Re: How is New Zealand better than England?
 

It's too subjective a question for any simple answer. For example, somebody earlier listed NZ 'coffee' as one of the positives of living here. I'd have NZ 'coffee' in my top 5 reasons for never coming here....

and so on...

Have you seen 'Life on Mars'? That might answer your question.

And as for this forum being too negative...hmmmmm....I think the very negative posters get warnings and bannings. I'd be amazed if anybody has been banned for being too positive! :lol:

Re: How is New Zealand better than England?
 

I think you will find they are banned for their lack of consideration in the way they post, not for the actual content of their posts

Re: How is New Zealand better than England?
 

Lack of consideration? Explain please. That guy was banned last night for posting something deemed offensive (not by me) on the issue of gangs...purlease!

Re: How is New Zealand better than England?
 

The first thing we agreed was that by coming to a different country we would expect things to be different, I personally think a lot of it is to do with attitude.
The positive things that we have found are ;
- the kids (10,9,3) have more independence - well the older 2, and they are thriving on it, the schools believe in letting them take risks and learning from their mistakes, they play out, walk to school and are more confident
- there is more to do locally, we do more as a family and are more active
- the work ethic is different (where I work) and there is less stress and pressure
- the weather is better in general and we're Welly!
- people spend more time together as families, we often spend weekends with friends, their children and families - less of a pub / club culture

The things that are harder :
- we have less "disposable" cash as we are paid less and the cost of living is all relative when you earn dollars not pounds
-the house can be cold, no insulation, central heating or double glazing but we're working on that
- missing family and friends - sometimes you just want to moan to someone who knows you inside out
- less choice of quality clothing / shoes especially for kids (stock upon Clarks)
- we're lucky as we have a really good network of friends here but a family who use the same childminder as I do have a really sick baby and no support / help with their other children which must be really hard - but saying that you can have the same experience in the UK depending on your networks.


About 6 months before we emigrated I went through something like you are and couldn't see anything positive as every negative post jumped out at us. I can honestly say that for me and my family this is the best thing we have done. Danny, my OH, struggled a bit at first as he found the lifestyle a big change and missed his friends but he is happy now, we both have the odd bouts of homesickness but not enough to make us want to return!

Re: How is New Zealand better than England?
 

I think he was banned because of his personal and offensive attack of kiwi child.

Re: How is New Zealand better than England?
 

I've read far worse on other sections of the board - especially in the ozzy forums

Re: How is New Zealand better than England?
 

as Donna has already said, it was the manner of his posting. he launched a personal attack. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, be they positive or negative. It is a conscious decision to put them across in an offensive manner that is calculated to insult and wound. That is why he was banned, not the fact he dared to post something negative about New Zealand.

Re: How is New Zealand better than England?
 

I enjoy reading / participating in a debate but a good debate shouldn't be personal. Likewise someone shouldn't be banned for being negative - it's all about getting the right balance I suppose. The moderators are the ones who have to make that call and I personally thought abc could have got his pont across much better if he hadn't made it personal and nasty - it would have probably been really interesting to read what he had to say on the whole situation as a young Maori but he just responded in anger.

Re: How is New Zealand better than England?
 

I think it's only natural to question whether you are doing the right thing.

If you were to run a poll, the majority of people would probably say that they had doubts/second thoughts at some point. However, I believe that once here and settled most people are glad that they didn't change their minds.

Re: How is New Zealand better than England?
 

I've thought of a couple more goodies :

No nuclear power stations
Didn't get involved in the Iraq conflict
a decent rugby side!

Re: How is New Zealand better than England?
 

Good question!

Top 5 better things:
Location - We are loving city living, and it's affordable!
Traffic - or lack of it. A traffic jam in Christchurch is when you sit still for 3 minutes or more. :)
Weather - Winter weather, so far, has been great. The summer was also good (but not great) but was apparently a poor one so we shall wait and see what next year brings. No complaints though!
The Commute - from 45 mins in a car in the UK, I now travel 15 minutes by bike, to and from work. Gets my vote!
Free time - As I am not commuting, and my work hours are less, I now spend 2 hours a day more with my wife, and what a difference to our lifestyle. We love it :thumbsup:

Top 5 things we miss:
Family
Friends
Central heating
Our favourite restaurant - Azzuro's in Southend
The choice and value of Tesco's

Overall, it's been a rollercoaster so far but overall we are verging on the side of being positive about the move.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

Re: How is New Zealand better than England?
 

that would be a negative for me!

Re: How is New Zealand better than England?
 

Perhaps the boards on this website reflect the countries they represent.

Which would make Australia large and feral, NZ small, dull but friendly!

Re: How is New Zealand better than England?
 

NZ is a haven for Politcal correctness gone mad after all.

Re: How is New Zealand better than England?
 

:rofl::rofl:

Nice one! I'm still new to this marriage lark, I'm sure I'll revert to type in a year or 20 ;)