BEVS

That's a bit later than usual isn't it? Enjoy

Stormer999

Yes they are running later this year and coming out smaller as well, well observed . Couldn't go my fishing wagon has failed it's WOF and needs discs and pads The 5k drive along the beach each way has taken it's toll. On with the decorating!

BEVS

Poo! Our WOF was fine but it was noted we needed a wheel alignment..... again.

Can't claim excessive salmon knowledge. It's from a chat with pals down Blenheim way.

mikelincs

Not really sure where you are getting that information from, they were fine, but in August 2012, nothing since then, would love to see just where you got your information from.

Stormer999

Do you mean they were fined in August 2012?
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/new...e_flag_waters/
Hardly the point of my complete post though, which was about people always wanting to compare mine is better than yours.

mikelincs

taken to pm.

Bo-Jangles

I tried to refrain honestly but monsters made me do it.

I can see why the rosy glow of a honeymoon puts a different slant on the matter but seriously? I found the original post absolutely cringemakingly biased in the extreme. All too Redtintyspecs-R-Us and totally lost me once it all started to sound like Stepford, with all our model teenagers being polite and so well behaved. I thought I saw a

Didn't we recently shock the world with video footage of a drunken nine year old? The police comments paint quite a different picture of those little skatepark angels.

The she'll be right might work whilst your on your jolly holidays but try living and working in that environment 24/7 - utterly tedious.

As for all the fit active people, how come we don't see many people walking anywhere; except of course if its for 'sport' and we're carrying a bottle of water. Another claim to world fame; we punch well above our weight in the world obesity rankings.

Only yesterday there was yet another headline 'Auckland must clean up it's act' in the Herald; this time an overseas study and report which described the 1950s attitude and practices with regards deterioration of water quality in Auckland's harbour and waterways.

jmh

Thanks for the feedback Hazelnut. You made me think about some things I hadn't noticed but can see are true. Interesting. I agree with many of your points and I'm sure you will review one or two when you have lived here.

gazmac

"Biased in the extreme" Interesting choice of words.

The she'll be right might work whilst your on your jolly holidays but try living and working in that environment 24/7 - utterly tedious. Perhaps maybe just a little "Biased in the extreme"?

Drunken 9 year olds probably dont make the news in the UK.

I recall reading that NZ is 3rd in the world per capita behind USA and canada in Obesity rates.

Auckland harbour I agree was not fantastic and id much rather swim somewhere else.

Hazelnut

Thanks for the comments everyone, they are all genuinely appreciated.

Fascinating stuff to read, especially from Bevs, fracking is truly scary. Quite a few countries have now banned it and I wish more would follow suit.

I'm not a fan of any politicians, the UK seems to swing wildly between irresponsible spending that creates jobs and has a high social spending bill and austerity that leaves people committing suicide as they can't feed theie families, massive unemployment and loss of industry. I suspect that most other countries do this too.

I think I'm looking on NZ as being better than the UK in most pollution things purely because of the much smaller population. People dump rubbish illegally everywhere but when it's being dumped by a population of 63 million, all crowded on top of each other, as opposed to 4 million, who are much more spaced out, it's going to appear to be far less. I think that's what we saw and where the impression of NZ looking so clean has come from.

When we moved to where we live now the major attraction was that the measure of population was 'acres per person' not 'persons per acre'. Over the last 20yrs the area has become built up, industrialised, run down and now has a drugs and alcohol problem.

The question we're asking ourselves is whether NZ offers us the opportunity to move to somewhere with a much lower population pressure, where we could build an energy efficient, smaller lifestyle property and the climate means I could down shift from my current career and we'd be both financially and physically far better off as we age. At this moment in time it's looking marginally to be yes but we aren't putting our house on the market and leaping into NZ TODAY as that margin is currently too small for us at our current ages.

