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-   -   Honest experiences of NZ life (https://britishexpats.com/forum/new-zealand-83/honest-experiences-nz-life-880737/)

sparklyfrog Jul 21st 2016 3:16 pm

Honest experiences of NZ life
 
Are there any resources/articles that give the full range and impression of life in NZ? (aside from this forum!)

All the immigration websites seem to show only NZ in a very positive light which makes me question how realistic it is?!

If not, can ppl here give me their honest experiences? We're looking at Wellington area; love the beach and outdoors lifestyle; like the idea of a low population density; we have a 3yo and quite like the idea of alternative education (e.g. love that some state schools are montessori in NZ!).

Thanks! :)

Stormer999 Jul 21st 2016 6:49 pm

Re: Honest experiences of NZ life
 
It,s expensive and empty, but then it,s expensive because it,s empty that,s why we came. The weather is good so we don,t need vitamin D supplements. I can ride my motorbike 365 days a year and I feel safe when I go out. It,s a pleasure to drive and the beaches are empty. In Chch we could do with a little more annual rainfall but the fishing is still good and the ski fields do manage OK. Would we return to the UK, absolutely not. My input trying to keep to facts rather than feelings, difficult as we both love NZ. ;)

sparklyfrog Jul 21st 2016 6:54 pm

Re: Honest experiences of NZ life
 

Originally Posted by Stormer999 (Post 12008634)
It,s expensive and empty, but then it,s expensive because it,s empty that,s why we came. The weather is good so we don,t need vitamin D supplements. I can ride my motorbike 365 days a year and I feel safe when I go out. It,s a pleasure to drive and the beaches are empty. In Chch we could do with a little more annual rainfall but the fishing is still good and the ski fields do manage OK. Would we return to the UK, absolutely not. My input trying to keep to facts rather than feelings, difficult as we both love NZ. ;)

I asked for honest and realistic :) if you love it, then that's honest! Thanks!

MrsFychan Jul 21st 2016 8:21 pm

Re: Honest experiences of NZ life
 
first 6mths (holiday mood) seemed good, then winter struck and it was crap, then reality of school struck and it was crap, then realisation of where we had settled was crap and caused health issues.
managed to move out, lost money on selling the house and had to up the mortgage, had a mini break down and now on anti depressants, which I have found quite a few expats are also having to take. New area much better, new job much better, new schools much better.
Weather is more extreme, the rain is bigger, the wind is stronger, the sun is hotter, the earth quakes suck, the land slides suck, the flooding sucks.

Taken 4 years to realise that the contingency plan if we didn't like it is not feasible, I have to change my mind set and saving to buy larger ticket items is not an option, holidays abroad are not really an option but then we have NZ with all its variants to discover, something that I wished we had done in the UK.
If you had asked me even 6mths ago if I would go back to UK the answer would of been probably, if you had asked me 2 years ago the answer would of been, get me a ticket now. If you ask me now it has to be a no - realisation that we would not be returning to what we had and the money would be better spent trying to make things work here, making the house warmer and more comfortable - all things we had to do on our house in the UK but realise it will take longer as costs are much higher.
Its a pain realising that we have on paper the same cost of housing we had in the UK but far less home comforts from it - no heating throughout the house, no double glazing in the house (all that was already/standard in the UK house when we moved in). Upgrades to house were what we wanted to do and not a job just to get warm. But it is what it is and there is nothing we can do about it except improve when we can.

Over the last 3 months I would say that I have seemed more settled and less depressed (thank god for little white pills) according to friends, its taken over 4 years and I resent the first 2 years and know I need to deal with that and I am slowly.
I have more good days than bad nowadays which is a positive step forward for me and realise these sort of things could of arose if we had moved within the UK. fact was we never were going to move within the UK and it was MrF's desire to leave the UK and not mine, again another factor why things have worked out the way they have for me.

Ask anyone their experiences and you will get differing situations but what you will see in the majority of cases the person who drives the move and has the job to go to usually ends up loving it and the person left to do the day to day stuff will have their misgivings., It also depends on the quality of life you have come from, (lets say upper working class and living on the borders of Kent, good links to London, good schools, family nearer to lend helping hands) my day to day life is harder here than it was in the UK, other peoples it will be better.

