Driech Lanarkshire or NZ
 

Having read with interest the pros and cons raised on this forum whether UK or NZ is best, my question to those who have been there and have done that is would they rather have a life in a driech lanarkshire, with high crime, unemployment and petrol at £1.07 a litre or life in NZ as an expat.

Re: Driech Lanarkshire or NZ
 

I do not think it can be a case of which is best unfortinately, rather a case of individual tolerances and expectations. For me personally I prefer the lifestyle I have here in NZ, which includes a nice house in a quiet rural area (not everyones idea of heaven but each to their own).
There is crime here in NZ (in fact a survey conducted last year indicated that Wanganui had the highest murder rate per head of population) crime occurs as it does anywhere but I have not experienced any personally.
There are also a number of other factors which need to be taken into account; providing you are able to adjust to the fact that there are similarities between the UK and NZ and that they are just that...similarities.

I think NZ comes out on top but that is just my experiences and personal opinion. :thumbsup:

Re: Driech Lanarkshire or NZ
 

Well having come from Lanarkshire (Bellshill) to be exact I can, honestly say NZ wins hands down, we have been here two years now and granted its not the land of milk and honey .... but where is.

Any questions drop me a line or a PM and i will help if i can

Re: Driech Lanarkshire or NZ
 

depends what life in NZ you're comparing it with, could equally be a place in NZ with high crime, low wages, unemployment, higher cost of living even if petrol is cheaper, poor public transport....etc, etc.

Re: Driech Lanarkshire or NZ
 

Having done loads of research online (newspapers, forums, goverment sites) been to emigration meeting, taking on board everybodies feelings from this forum re the whole move, settling in good and bad
I would be out of lanarkshire tomorrow if I could (hopefully next year we will finally move)
J

Re: Driech Lanarkshire or NZ
 

NZ has a high crime rate, high unemployment and low wages relatively speaking. Its one of the most expensive places in the world to buy a house in relation to wages versus house prices. NZ has shed loads of shitty stats. that are really embarrasing. Its not as clean as its made out to be. BUT I love it here. For manifold reasons. Many hate it. At the end of the day I talk about same shit different bucket. NZ has just as many issues as the UK in my opinion. I just prefer life here. Like me you will either love it or hate it. The only way to find out is to do it.

Re: Driech Lanarkshire or NZ
 

Sunny Airdrie to NZ, but you will miss the DD, nothing that classy here I tell you

Re: Driech Lanarkshire or NZ
 

Glasgow or NZ????............NZ anytime. Don't get me wrong,I love my city and miss my family and will always be proud to be a Scot but I don't want to bring my kids up there.

Phyl x

Re: Driech Lanarkshire or NZ
 

Totally agree with you phyl, no way was I wanting to bring up my daughter back in the UK

Re: Driech Lanarkshire or NZ
 

Well we came over from EK. Admittedly at this time of year it can be very dreich in Scotland. Its pleasantly mild here on the Kapiti Coast right now but in winter time the houses can be freezing. Usually just the one fire (log burner) if you're lucky, in the main living area, with other rooms left baltic unless you want to spend a small fortune on buying & running oil heaters and get a real shock when the power bill comes in. We had a power cut for a few hours today..its not that unusual. The single glazed windows will be pouring with condensation and mould will be growing on the window frames and sills. The curtains are heavy duty to try and keep out the drafts and to try and keep some heat in. Mould will grow on the curtains too. Laundrette services advertise how good they are at getting out the mould spores. The lack of insulation in the walls means that homes are like fridges in winter with heat disappearing through the walls and roof very fast as soon as the heat source turned off. In summer you can feel like you are living in a sauna for the same lack of insulation reasons. Its like living in un-renovated council housing from the early seventies.

We've loved living by the sea and going out fishing and watching the kids body boarding and walking on the beach almost every weekend. We've enjoyed travelling around and doing the touristy stuff as well. Don't forget that the wages are so low here that unless you have savings to fall back on or will be earning a lot more than 100k kiwi dollars a year, you probably will not be able to afford to travel around or do very much of the 'quality of life' stuff that you think about when you're in the UK.

Then there's the education system. If you have kids the first thing you'll notice is that the level of the curriculum here is way way behind the level for the same age kids at school in the UK. Schools tend to celebrate sport and sporting achievement to the detriment of academic subjects. They are almost embarrassed to mention if a kid has excelled in Maths or English or Science preferring instead to praise those who do well in cross country or rugby or karate etc. There was an article in the NZ Independent newspaper recently and the headline on the front page was ' Will New Zealand Ever Get Clever About Being Clever?' The article bemoaned the tendency for the education system to pander to the lowest common denominator and how the NZ system almost ignores academic achievement. Of course there are some good schools but most are private and you have to have the funds to pay the fees, uniforms, books, stationery, clubs, trips etc.. Or like the UK you may have to live in a town or inland area in order to be in the correct catchment area when you had wanted to live on the coast.

If you like your kids to have properly fitted shoes you can forget that too. No such thing as Clarks out here. Folk won't pay the money for kids shoes because they 'just grow out of them'. Also there is a lot of poverty around in some areas. Many kids go to school in all weathers with no shoes on at all.

The public health system is not all it could be either. There are huge staff shortages and some in very critical areas such as paediatrics and cancer departments. In one coronary care department I saw recently, there was only one kiwi out of the 8 staff seen with others from Holland, Canada, Germany, England, Netherlands, Sweden, USA. All of the non kiwis said they would not stay here past their short term contract because the pay was less than half what they would get in their home countries. Hence the difficulty for the public health system in recruiting and keeping staff.

