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Is life in new zealand a bed of roses?????

Is life in new zealand a bed of roses?????

Old Apr 13th 2008, 4:48 am
  #61  
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Default Re: Is life in new zealand a bed of roses?????

Originally Posted by I_Will_Freckle
In CChurch that was the going rate for manual work.
Spot on, minimum wage is $12 an hour, so yes for an 8 hour day $100 bucks would be the going rate.
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Old Apr 13th 2008, 7:01 am
  #62  
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Default Re: Is life in new zealand a bed of roses?????

Originally Posted by happynz
New Zealand a bed of roses? Are you kidding me? It's a effin' hellhole, innit. Here, let me show you how horrible it is. Brace yourself, mate. It's just effin' 'orrible.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...z/P4130401.jpg

Lord knows how I put up with it. I have to see this crap everyday on my walk to work. Horrible I tell ya, just horrible...

Alas I have to put up with a view of a forest from my pool area which then looks onto the ranges just beyond..life really sucks here. Sometimes I have to go fishing at the bottom of my road, or take in views of our local vocano. The worst is having all that great skiing 2 hours away, no traffic and endless things to do. God I wish I was somewhere else. I can see why everyone is in Oz.
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Old Apr 13th 2008, 8:03 am
  #63  
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Default Re: Is life in new zealand a bed of roses?????

Same as all else on here - give it a bash, see how you do. The dairy industry in the South Island is growing massively and would welcome you with open arms. I've spoken to dairy farm hands who get paid well, put up in a brand new house with all mod cons (no weatherboard for these fellas!) rent free, and live in some stunning locations. There are negs to this in the distance from civilisation, and the hours - often 12 hrs a day or more 7 days on then 4 days off or something similar.

What type of teaching does your OH do? Secondry here is no prob, but primary is a real struggle in popular areas (like ChCh! :curse.

Give it a bash, I reckon you'll love it.
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Old Apr 13th 2008, 10:59 am
  #64  
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Default Re: Is life in new zealand a bed of roses?????

Originally Posted by Wiz'n'Ton
Same as all else on here - give it a bash, see how you do. The dairy industry in the South Island is growing massively and would welcome you with open arms. I've spoken to dairy farm hands who get paid well, put up in a brand new house with all mod cons (no weatherboard for these fellas!) rent free, and live in some stunning locations. There are negs to this in the distance from civilisation, and the hours - often 12 hrs a day or more 7 days on then 4 days off or something similar.

What type of teaching does your OH do? Secondry here is no prob, but primary is a real struggle in popular areas (like ChCh! :curse.

Give it a bash, I reckon you'll love it.
Very interesting to read these posts and people's view. I live in France and you could quite easily remove all of the place names from all of these posts and insert French ones and the sentiments would apply equally as well.
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Old Apr 13th 2008, 11:33 am
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Default Re: Is life in new zealand a bed of roses?????

Talbot, here are some shots of that rental we were looking at yesterday, just so you can compare and contrast

Part of the Kitchen, the dining area and the bedroom
Attached Thumbnails Is life in new zealand a bed of roses?????-p4120685.jpg   Is life in new zealand a bed of roses?????-p4120691.jpg   Is life in new zealand a bed of roses?????-p4120689.jpg  
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Old Apr 13th 2008, 5:33 pm
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Default Re: Is life in new zealand a bed of roses?????

^Middle-class porn.
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Old Apr 13th 2008, 6:01 pm
  #67  
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Default Re: Is life in new zealand a bed of roses?????

Originally Posted by happynz
^Middle-class porn.


Aye, aye, aye...oh and arf, arf.


What fun.
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Old Apr 13th 2008, 11:53 pm
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Default Re: Is life in new zealand a bed of roses?????

Originally Posted by happynz
^Middle-class porn.
Whatever turns you on! No, just a decent standard of living.
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Old Apr 14th 2008, 1:00 am
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Default Re: Is life in new zealand a bed of roses?????

Originally Posted by Nerine
Whatever turns you on! No, just a decent standard of living.
Yup, 750 thread count sheets, indoor-outdoor flow, yeah baby! Granite top counters! Ooh ooh...gawd, oh gawd...yes! Stainless...steel...appliances...uh uh uh uh oooohhhhh.....

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Old Apr 14th 2008, 1:13 am
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Default Re: Is life in new zealand a bed of roses?????

I think a cold shower is in order m'lad . Just as well I didn't post a shot of the leisure facilities......you would've wet yourself.

p.s. The sheets belong to the current tenants.
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Old Apr 14th 2008, 2:09 am
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Default Re: Is life in new zealand a bed of roses?????

Originally Posted by wilekit
Is the Kiwi lifestyle as good for kids as everyone says? What do you think makes it so good, if you don't mind my asking?