Do I love it - no
Do I hate it - not anymore

If I knew then what I know now I would not of moved but would of made more of our life in the UK.

sparklyfrog Jul 21st 2016 9:33 pm

Re: Honest experiences of NZ life
 
I'm so sorry to hear your experience was so bad. That must be so hard for you and your family....

We are lucky in some sense. We both want to make the move and we've already discussed a back up plan.

Thank you for your honesty and I hope you are able to make the best of it.

simonsi Jul 21st 2016 10:15 pm

Re: Honest experiences of NZ life
 
For me its a much better compromise than the compromise I had in the UK - most aspects of life are different in some way and sometimes you won't possibly know how until you get here, nor will some of the UK facets of life seem important until you don't have them, nore will you be able to appreciate some facets of NZ life until you experience them and realise how important to you they are.

The way to avoid that would seem to be come out for a long visit, but we landed without ever having been here before. Flexibility is the key and you will need a robustness of character to see it through.

I've been in the UK on business for 3 weeks now and can't wait to get back to Auckland.

Oh one thing - for most people in the UK, NZ is a once-in-a-lifetime holiday destination because of the time needed and cost. That won't change just because you emigrate so right from the start appreciate how difficult it will be for people to visit you, and for you to visit the UK.

Pom_Chch Jul 21st 2016 10:38 pm

Re: Honest experiences of NZ life
 
For us it has been all good and we haven't looked back.

On the same note though (and I know you probably know this already!) you will never know until you experience it yourself. No amount of holidays, reccie's, opinions, other peoples' experiences will be able to tell you whether you will or will not like it. I will also point out that if I had made my decision based on forums I never would have moved! I remember at one stage on here there was a huge amount of negativity but when we arrived and lived it ourselves I honestly couldn't believe we were all talking about the same country.

I suppose it all comes down to being different enough from what you've moved away from and whether those differences work for you. For us NZ is similar in some ways but different enough to make it all worth while. The hum drum of life is still lived like it was in the UK - go to work, pay bills etc but for us there is added opportunity, adventure are excitement that hasn't waned since we've been here so far :)

Genesis Jul 21st 2016 11:41 pm

Re: Honest experiences of NZ life
 

Originally Posted by sparklyfrog (Post 12008459)
Are there any resources/articles that give the full range and impression of life in NZ? (aside from this forum!)

All the immigration websites seem to show only NZ in a very positive light which makes me question how realistic it is?!

If not, can ppl here give me their honest experiences? We're looking at Wellington area; love the beach and outdoors lifestyle; like the idea of a low population density; we have a 3yo and quite like the idea of alternative education (e.g. love that some state schools are montessori in NZ!).

Thanks! :)

In the 11 years I have been here it has been a bit of a roller coaster. Some very good times and some very, very bads times. There is so much that is wonderful about NZ and there is also loads that is really, really bad stuff about Aotearoa. Fortunately the really bad stuff has not really affected me yet personally. But it may one day it may. Who knows? I am happy to take that risk to live here.

I am not going to go into any of the negative stuff or positive stuff because its not relevant to you as we all see the world differently from each other and all our frames of references are so acutely different. The only way you will ever know what it is like and more importantly if it works for you, is to come and live here.

If you asked me the question "Would I recommend a new life in NZ because I am tired/bored/want an adventure?" I woud say whole heartedly "yes".

For 4 reasons. You like the beach. Its a small island full of empty, amazing beaches. NZ is a totally 'outdoorsy place', you have a small person and they will forever thank you for bringing them here and finally it does not get much more low density population than NZ!

Good luck.

escapedtonz Jul 21st 2016 11:53 pm

Re: Honest experiences of NZ life
 

Originally Posted by sparklyfrog (Post 12008459)
Are there any resources/articles that give the full range and impression of life in NZ? (aside from this forum!)

All the immigration websites seem to show only NZ in a very positive light which makes me question how realistic it is?!

If not, can ppl here give me their honest experiences? We're looking at Wellington area; love the beach and outdoors lifestyle; like the idea of a low population density; we have a 3yo and quite like the idea of alternative education (e.g. love that some state schools are montessori in NZ!).

