ROADYS

A question to all those who have been here for a while, has the move made the difference you were hoping for, or is it, 'same s#*t different bucket?'.

Genesis

Firstly just like all countries NZ is full of shitty problems..loads of them!! The big difference is that all the shite that impacted upon us daily in the UK is no longer evident in our lives. We have space, less fear of crime in our general area, we thus feel safer, we have loads of room to park the car, mountains just up the road, a river at the end of the street and the beach is just 30 odd mins away. We live in an amazing neighbourhood with awesome amenities and there is ALWAYS loads to do. So yes we are waaaaay better off in virtually every aspect of our lives. We have more money than we did in the UK on a week to week basis, we work far less as a couple and we are far more content. There's world class skiing 2.5 hours away as is the ferry to the South Island some would argue the latter is one of the most amazing places on the planet. We have had our fair share of problems, so huge and some not so huge we have also lost an enormous amount of wedge in the finance house melt down..ho hum shit happens. Would not change any of it for anything. We adore it here and there was no going back on day one and that's still the mind set 4 years on. Mind you not everyone likes NZ ..or Palmerston North. Main thing is we do!!!!

shirl

Same s**t different country. Less friends than we used to have, less of a social life, miss family, miss popping over to the continent. Probably a lot of it is our own fault, our life here is less social than back home. We had made lifelong friends there and it is so hard to break into new friendships here. Most adult kiwi's already have their social networks going and don't readily welcome new incomers. I don't just want all ex-pat friends! Probably as we don't have kids at school it is harder as we are mid 50's. I was only just today going over how things used to be back home. Still life is what you make it and it is probably our own fault. Would agree with Genesis about the scenery and so on but sometimes that is just not enough for me anyway. Can you tell I am on a downer at the moment!!

kiwichicks

Hi Shirl
We all get downers no matter how many friends we have and sending you big hug
I agree it is what you make of it we have ex-pats and I now have three kiwi friends, two very close that I meet regularly. On the note of kiwis they do have their own social ladder but generally are not like us brits they are more for family get togethers. I generally don’t think they are being rude just shy and little admiration that we can leave the other side of the world to settle in NZ
Children are big door openers but how about some charity work the kiwis will welcome you with open arms and you never know may open their doors to you
Good luck and for the question has your life changed the moment we step out of the UK everything changed and I think in some ways for the better. I don’t miss UK just get people sick


D

Am Loolah

Awww Shirl, big hugs sweetie, sorry to hear you are feeling down. It'll pass I'm sure.

For us we are waaaaaay happier. We have no s*&t going on here like we were suffering in the UK. No horrid neighbours from Hell, no small, insular village bullying. Instead we live in a house where for the first time ever all the kids have their own bedrooms. We have a pool!! We live one street back from the beach. We have a huge social life - which considering my Hubby is a grumpy, miserable Bar Steward is no mean feat! A mix of both Kiwi's and Ex-Pats. The weather is fabulous. The scenary too. Our kids are all settled and happy and flourishing.

Only downside is we don't have jobs at the moment - but then just got a call from a Kiwi ex-colleague of mine asking if my Hubby would help him out on a few jobs and is coming round in the morning.

Only real downside is we both probably over consume on the old alcohol front as soooo much of our socialising revolves around drinks ... ahhh, it's a hard life.

ROADYS

Great replies, keep em coming!

CarolineSwan

For us it has been way better than what we could of imagined. we came here for more family life and better weather. We spend so much now as a family as gary worksabout 20 odd hours a week less than he did in the uk, he doesnt work weekends as they are voluntry and has an early finish on a friday,this may sound sad but to me having him home at same time each day for dinner is amazing as we had years of him working some days till 4 others till 10 as he had his own business .he has dropped his wages i would say to a third what he had in the uk but we are totally fine here , we have money for what we need plus we have been able to go out and buy things such as bbq,garden swing etc so not sitting counting oennies as i was led to believe i would be doing . we live in a fantastic wee village with every thing on our door step.we have great neighbours and everyone in the village knows each other which i love , plus i feel safe here,leave door unlocked whilst at shop next door would never of done that in uk either i found a wee job in my street so i have100 yards to walk there, i wanted this so as to meet people and i have met a few nice girls infact was invited to a party at one of there houses last night.we do things we never did at the uk such as go on nice wee walks as a family at night go swimming together gary helps with the housework now and the cooking etc ,none of this was possible b4 as he was always to busy working 90 hour days.So yes for us we have everything we wanted from here and much much more...did i mention the weather rained once in over a month and sits in the mid 30's rest of time

caz

love30stm

I do so agree with everything you say, I feel exactly the same , I seem to feel worse and worse every bloody day!!!