I did say the posts were general and impressions Obviously visiting a country as a tourist and travelling so much does inevitably mean you don't see the everyday problems in purely residential areas but, on balance, we thought that NZ had less of a problem with most of the things that really trouble us than our area of the UK does. NZ is also considerably warmer than were we live, even Dunedin is warmer, and it's always easier to cope with crap when you're warm. I know you're all putting heaters on now and some of you are living in old and inefficient houses and that it isn't summer all year round but when someone who lived in Christchurch said they had only seen proper snow 4 times in 20yrs and we see it around 5-6 times a year with it laying for weeks sometimes that's a huge difference. I am lucky in that I'm in the luxurious position of being able to choose to build a new house that would have DG, insulation and renewable energy attributes and to be able to say a smaller house is fine. Doing that in the UK and doing it in NZ is the choice we're facing and, at the moment, NZ is winning for us.

I think the thing is that, when deciding where to live, it's all a matter of which problems bother you the most and what you, as an individual, can and can't live with. The same problems exist in every country, its just the scale and balance of them that varies. How bad the UK is going to become vs how bad NZ is going to be within my life time is what I'm weighing up..

We seriously didn't encounter a single rude teenager I know they must exist, I'm not that daft , but I was genuinely pleasantly surprised at the behaviour of the ones we encountered when out and about walking the streets of various towns and cities. The skateboarders we encountered weren't at skate parks, I'm way too creaky for that sport and I'm also sensible enough to avoid them. We also deliberately chose not to go into any ghetto areas or areas where we would be the only people of our ethnic origin and that tourists are warned away from. I also choose not to go into those areas in the UK.

I've had to deal with some seriously 'she'll be right' attitudes in a negative way from builders and other workers in the UK and I know it's the same in NZ as a friend over there has been having building work done herself. What I did discover though was that, in my opinion, the phrase can have positive as well as negative connotations. That was something I didn't think before visiting.

If you want to compare horror stories about irresponsible young people Britain has just had a 12yr old girl give birth to a baby fathered by a 13yr old male and their parents are PROUD of them but, on the whole, the UK teenage pregnancy rate is currently the lowest it's ever been since 1969. Stupid and irresponsible people exist everywhere. Drunk 9yr olds don't tend to make the news here as it's too common an occurrence.

I'm happy if anyone wants to think I'm a fluffy bunny wearing heavily rose tinted glasses, you did all say I ought to wear sunglasses to protect my eyes after all

Stormer999

Thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts Hazelnut (you will be safe in NZ...no squirrels ) You hit the nail on the head when you compare the land mass v population, down here on Mainland we are bigger than England with a population pushing 1 million set against the 45 million of England hence related problems.
Lots of peeps been here in NZ for a long time now so the old memories like to store the good bits and push forward cravings on what they miss. I have been here 2 years and am now a proud owner of a Permanent Resident Visa and slowly learning Kiwi speak .
I made a list of Pro's v Con's before we left UK and look at that list periodically and little has changed but it is a good reminder to how fortunate I now am.
It is an Expats site so peeps wanting to go "home" will not want to read your views others who agree will stay quite in fear of reprisals.
Good luck on your quest it took us 2 years from our "reccie tour" to arrival and it was not easy, but then again nothing worthwhile ever is

Assanah

Ahh, a good old British joke again?

BEVS

You don't speak for me on this Stormer. My memories are not selective the way you suggest. My contact with family and friends around the world is current.

I like what I like and I don't like what I don't like. Simples really.

You don't like the UK in any shape , size or form from what you write You like NZ. That's fine.

I'm ambiguous for the most part on all this comparison thing.

We have family and friends in the UK. They are happy and I am not going to damn them or see them damned as some sort of lowlifes for their enjoying living there. These people don't complain about the UK in the way that you do. They haven't settled for a form of less in their lives. These people are active, inquisitive, pro-active, decent people.

Not everyone is scum in the UK. Just like here in NZ. I don't judge all of NZ by the behaviour of my neighbours nor by the congestion in this village during the summer months.

The UK is a very fine place for millions of people. Same for NZ.

Some people just have to accept that. They also have to accept that some people may feel more settled in one place than another and will express that in a manner of their own choosing.

gazmac

"Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth." Schmich 1997.

Live without regret.

Sally Redux

Nicely expressed.

I wasn't actually looking to compare, just asking which beaches in the UK were so bad. It was Stormer who brought up comparisons.