dannigirl

I agree. People that I know and family members who have gone to Australia have usually (not all) been unskilled - working in mines etc, or working in trades in Aus.

I also agree that people have always gone to Aus, I remember childhood friends moving to Aus, it's nothing revolutionary or new. I am not denying brain drain (I am a skilled worker/economic migrant in UK from NZ, but hope to bring my skills back to NZ) but I agree we have many, many skilled workers coming to NZ which I think can only be good for NZ

I think the shine is wearing off Oz, it is not as easy as it once used to be. There are certain areas booming of course, Sydney house prices are pretty notorious, despite the increase in wages...most people are on an average wage not some supersonic wage that will afford them a lovely harbourside property in Sydney! Increase in standard of living does not always equal quality of life - I would love a bit more disposable income, but isn't that human nature, I haven't met many people (even in rich countries) who wouldn't like more money (apart from a couple I know who rake in £15,000 net per month who quite rightly state they have enough!!)

Browner_

No space then in Wellington.
Couldnt argue with that.

Browner_

Sleepyone thinks there is plenty of space.
I guess they are not in Wellington then. Or Auckland.

They could be in Christchurch, cos before long there wont be anyone left there, so there will be loads of space.

So they must be in the styx.
And life in the styx in NZ aint for everyone I can assure you.

Genesis

There is loads of space, one of NZ's saving graces. Okay if you live in Auckland or Wellington its a bit crowded, but once you leave its empty. I live in a town with a population of 75k. There's loads to do but once you leave the city limits its like spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace. Low density population is whay many people like about NZ..what is that I hear as a repost? 'Well there's stuff all else'

There is waaaaaaaaaaaay more to do here than there ever was in Northampton and we have space, mountains and empty beaches up to our eye balls, which is nice.

BEVS

A-hem Dannigirl. My trade husband studied for 5 years, passing exams & practical assessments before being deemed a master plumber & gasfitter. That's not just practical trade work. That's also rules , regs, law & planning . H&S. Math & physics among other bits and bobs
The trade requires annual re-testing & upskilling. I'd say that's pretty much 'skilled'.

bourbon-biscuit

I think this is punctuation confusion; I suspect dannigirl means unskilled (like working in mines) OR trades, not that a trade is unskilled.

Browner_

Yeah but half of the population DO live in Auckland or Wellington!
Cost thats where the jobs are.
Wellington is NOT easy to escape, there is not much to the north at all apart from hills. And a long beach if thats your thing.

Palmy certainly has access to the outdoors, Ill say that for it

Charlie Paynter

You kidding?

I live close to Northampton (well, between Northampton and Leicester), and before I returned from NZ (10 years ago), had never stepped foot in the east Midlands. I remain amazed how much there is going on around in this neck of the woods and how assessible other other areas of the UK are within a 2 hour drive.

Like, for example, castles (Rockingham, Warwick, etc), places of historic interest like Stratford-upon-avon (Shakespeare country) and battlesites (ie Naseby and Market Bosworth), shopping in Northampton or MK whilst London (< an hour by train) and Brum (45 mins by car) are close by. There is Santa Pod and racing circuits like Rockingham speedway and Silverstone (Northampton itself is the home of F1 engineering), museums like Duxford (< than 1 hour away), water sports at Pitsford water, entertainment in the Royal & Derngate theatre (seen Hot Chocolate, Hayley Westenra and Jethro there), and some great restaurants (went to a Greek Cypriot restaurant on Friday).

Then there is the fantastic countryside for walks whilst the Derbyshire Dales, Matlock Bath and Sherwood Forest is only an hours drive. And I am also surprised at the lack of traffic in Northamptonshire and Leicestershire, well at least compared to down south.

Genesis

Nope, I'm not kidding. How far are you from the beach? I am half an hour. In 10 mins I am tramping in the ranges if the mood takes me. Have you got an open air olympic size lido in Northampton? Have you got jet boating round the corner? Skiing 2.5 hours door to slope?

I did about 4 years in central Northampton and it was all run down. Wall to wall gobby, violent, drunken kids. Central Northampton is a well dangerous place after night..and I was a copper!! Palmerston North is far from perfect but it is way better than what we left in NN1. Having a detached house with a pool, a forest for a back yard and mountain views was not summat that was readily available in Northampton either. But lets not argue the toss..you are content and so am I.

Charlie Paynter

Genesis,

If income / money was not an issue, I'll still be living in NZ, so you are preaching to the converted (I know Parmy well - one of my best Kiwi mates lives in Fielding).

And although I was kinda playing the 'bottles half full' regarding Northampton, I must admit Market Harborough, which is where I live, is polar opposite to NN1, and yes I am fortunate to be reasonably content with life in the UK - but not for ever!

Bo-Jangles

My family mostly live around that region and I tend to agree with you. People see things in terms of black and white, think Peterborough ugh, ugly big nasty city but there's dozens of lovely places around the region I could happily live in and have a wealth of work, leisure and travel opportunities on the doorstep. In NZ we are restricted to the far flung main centres and fitting about between them on a regular basis isn't really an option.

So what if I have a beach 20 minutes away? It's still the same chuffing beach week after week. I find the circles we move in, has decreased quite rapidly, as we run out of things to do and places to go. We've had five 'holidays' driving and touring the North and quite frankly I couldn't care less if I never saw most of it again. Oh look there goes another cabbage tree/cow/sheep or field *Yawny, yawn yawn* is it bedtime already?

Charlie Paynter

I must admit, when we were living in Auckland, we were beach (and BBQ) bums! Loved it. But on deciding to return, we were determined not to dwell on what we had left behind (or look back through those rose spectacles), and to throw ourselves into all the good things about the UK, which we have done for the last 10 years - and it has worked!

I must also admit, that not once have I / we missed the beach, although if we ever returned to NZ, there would have to be reverse psychology.

simonsi

Ha! Yes well MH and Wellingborough where I worked for a while (when it was statistically teenage mum central -although I had nothing to do with that), do represent a fair spread of socio-economic strata...

and when we lived in Leicester we loved the beach and sea (go figure, family and habit working there). So now we are 5mins walk away and loving it!

I always love generalisations...

Genesis

Blimey..spookey or what?? My oldest chum lives in Mkt H!!! He works in your awesome high end wine shop. Mkt H is a lovely place and indeed polar to to NN1. Had we been able to afford the type and size of house we wanted in MH..plus jubs for us both I doubt we would have left the UK! Ah, memories of the Swan pub..you got a few good curry houses too..and the Cherry Tree!!

Genesis

Whilst much of what is said about the Midlands is true (in that there is stuff to do) I felt that every time I went anywhere it was a bun fight due to increasing numbers using an ineffective (and shrinking by way of the excess numbers using it) infrastructure.

By contrast NZ is empty, when I park at the beach I do just that, and don't drive for eons finding a place to park for 50 quid an hour! Its all about space for me and the quality of our day to day lives.

Whilst Nz is arguably waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more 'boring' than the UK in most respects it is empty. Empty (to a degree) spells the start of a better quality of life for me. Of course if you are still into high end culture, art galleries et al NZ will be a big let down for you (well at least provincial NZ will be). But if you are at an age in your life where child rearing is of the utmost important and your partner has found the job she could never find in the UK and you are not on the bones of your arse NZ will suffice for now.