By the way, we're really hoping so, its one of the main reasons we want to make the move!
I think it is, yes But you might need to bear in mind that I live in a small rural community where the people are friendly and welcoming- I have been told this contrasts with people's on here's experience with urban life.

I've found childhood to be less gendered; it's assumed my daughters will join in the sport with as much enthusiasm as the boys. It's natural that they spend their playtime dragging timber up the trees to construct huts and it seems average that they come home plastered in mud, grass stains and dirt every day. Not sure how well that reverses as there is a strong male culture. It's interesting and different but the sport focus is excellent for kids.



Originally Posted by wilekit
<snip>There was a programme on tonight here called 'Cotton Wool Kids', about the culture kids are growing up in here now, and it was awful. when I compare it to my childhood, kids have so much less freedom here than we used to. <snip>
I came here with a clear agenda: I wanted my kids to have the freedom to roam, safe from traffic, over-commercialism and what I perceived to be the sexualisation of childhood. I could have achieved that in rural UK if I was minted and prepared to both live somewhere remote and cold and also to raise them in an alternative counter culture. But I wasn't and we lived in a deprived area where my dd was one of the only kids her age to cycle to school (and I found it nerve wracking) and there was nowhere safe for her to roam. Her roaming zone here is really quite far- she sleeps out under the stars at friends' farms and makes rafts for the lake she has named. Her friend has a paddock car that she is learning to drive and she has learned to surf, kayak and wake board since arriving. She comes home with bleeding gashes, scrapes and sprains, bent bike wheels and lost coats and she's usually barefoot.

The trade off is that she's growing up in a less multi cultural society (remember I'm only talking about us, living in rural NZ) with a less global outlook, so it's not a perfect picture by a long shot.

Originally Posted by garryhg
<snip>

The schools have climbing frames,asault courses, in the schools,my sons school has 3 different assault courses with frames ,monkey bars ,wooden tree houses,the kids have a ball...Health and safety back home just wouldn't allow it..God knows how many times my son has came back from school with bruises because he fell of these,
But no phone calls from the school to tell me,nor do you have to go and fill in an accident form in triplicate,they just get on with it hereJacky
And also the staff here can clean up wounds, apply dressings and give hugs as needed I often wipe noses, wash wounds, give cuddles and put plasters over cuts.

I remember the day in the UK I was called into my then 7 yr old's school because she'd grazed her face in the playground that morning (I was out for a couple of hours and out of mobile range)- when I collected her she was sporting a huge dirty grit filled graze on her cheek that she had just been given a wet paper towel from the toilets to hold against as the staff weren't allowed to clean it up. She had cried alone in the sick bay for a long time :curse:
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Old Apr 14th 2008, 3:22 am
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Default Re: Is life in new zealand a bed of roses?????

Originally Posted by gozzy
After reading some of the messages on this site I am wondering if nz is the place for my family . We have a plan to move over in november if all goes well. My wife getting a job as a teacher is key. I would like to find some seasonal work on a farm. Then go back to college or start an appenticeship as an electrician.

At present i work about 80 hours a week on the farm and then do part time as an electrician. Cost of living in the uk is high and was hoping for an easier life. I am not scared of work i just don't want to turn round one day and have missed my kids growing up and be an old man .

Most people i speak to about nz tell me it will not be like that in nz , but they all seem to want to sell me a product .

Is it me getting cold feet ? Help me out guy . work / family . will i see my kids grow up .


From what we see here the answer would be a definite YES .You would see your kids grow up and they would have a lovely childhood. We also live in a small village and the kids have much the same type of play and activities that are described by Bourbon Biscuit. They have freedom . The parents are relaxed.

My husband and I were both working all the hours . Husband regularly put in those 80 hour weeks and then of a weekend we would be gearing up for the working week ahead. Here he sticks in around 45, sometimes 50 hours but he is home every evening and drive times are no more than a couple of hours max.

The cost of living is quite high here compared to wages but the trade off has to be the NZ lifestyle. I'm not comparing that lifestyle to anywhere else on the planet. I'm just saying that for many, the trade off in respect of every day family life is well worth it.
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Old Apr 14th 2008, 6:40 am
  #73  
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Default Re: Is life in new zealand a bed of roses?????

Hi

Lifes a bitch here! Every morning I open the curtains to see this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Old Apr 14th 2008, 6:53 am
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Default Re: Is life in new zealand a bed of roses?????

Originally Posted by Steve and Julie
Hi

Life's a bitch here! Every morning I open the curtains to see this!
Oh jeez. How do you cope with that? The horror, the horror...

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Old Apr 14th 2008, 7:43 am
  #75  
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Default Re: Is life in new zealand a bed of roses?????

I wonder if anyone is game enough to post a picture of somewhere in downtown South Auckland or what about Eastern Porirua? It isn't all 'postcard' images. There are some nasty weeds amongst the roses. Anyone that doesn't think so must have come from some pretty bad parts of the UK!
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