Genesis

[QUOTE=Batty;6023581]You just have to look around (wherever you want to get away from) and see how happy and contented your friends and family are where THEY are, to see how one man's (or woman's) meat is another one's poison.

Indeed, the UK was no longer for me but I know more than the odd couple who love life in the UK.

I love life in NZ, it gives me everything I wanted in the UK but could not get..well almost! Poppy and many others eventually found that NZ was not for them..maybe it won't be for you. But as someone said if negative posts are making you think about it, goodo!!! How much do you want this? I too would be put off by this frank posting, TBH it makes me think about my life here and why do I find it so easy and cool to live here???? Probably because so much of my immediate, previous life in Northampton was not working for me. NZ did not have to be that good for it to be a success to be truthful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its a big decision, content as I am it was a long road and it has not been easy. 3 years in and Kate and I have never wanted to return to the UK to live, inspite of some irksome trials!

We have made many a costly mistake, sometimes thru' stupidity, sometimes thru' lack of info. sometimes maybe because people have taken advantage. BUT I have learned shed loads.

I now know how to buy a kiwi house...great..as I have no intention of EVER moving!!!!!

NZ has much to offer, so does Canada, Australia, Europe, the US etc, etc.

All you have to do is to read the brochures, chose the life you think you want, take it for a test drive and if it feels good hang around until you feel the need for a trade-in!!!

Life is VERY, VERY short said the short, almost 50 year old person.

JUST DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU CAN ALWAYS RETURN FROM WHENCE YOU CAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck to one and all!

squiddley

It true ..you can always return home..
Im just starting on the road to nz,and yes these posts have made me ,more so my wife....(I think)....to sit down and look at the other things that we take for granted............
Part of my thinking is ...'Isn't better to know than to wonder??????

Anyway thats my thoughts.

NLSE

This is one of the reasons why I stopped looking on this forum. Negative replies. Fair play - it's your opinion but why advise people not to come out here just because it hasn't worked for you?

We've only been here 7 weeks. We took a chance and came out to make better lives for ourselves and our children. So far, everything has fallen into place and our lives couldn't be better. Life is what you make it.

If any newbies are reading this, I suggest you don't take any notice of anyone else's misfortune and make a go of it yourself! As it says in my sig - one life - live it.

karonious

My take on this is that we all need to know the downside. I read copious amounts, did lots of research and still thought this was the right choice for us at the time. So my circumstances have changed dramatically since coming here - but that is not New Zealand's fault..........I still love it here and in spite of personal misfortune, am not considering going back to the UK.

Ted Logan

This is a very good point, I thought the point to this website was to help people in their move to NZ

Personal views of NZ are exactly that, one person could say this place is the worst place ever whereby their neighbour might think this is paradise.

Reading some threads on here sounds to me that you shouldn't move to NZ because the country is full of boy racing, unfriendly, racist kiwis that would sell their grandmother on Trademe to get a quick buck while all the non boy racing, friendly, non-racist kiwis have moved to Australia because its of the lower taxes, house prices and higher wages and have their grandmother living with them in the bacjh in the back garden where its always sunny and there are no problems whatsoever.

Nice Guy

Got you a diet coke as well.

You forgot your Fanta!!


I must say how nice it has been to read and enjoy this thread without the normal:

'lol your a moron!' type reply.

Nicely moderated and a pleasurable, intelligent, adult read.

Jolly good!

NG

spid

HOw did you know? NO ice though please - i don't like the taste of frozen water.

CHeers!

karonious

I would suggest that this forum is an information exchange rather than anything else. If we can help people contemplating the move here in any way, we have achieved something. Be it good, bad or indifferent, we all need to post the truth as we see it. My take on New Zealand has been so very positive, apart from my personal circumstances: I couldn't and wouldn't tell it any different. But we have to allow that not everyone has had the same positive experience. And for those who have had the world fall apart at their feet: to have the whole experience crumble to ashes for them; to feel so crushed by their move here; well they need to tell their story too. It may stop someone, somewhere from repeating their mistake.
Live and let live mate: it's all good

karonious

Thanks mate - I owe you one............again

Backhomeatlast

[QUOTE=Genesis;6024708] As does the UK, so people must ask what they are moving for,
make a list and if the boxes tick...GO, you can always come back....but please please do not go for the WEATHER..

dave.and.lisa

I cannot see myself growing old here...I am 33 years old and feel as if I am living the life of a 70 year old. But we are stuck here for the time being....Maybe for another 4 years or so...Where will I go well I am not sure...But one thing I do know is if you are looking to move to NZ do not come unless you know exactly what you are getting yourself into. If you are quite content to become very old before your time then thats great...If you want to struggle your ass off financially the come



Thanks[/QUOTE]

Since we had the kids our lives are duller in the socialising stakes!! We used to eat out, go to the cinema and whatever we pleased really and fantastic holidays!!
Now we don't go anywhere as a couple one of us stays in while the other is out etc We are skint but this is having kids for you and they are great but not without a cost! my life is like a 70 year old, days out to day care inc

Is some of your frustration added because of a huge change to you life due to having a family??? Because to the best prepared its a damm shock!! We too had a business which we had to pack in! again makes things tough when you start up financially and socially!! And I would say my last fives years in the UK have been the toughest for these reasons. So NZGRL sounds like you have taken on heaps and moved to the other side of the world to boot!!!

I hear you and totally respect your comments, great to have balance to the roses round the door threads, all be it a bit scary for those of us waiting to jump!!

