waikatoguy

Oh, lucky you. Snapper or trout?

waikatoguy

Personally, I don't think that should necessarily be the case (unless you already know what your NZ salary will be). It depends (obviously) on the salary you left behind and the salary offer you have for NZ. The average salary in the 2 countries are virtually identical, once the exchange rates are factored in.

waikatoguy

Perhaps, some might even enjoy it.

Woodlea

I love it, but there's not much to do! In the picture is Mount Torlesse - an hour's drive from home

scottishstacey

looks great! we're far away from the slopes here, at least 3 hours roughly i think. Id love to have a shot but im very accident prone so maybe not such a good idea! better to start on the small stuff first probably lol

barnsleymat

It doesn't matter how you look at it, whether using a foreign exchange rate or comparing against average wages, a trip to the pub costs the frigging earth. You get tiny measures at extortionate prices.

I used to love going to the pub, it's what working class Northerners do but as much as I like NZ it really gets to me that after a week grafting going to the pub is financial suicide. For those of you that's been here many years has it always been this way?

A small beer (between half and a pint) is the same price at the local pub as 3x fish n chips from the local chippy. I don't need Carol Vorderman to tell me something is wrong.

So back to the original question, is NZ really that bad?

NO. It's not if you like fish and chips.
YES. If you like going to the pub.

waikatoguy

Yep. Sure has.
When Rob Muldoon was in power in the 70's he made a complete mess of the economy. One of his standard remedies was to increase taxes on booze and smokes. And so it remains.

Tray

There are so many reasons I would rather be living in NZ than anywhere else, and here is one right now[ATTACH]108462[

Tomsk

We all have different experiences, attitudes, opinions & all the family, work (income), friendships & the whole other multitude of environmental factors that influence our opinions. There is no single right or wrong response to the whole NZ can't be all that bad question. For some people it quite clearly is, & there are a number of migrants who are unhappy here. Full stop. And that is regardless of how much research you do before hand. It's pretty much impossible to predict how you & yours will settle, leaving friends, family & all that's familiar on the other side of the world. NZ is different, it's not a cleaner, greener Britain in the 50's or any other of the odd impressions people seem to acquire. It's NZ. Culture, attitudes, lifestyles are different & that can take some getting used to. Some individuals will never truly adapt to them & never feel at home here. Some will settle in like a local in no time. Most will struggle with some elements. I think that that's the issue, not that NZ is a bad place, although like every other country in the world there are bad politicians, idiot citizens, strange laws whatever that we can all criticise.
It's also very expensive to get here. It's nearly as expensive to return, working on the assumption that most returnees won't have to shell out for visas to go back, but there are still huge relocation & resettlement costs. So it's very easy for a dream to turn rapidly sour if you start feeling unhappy, then trapped & no savings left after investing it all in the big one way trip. Tough stuff to cope with.
But, for me, NZ is great. 4 years in, it's been a happy move for us. I don't contribute as much to the forum as some as I find the negative posts depressing, but there can be a real need to vent with others who understand your situation if you're annoyed, frustrated, unhappy etc. I get that & BE is great for that. But I suspect that others, like me, who are happy here just get on with it, getting out & enjoying the great things that NZ has to offer.
So no answers, I have difficulties deciding what I want to do, so I'm never going to tell anyone else what to do, certainly not on such a big move as a possible emigration. But life in NZ is not all bad & not a negative experience for everyone.

Robbie2010

"Using a higher octane gasoline than your owner's manual recommends offers absolutely no benefit. It won't make your car perform better, go faster, get better mileage or run cleaner."

http://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct...Y4iSHkc3uoSrFg

"Using high-octane gas in a car designed for regular accomplishes little except more rapid combustion of your money. Some refuse to believe this, claiming, for example, that premium gives the family Toyota better mileage or more power. These people are in dreamland."

http://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct...fwqNLbq0O3MobA

Woodlea

Good post and exactly my sentiments - well said

Expat Kiwi

Yeah that got to me too, everything costs so much and there's only so many times you can walk to the beach or around the local shopping mall for free. Petrol here this morning cost me $1.36 for 91* and my car does 7.5lt/100km this afternoon I'm off to the Natural Bridge National Park and Springbrook for the weekend to enjoy the glorious weather.

A tank of petrol will cost me around 60 dollars and it will be money well spent. In New Zealand I'd have thought twice about doing something similar because of the cost.

Bo-Jangles

Whatever gets you through the day, eh! The fact that there are are 30 million sheep in NZ, very few of them in Auckland I might add, snow capped mountains 3 hours drive away, or fish in the lakes and sea has absolutely no bearing on my day to day life. They're not in my office, they're not in Pak n Save, they're not helping me get the dinner ready or the ironing done.

barnsleymat

There's stuff in the web proving both sides right, I didn't think it was right until we started using 95 instead of the cigarette lighter fluid 91.

Robbie2010

What octane fuel does your car manufacturer recommend for your Mazda?