kiwi_child

Try living in Perth... in comparison to 'watching grass grow', it's like watching new cars rust

kiwi_child

I think part of the problem lies in our expectations vs the reality of the difference and the inevitable comparisons we make. I found NZ to be lively on a different level because I easily made friends, found work, and became a part of a social circle. In OZ it has been completely the opposite for me.

No matter where we live, we can only do and see the 'highlights' so often. No city in NZ can be a replica of somewhere else, nor should it aim to be. If you migrate somewhere and try to make a new life, it takes time. If you're not in a place where life engages you after a couple or so years there, then maybe it is time to ask why? and if you can't change things perhaps it's time to move on? I know for me personally, I am long overdue to leave the place I live in.Planning a move is now a very high priority for me.

RedMonsk

Where to? Any ideas?

kiwi_child

For me? For you? For the OP?

teambwr47

NZ has to keep us from boredom..

My motorcylce racing

Golf

Sailing

Skiing

Swimming

Clubs and new friends in all of the above


Life is what you make of it..............

Lexylou

comparing a city (chch) to rural Aberdeen is not really the same thing is it? Comparing Aberdeen to Chch might be more realistic....

ezvanetree

I lived in NZ pre internet. but of course no place had the internet so we didn't think of it. But I will agree with mingusdynasty. NZ bored me to tears. I lived there a loooong time and was almost suicidal for the last few years. The second I left I realised how bored and frustrated I was--at the time, I thought it was just me, but once I was out of there, I realised it was the country. I found, amoung many many things, that the interesting people are the ones who leave and set up their lives elsewhere. Everyone I met who I wanted to get to know better was on their way out. The hackneyed phrase "life is what you make it" only goes so far; eventually one does have to recognise that the place just doesn't suit and move on.

kiwi_child

Exactly how I feel about Perth, and to some degree, about OZ in general.

Avid

Judging by many posts on this website, Perth seems to be one of the worst places to live in. Too isolated? Too 'Australian'? People often complained about Japan and I would say "However bad things are, at least it's not Korea"

Should "At least it's not Australia" be my new catchphrase in NZ?

happynz

I worked in Korea back in the early 90s. I remember seeing the visa-runners from Japan landing in Seoul with full wallets and empty suitcases. They left with full suitcases and still bulging wallets. They were a marvel to behold to us unqualified illegally employed English teachers toiling away in dodgy English language academies.

Leighlou

Sorry, going to show my ignorance here again, but what is a visa runner?

happynz

Sometimes people need to exit the country to secure a new visa. In this case, Korea is the closest country to Japan. When I lived in Thailand I was on the once-a-month run. Stamp out of Thailand, stamp into Malaysia, walk across the road, stamp out of Malaysia, walk across the border and stamp back into Thailand. Did that for almost three years. Yup, I did have a lot of extra pages glued into my passport.

mingusdynasty

Im different to a lot of the people on here. I came on a working holiday visa with very little to lose from the experience.

While I had no intention of ever going back to the UK at that time, after the first month in NZ, I was thinking of leaving, to go somewhere else - probably back to South Africa. I know a couple of characters who have done that.

It just didn't have what I was expecting. Bear in mind that I didn't have access to this kind of forum. The only advice I had about NZ was from a mate who had briefly set foot in Wellington with the Navy.

NZ was pretty much of the radar with everyone I knew.

I had my trusty lonely planet guide as the only source of info and it sounded great. I'll have a piece of sub tropical Auckland I thought.

I know this sounds, well, dumb, but one of the reasons I came over was because I had read in Bike Magazine UK, that NZ had some of the best biking roads in the world. And it has. Granted.

But as I travelled around the North and south Island I quickly realised that NZ was not for me.

I know this sounds bloody minded but one reason why I didn't go back to England was because of all the knockers I had. Stuff like "You'll never get a job" blah blah blah.

Well I showed them! I stayed for the next 7.5 years. Did the boy meets girl thing, bought a house, got a job, and tried so fricking hard to settle here, but it is just not meant to be. I could stay here another 100 years and I know I would feel the same as when I first stepped of the plane in Auckland.

The Weezer

Good for kids if they are sports mad. You don't need to isolate children in a remote island for them to experience the Great Outdoors. Books, used and new are expensive. Librarians are fickle. Even mountain climbers spend their prime years taking OE! The highest mountain in NZ is only a little over 12,000 ft.

Coffee shops are a place to deconstruct the latest rugby game.

NZ is best for NZers, and those with an affinity for Kiwi culture.

Apple13

I am sorry, I can't resist it - how big is the highest mountain in the UK again?