rwb

Nothing wrong with asking about the negatives. It would be extremely unrealistic to think any place in this world is paradise. I know I've been traveling around enough and seen many different environments. You learn to take the good and the bad, and more importantly you learn to adjust.

Maybe a little background so you can put my comments in perspective. We've moved over here more than 3 years ago, have 3 children aged 9,7 and 5. I work in the it sector so earn a pretty good living. We live in CHC so that may put a spin on things as well, only been on business in Auckland and Wellington so can't vouch for there environments.

Here it goes;

* Schooling is abysmal. The NCEA, which is the NZ national curiculum is far below any of the European systems and not worth the paper it's written on. It is now acceptable for kids to write essays using SMS text, now what kind of system is that. Children don't know their basic multiplication tables when coming out of primary, reading levels are low. Basically it's so bad that even the universities felt they had to comment on it last year. By the way private schooling is not the answer, they are expensive and just follow the NCEA. If education is extremely important for you than you may want to rethink.

* As mentioned by other, driving is terrible. Just read the High Way code and you'll see why. The rules are just dangerous, for crying out loud they allow you to pass on the left in junctions. How crazy is that.

* Housing is very overrated. Yes you can purchase a lot of land, but to put it in a pom colleagues words "they're nothing more than glamorized garden sheds". Little or no insolation, not heating or anything worth mentioning. And they wonder why Asthma and Bronchitis are so rife .... duhhhhh. More importantly ... at these prices and on the peak of the housing boom you would be a real fool to buy. Certainly the newer homes won't have a life span beyond 30 years and we were told this by professional valuators, incredible but true.

* If you are a professional in your field than you will find it hard in NZ. Especially down on the south island. Most business, including the larger corporations are operated an amateuristic basis at best. Most of the time it's a struggle to get them to change that mentality, mediocrity in business is the standard here.

* Salaries are average NZ. Anyone who compares them to the UK is not comparing logically. You need to asses your income based on net expenditures here, not what you were earning in the UK. Anyone who did this .... big mistake you will always be disapointed. Compare locally and you'll be fine, think what does this salary buy me at the end of the month and how much do I have left over.

* Shopping is fine, like in the UK you need to know where to spend your money and more importantly what you can spend. Our family of 5 can get around with 250$ a week. Having said that ... choices in super markets are severely limited in comparison to UK, don't expect fancy things.

* NZ want's to be global but doesn't act it. See comment about education and business. In relation to this news is terrible, if it isn't about sports or local granny than people aren't really interested. Having said that ... do you really care when your on the other side of the planet and the rest of the world are at each other's thoat's probably not.

* Telecom is the monopoly and it shows. Internet is way behind what it should be and it took us 2 years before we managed to get even the most basic ADSL package.

* Now before anyone starts of a polemic, I'm not being racist here or anything but NZ imigration needs to tackle the problem of Asian immigrants coming in who don't bother to integrate. NZ is not learning from Europe's mistakes and this could become a real problem over the next 10 years. Actually it's the problems are already showing occuring. Problem is how do you convince someone without being branded a racist, something we see in Europe.

* Politics ... well I'll let you make up your own mind when you decide to come over (if your still interested ).

Well that's my rant, but heh ... I'm still here. Good your thinking about this now instead of being dissapointed later.

Robert

Maz

This honestly surprises me a little... New Zealand has the highest literacy rate in the world, at 99%. Maybe a little higher than that, even. I just don't get how it's apparently so bad and NZ is still able to function.

Budowsky

After five years of trying to make NZ work for me, I gave up....

I always felt like I had one arm tied behind my back because I was a pom. I REALLY feel sorry for the migrants from other countries facing the "must have NZ experience joke"

Somehow, I woke up when I found myself filling in an application for Starbucks and thinking to myself, "yeah, this will be good!"

The next day I bought a ticket home.... F'Ck that!

Kippers

Whew!
I think we've finally convinced everyone to stay away...........I was starting to worry the place might get over-crowded.
Kip

rwb

No ... that may have been the case some time ago but things have changed a lot over the past 5 years. Even my Kiwi colleauge's and friends say the same thing, the system has definitely gone down hill. It's all about statistics and social work analysis instead of teaching. Another important fact, home schooling is on the rise, apparently latest figures are around 15 %. That's very high. We've had our kid's in 2 different schools now and both have failed to deliver. We've also talked to a several British couples who've said that they would rather sacrifice the life style and provide their children with a decent future than this, they're leaving. Regretably the eldest will need to make up lost time as when she arrived she was far ahead, and now going back after 3 years will be far behind where her pears are. I've also talked with foreign exchange students (high school level) mainly Germany and France and they say the same thing .... the experience was nice but what the kiwi kids were doing here they did 2 - 3 years ago. Not very inspiring.

Jack The Lad

Good post rwb

cypherpunk

No it isn't, it peaked in 2004 and has fallen back slightly since. In July 2006 there were 6,298 homeschooled children, which is less than 1% of the enrolled school population.

From the results page on this site you can see that NZ education results compare well with those of other OECD countries.

SecretSquirrel

oh no... noooo it is just wrong!!!!! there is no excuse for that stuff...... it makes baby puke look appetising

SecretSquirrel

PMSL... I remember numerous BBQs where I was asked what it was like to finally get to sample a proper BBQ (obviously being an ignorant pom) whilst being served the ubiquitous precooked sausages (some with cheese some without) in...... and I thought I was the only one to experience this but now i feel vindicated..... a slice of bread!!! what is that all about??

sky

I'm gonna have a go at making it again with the soured cream S.S. and will report back

sky

Too tight

I thought it was a joke when I was first given one in the slice of bread lol.

SecretSquirrel

:scared:
do you have medical insurance? :scared:

sky

No

Emily Gibbs

Hi... anyone want to tell me their experiences (good and bad!) for a Radio NZ feature looking at how expats find the Xmas/Summer period here... how does the (supposedly) sunny Christmas compare to a (supposedly) white one - how do travel/holiday spots/weather/food/drink/company/lifestyle/christmas celebrations compare? What are you up to?

If anyone has a interesting story, experience or insight (good or bad), please send me an email: [email protected].

Cheers!

Emily

Jack The Lad

Hey up Kiwi Radio girl

Just a quick one. Have you cleared this request with admin?

They have a specific "Media" section for this kind of thing. Im not trying to be arsey just helping out.

Give Mazi a shout she is really gobby and she has some veiws on NZ

Anyway take care and hope that you get some help.

PS You do know that Borat frequents this site and is the Forum reporter. He may get narky having another reporter on his patch