Campbells

Greetings to you all,

A bit of background:
We currently live in South Africa :scared: , we, being myself originally from Scotland twenty odd years ago & my missus a local product of SA. With the recent addition to our family I now feel more than ever that SA has a very unstable future & in particular for our wee lad. The crime rate here is crazy & we don’t enjoy the outdoors & things that I feel that families should be able to enjoy with their children.

A bit of questions:
Could be a dangerous road to go down but I would like to hear from (particularly) any folk that moved to NZ from SA and what their experiences (good & bad) were. We hear
(as in “I saw it on TV�) that South Africans have a great reputation as hard workers in the UK but how are SA folk received in NZ?

My experiences have been that a lot of folk in other places tend to generalize that all SA folk are racialists, is that the vibe in NZ?

In fact would be nice to hear from anyone that has experienced both SA & NZ (not just on the telly!) and would like to type a few words in terms of a comparison.

Thanks to you all for reading & to those that take the time out to reply.

Campbell.

Don

S Africans appear to do well in NZ - check out the link http://www.emigratenz.org/NewZealand...tOutcomes.html

I have also heard anecdotally that S Africans are readily accepted and fit in fine.

Barron

HI

I am not in NZ but grew up in SA moved to the UK with Hubby in the 80,s and have just moved the family to Brisbane,there are loads of South Africans here from all sorts of places and they are all having a ball,SA and AUS are very similar,Food,bbqs beaches,outdoor lifestyle all I can say is I wish I had done it years ago!!! any questions you need answered give me a shout

All the best Sally

newkiwi

Hi
Were originally from SA, spent some time in Ireland and have been living in NZ for almost two years now.

Although we miss family and friends, we have no desire to return to SA permantely, but I know it depends on each person individually how much they miss home. Were happy in Auckland.

South Africans are generally accepted easily enough, although you will be subjected to serious jibes about the rugby! You will be affectionately known as a "japie"

I had a job offer when we came to NZ, my wife took about four weeks to find a job. This varies according to each person, so its hard to generalise how easy it is to find a job. I have never experienced or heard of anyone from SA being treated poorly as an employee for being from SA.

It is easy to find other South Africans to interact with, although personally we try not to choose South Africans per se as friends, we dont want to build a mini SA in NZ and only hang out with other South Africans, although many here want to do that and are happy to do that. Its easier to make initial friends with other immigrants though, so many people make frineds with other South Africans and tend to stick together. Personally, i dont think its good to only have SA friends, but thats just my opinion.

Its up to you as an individual as to how easy you integrate in a new country, there is no one answer that suits everyone. I suppose its important not to have too much of a rose spectacled vision of things, and to focus on the positives of a new couintry rather than the negatives. NZ, like any country has both.

I tend not to get into politics at all, no never came across and negative political vibes in NZ aimed towards South Africans. I would imagine there wont be much tolerance towards "racialist" attidudes if displayed by SA immigrants.

Most difficult time for us was between 6 -12 months in, thats when you realise paying bills and taxes and stuff in a new country still sucks!
and you miss old friends and heve yet to make really good new ones.

NZ is superb if you wanna get outdoors, skiing and hiking and watersports are all options. Only gripe is that the winter is long and wet, but its not too bad in auckland. Mainly wet though, not too cold.

Hope this helps.. this is only our experiences, so not to say it will be the same for anyone else.

best of luck