Justcol

You'll certainly find the systems in NZ simpler.
The only choice you have in most things is little or none.
NZ is the land of the duopoly and price fixing is rife

londonescapee

It's pretty marked isn't it in both countries I think isn't it I look at the Prince of Wales Drive in Battersea as a prime example in London, multi-million pound pads and right on the next road behind is a huge council estate that when I lived there certainly had a rather nasty reputation. Actually, same in any inner London borough, Westminster has one of the worst quality of life indexes in the country I believe.

Not that I am a fan of Labour but the rich get richer and the poor get poorer....political statement over for the day

JohnThePom

Oh they're very careful with their wording. I challenge you to prove that NZ isn't 100% NZ!

Whatever that means.

Justcol

How about thefact that there are NO 100% pure blood maori left in NZ
wouldthat count?

JohnThePom

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ncome_equality

I've searched this list every which way and I can't get NZ to come out sixth. Any chance of a link?

One of the reasons that income equality changed fastest from 1980 onwards is that after NZ lost its protected market for produce in the UK it entered into a massive rush from a protectionist economy into a free trade economy.

But to make any sense of that statistic you really need to know where they started from and where they ended up.

Nobody can argue with the observation that a free market economy results in greater inequality. The arguments are usually more about whether the poor deserve to be poor. Should societies be organised to benefit the winners, or the losers?

WP

JohnThePom

No

JohnThePom

It's probably not true OR relevant.

Justcol

It is true and what is more NZ than a maori??

Woodlea

From today's Press

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/new...first-to-fifth

Not bad for a third world country

Bo-Jangles

If you think fifth out of seven ain't bad.

JohnThePom

OK let's go down this route if you insist. If I pretend for a minute that New Zealandness is defined by being a Maori and if I can believe that every single Maori is now of mixed race and therefore not "pure" Maori, then yes you have a point, 100% NZ is a lie.

I don't agree, but it's not something I'm going to lose sleep over.

New Zealand as an 'idea' or as a 'concept' is whatever you or the marketers decide you want it to be. There is no standard definition of a country. Following that logic, 100% NZ is whatever you or the marketers want it to be as well. It's not a lie, just because your preconceptions don't meet my preconceptions.

My point is that the marketing campaign is meaningless as all they are saying is that NZ = NZ Q.E.D. They never say what NZ actually is.

They post up a few scenic photographs, but it's the viewers that say "oh look that's pretty", and then jump to the conclusion that it's all pretty.

We (I) have kind of drifted off the point now. I'll take the Maori-ness issue to the Sheep Dip.

squarepants

I can understand what you're saying, we've been here a similar amount of time and with regards to the tax - it certainly feels that way. It's a much tougher place to live with a family - and anyone who works seems to be exploited blatantly.

In UK I was lucky enough to finally be a full time mum and it feels as though we've regressed as a family. The children come home to an empty house because I'm still at work.

We're only managing because of my salary and the fact that the children are legally old enough not to need child care. They spent this holiday kicking around the house because I job share and was working full time. That's absolutely not what we came here for.

I thought we'd manage without the luxuries, but I've never considered fresh, good food a luxury. A cucumber here is $5, but you can feed a family of 4 cheap takeaway crap for $10. Haloumi and feta was $12 a small slab last time I picked them up, and aubergine is $5. So if you want to make a nice family moussaka and salad, it's a fortune - but if you want to stuff your face with chips and cheap catfish imported from Korea which tastes so foul not even the cats will eat it - it's $2.50 a head.

I know my husband is finding it difficult, he's happy enough with his job - but he was a good provider in UK and when we lived in Europe - and the more the family copes without the things we're used to - I think the harder it hits him. He treated me to a lovely pair of riding boots before we came over, because my old ones wouldn't have passed the maff thing - even if we could afford for me to ride here - I couldn't bring myself to put them on, knowing what they cost makes me feel sick and tearful.

We made some poor choices initially though and we're paying for them now. We could have gone to Australia and come here later on. But, we love it here so we decided to bite the bullet, he took an entry level job to get PR and over we came.

We're finding it difficult because it's the cost of basics such as fuel, food, rent etc that are high.

We're getting round it though by buying good quality home kill in bulk and growing our own veggies. I never thought I'd view Lidl as a luxury supermarket though!

I'm hoping that once the summer arrives and we can take full advantage of the good stuff - all of this will be put into perspective.

Wilester

Sorry to hear its hard work for you i hope things get easier

If you dont mind i think it would be useful to others if you could tell us some figures ie whats your monthly income price you pay for accomodation etc etc.

This would be very helpful to those like myself

squarepants

It will get easier and sorry to have moaned, we've lived overseas several times before and the first year is always the most difficult financially. We haven't hit the break even point yet - but we'll get there.

We're only managing because we set a side a large sum of emergency money - we're dipping into it fairly regularly and OH is probably going to take a job off shore next year to replace it.

I'm finding it so hard because I left my horse behind as well and right now for me, what I've got isn't worth what I've lost. I've also gone from being out for hours every day mucking out, stable chores, grooming and riding - to sitting in an office behind a computer and getting home in the dark.

The same can't be said for the children though, they're absolutely thriving and that's what being a parent is all about so as long as they're happy it's tolerable.

OK, our costs:

Our combined weekly income after tax is; 1100ish - sometimes I earn more.
Weekly rent is: 390 - it's a 90s brick and tile with no heating but in a safe area. It's low rent for the type of house, but it's tired and shabby so fell within our budget - and we like the area.
Electric: 170 a month
Phone and cheapest Broadband: 100 -140 a month
Bottled gas for heaters: 35-50 a week
life insurance: 110 a month
Petrol 100 a week 2 cars - but my car is the size of a roller skate.
School lunches 125 a month for each child
It's a minimum of $50 whenever anyone gets sick because the doctor fee is$35 and a bottle of cough medicine is $22.
The whole family caught bronchitis a while ago and in the month it took to work it's way through the family it must have cost us more than $1000. Husband doesn't get sick pay, so we lost a weeks wage.

It's the job attached to the PR which caused OH to go in at entry level and he gave his word he'd work for the company for 18 months because the job was kept open for him after the recession began, and he's a man of his word, so although he could move on now - he'll stay put until he's fulfilled his obligation.

We've allowed the children a single activity after school which we'll fund. One has chosen a free thing, the other chose riding and we've decided that they can both go to Karate as well. We're managing that, but we don't go out as a couple and we haven't eaten in a restaurant since Heathrow

I did join a gym today though which is going to be 19.00 a week, but I really need it for my sanity

I'm looking forward to the summer, the heating costs will drop - we don't use the drier so the electric bills are also less and we're minutes walk from a glorious beach and can hear it at night when we're in bed and the windows are open