So even though winter in the UK is dreich ask yourself what are your reasons for wanting to leave the UK and investigate whether you would be happier perhaps trying a different area e.g. Cornwall, Wales, Ireland, the Western Isles etc. Actually, the Western Isles of Scotland in summer are not dissimilar to many areas of NZ.

If you're concerned about ethnic minorities becoming the majority in the UK; remember you will be the minority in NZ and you'll find that the Maoris have a lot of rights and some have a chip on their shoulder too. Come for a visit and research the area you want to live in before you come out. There can be a bit of a gang presence in some areas.

One last point, never underestimate the pull of your family ties, even if you can't stand them at home, when you can't just pop round to see them and it takes 36 hours and a lot of money to visit, its surprising how absence makes the heart grow fonder as they say.

If you're fit and healthy and love DIY, with no kids or you don't mind that they may never achieve a degree and you don't mind roughing it for half the year and you don't want to know what's going on in the rest of the world cause the news hardly ever tells you and oh yes, you've got plenty of cash then by all means come and live in New Zealand. But don't just come for the weather! :eek:

Re: Driech Lanarkshire or NZ
 

where to start.

Firstly from what I read above I just cant agree about the schooling thing.

This seems to come up alot here.

Sure they seem to be a year behind the UK but thats becuase they start later and dont push their kids into the school system at the tender age of four! The simple answer is to get your kids put up a year when they get here.

We did and that balanced out the 'behind' problem straight away.
This must be a 'where you live' problem in regards to education because my daughters have both started degrees and are doing really well.

Theis school has major awards for academic subjects and celebrates academic prowess as much as they do sports.

Cold houses, well no argument there but again no excuse for not knowing that to be an issue before getting here.

The health system short of staff.err same all over the place and no more of a issue than back in the uk.of course they have more of this and that staff but then they have 60 million plus to cater for.

We have never had a problem getting quality health care here.I lived in cumbria and had to drive from there on the west coast all the way to newcastle on the east for an outpatient appointment 3 hours there three back and for major appointments it was carslile a 100 mile journey.

Point being that sucked and was in so called superior health system of the uk.You can keep that thanks!

Not wearing shoes is a 'thing' here and dosnt always relate to being 'poor'.

Who the hell needs 'clarks' to get good fitting shoes thats like saying you can only eat if there is an asda here!

As for the if you dont like immigrants maori thing well again that must be where you live as we have NEVER been made to feel like that here in Dunedin.Sure the maori bang on and on about their rights and get alot of stuff but who gives a toss. I reckon pro rata they get shit loads less than the millions of freeloaders sponging off the state back in the UK no matter where they come from.

so if you are fit and healthy or just a lazy fat git id say come here and give it a go, just be sure to bring a pair of clark's shoes,an oxford education,a bupa policy, a radiator and double glazed unit,family photos and a sense of humor:rofl:

as a foot note this is a post stating the 'other side of the coin' in no way am I saying that any of the comments of the poster are wrong as at the end of the day all opinions are as valid for one as they are not for another.

you pays your money you takes.....

good luck and keep on keeping on

george

Re: Driech Lanarkshire or NZ
 

Is this a disclaimer ? :p

ps George. You can put a link to your business website into your signature. ;)

Re: Driech Lanarkshire or NZ
 

you could call it that:rofl:

might stop the ping pong he said she said posts and keep it on track.

cheers for that I will add it in

done!

george

Re: Driech Lanarkshire or NZ
 

Although I agree with some of what is said above by the scottish family - particularly having spent September FREEZING with relatives in Wainui (other than the lounge where the heat pump was!!), I do disagree with some other things based on my annoying and costly experience.

Firstly the good news. Some schools do celebrate academic success too! Our latest school newsletter this week celebrated the success of children in their year 5 - 8 ICAS exams in Science, Spelling, Writing, English and Maths and listed the children who obtained distinction and higher. My son has just received his 'shine' award from the principal for excellent creative writing in year 2 and apparently needs 2 more 'top quality' items of work to achieve his 'licence'.

The kids started school in Oct. My daughter was officially a year 4, but put into a 4/5 class to assess her. She's now moved up and is offically a year 5, starting year 6 in Feb. This is based on her end of year assessments and maturity. My son has really suffered academically being put in a year 1/2 class having already completed year 2 in the UK. But this has been dealt with reasonably well by the teacher and is being put in a 3/4 class and will be given year 4 work and see from there. I would recommend any parent coming from the UK to give the teachers the kids' school books from the UK to show their levels, give the school time to asses the kids but to discuss with the teacher/principal any problems that crop up and remember the system here can be more flexible than the UK with the option of moving year group if necessary.

Certainly they do loads more sport than they did in the UK and a much greater emphasis is put on it. But they absolutely love Friday afternoon swimming lessons followed by whole school Jump Jam exercises in the playground and neither have watched any non-educational tv or films like they did in the UK. There are certainly less obese children in their school here compared to their one in the UK.

Now the bad news - from my point of view anyway. I started a BA degree last year in the UK from the Open University. The level 1 course, worth 60 points has been assessed as being only worth 30 points here and even worse the level 2 course also worth 60 points is only worth 30 points here and is only viewed as a level 1. This means I worked my socks off last year but won't get the credit for it so my degree will take longer to achieve as I need to do more courses and will be more expensive. So my experience is the opposite to many people's opinion of the NZ education system.

Re: Driech Lanarkshire or NZ
 

i suppose i will just need to cope:(
i will just stock up before we move with all the essentials, buckfast, , maddog
real classy stuff not like the cheap wine in NZ