 Human rights are important but not when the system is abused and when ridiculous cases are brought before the courts by scroats and other assorted criminals. There are very basic human rights - right to life, freedom of speech, fair trial etc. That is all that is needed. Not human rights to have playstations, tax payer funded houses for refugees that have crossed a dozen safe countries to get to the UK, benefits for those not wanting to work etc

2. Yes, totally acceptable to upset people because your ideals and theirs differ. Part of what has made civilisation great. Your offended, so what. That's all it is, you are offended. Many in the UK are now almost professionals at being offended.

[BEVS]

Your top reasons for choosing NZ?

Umm. Threw caution to the wind in the quest for trying something new , somewhere else before the egg timer of life decided agin it.

Somewhere along the line I lost my way and took a wrong turn , as my sights were set on France and growing truffles.

C'est la vie.

[crap coffee]

I am a child expat.

No choice.

don't know real reason (of my father)

maybe these,,

Cheap Kiwi $$
English speaking country
welfare still exists
far far from America
He did know about NZ very well. (since he was a uni student)

at that time both my parents - wanted to take a break from being a workaholic - most important reason.

to succeed/make lots of money or us to go to Oxbridge or Harvard. - not something he wants/wanted.