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Quantify please "The different way of life"

Quantify please "The different way of life"

Old Dec 18th 2005, 5:43 pm
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Default Quantify please "The different way of life"

I have read a few books on NZ such as 'A land of 2 Halves' and 'Living and Working in NZ', as well as reading loads of posts on here by way of research in to moving to NZ.

A lot of friends at home here, and a lot of the posts refer to " a different way of life" in NZ. I have gathered that Kiwi's generally aren't materialistic, apart from AKL the place isn't crowded, people tend to have old fashioned values and that the cost of living seems to be higher, according to a lot of the posts.

But what is it that makes a heck of a lot of people move to the other side of the world, and what is it that makes me want to move there. Can somebody sum it up for me?

Looking forward to some POSITIVE reasons for moving there, not negative reasons for not going!!!

Thanks, Gary
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Old Dec 18th 2005, 6:21 pm
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Default Re: Quantify please "The different way of life"

Originally Posted by GINGERSEAMONSTER
I have read a few books on NZ such as 'A land of 2 Halves' and 'Living and Working in NZ', as well as reading loads of posts on here by way of research in to moving to NZ.

A lot of friends at home here, and a lot of the posts refer to " a different way of life" in NZ. I have gathered that Kiwi's generally aren't materialistic, apart from AKL the place isn't crowded, people tend to have old fashioned values and that the cost of living seems to be higher, according to a lot of the posts.

But what is it that makes a heck of a lot of people move to the other side of the world, and what is it that makes me want to move there. Can somebody sum it up for me?

Looking forward to some POSITIVE reasons for moving there, not negative reasons for not going!!!

Thanks, Gary
Gary, how about this for standard of living:
  • I don't wake up in the morning wondering if the car has been keyed yet again during the night
  • My kids go off to school having had a good night's sleep, no sirens, no drunks, no mad traffic sounds
  • They walk to school safely
  • They actually enjoy being at school, because they're not having league tables and the three Rs rammed down their throats, the emphasis will be on them as individuals, not them as statistics
  • My husband will go to work without the stress of huge traffic jams and having to spend an hour trying to find a parking space
  • I can go out to the local shops and strangers will let on to me in the street, and I don't worry about meeting people's eyes
  • The town I live in has a great library, a cheap sports centre, tons of park spaces and some really good eating out places
  • I can grow veg, knowing I don't have to worry about some yobs trashing it or the weather not being good enough to get a return
  • The fruit and veg I don't grow can be bought locally and cheaply, and is really good quality
  • For tea tonight we'll be having fish one of our neighbours caught
  • If I get the bus to the city I know I will sit on a clean seat, with no graffiti and no doped up waster making me feel intimidated
  • When I get to the city I won't have to step over homeless people, be harassed for money for a cup of tea, or have little kids beg me for food in a language I don't understand whilst their mothers stand on the other side of the road for the next taxi home
  • At night I can SEE the stars! Last night we sat on our deck for hours trying to get a picture of the sky at night but our camera wasn't up to it
I could give you many more examples of why I enjoy life here and why I think our standard of living is way more than we could have ever expected in the UK. For us, there is nothing here that we can't adapt to or live with.
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Old Dec 18th 2005, 6:50 pm
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Default Re: Quantify please "The different way of life"

Originally Posted by bookemjano
Gary, how about this for standard of living:[list][*]The town I live in has a great library, a cheap sports centre, tons of park spaces and some really good eating out places.

What town? Please tell me more...

Steve
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Old Dec 18th 2005, 7:04 pm
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Default Re: Quantify please "The different way of life"

Originally Posted by Stephen Jones
What town? Please tell me more...

Steve
Rangiora - www.rangiora.net
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Old Dec 18th 2005, 7:19 pm
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Default Re: Quantify please "The different way of life"

Originally Posted by Stephen Jones
What town? Please tell me more...

Steve
Could be Waikanae too!

We love it here.
Cost of living is comparable to UK (based on % my earnings) but standard is much higher for us. The general stress that seemed to invade our UK lives has dissapeared. The kids are happy and thriving - the dog's happy (swims in the river everyday and starting to grow fins) - and we're happy. I sometimes get caught up in traffic - but that's rare. We BBQ ever night at the moment washed down with a couple of cold ones. My greatest worry is whether to go to the beach or the river for a walk!

Life is good.
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Old Dec 18th 2005, 11:52 pm
  #6  
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Default Re: Quantify please "The different way of life"

Originally Posted by GINGERSEAMONSTER
Looking forward to some POSITIVE reasons for moving there, not negative reasons for not going!!!
shouldnt it be "better" way of life then?
 
