Petals

I spent eight years in New Zealand and have read the posts with interest. Since when do freeways make us happy, lots of night clubs, etc etc, its who we are and I enjoyed myself in NZ and made a lot of friends.

The older houses are cold and so were they in the UK in the era they were built and like everywhere landlords do not do them up but just take the rent. The wooden houses are because of earthquakes.

I am amused that everyone talks about places being backward, I think the word should be "different" as everyone has different ideas of what makes a good life.

slapphead_otool

I agree entirely, however my post was in reply to Kiwi Childs comments about New Zealand workers in the resources field. They do provide a lot of the workforce, but the driver is the ease with which they can be employed, not the fact that they are Kiwis.

Having said that, I worked with a bunch of Maoris on a project long ago ,and I couldn’t ask for a better team of guys. And in that situation they had specific skills that did add to the project (they were riggers).

kiwi_child

Actually, just out of interest, both Adelaide and Christchurch were designed by the same person, a guy called Colonel Light. You'd find the layout of Adelaide very similar to CHC. I'm not sure but imagine he was probably English. Someone else may know for sure.

bcworld

I haven't got any further than the airport in Adelaide.....but I think the only British city that is built on a grid, and isn't a new town/city is Glasgow.

kiwi_child

This is one of those things that REALLY annoy me about changes in NZ. I can recall travelling from CHC to DUN on the train...southern something or other they called it, AND you got your drinks in economy brought to you! No need to pack race to some little booze counter! The train station was on Moorehouse Ave (now a cinema complex). Oh how times have changes

kiwi_child

Adelaide is a lovely city. Really worth visiting. Try going there sometime. It and its surrounds won't disappoint.

michael_w

The longer I live in Australia the more I miss my time in 'backward' New Zealand. Maybe by 2020 there will be a net population transfer from Australia to NZ as more people discover the attractions of living in Godzone rather than the rat race of overpriced and over-rated Australian suburbia.

sr71

That's exactly what I thought on my recent South Island holiday. Just a bit small for me personally at the moment, but some beautiful houses in Christchurch and the prices are very reasonable with an excellent lifestyle IMO. Pity the work isn't there.

Upon returning to Melbourne it does not look attractive, especially the dryness. So refreshing to see greenery, hills, mountains etc.

Devlin

Interesting perspective. I haven't spent a large amount of time in NZ, but the time I did spend there I enjoyed. I definitely noticed that New Zealanders were less materialistic than Aussies - maybe less Americanised too?

ozzieeagle

That Dryness eats away at my soul. It's the one thing I really hate about this part of Aus.

Thank god this year has been wet.

Still it's not bad enough to make me want to move from here.... Plus I've spent a fair few bob on grey water stuff for my garden..... which is a bit of an oasis now.

Sorry for diversion.... But wouldnt it be perfect here if it was really green.

Maybe we can shift latitudes with the exodus.

kiwi_child

I'd agree with that, though my understanding is that Auckland has become a bit materialistic in recent years. I was horrified to read the council there are going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars employing security guards to kick homeless people out of the area Why not just put that money into helping accommodate them in hostels or something?

Out of interest, what country are you living in now Devlin?

Devlin

The UK.

sr71

Auckland is becoming an absolutely horrible city and it's almost certainly down to the planners and small-mindedness. Many Aucklanders are a bit shallow too.

Even though Wellington and Christchurch are much smaller they are much nicer places and have a better vibe to them.

kiwi_child

It saddens me a bit as Auckland is my hometown. I grew up there and have fond memories of the place. Christchurch is nice in ways but it has a rather distasteful underbelly as well. Also quite smoggy in winter, tho I've heard this is improving. Wellington I can't really comment on but aside from the weather, have heard favourable reports over many years.

Buzzy--Bee

If someone shoved a gun in my ear and said "If you do not move to NZ I will kill you" then I would choose to live in Wellington. Parts of Auckland seem OK eg Titirangi area, also north to Orewa etc although NZ is starting to suffer from the Oz disease of building massive houses on teeny tiny blocks (I refer to this as the rape of Australia).

Wellington has a better vibe, similar to Melbourne's.

Christchurch is an inward-looking insular small town pretending to be a city, with as Kiwi-Child says, a distateful underbelly of violence, hooning, racist attacks etc.

In fact I find the whole of NZ inward-looking, determined to point out in every way they can how nowhere in the world is as good as New Zealand for various reasons. This is particularly prevalent in Kiwis who don't live in New Zealand, which I find amusing in an ironic way.

On a scale of 1 - 100, having lived in London, Melbourne and South Island New Zealand, where Melbourne is 99 (loses a point due to flies) and London is about 80, Wellington would be about 15, Auckland 10, and Christchurch somewhere below 0.

By the way, having holidayed there, I loved New Zealand until I lived there and the Kiwis soon knocked that out of me.

Buzzy