slapphead_otool

Trying to find a good one perchance....

bcworld

I'm sure there are many settlements in Australia with similar third world traits. Fact is that you or I would be unlikely to spend any time in them, I imagine the same goes for NZ.

The South Island doesn't need a motorway network. I spent 5 days driving around the top half of it last month, never sat in traffic once. I've done the same over the entire island for 3 weeks before, same thing, no waiting in traffic. Why build motorways you don't need?

I haven't been to the north island, but leaving the economics aside, the south island of NZ is the most beautiful place I've ever been, by a mile! Having some time to kill before catching a flight back last month I took a look at some of the beachside suburbs in CHC. I saw decent homes on the first street back from the beach for sale for under NZ$400k (in New Brighton Beach)....it was an easy trafficless 15min drive to the CBD. Even with dramatically lower salaries the numbers still add up!

CHC is certainly not the most exciting place in the world but for someone whose priority is the outdoor life, it certainly wouldn't be 'third world'!

Buzzy--Bee

Mate, you're totally right about everything in your post.

Try living in NZ though, it is very very very hard. You can't eat the scenery!

Buzzy

kstar72

As it can be very hard living in the UK.
No need to be negative about the whole country though especially if you are a guest there that has been welcomed.

kids carer

We dont ever plan on going back to NZ to live, love it here

kids carer

there would also be some aboriginal houses that have mud floors, doesnt make the rest of Aus 3rd world does it???

If your inlaws were well off then they should be able to put in an inside toilet just like my grandparents did on a pension, I really dont think it is as bad as you are making it out to be. Yes there are some parts of NZ that are lacking in services but there are also a lot of areas the same here in Aus.

We went home last month (Chch) and couldnt believe how easy it was again to get from point A to B, they dont need the infrastructure they have here because there isnt enough people especially in the South Island. Thye whole time we were there we didnt sit in traffic once yet the day we got back here we sat in traffic on the way home from the airport.

kiwi_child

Actually a lot of them have been employed in areas of importance to the australian economy, eg; resources industry

slapphead_otool

That’s true, but lets be fair here:

New Zealand, as lovely a place as it is, doesn’t have a resource economy like Australia. There are no massive open cut coal lines, no long wall underground coal mines. No bauxite mining operations, no iron ore mining – apart from a unique beach sand plant. It doesn’t have same scale farming and agriculture industries.

So when the Kiwis arrive they don’t have any experience. They have never seen any of the above resource operations. They having seen huge sheep or cattle stations, massive wheat fields, huge underground or open cut mines, or the complex mineral processing plants that go with them.

Any other migrant would do just as well, and in some cases, where they have prior experience in their homelands, even better.

The big advantage for both employees and employers is the visa-less working arrangements.

sr71

No, in many ways NZ is far better than Australia.

BUT

-You need to be on a large income or be well-off.
-Accept that you are moving to a small country and not be disappointed when the nightlife isn't like New York.

kiwi_child

You DO make some good points. I was a little annoyed at Vash's attempt at humour. And as far as Vash is concerned...yeah mate we kept Aussies like Pauline Hanson in business

sr71

I have just returned from a South island trip, CHC would probably be one of the most British feeling places I've been.

sr71

Kind of disagree, while on balance more NZ emigrants end up doing non-professional work, a large percentage of them are in professional occupations. The growing Australian economy would be severely hit if this immigration was suddenly restricted.

It's the 'dumb' end that the Aussies complain about and these are the same Aussies that wouldn't want Poms or Indians doing the jobs either. Plenty of Kiwis in Australia that are professors, doctors, nurses, CEO's etc.

Yes, other countries could supply immigrants with the same skills, but that's not how things work in this world. Aus and NZ share a lot in common, just like the UK and European countries having common agreements.

bcworld

I remember finding it very odd on my first trip over there. I'd been living in Brisbane for a few months so was used to tin roofed wooden sheds. The road in from the airport was SO different to Brisbane, it seemed to be km after km of what could easily be very well heeled British suburbia. Of course the city is quite anglified as well. What I realised this time though is that it can also pull off the beachside city thing in a way that I don't think anywhere in the UK does. If it wasn't on a grid the CBD could easily resemble a small British city.

kstar72

I know of quite a few Perth Australians working in Taranaki NZ (oil/gas industries) over the past year or two, to keep their companies heads above the water. It works in both directions. There are Australians in NZ too.

copa

if you ever travel around Oz you'll find communities where elderly people live on matresses under trees and share their dinner plates with dogs.. doesn't make oz a 3rd world country.