Since I've been reading this forum I've seen loads of pros and more cons than I expected.
I'm a kiwi who has lived in the UK for most of my working life. Have started 3 business and lost 1 in the recession due to people not paying me. All of the negatives I read can easily be applied to the UK and there seems to be a lot of "the grass is always greener" going on. Where we live in the UK there are a lot of migrants and I and my british friends are always saying "why can't they just adapt to the UK life" the when in rome thing eh.
I'm planning to move my family out of the UK for the sake of my kids.
I thought if I start listing the pros and cons as I see them it may help others without having to search too hard on the forum

so here goes
Cons-

• food is expensive especially out of season and especially when earning NZ dollars.
• Drink Driving. I'm not putting binge drinking because this is also a UK problem but drink driving is a problem in NZ.
• Shops are not on a par with the UK (maybe AKL is an exception.) NZ has not got the buying power of the UK
• Social life is different. NZ doesn't have a pub culture. If you are after going out on Fridays and Saturdays and want to go out to bars with friends NZ may not be for you.
• Crime. NZ per head of population has a pretty high crime rate so don't be fooled that leaving the UK will get you away from crime.
• Government. OK lets be serious. MPs are dodgy where ever you go. Just look at the expenses thing in the UK.
• Exchange rate. No mater what why you look at it, the NZ$ is 25% overvalued. Hopefully this will change when the £ gets back to strength again.

Pros

• The outdoors. You can never be too far away from the bush, a river or a beach in NZ.
• The climate. Yes there is rain but in the summer (except the last one) you normally have a hot summer to look forward to
• Sports. Kids are much more encouraged to play sports in NZ. If you're into winter sports there is a lot of skiing/boarding within driving distance.
• Size of sections. If you came from an average size house in the UK, NZ sections are bigger allowing things like vege patches.

Please add

Con
Medical and dental is more expensive in NZ than the UK

You might want to stay away from some. NZ has some of the most polluted rivers in the world.
They look nice but are full of nastiness from farm effluents

Yeah some rivers and lakes are a real worry and very sad. Before I left NZ in 1996 I was a raft guide in NZ so it's sad to see how they have become so polluted with algae. Hope they clean up.
It doesn't stop me swimming and drinking the water in Lake Taupo or the Rangitikei river every time I come come.

I'm really keen for people to add to this thread as it seems NZ has changed a lot in the 18 years since I left. It's also interesting to get the view of new migrants. Makes me respect what my ancestors went through when they travelled to NZ in the 1830's and 1840's. That sense of "did I do the correct thing" (although they had 10000acres of bush to clear with some horses and axes.

I don't know where you're heading but you maybe forgot about 'subdivisions' where house are built to capacity upto the edge of the regulation boundary and within spitting distance of your neighbour and very little garden. Most new builds are bunged up in this fashion also, bigger house seems to be more desirable than a bigger garden.

Not everyone likes a big garden, I detest gardening and like having neighbours I can chat to over the fence.

ah I see. You were watching Corrie and thought "I want a peice of that, I know, I'll move to NZ" :-)

Isn't there a limit of building:land ratio? I was under the impression the house could only cover 1/3 the section.

That might be a local regulation but up in the North Shore you can build up to a certain distance (varies with height of the building), some houses account for >75% of the section size....

I've seen some recent sub-divs (Hobsonville Point for example) where you walls of one house couldn't have been more than 3 metres from the next. Gardens were "compact" shall we say? I would say in that example however that the neighbourhood seemed to be being given some well-considered attention though - ie it would be a nice area to live, even if your house/section was compromised

Where the population density is high, maybe, but then in the higher population density areas in the UK you often don't get a garden at all and you share house walls with neighbours. Outside of NZ city centers gardens and plot sizes tend to be bigger than in the towns of Britain. Two of my sisters in Britain live in a happening, desirable city and even though both their husbands work in IT and one sister is a lawyer and the other an accountant, you could still fit both their gardens in the back bit of mine. But then they live within a spit of museums, galleries, music venues, pubs, etc, etc, and neither of them really give a shit about making marmalade. Even in Auckland they could both afford somewhere with a much larger house and garden but they both think NZ is like one big farm with Auckland as the farm house, so they're not coming

Cute I am a right miserable grump and prefer my neighbours neither seen nor heard

One thing that I do find annoying, is listening to my neighbours splashing in their lovely heated pool. lol

In that case we're all glad, more for us

I'm not

Same goes for the UK, nowhere is more than 70 miles from the sea and there are some excellent blue flag beaches too. A scheme that New Zealand could implement but somehow never got around to it.

Not that distance matters that much, access is more important and the UK is blessed with its historic rights of way, common land, bridle-paths and freedom to roam legislation. Try taking your dog for a walk in New Zealand and you may be surprised at how restricted that countryside is.