Thanks! :)

No not really. All the publications and literature you find will give the impression that NZ is paradise :blink:

We arrived in Wellington initially March 2012 and I for one loved it immediately and settled really quickly, BUT I left a load of crap with family behind and it was a massive weight had been lifted from my shoulders so I may have felt the same moving to Iraq :eek:
I had a job to go to, a new job to learn and a whole team of maybe 40 people to get to know at my new job when the wife was just at home settling in with the wee boy.
The wife felt very differently. She missed home and family terribly for the first year at least. Cried daily for the first few months. She didn't like Wellington initially. Felt it was a bit of a dump for one reason or another and it looked very old and tired. She slowly made friends and things started to look better. When she went back to work she was back to her normal self, BUT over our 2.5 years in Wellington neither of us expected that Wellington was the place we were going to stay.
We didn't enjoy the weather. When it rains, man does it rain horizontally. When it's windy which is daily, it's windy. We experienced gusts up to 210kph one evening. Was so bad we took our boy out of his bedroom as I for one was sure the window was going to shatter in his room.
High winds occur often. I'm a biker and many times it was dangerous getting on a bike in that wind.
Yes there are many beaches, BUT probably only two of them that you'd spend any time on lying on the beach in the sun and enjoying your time there. Scorching beach for one but the sea is freezing as it's the channel from the Cook Straight coming in to the harbour. The other really nice beach is at Plimmerton. The rest of them are very windswept and only really good for walking the dog or playing games with the kids.
There is also a lot of hype in Wellington especially for events on the waterfront etc and they never deliver unfortunately. A bit disappointing.
It was the first place we came to because it was the first place I got a job.
We used that first couple of years to scout out all the areas we could possibly live - Auckland, Tauranga, Hawkes Bay, Palmy, Taranaki, Nelson, Christchurch. We visited them all a couple of times to see what we thought with a view to one being the place we would move to and settle.
Tauranga was that place and we've been here nearly 2 years now and love it. It is exactly what we expected life would be like in NZ with good weather and excellent beaches. We have a section in the bag now and we are on the verge of starting to build (if I can kick the builders arse in to gear).
All in all our experience of migrating to NZ has been very good. We have embraced it with open arms and although it's taken a lot of getting used to it is so much better than the UK for us. We wouldn't return other than to holiday, however we still have many places to visit here and on this side of the world.
Yes its expensive, but slowly that issue pales into insignificance and you just get on with it. We just try never to buy anything at full price. Wait for the sales or go without till the sales appear.

barnsleymat Jul 22nd 2016 12:25 am

Re: Honest experiences of NZ life
 
A fabulous place if you're earning great money but a pretty dull existence if you're earning average wages.

MrsFychan Jul 22nd 2016 3:04 am

Re: Honest experiences of NZ life
 

Originally Posted by escapedtonz (Post 12008851)
There is also a lot of hype in Wellington especially for events on the waterfront etc and they never deliver unfortunately. A bit disappointing.


I agree with escapetonz and shall sum it up as "lower your expectations"

Robbie2010 Jul 22nd 2016 4:38 am

Re: Honest experiences of NZ life
 

Originally Posted by barnsleymat (Post 12008884)
A fabulous place if you're earning great money but a pretty dull existence if you're earning average wages.

I have to agree with this one ... and most people don't earn great money

Been here 13 yrs now and we're looking to go back .. maybe to Ireland if Brexit hasn't buggered the idea.

jmh Jul 22nd 2016 5:46 am

Re: Honest experiences of NZ life
 
I would say that every single thread on here is people being honest. However your own experience may vary. Some people are happy some are not. For me, the pros and cons are similar in number. It's a case of what is right for you at this time in your life.

sparklyfrog Jul 22nd 2016 6:34 am

Re: Honest experiences of NZ life
 

Originally Posted by barnsleymat (Post 12008884)
A fabulous place if you're earning great money but a pretty dull existence if you're earning average wages.

What is a good/decent wage in your opinion?

sparklyfrog Jul 22nd 2016 6:36 am

Re: Honest experiences of NZ life
 
Thanks everyone. So key things - have realistic expectations; you don't know until you get there; make sure everyone is happy with the idea (we're moving because we want to, not because one of us has a job!); don't rush to buy a house; key thing - have a back up plan in case it doesn't work!!!


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