southerner

A lot of people who move to NZ are happy and probably think you're wrong.
That may be your personal viewpoint - please don't dress it up as what everyone thinks, or should think. In any case, Australia and NZ only seem to differ by a small degree in their isolation from the rest of the world, so .....what was your point?

Nerine

Show me the part of my post where I said it's what everyone thinks please, cut and paste it and insert it here <.....................................>

A lot of people who move to NZ are happy and probably think I'm wrong and they are perfectly entitled to do so .

I don't feel that Australia is isolationist at all - I feel more in contact with the rest of the world than I ever did whilst in NZ, somehow the rest of the world seems to be more relevent here. Maybe that's one of the reasons why I like it so much. You should give it a go sometime, it's rather nice.

Scroll up the thread a bit and you'll see I said
Are you afflicted with selective reading as well now?

(sheesh! always did find it difficult getting Kiwis to understand some things)

Nerine

southerner

Yep - I admit to not understanding a lot of what you say...I'll try harder.

Nerine

Thanks, that would be so helpful. I'll try to make it easier for you in future.

Maz

Hmmm... 4 million bucks or 4 million quid? Quids, thanks. Where do I pick up my cheque?

Nerine

I'll send you mine....I've got it here in the back of a drawer somewhere......(old Tesco receipts, library card, phone bill, chewing gum wrapper....)

Genesis

If you came from where I did in the UK, 'safe' means a lot. Safe also means globally not just locally. I am not hiding either. I just happen to thank fully live in the remotest western civilisation on earth. That will be a whole lot safer than a lot of places when the wheels start falling off the world in more than one way. There is a lot of ugly writing on the wall across the world.

I achieved in the UK and I am achieving in NZ, furthermore I have had immense personal growth since arriving here 3 years ago and have had a marvellous 3 years. I am still excited about being here.

Just met someone who has returned from Brisbane they cited level 7 water restrictions. I am sure you are very, very happy in Oz but sometimes you do come over as Oz having all the answers for the 'perfect' life while other places are distinctly lacking with regards to any type of day to day viability.

Finally I am at a loss as to why you spend so much time posting on a forum for a country you would not return to if given £4 million.

You posting on the NZ forum would be a bit like me daily posting on the 'returning to the UK forum'...I have no wish to do so, thus leave it well alone. What do I have of any use to input into people returning to a country I would not chose to live in? Ditto you and NZ?

lardyl

yes but when Southerner posts here as though NZ is comparable in "isolation" to Aus then that's not really true either.......and Nernie is posting her views on living in NZ and that has got to help poeple who take time to read the forums and want to hear it warts and all.
I know that you post in that way too (warts and all) and I have a great deal of respect for that and how you've got on with it down in Palmy.
As you say, many people come here for a quieter, safer life away from pressure and competition and find just that......suits some, and winds others up and maybe for them Aus is more suitable. It probably explains the type of people that post along those lines - I can't see much of a reason to dispute that in most areas of professional life Oz is going to be more of a challenge than working in NZ simply because of the scale - big fish in a small pond and all that. Just look at the numbers: Sydney alone has a GDP of about 1.6 times that of NZ and that's just one city. That's the attraction for many and the repulsion for others. But its best that people hear it and debate it out here rather than come to NZ on a whim only to find it an expensive or irreversible mistake.

Nerine

Genesis.
Why is it when people try to justify New Zealand as a place to retreat to we start hearing phrases such as "when the wheels come off" as if NZ is immune somehow to the problems the rest of the world is faced with and will be the last bastion of civilisation? ......interest rate hikes, credit squeezes, carbon taxes, recession, falling house prices, falling stock markets, increases in fuel and energy prices.....

If where you lived in the UK was unsafe why did you choose NZ and not just move somewhere else in the country? You make it sound as if you chose NZ for refuge (It's not some type of fall out shelter)

This isn't a forum for a country I would never return to.....this is a forum for people who live/want to live in a country in which I used to reside and I can make some contribution to that. There are also people on here who are interested in moving to Australia or just like to hear some honesty now and again

It's quite nice to be able to post about all aspects of living in NZ without being told to b*gger off out of the place if I don't like it. Don't you agree?

lardyl

absobloody-lutely ..... you lucky git.....

/decides to fake <My Profile> and pretend to be in Brissy/

/realises that too many people know where I live/

....bugger......

I_Will_Freckle

You do come across as very bitter Nerine. I don't know what exactly went wrong for you in NZ but you are happy now in Australia and I do wonder why you seem to be "fighting a cause". You didn't like it in NZ, moved away and found something better in Australia. As expats we have all made at least one move but few of us seem to have a need to harp on and on about the ills of the UK or attempt to persuade anyone not to go back there.

I'm not suggesting for a moment that anyone shouldn't voice their opinion if it happens to be a negative one. It's important that anyone contemplating a move is aware of the bad as well as the good so that they go in with eyes open. However, I think it's a bit mean spirited to throw cold water on the plans of others that are excited by the prospect of a move or to continually play one-upmanship with the Australia card. A lot of people in NZ would rather stick needles in their eyes than move to Australia!

I'm genuinely happy for anyone that finds themselves in a happy place and just wish that there was a bit more of that spirit on this forum. And yes, I know what you said a few posts back but to say in essence "Glad you like it but sorry you won't achieve anything in life" is really very offensive to those already living there or hoping to move there in the future.

I hope I haven't offended you or anyone else by this post.

Genesis

No I don't agree. I think coming out with your 4 million comment is ridiculous frankly. Why didn't I move some where else in the UK? After 45 years there I wanted a change, wanted more space, a better house a better standard of living, to work less as a couple, what I think is a more wholesome place for my very young children. I got all that and much, much more by coming to NZ. I also happen to like the country as well. I want achievment excitement, in the Uk I had gone as far as I was going to go. I wanted a new challenge. Nz has given me that.

Nerine if I dared post a comment on the 'returning to Uk forum' about not going back to England if someone gave me 4 million I would have been ripped to peices.

Finally I do honestly believe in global terms NZ is the safest place to be..that just happens to be a bonus. I did not come here to shelter from the rest of the world.

You do somewhat (possibly unitentionally) rub it in how marvellous your life is in Oz over what it was in NZ. Again if I posted on the UK site how much better life is for us here in NZ rather than it was in the UK how do you think that would go down on a regular basis on that forum?

I think i did post someting like that once many, many moons ago and the vitriolic response was such that I never went there again and kept my comments to myself.

With hindsight it was a stupid thing to do.

Nerine

Lardyl - That's you persona non grata at the next expats BBQ/golf match/pub quiz then .

I think you can get an Oz refugee status visa if you apply now, or are prepared to cross the Tasmin in a sinking Vietnamese fishing boat

Genesis

Well said!! I feel exactly the same.