Good wishes to you and yours where ever that may be!!!!!

Bo-Jangles

Thanks NZGirl bundles of Karma for your post, it needs to be said. I'm probably in a similar category to yourself, I don't dislike NZ enough to leave at this moment in time. We're fairly content for the time being, but I can identify with most of your post and see exactly where you are coming from. After the initial euphoria of being here and everything being new, one begins to scratch below the surface and see NZ for what it really is. It's not uncommon for people to move on after about five years of battling away and not really getting what they came here for.

I often asked myself the questions: What am I doing here? Will we stay here?

We're here pretty much just existing day to day, working albeit in a nicer environment with beaches on the doorstep etc, but we don't HAVE to live in NZ for that. Life here is pretty dull most days, traffic problems and infrastructure are a nightmare and whoever says that Kiwis are out there doing stuff instead of shopping lives in a different world to me. Shopping malls are rammed out every weekend and public holiday including Boxing Day. Within three years of being in Auckland two massive new shopping malls have been built, Sylvia Park and Albany and they're still chock full to capacity every weekend in the carparks and they're still building more.

I do find NZ very shallow, everything revolves around a dollar and I can't abide the cheap is best attitude. In the most parts it's cheap, tatty and tacky and at times a weeny but too primitive for my liking. Not a day goes by when some aspect of life here, doesn't make me wonder just where the hell are we living?

I also agree that NZ has gone downhill in three years since we've been here, however I do doubt myself and maybe it always like that only I was too blind to see in the giddy heights of settling in and I probably didn't know enough to form an educated opinion.

If opinions written here make others question if NZ is for them, then that can only be a good thing. Wouldn't want to disappoint anyone turning up here thinking everyone is living the dream, with wall to wall sunshine, living a cruisey life, fulfilled and rolling in dollars. Yeah right!

lardyl

exactly - very well put Karen and good on ya for being strong hun.
totally......apart from the "always come back" bit (qv).....we are lucky we could (if we wanted to) but lots can't
and please people don't take every negative post about individuals' experiences of life in NZ as a personal insult to you, your decision about where to live and/or your native country - this is not how it is intended; nor is it intended to be a warning to anyone thinking of NZ as their next place in life to forget it and stay where they are...........its someone's considered view of how they have got to where they are and what they think about that place - it's an opinion as part of a discussion and as Karen/others say lets have as much as we can get of these views as long as they add something to the discssion, be it a new experience or a new way of looking at a not-so-new one.......
and please, please, please, don't keep rolling out the "if you hate it so much then why not sod off home/over to Oz" cause that (and all the snide derivatives and cheap jibes about whinging this and that) drives me nuts and if you read the OP's comments you'd find that they can't rally afford to leave so it's just rubbing their noses in it....and having read their posts that is the last thing that I'd like to see going on here.......
rant over..........

Poppy2

Hey, we never said dont come, did we? This may be the forum that we used on our path to coming here, and who says that we arent able to then share our outcomes?

I dont care for stats, and I am not about to unearth some now, but the return/move on rates for expats from NZ are huge.

And lest we forget, the OP and myself have spent 4-5 years living there, so sniff all you like at our experience, we have lived it and our opinion is very valid.

Its a heck of a long way to go, a lot of money and if you stick your head in the sand at the planning stage, because it gives you the willies thinking about the potential *bad* side, then I hope you dont feel a little silly when you arrive and after some time see what we have spoken of.

Being prepared and thinking twice isnt silly, going blindly into something, when people who have actual living experience there is silly.

I dont dispute for a moment how many people live there and simply love it, and the countless threads to that end. I also think that not many people like to post here because of the backlash and the usual battering by those who living the dream there. I applaud the OP and how this thread has been added to by Karonious.

Is this forum just for those who think NZ is a box of fluffy ducks, and all those that encounter issues, should not post? How naive is that? Go over to a board with more daily posters, like Australia, Canada, Usa and get used to seeing a mix of honest reactions.

I think the OP and I have been very honest and very even handed in admitting there are things we have loved about our time in NZ. And we left the UK for all the reasons that everyone else did - yadda, yadda, the state of the world today, everywhere has gang issues etc etc. You want to live in a small community and see how you feel about the level of unemployment, the level of beneficiaries, the fact that you work so hard but get little back from the government and that gangs are a way of life. Not groupd od boys wearing hoodies. Biker style groups where drugs is an intergenerational daily issue and they live to menace each other and breed their fighting dogs. Its not the same the world over, or else why leave the UK. But it is OUR experience and if we can offer some other perspective rather than the *brochure*, then you go with eyes wide open.

How can a dream holiday destination let you down? How impressed with the friends be by hearing we are living in NZ? Friends and family will love coming out to visit?

Cant even answer the first one, I think it is in part very overated and you have to think its a paradise if you have spent that much on getting there. Never underestimate how isolated you will feel from friends and family when you are 28 hours away. It can be a life sentence moving that far away from family for them, especially if you have kids.

Good luck to anyone brave enough to take flight and hope for the best, we have done that twice and the second time it worked out beautifully. It can work out beautifully for those moving to NZ, but heed things said about housing, people, gangs, the cost of living - and make your plans with your eyes open. That is all these threads are meant to be about, not people saying never go to NZ. Just be aware. And dont stick your head in the sand, because we have been there and you may be just like us, you hope not, but so did we when we arrived.

Its just to raise awareness so better choices in your NZ life can be made.

Poppy2

You are ace. Fancy popping over for a coffee?