shirl

Yeah same s**t different day isn't it!! Thought I hadn't seen you on here for a while. Nice to see you posting again!

love30stm

Hi Shirl, yes I dont come on here much anymore to make me feel ever worse

UKNZAUS

I'm moving on as soon as I've finished Uni! I've been here 2 years in June and I'm settled but it's not enough for me. I like the sunshine and 4-6 months of near constant rain in Auckland gets me down. I miss family and friends from the UK but it's a small sacrifice for what we have here. My husband has job stability (which is very important at this time), we live in a big 5 bed house by the beach in a small holiday town and my social life has just seemed to have exploded! That said, NZ still isn't enough for me. I have learnt to appreciate what really matters and don't even ponder on those things that don't matter. I am unhappy WITH New Zealand and not unhappy IN New Zealand.

I struggled to find Kiwi friends at first but I have met so many people now I have started Uni. I have a couple of friends from the forums but most of mine don't even know BE exists and I much prefer that... it keeps my mood high as we're not talking about this thread or that I met them through Kindy and University, oh and friends of friends too.

teambwr47

Better off financially in New Zealand......

Picked up a senior role at a multinational company based on being a decent bloke as opposed to just having a good reading CV..... this would never have happened in the UK.

We've made plenty of Kiwi friends and I just don't understand the people who move to NZ and then can't make friends....makes me wonder how they ever made friends in the UK.

Love the place and here to stay for a long time........

We've just come back from 5 weeks in Europe and the USA and when we left the UK it was time to go 'home' to NZ not 'we're leaving home in the Uk'

Without doubt for all of us the move has changed our overall lives for the better and I wish we'd moved out here years ago.

joydot

even our london life was better. we occasionally reminisce but stop because its too pathetic. i wouldnt move back to the uk - i mean why the ***** would you?- but hell, there are a lot of rose coloured lenses on this forum. its actually beginning to worry me - inner mother hen is taking over. i am going to be brutal - we earn in excess of $300,000 year, own 5 properties in nice areas (1 home, 1 iconic commercial building, 3 design project) are resented for our luck (20 yrs hard work), find nz'ers socially defunct, find too many pretentious expats living as tho they were kings back in uk add to resentment issue kiwi to mig. socially its been like going back to high school - o the games people play. as professionals we find it an uphill battle to carry out our work with competence and care, and see no future here that isnt grinding poverty. the most successful company outside utilities is the mongrel mob - huge revenue and 65,000 employees. i often think that what many people refer to as a 'good life' is sheer escapism... and new zealand is perfect that way because even the pm is allowed to consistently break the law - NO ONE is responsible for anything and there is no effective legal system to ensure they do. when we leave i am going to publish a book on the experience - i wouldnt dare here as i'd have to go under police guard. even politicians who crtisize this place end up under armed guard. life in the uk is crap and the weather/ migration/ poor leadership plays a huge role in that (the latter 2 can be fixed), but lets not pretend nz is better. its sunnier. well, parts. am quitting this forum because i already spend too much of the day shoveling bullshit and judging by the tone am sure my words will go unappreciated LOL. whats the old cliche 'if i save just 1 life it will be worth it!'. there are many nicer, cheaper places in europe that are closer to uk - and its not that hard to learn a new language. happy times everyone...

CarolineSwan

Have you ever just thought that mabye NZ just isn't for you. It is for a hell of a lot of us, we are very happy here and couldnt imagine being anywhere else in the world, and we have visited a lot of places.To us nowhere else comes close,but thats just our opinion

joydot

avoiding auckland would have been better - it made for a lousy start as its a truly crap city on a function/ expense level (urban design consultant from copenhagen remarked last year that auck doesnt really qualify as a 'city' because it fails to deliver on pretty much all aspects of modern cities' LOL. another similar consultant this year said it is not city of sails but 'city of cars' as the only organised function was getting them around - however slowly). but it doesnt change the fact that what we are experiencing there is coming soon to a sleepy town surrounding you. there is no system in place to stop it and kiwis are so proud of this place there is no will to change.

remember how fast london changed with the opening of the tunnel and the realisation of what was elsewhere and what could be? well, huge engineering advancements aside, there is no tunnel coming to connect nz with the real world.

should also add that one of us is employed, one runs own biz so we experience both sides of that mig coin. and dont get me started on taxation... our first accountant - thriving corporate tax biz owner - warned us as he packed his bags that it was too hard to make money here however hard one works - we though he just needed a good holiday LOL