mcuddy1

I thought you might show up. one of the below.
Ah I see humour! negative humour! the Gods own country squad will have your guts for garters.

TeamEmbo

Well I'd hate to disappoint Why so down on me? I love where I live. I love my new life and the fact that my kids are so happy and settled and we finally have in our lives that work/life balance that was missing before. Why do I have to be put down in such a way just for saying so??????

But then maybe I'm just the kinda gal that looks for the good in everything and not let the negatives get me down

Pete n Shell

Rose tinted glasses? And now we resort to insults as well My god one person is missing from this thread and most likely using an alias <snipped>

I am starting to wonder if this Tanya who has not posted since is part of that disruption. Well it worked now people are at each others throats.

Nerine

A case of "forum rage perhaps" ?

Campbells

Nothing a Bob Marley CD can't cure

Campbells

Hey, we live in New Zealand

No worries

TeamEmbo

not me

I everyone

Live and let live

Nerine

Lexylou

You would not be saying that if you had ever driven in Dubai. It IS a national trait there and not an individual one.

Dolores

Being a NZer...............I will admit that there are some really bad drivers here (the 'boy racers' completely do my head in and I wish more could be done to rein them in)................but really there are bad drivers in all countries of the world - we don't have a monopoly on that!! The other thing I would like to remind you of is the population of NZ (as if any of you have forgotten it) but compare the tax take on a population of 4 million compared to one of 60 million and that should give you a clue as to why the roads aren't up to the same standard as the roads in the UK!

Nerine

That can be said for a lot of the infrastructure in NZ though can't it. The NZ government certainly takes more tax out of working people than the British one does, but then again it gives more back in benefits. Maybe that's why there's little money put aside for development?

It's worth noting though that NZ has been sitting on a tax revenue surplus for the last 8 years and its finally decided that its safe to start to spending some of it, hope they start with the roads hey

Pete n Shell

They already do! they put tarseal on the roads replacing the mainly gravel roads that existed throughout NZ up until a few years ago. Was not more than 15 years ago the main Napier Taupo highway was a gravel road.

You think some of the roads in Auckland are bad try the stretch of SH4 between Raetihi and Wanganui. Then tell me how much of the tax surplus will be left if that was upgraded but as was pointed out the UK has population of over 60 million and new zealand 4 million and also our Road Taxes are far lower than the UK. Dont take a maths genius to work out why the roads are not up to the standard of the UK.

Also considering the UK road structure was built on Roads built by the Romans over the the last Thousand years where New Zealand Roads are less than 100 years. Kind of think NZ is doing pretty well!

Nerine

I wasn't really talking about the metalled roads but since you mentioned it....Some of the metalled roads around Auckland were/are scheduled to be tar sealed over a 10 year period, however many local authority maintained roads are not. Apparently there is some forumla that's used to decide on whether or not to seal a stretch of road, the cost of it is then shared between the council and Land Transport.

If a road's not sealed then the maintenance is usally dumping a load of loose stone on it every now off the back of a truck and then and plugging up the potholes. Quite similar to the maintenance of tar sealed when you think about it.

Love your comment about Roman Roads, does that include the M25?

Tanya64

Oh my,

What a response, and variety of responses. As a new member, I get the impression that some of the responses seem to be almost political and are as if people are employed as New Zealand ambassadors to counter anything that is being discussed about the country that could be seen as negative.

Some of the members are plain rude with comments like, you know where the airport is. I guess that is a shining example of good parenting and discussion skills. Rather scary. It would seem that there are some high levels of paranoia too.

I really wish I had the time to respond to some of these replies but sense a risk of being sucked into an existing mud-slinging contest. Not too inviting I must add.

The bottom line is clear that there is a problem in New Zealand with hoons (not sure if I can get used to that word).

What disappoints is, nobody has actually mentioned that anything is being done about it. I mean a real solution, not changing the driving age from 15 to 16 so they can see over the dashboard

Further than the disappointing it paints a picture that there is possibly an outlook when issues are raised by genuinely concerned folk that the issue is dealt with by pretending there is not an issue.

Viewing New Zealand as our potential “home” these are the questions we will be putting up on the board to make our decisions and ultimately problems need solutions otherwise we are all just becoming politicians and end up arguing whilst the real problems just get bigger.

Posting another question on a separate topic regarding some of the houses we looked at for rent in Auckland.

Thank you for your responses.

Tanya

happynz

I think the frustration is that nothing really substantial is being done to rein in the anti-social gits out on the highways and byways of New Zealand. The government (National or Labour, take your pick) is reluctant to do anything to really address the problem.