Cal B

Hi Gill,
Thanks for your info on NZ.Very much appreciate it.Not put an expression of interest in yet but still considering it.
Wondered what it was like for children as we have 2 ( 5 and 8 ).Is there lots for them to do?Also wondered what the schools were like in comparison to the UK?
And also wondered about the job situation.I'm a health professional so I'm hoping that will stand me in good stead.Husband has worked in Sales for many years-don't know how easy/hard it will be for him to find something along the same lines.
Don't worry if can't answer all my questions but would appreciate anything you could tell me.
Thanks,
Cal
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deedee

Don, i'd say that a pretty much well balanced view of NZ.I'd agree with all your comments,and we're extremly glad to be here.As for comments lik all the Kiwi's having moved to Aus.....gawd' once again this forum shows its has its fair complement of dickheads.

Don

Spot on as usual Deedee.

PS We just picked up a Volvo ?40 in a redundancy deal (had it from new and always properly serviced): do you reckon these Volvo cars are good for (say) 300K kms? (Already got nearly 200K.)

Cal B

Hi Foofer,
Sorry for the delay in replying.Have not started the process of applying yet.Still researching and undecided between NZ and Aus.Thanks for telling us about the NZ Expo.That sounds like a useful venue for finding out loads more about NZ.
Cheers!
Cal
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Cal B

Hi Sandra,
Thanks for your post.Can I just ask why you would not have liked to work and live in Auckland with a family?
Cal
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Keelie

Cal B. You wanted to know the good, and the no-so-good about N.Z.

The following is my sad experience with a N.Z.doctor, and you'll understand why we chose to return to Canada.
When my first child was born in a small-town hospital outside of Auckland
I became quite ill..I was not healing, and developed a raging fever from infection.
To make a long story short, the doctor and his assistants omitted to remove certain surgical aids from my body, after the birth of my child.

Thanks to the diligence of a little British nurse, the error was discovered, and I recovered from the ordeal.
Not once did I receive an apology from the doctor in question.

Now, I know that I was just 'unlucky'...and that the chances of this happening to someone reading this is very slim.
However, for my family it was enough reason not to ever have to give birth in a N.Z. hospital again.
We left the country shortly afterward. Our story might have been quite different had this event not transpired...however we've never regretted returning to Canada.

Well, you wanted to know..this is the first time this story has appeared in print!

deedee

there is no logic to base a country of a billion things and possibilities just on one single possible event.I will never live in the UK again because i was run over by a car.!A sad incident indeed, but a very misguided generalisation,more to do with your feelings than facts,and then still based on one thing.Bizzare.

Hey Don, you'll have no worries with a V40 Volvo....or any Volvo really.They're even platform sharing with Subaru now,but you have to admit they're a little erm,boxy

Pollster

God, you could insert UK, US, Aussie - any country really - for NZ in a situation like this - a 'surgeon left something behind' story crops up in papers around the world at least every six months. It is a damn shame that you have based your decision on where to live on an experience like this (bad although it was).

And NZtoUK - how is NZ NOT modern? I think you need to spend time in some really out of the way places like a jungle village in Borneo, or the Pantaneal in Brazil efore you say that NZ isn't modern. It may not be huge sprawling (modern) metropolis but it isn't behind the times either - it is just small and that is why so many people like it.

Cal B - re kids - every kid I have met here has been respectful, polite, happy, lively and enthusiastic about life - and most of them don't have the latest X-box or whatever - they ask for a new surfboard or bike instead. The Kiwi kids have impressed me no end (and I find kids a general annoyance on the whole).

deedee

when you think that out of 6 billion people on earth less than one twelth of them have access to a computer,people still have the opinion NZ is not modern.Unfounded nonsense.I can buy pretty much everything here, if its not on a shelf somewhere the courier van delivers it to my door from,Japan, Russia, Spain, South America ......

Maybe there's some new definition of modern that is only understood in the UK or Aus

Don

2003
Computers per 100 population
UK 36.6
Aus 51.7
NZ 58.6

Internet hosts per 1000 pop.
UK 43.4
Aus 132.8
NZ 112.9

JoB

Don where do you find all these mmmmmmmm interesting facts??

Jo

Don

My free copy of The Economist Pocket World in Figures.

Gill and Rob

Hi Cal B
NZ is a great place to bring up kids. They are well taught at school {NO I don't want to start any controversy about standards of education}, in an old fashioned polite manner. They are taught respect for others, far more than back in the UK. Our kids have become more physically active than ever they were in the UK.

What sort of work would you be looking for?

Gill

Cal B

Hi Gill.
I would be looking for a job in Occupational Therapy.
Can I ask you whereabouts you are in NZ,what places in NZ do you think are the nicest areas to bring up children and did you visit NZ before applying for your visas? Did your visas come through quickly or did you have to wait a while?
Thanks again for answering my constant questions,

Cal
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Cal B

Thanks Pollster.That's just what I was hoping to hear.I have read some threads that have said that the standard of education is not nearly as good in NZ compared to the UK but my feeling is that as long as my kids are happy,having fun and very importantly ,
are respectful towards others,that's all I ask.I also feel that if your kids are bright,then they will thrive in any envirionment.

Cheers,
Cal
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