G-J-B

I hope so! It seems they first started clearing the rubble in October 2007, and it looked to me like they have an awful long way to go! I believe they are still giving performances and shows though.

urbanproject

Good luck with the move

I'm from Paris myself, the only thing I really miss about home is food I'm lucky enough to be able to fly home once a year though, so it makes it even more special...I'm already gearing up for next September

Jen

G-J-B

Hi Jen,

Then there are Parisians in NZ! I imagine not too many?
Parisian cuisine varies a great deal, I've had some very memorable meals there, and some terrible ones (along with some atrocious service), but France in general is a gastronomic paradise isn't it.
Thanks for the goodluck wishes. You're very luck to travel back once a year; those flights don't come cheap.

jueinnz

To the OP: one thing that made me laugh ...when telling kiwi freinds we were going to visit Christchurch for the 1st time, many of them said "oh you will love it...its really english and really old...." (talking about the buildings!)

YER RIGHT!!!! NOT!!!

BEVS

Yes. I surely do.

lardyl

last time we went to the RST we sat directly behind Lord Winston.....he had to sneak in and out to avoid comments about babies and such.........

are you a member at the RSC?
register and you may get notified of seats quicker - binned their emails of late as its making me feel the need for culture......

used to live about 30 minutes away and got there as often as we could fob off the kids......so not that often when they were very young ....... Personally I'd rather have the intimacy of the Swan to the RST.

As far as the gold card goes G-J-B got asked by my mum to leave one behind but I thought that we might loose it if it was used fraudulently...?? Anyway it was mainly for taking the kids to Kenelworth and to the summer jousting and shows.......

Nerine

No we're not Lardyl - we don't go often enough to justify the cost of membership . We've haven't had problems getting tickets in the past at Christmas time so I'll just keep haunting the website until they become available, should strike lucky.

happynz

Well, the buildings aren't that old, but they look oldish. The Arts District on Worcester Street and Christ College is probably what they are talking about.

Bellasmum

It's not just expats. I really missed the historical aspect of the UK when I came home after a few years in the UK.

What it made me do though is research the history of NZ.

Young as it may be it NZ history is very complex and interesting.


Like most Kiwi's my heritage in the main is from the NH (apart from my Maori Tipuna that is).

whitesand

Yes I do. It's not so much the individual buildings, but the varied character which they add to places and cities. NZ can seems very bland at times and you long for the different places and the different character of Europe instead of the similar look which many places have here.

Meat and two veg

Hi,
just nosy really, how is France working out.
I´m news to the forum and have just picked up on this old posting.
To my knowledge you have to speak French to live in France, they often refuseto speak another klanguage even if they could.
What are your experiences?

G-J-B

Fun reading all the replies.
I'm actually moving to Paris tomorrow!! You really do need to speak French, but I'm slowly getting there, and my girlfriend is French which helps.

Took my kiwi friend to Christchurch Oxford whilst she was over. She started recognising all sorts of names from both Australia and NZ. For example on the border of Leicestershire, where I've been living, we have the nearby village of Melbourne (which I believe is where the Australian city got its name, I forget the exact history and the name of the person involved), there's also a Wellington down the road, plus several others.

Browner_

1) Yes
2) No

Browner_

Melbourne was named after British Prime Minister William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, who took his title from the village of Melbourne, Derbyshire

Wellington was named after Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington and victor of the Battle of Waterloo. His title comes from the town of Wellington in Somerset.

Many other NZ places take their names from British people who never set foot in NZ (as far as I know) , such as Napier, Blenheim, Nelson, Marlborough, Palmerston North, Hastings, Havelock, Clive


However, going back to the original question, its not until you move from a rich heritage like Britain that you really understand the cultural void that there is in New Zealand.

Thats why my conclusion is that NZ looks good at first glance but (and I'm quoting someone else here) scratch below the surface and there is nothing there.

Nerine

There is quite a rich Maori heritage though which is very evident, and also a lot of 'Pakeha' history going back to early settler days that's quite interesting.

You can't expect a lot from a young country with only 4 million or so inhabitants. The culture is there if you know where to look, you're just not going to find it in Louvre-like buildings or grandiose Opera houses. To say the country is totally devoid of culture is wrong, Dame Kiri, Hone Tuwhare and Rowena Othlie Jackson alone would be a testament to that.