Tanya64

Hi,

We are currently visiting New Zealand and considering moving over here from the UK. My hubby is in IT and has a good job offer based in Auckland. We are going to be moving on to Australia in ten days to have a look over there too. We like a lot of what we see here but have a few worries too, can anybody offer some light on these.

We went to a fireworks display last night and there were hardly any police around, lots of teenagers that seemed to be drunk and many of them racing around in what seem to be very powerful cars. We have heard the term “hoons" is this a big problem?

Driving around Auckland has been pleasant but it seems that there are high levels of aggression with the young drivers here. We also find that truck drivers here tailgate most of the time and casually drive in the fast lane (when there is one one !!!) We were told to phone the police if we had any bother but we hardly ever see police around.

Everywhere we have been here we hear cars screaming late at night and seem to be racing but never hear or see any police or even people talking about this subject. When we asked locals about the cars racing around during the night they said there is nothing that can be done. Is this the attitude here?

The roads here are in very poor condition, we have looked at the public transport system, and it seems that if we were to move here we would be forced to drive due to lack of public transport.

I am not too happy driving in this traffic and I know it sounds silly but this is a big part in us making our decision. When hubby is at work and we want to live outside the city I will be forced to get a car and the driving here makes me nervous.

Our concern is also that if these “hoons” are running around all over the place and doing what they like, if there is no police presence what does one do here if it is a problem in your area ?

Of course the UK has problems too, but the UK bobbies are very strict compared to what we see here so far.

New Zealand really is a beautiful country but do not want to decide on a move that could become a nightmare, I know this may sound trivial but it will play a big part in or decision. Also you see all the nice things on holiday ( except for this part ).

Thanks

Tanya

Pete n Shell

Heya Tanya

Ok lets put this in perspective and that the problem IS in ISOLATED pockets.

I have said this a million times before if you expect utopia then dont come to New Zealand better still dont stay on planet Earth. We live in a quite part of New Zealand and to be honest we feel the same way when we go to Auckland as we used to feel when we went into London in the UK.

There is no such thing as a "Fast Lane" and to be honest you are suffering culture shock by the sounds of things. Been here for a few years now and have accepted the lack of public transport in certain areas (mainly Auckland) and the conditions of the roads. To be honest you should have come here over 10 years ago when the Napier-Taupo road was unsealed

Anyways when you go to Australia you may find the same thing.

mcuddy1

You get the assholes with loud exhausts everywhere, Young kids ( older drivers to ) driving around late at night with their pissed up mates in the back throwing beer bottles out the window. Mr&Mrs Kiwi seem to find this acceptable behavior.

As a rule Mr&Mrs Kiwi are crap drivers, they do not pay attention when they drive too busy day dreaming. I don't think they are particularly agressive though.
Nz is OK but this is one part of thier their culture you will have to come to terms with. Easier said than done.
Good luck

garryhg

hi jacky g here,where were you staying in auckland?were in howick and apart from the odd boy racer,its generally alright here...

we also went down to firworks display,we went to clevedon and couldn't believe how family orientated it was,and we are from a small village that hardly has any bother in scotland....

loads of things for kids,food stalls,boucy castles,people having picnics,there was even a mobile eftpos machine brought in....and it didn't even have security gaurds therenothing like scotland

as for the roads i felt much the same as you when i first arrived,i'm not a confident driver,but give it a few weeks and you will be zipping about with the rest of them,i am

yes theres the gang culture here,the same as anywhere you go,but imho its much smaller than uk.it all depends on location,pick your area to live well,research everything and you should be fine.....gl with your choices....

CCGM.IN.NZ

Hi Tanya, yes the roads do seem a bit scary at first. After nearly 12 months here though I find it not so different to driving around any small town in the UK. We live in Bucklands Beach, east of Auckland. We are walking distance to Half Moon Bay where you can catch a ferry into Auckland. Hubby may find driving into Auckland from most places a bit daunting though as the motorways do get clogged up in rush hour. The ferry is roughly a half hour trip and a much less stressful journey than the roads. We dont have any need to go into the city much and we find that where we live we have all we need on our doorstep. Shopping malls, Botany and Sylvia Park, cafes, supermarkets, cinemas, ice skating, bowling, lots of beaches, parks and countryside. The kids both walk to school. We find that we dont need to travel too far in the car anyway.
The 'hoons' cause us a small problem from the noise they make. We live in a rental on the corner of a busy road and hear the odd couple of an evening. One time when they were particularly noisy my husband called the local police who did do a recce of the area and said we should call 111 if it happened again. We will be looking for a rental in a quiet cul de sac after Christmas! I think you just picked a bad night really, where there were lots of people gathered, bound to get the idiots out too. Prob best you saw it for yourself though. Just a small problem, in my opinion, compared to the problems in the UK. The best bits far outweigh the worst bits of living in NZ for us.

Hope this helps. Enjoy OZ and good luck with your decision
Carol

Woodlea

Not down here on the Mainland

Drivers are courteous here in Chch (or maybe a bit timid or a lack of road-sense), to the extent that it can be frustrating waiting behind others at roundabouts when the roundabout is clear but someone is approaching from another direction and there was time to drive a tank across!!

You do get the odd 'hoon' - but no more than the UK, and like others have said it depends on the area.

Pete n Shell

I thought Christchurch was street racers paradise or is that just at the weekends

dlmckay

They took all their cars away a few weeks ago in a crack down! http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/s...ectid=10465397

We get hoons on our street... or we did... they seem to have gone quiet lately (maybe they've had their car impounded or run out of money for new tyres). Saying that, last night we heard a dreadful racket, went to the window to see a toyota hiace van being fishtailed all over the road. The wet weather brings them out because it's easier to do skids.

howardk

.........all the time.......

TeamEmbo

not words you'd usually see in the same sentence!

happynz

More so on Friday and Saturday nights, but yeah...

Dustybin

Just look at it this way.. if you were 15 and could afford to drive a fast car with a big exhaust that the girlies (or at least some of them, and probably the sort of girl you are after at 15!) thought made you cool, wouldn't you??

Ted Logan

Yip like they stop the kids from drinking in parks on Friday and Saturday nights being abusive to adults as they walk past them.

NZ police have the law that they can seize any car from a boy racer and impound it for 28 days meaning that what these kids are doing are running that risk.

Well this will depend on where you move which requires doing some homework, we live in Wellington easetern suburbs and not heard of any boy racers around our streets. Saying that they are around the town and out towards the Hutt.

But if the boy racer issue is a problem then maybe NZ maybe the wrong place for you. You could always try the States (gun crime), Australia (racism and snakes), France (the french). Everywhere has its problems

Dustybin

Even England has it's problems, take southeners for example ...

hazeandsteve

Our town is , thankfully, not big enough to suffer these problems to anything like these extents.
We went to the public fireworks display last might, and the biggest problem we had was the eight year olds playing one on one rugby. There wasn't even a beer tent, so no pessed(sic) youths.
This whole country suffers from boom boom stereo drivers with bean can exhausts, but it's a small price to pay compared to lager louts in UK.
Still, makes me glad me glad we didn't choose to live in the cities.