Kimi-Deacon

Totally agree with you Howardk and we are going to Live it, and we will give 100% but circumstances are different for us, and things have happened along the way, Poppy knows what i mean but i dont want to go in to details on here.

Who knows Poppy after a few years in NZ we might head out to NS, could be sooner if rules change.

newt

Thanks everyone, for all this good gen, and please keep it coming. It's insights like yours which I really need.

I love New Zealand, and there is much which is good about it. I don't say this just because it's my country of birth, I have travelled, I lived in the UK (where my old man was born and raised) for three years, I visited Denmark (from whence my mother hails) for a couple of months in the late eighties, I travelled extensively in Europe, as many young Kiwis do. So I have seen some of the rest of the world, and I think I understand a wee bit about the British mentality and way of life, and why it is that some Poms sometimes seek other places. In one sense, they always have; neither my country, nor Canada, nor many other nations, would exist today if they hadn't.

But I don't pretend that this country is Nirvana. I don't expect to ever get rich here, and folk thinking about coming here, shouldn't expect that either. New Zealand is not about big money.

If I just wanted to get rich, I'd go to Western Australia and drive dump trucks in the iron mines. Who knows, if I can convince myself that I could put up with the heat for a couple of years, I still might; but I don't think it's where I want to retire.

Hence my interest in Canada; a big, cold, country with lots of lakes, and pine trees, and snow, and you don't have to be able to speak Norwegian to enjoy it.

The more you can tell me about the comparisons between the two, the more I'll appreciate it.

Thanks

Poppy2

*................off to knock heads together and get rules changed..............*

You will find lots of great things that will make your soul sing in NZ, and your soul could do with a bit more singing going on. Things change, priorities change, our views of what is important changes and some of us see what busy people dont, and so I think you will enjoy NZ and NZ would be very lucky to have you.

Kimi-Deacon

Thanks for that Poppy, who knows maybe we will get to meet up once Liffy gets out there.

Newt im sure you would love Canada especially NS. Went out to visit big sis when she was out there, absolutely loved it, especially watching the Mooseheads at Ice Hockey (awesome)

bazzz

Why, were they in danger of sinking before arrival of the Brits?

projectbliss

I lived in NZ (Wellington) for 2 years, and have been in Edmonton for 8 months. I'm a Brit and have also lived in US and France.

Biggest difference between NZ and Canada is the sheer scale of the place and how that affects how you live.

NZ is about the size of the UK, with a population about the size of Birmingham. Wellington was a good size, a city you could walk around in, with great access to the coast and the rest of NZ. Here in Edmonton I live in a city of almost a million, and feel overwhelmed by it, plus there's no easy way out. Everywhere needs to be accessed by road, and there's not a lot to do other than shop or walk/hike the river valley. Its dominated by shopping malls and highways and feels rather un-British in that way, whereas NZ has lots of little towns like Britain, and the cities are destinations in themselves. Calgary is a good 3 hours away by car, but there's very little reason to go there as it is so similar to Edmonton. I'm on a small, fixed income so it's v. expensive to get flights even to Vancouver, let alone the apparently gorgeous parts of Canada like Prince Edward Island or Newfoundland. Flying to the East Coast of Canada from here is like going from London to Moscow.

I think the Winter hems you in here too, as you tend to hole up at home for 4 months of the year. Even tho' it's so big, my Canada can feel very small.

Having said all of that, Canadians are wonderful, and not half as chippy as some Kiwis. Life is taken leisurely here. Even in a city like Edmonton, people take time in shops and banks to pass the time of day, and everyone loves to chat. Summer appears to be consistently warm so far. I like it here but it is different, and not just a scaled up version of NZ as I've heard some people describe it. Culturally it feels more connected to the rest of the world too, whereas NZ felt like the back of beyond, missed off of maps etc.... Obviously Canada's culture is heavily influenced by the US, which can make things feel very corporate, chain-influenced etc, whilst NZ was more European and quirky.

I'm still finding my feet here, so these are just first impressions. You need to get here and do your own comparisons.

Lychee

I think what projectbliss wrote highlights an excellent point, and that's that Canada is so massive, how you experience Canada will greatly vary where you end up in Canada.

The regions are so massive, it's truly continental in scale. Somebody who moves to Edmonton, Alberta experiences Canada in a very different way than somebody who moves to a rural fishing village in Nova Scotia, a busy Toronto suburb, or a posh condo in downtown Vancouver. The regions within Canada are so very different in terms of the local cultures, the local cities, the local demographics, and the local geogrraphy, where you end up in Canada would have a dramatic impact on how it would be compared to New Zealand.

Edmonton, for example, a sprawling low density city in the prairies (with infrastructure built entirely for massive vehicles and not public transit/walking) would be very foreign to a Kiwi (and maybe not so foreign to somebody living in the outback!), and yet a place like mountainous Vancouver Island (with the tiny walkable British colonial city of Victoria) would seem very familiar.

I reckon my point is, it's difficult to generalize Canada when comparing it to anywhere, so you really need to have a specific area in mind (ideally down to a particular region within a province) if you wish to have accurate portrayals.

newt

No, what I meant was that the unconnected indigenous tribes who inhabited both places, without unified communications, or centralised Government, or homogenity of purpose, or organised and deliberate mutually beneficial co-operation and peaceful co-existence, before the arrival of the evil white colonists, didn't constitute nations as I understand them, or as I read any definitions of them today, and most certainly not by their present names or in their present configurations, and neither would they have done, had they been colonised by anyone else. That's what I meant.

As for sinking - presumably into the sea - well, who knows, that could happen to almost any nation, anywhere, any time, with or without warning. But that's not what I meant.

What did you mean?

Just curious.