Jack The Lad

Now then stay civilized with each other!

I would like to hear about all the negative things that you can think of about moving to New Zealand. Is it poor wages, weather, schools ect.

The reason being is that I have as Etiopia in my head and need a reality check. So dont hold back and tell it as it is

dreamfish

go awayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! no one reply!!! dont wanna hear it

*head in sand*

Genesis

I have told you about the good stuff. here's the bad. Isolation..I am nearly 50 so did all the travel stuff in my early years...but for those who are younger unless you earn big bucks Europe is a long way off. The driving over here is pretty dire, the roads are crappy..uncrowded (outta Auckland!!) but crappy..and everyone blames the poor roads..utter bollox..the problem is the break neck speeds too many Kiwis travel at and possibly letting 15yr olds drive on public roads..how daft is THAT??? NZ is alas fast coming into the 21st century re violence, drunkeness and drug problems. Can't think of much else really..apart from the fact that you will miss friends and family, familiaraity of the UK and you will undoubtedly suffer from culture shock. So there you go..what you have to do is suck it and see..only time will tell if the pros outweigh them cons. I feel homesick, sometimes I feel like I don't belong...BUT on the whole when I compare what we have here in relation to what we left in Inner city Northampton....there ain't no going back. For us generally the standard of living herre is such that i could not return to the UK......some go on about the importance of families, relatives etc..in reality...for me anyways...98% of our lives is with myself, Kate and the kids...and what we have in NZ would be impossible to replicate in the the UK. Furthermore I personally would not be prepared to swap the house and neighbourhood I have here for what I would be able to afford in the UK. I am not being shallow..having lived in a really crap neighbourhood and ALL the grief it bought right to my very front door means that I would not return to it!!

sky

All the added sugar in the food.

No in depth news unless you can afford Sky (we can't) or stay up till all hours to watch the world news.

The cold houses.

The price of a weekly shop.

The low wages.

The problems caused by the evil weed.

Genesis

We cured our cold house by installing real CH and then some dehumidifiers. In depth news is via the NZ Herald, as for shopping some find it more expensive, others cheaper. Wages are not up to UK standard but then things like houses can be almost three times as cheap (plywood and polystyrene houses built on either a fault line or within the 'lava zone' of a live volcanoe are never gonna be expensive !!!!) So there is some balance!!!! As for the weeds our garden has loads of them.

SarahB

You wanna see our garden then!!

sky

We are building our own house and it will be fully insulated and double glazed .... we're in a rental at the moment.
Dehumidifiers use lots of electric that we can't afford.
In depth news does not exist in the NZ Herald IMO
I feed a family of five on $300 a fortnight, could you?
The old villas are lovely but there is some complete crap built in this country so watch out folks.
I'm talking about cannabis as you well know.

I tell it like it is sorry if you don't like what you're reading and feel the need to go on the defensive.

brussels_sprout

Anyone mentioned the TV yet ? And the sausages ?

dreamfish

what is it about the sausages? can you not make your own? can you not go to the butchers and get some sheep gut or summit? just wondering...

brussels_sprout

Never tasted them personally, it´s just i have read that we Brits always complain about them. I have just read that Marmite/Vegemite has been banned in US
http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/vegemite.asp
Having scanned Kiwi migrant forums for the last year from the other side of the world, the worst things about NZ seem to be

1 The low salaries and high cost of housing
2 Cold uninsulated Houses
3 Mad hoon drivers
4 Crap TV

The obvious things such as isolation and families, i am not counting as they are not unique to NZ, maybe whingeing poms should go on that list too, lol (yes i am a Brit) !

lardyl

feels a commercial opportunity coming on....

Jack The Lad

Sound like Utopia to me

Now STOP being so positive and give me the real crap

PS It is good to have these negative. It also me to have a balanced argument with the missus about getting my arse over there

merryberry

OMG!!!! i am thinking of coming to New Zealand and i am thinking eh should i??

P2L

Show me anywhere in the world thats perfect.

I just think that NZ still has some positives,( like controlled immigration ) whereas here the negatives are growing on an almost daily basis. I look into the futre and don't see much there for our kids, or us, when we reach retirement

Jack The Lad

What are they?