Bo-Jangles

I don't really know what 'experiences' the OP was expecting to hear about but I was reflecting on the matter driving home from work and wondering really what is to be gained from this emigration malarkey.

It's hardly rip-roaringly thrilling, so feel free to hit the ignore button if you will but I will describe a typical day that makes up for at least 75% of my life and you might ask yourself what exactly you do with your time now, that will be any different after one or two years of being here in NZ.

1) 7.00am get up, feed the cat, have coffee, wash, brush teeth, get ready and drive to work.
2) 8.30 Arrive at work, barely leave the desk except for trip to the loo and to make coffee. Usually have both my breakfast and lunch at my desk
4) 5.30pm or thereabouts I leave the office and usually have some errand to run, from pick up parcel from post, cat food from vets ($43 bag), groceries or something else that's needing to be done. Today I dropped a bag of clothes at the clothing bank.
5) Get home about 6.30pm get changed, put some washing on, have a cup of tea, look at e-mails and sort out the rubbish (it's bin day tomorrow -woohoo how exciting is that)
6) Empty dishwasher from last night, get the dinner going, prepare lunch, and breakfast for tomorrow.
6) Have dinner, watch a bit of telly / internet / online shopping/ facebook / answer e-mails pay some bills.
7) Have a shower, dry hair
8) Read a book until I fall asleep.

Rinse and repeat ad infinitum for 5 days a week.

We try to mix it up and add in more thrilling things to do at the weekends; usually there's a good bit of ironing, some vacuuming, polishing and cleaning of kitchen, toilets and bathrooms. Last weekend we really pushed the boat our and went to Mitre 10 for some screws.

The garden remains a shambles (and remains on the list of never ending chores and other boring things to do the following weekend) tThere's not a vegetable in sight; it's mostly too wet to get out there and tend to the weeds and fifty thousand leaves and bits of crap that have blown in since the last time I went out there.

Hmm, I'm sure this wasn't quite what I had in mind when I was looking for a bit of an 'adventure'; where do I sign up for all the thrills and spills of the great outdoors, extreme sports and picture postcard views.

KOH2

I'm sure that's the way things are when you live somewhere. I've always only started appreciating my environs when it was time to leave.

We live in the SE of England with the South Downs on our back door step and yet we've only managed to get out there when we had people visiting.

Mind you, I did make the most of our proximity to London and dragged the kids round all the sights & museums, so hopefully they've had their fill of culture

I need more space and definitely want to grow my own fruit and veg - something that is nigh on impossible in our tiny garden over here.

Let's hope NZ lives up to our expectations - we have to give it a go otherwise we'll never know.

Kotare

Impressed - when like you I took the kids around the London sights (Tower, Madame Tussauds, Thames trip etc)the cost rapidly approached the national debt (at least the Museums were free) :-)

KOH2

Oh, I know - I used Tesco vouchers, 2for1 deals (available when you present a train ticket) and one year I splashed out on an annual Merlin pass and we did all the adventure parks around London + Madame Tussauds & the London Eye to our heart's content

Otherwise we would have gone bankrupt too.

escapedtonz

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bourbon-biscuit

Unlikely. It is much more complicated than plugging in the current exchange rate as suggested above. You need to think about to what extent you will adapt to seasonal eating, what your current Vs expected NZ family income is, where you are moving to, etc.

What people are telling you is that they, like you, did their sums before they came to NZ and yet have found themselves much poorer than they anticipated. Brush those concerns aside at your peril.

Outside of major urban areas being a leftie in NZ is a pretty lonely experience; been there, done that, got the t shirt.
Be aware that back up plans are easy to make but lot of people find they have mysteriously fallen apart in the early years overseas.
It's also easy to feel positive about your children leaving NZ in the future when they are small but when the day looms you may feel differently, especially if you find yourself stuck in NZ on an average-ish wage that won't allow you to visit them overseas more than a couple of times a decade. Again, brush this aside at your own risk.

I so concur with this - the numbers tell you so little. Pretty much most of NZ gets long hot summers and citrus grows all over. Melons can be grown outdoors, ditto auberines and peppers and the growing season everywhere is so much longer .... and yet people insist that the weather is comparable to the UK?! Plants don't lie ...

Or just don't eat them in winter. There is a period of about 6 weeks where eating seasonally in NZ is mega depressing but then when the spring produce starts appearing it is wonderful. It took me some years but I did adapt to seasonal eating.

Yes, agreed. But it won't matter how much you tell people this: they will say "oh, but we can skype/ rellies can visit and we can then have quality time/ they will be happy we are happy" etc., etc. My experience mirrors that of many long term emigrants: over time you become more peripheral to your family because you just aren't there for all the important stuff and for all the everyday stuff; in time you become the overseas rellies who are much loved but out of the picture.


I think NZ offers a glorious lifestyle for those who are kind of DIYers in terms of lifestyle and entertainment. If you love gardening it's good. If you dream of a bit of acreage, it can be a good place (though be aware rural living is very much NOT like rural living in the UK). If you know you will get a continual thrill out of seeing your kids enjoy environmental freedoms it can be good. If you are a hiking/ camping/ fishing/ kayaking sort of family, it can be very very good. But choose where you go very carefully. You'll get none of that in Auckland.

BEVS

Good balanced post Bourbon.

Kotare

I think NZ offers a glorious lifestyle for those who are kind of DIYers in terms of lifestyle and entertainment. If you love gardening it's good. If you dream of a bit of acreage, it can be a good place (though be aware rural living is very much NOT like rural living in the UK). If you know you will get a continual thrill out of seeing your kids enjoy environmental freedoms it can be good. If you are a hiking/ camping/ fishing/ kayaking sort of family, it can be very very good. But choose where you go very carefully. You'll get none of that in Auckland.

Good summary - I think more freedom for the children if any is the main one

Mark Smith

New Zealand offers a wonderful opportunity to have a normal life free from 'lone wolves' with 'mental health issues'. The end.

bourbon-biscuit

A foolish, factually incorrect, and ignorant post.

Mark Smith

I disagree, let's watch shall we.

bourbon-biscuit

I think possibly we disagree because you are mixing up issues, which is why I thought your post ignorant. If you mean that NZ is unlikely to experience terror attacks then I agree with you and I have always said NZ feels like a safe sleepy harbour from the world's bigger issues.
If you mean that in NZ you are less at risk of harm from people with MH issues then I would point out that the risk from folk with MH problems is very low in both NZ, the UK, Oz, etc., but that incidents tend to make big news stories; however, NZ is not immune to this sort of risk (think Aramoana) but again, the size of the population means it happens even more rarely but the risk to individuals is broadly the same as elsewhere, i.e. almost zilch.

Mark Smith

Sorry should have been clearer, open border terrorism, apologies.

MrsFychan

I also disagree about lone wolves with MH problems. NZ also has its own Isis

MH is very poor over here, aftercare is non existent in some cases and what care they do get is at times very poor. In out little bit a mental health patient who was refused a placement attacked a stranger at the station with a knife.
Also in our area there is a petition to try and get suitable care for another MH patient. Another lady just over the hills has been missing since last week. I could go on.

We have already had someone imprisoned on charges of for possessing and circulating objectionable material related to extreme violence and is one of two people know in that area as Isis sympathisers.

dannigirl

Mark Smith - ever heard of the Aramoana massacre. Lone wolf. Mental health issues. 13 dead. Not terrorist related. Very ignorant of you to pretend stuff like this does not happen in NZ, because it does!