BEVS

Had a mega dodgy one here. He had his license suspended for a while but has gone on to run a Green Door franchise.

Polly 3

Hey Bevs, whats the Green door thing, saw a place advertised with that name, emailed three times over a property and no response, so rude!

Stormer999

Company run by Frankie Vaughan...

BucksBoy

Hi all
My original posting has certainly got people talking, for that reason alone I'd call it a success.
Hopefully any prospective immigrants will have their eyes opened to the pro's AND cons of coming here and that can only be a good thing.
I'm married to a kiwi who spent 20+ years in the UK before we met and moved here. Before moving here we had 2 amazing holidays in NZ, toured the north and south islands, 'sampled the life' if you like.
Initially we moved to Nelson, a little paradise. However after 20 months we found certain aspects of life there didn't suit us so we moved about an hour north of Auckland.
we've been in NZ nearly 8 years, I've completely renovated 2 houses, started my own small business taken on an abused dog, adopted a neglected child. I've joined the Lions, and was a volunteer fire fighter for 3 years.
What I'm trying to say is that I didn't land here in 2007 decide I didn't like it and go into a big sulk. I've really tried to make a life here but after all this time I still don't understand the mentality of these people and I don't think I ever will.
Upon gaining my NZ citizenship I was told by a local that I might be a New Zealander but I'll never be a kiwi. I thank my lucky stars for that!
I stand by my earlier rant and hope to get back to 'the world' next year.
Good luck to those who stay, make sure you're staying for the right reasons.

bearskin

God, that's just lovely isn't it. People can be such arses. And kiwis can be such village idiots

Good for you, as I said I do agree with what you said. Just that I find it overall on balance better than living in the UK

ajwbond

This reminds me of a story my wife told me while at Unitech University studying as a mature student and after having been in New Zealand for 4 years. She had previously told one of the tutors that she now felt at home in New Zealand and after a couple of weeks an historical piece regarding Maori history and the coming of the pakeha was shown at which point the tutor singled her out and asked her, with a sarcastic smirk, if she still felt like it was home?

This was not the reason we left New Zealand but this is the mentality of a lot of kiwis.

Stormer999

Yes luckily not the mentality in England...is it Paddy ?, is it Taffy ? what say you Jock ?

ajwbond

I don't think that I mentioned England in my post, but if it makes you feel better yes i'm sure there is a lot of prejudice there too. The difference is that most problems in the UK will smack you in the face and not be hidden beneath people glossing over issues or pretending problems don't exist.

Stormer999

So are you saying that in NZ people are prejudiced towards foreigners but hide the fact?

bearskin

I would say that.

They will initially mask their prejudice - or even let's call it racism (what it often extends to) but if pushed it will usually be there. This extends to prejudice within their own - definitely from maori to pakeha and vice versa, but also, pathetically, to North island vs South Island and Rest of NZ vs Auckland.

Funny that all NZers are descended from immigrants (yes, even the maori). I have seen outright racism towards new UK migrants from New Zealanders whose own parents were UK immigrants. They think that having been born here makes them superior to anyone who comes to live here who wasn't.

bearskin

Sorry, forgot to add - the cracks to the mask usually start with "Oh they can't drive" or ""Why can't they speak English", starting to show the underlying prejudice and superiority complex issues. Unfortunately it is a common part of everyday NZ culture - even in a so-called 'professional' atmosphere of an office/workplace.

RobClubley

I see this all the time - usually in jest, but you have to wonder what underlies the jests.

Stormer999

So Bearskin you think NZ people are racist

bearskin

In a sweepingly generalistic statement: Yes.

I think people in the UK are as well - the issues I've described are also part of life in the UK - people thinking themselves superior to other people who move from another country and talking about them in derogatory terms. However, I do think the UK is better overall - it has more 'history' of it and people seem to get along with each other a bit better. However, the extremes are maybe more pronounced. NZ has a more underlying racism as it were.

And, NZ even has/had an overtly racist political party that had active MPs sitting in parliament. Mr Harawira is openly prejudiced against white people - can't remember what he calls us but it's something rude. I think he would happily embrace apartheid.

bourbon-biscuit

I think some Kiwis are xenophobic and some are racist. I also think some Brits are - a lot of them seem to migrate to Australia and NZ, clueless about the values they hold Kiwis do make generalisations about JAFFAs and SIers, etc., but there's a lot of stereotyping about people from different areas of Britain too; for example, people all over Britain make cracks about people from Liverpool, Somerset, Essex, Yorkshire, Wales, etc., etc. Sometimes that is in jest but a lot of it reflects deeply entrenched prejudices. That's humans, I 'spose.