Old Dec 19th 2005, 5:39 am
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Default Re: Quantify please "The different way of life"

Originally Posted by bookemjano
Gary, how about this for standard of living:
  • I don't wake up in the morning wondering if the car has been keyed yet again during the night
  • My kids go off to school having had a good night's sleep, no sirens, no drunks, no mad traffic sounds
  • They walk to school safely
  • They actually enjoy being at school, because they're not having league tables and the three Rs rammed down their throats, the emphasis will be on them as individuals, not them as statistics
  • My husband will go to work without the stress of huge traffic jams and having to spend an hour trying to find a parking space
  • I can go out to the local shops and strangers will let on to me in the street, and I don't worry about meeting people's eyes
  • The town I live in has a great library, a cheap sports centre, tons of park spaces and some really good eating out places
  • I can grow veg, knowing I don't have to worry about some yobs trashing it or the weather not being good enough to get a return
  • The fruit and veg I don't grow can be bought locally and cheaply, and is really good quality
  • For tea tonight we'll be having fish one of our neighbours caught
  • If I get the bus to the city I know I will sit on a clean seat, with no graffiti and no doped up waster making me feel intimidated
  • When I get to the city I won't have to step over homeless people, be harassed for money for a cup of tea, or have little kids beg me for food in a language I don't understand whilst their mothers stand on the other side of the road for the next taxi home
  • At night I can SEE the stars! Last night we sat on our deck for hours trying to get a picture of the sky at night but our camera wasn't up to it
I could give you many more examples of why I enjoy life here and why I think our standard of living is way more than we could have ever expected in the UK. For us, there is nothing here that we can't adapt to or live with.
can echo most of the above (although Milton Keynes wasn't quite up to Manchester levels for keying cars / layabouts etc etc!)
it's the major reduction in stress that's most noticeable - people around us are not stressed, and so far we've got nothing to be stressed about, hubby enjoys going to work, the kids enjoy the clean, safe, well maintained parks, the free paddling pools in the parks, the cheap swimming (family of 4 $4), nothing seems too much trouble, its "sweet as"
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Old Dec 19th 2005, 7:17 am
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Default Re: Quantify please "The different way of life"

Originally Posted by Joshlin
can echo most of the above (although Milton Keynes wasn't quite up to Manchester levels for keying cars / layabouts etc etc!)
it's the major reduction in stress that's most noticeable - people around us are not stressed, and so far we've got nothing to be stressed about, hubby enjoys going to work, the kids enjoy the clean, safe, well maintained parks, the free paddling pools in the parks, the cheap swimming (family of 4 $4), nothing seems too much trouble, its "sweet as"
and "good as gold"!
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Old Dec 19th 2005, 11:10 am
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Default Re: Quantify please "The different way of life"

Many thanks for the replies so far, some of the reasons we are looking in to a move to NZ are:
1. Overcrowding here- it can take me over an hour to get to work 11.5miles away by car, only 35 mins by pedal bike
2. Every spare bit of land over here seems to get a load of new houses thrown up on it, leading to more over crowding of roads, schools etc
3. Loss of standards and increased lawlessness over here

The list could go on and on.
From what i have read in the books and on here NZ seems to have a few problems with crime but these seem to be confined to AKL and perhaps one or two suburbs in th e other larger cities, but nothing compared to the UK.

We are hopefully getting over for a recce in the new year, but i would appreciate any other good reasons for upping sticks and moving to teh other side of the world.

many thanks for the replies so far

Gary
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Old Dec 19th 2005, 1:34 pm
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Default Re: Quantify please "The different way of life"

What an excellent thread. It makes a change from the usual doom and gloom that seems to be contained within this forum.

Perhaps it's just the festive spirit that has everyone in such good fettle
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Old Dec 19th 2005, 7:01 pm
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Default Re: Quantify please "The different way of life"

Originally Posted by GINGERSEAMONSTER
I have read a few books on NZ such as 'A land of 2 Halves' and 'Living and Working in NZ', as well as reading loads of posts on here by way of research in to moving to NZ.

A lot of friends at home here, and a lot of the posts refer to " a different way of life" in NZ. I have gathered that Kiwi's generally aren't materialistic, apart from AKL the place isn't crowded, people tend to have old fashioned values and that the cost of living seems to be higher, according to a lot of the posts.

But what is it that makes a heck of a lot of people move to the other side of the world, and what is it that makes me want to move there. Can somebody sum it up for me?

Looking forward to some POSITIVE reasons for moving there, not negative reasons for not going!!!

Thanks, Gary
Gary,

Ali here,

have you found out anymore details since we last spoke..
i did email you back, i've had to put it on hold due to shattering my wrist at work so emailed the fire service to advise i can't make the final selection....
How GUTTED am i !!!
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Old Dec 19th 2005, 7:50 pm
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Default Re: Quantify please "The different way of life"

Originally Posted by Stu75
What an excellent thread. It makes a change from the usual doom and gloom that seems to be contained within this forum.

Perhaps it's just the festive spirit that has everyone in such good fettle
probably more to do with the fact that the OP indicated they were only interest in positives....
 
Old Dec 19th 2005, 7:53 pm
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Default Re: Quantify please "The different way of life"

Originally Posted by GINGERSEAMONSTER
Many thanks for the replies so far, some of the reasons we are looking in to a move to NZ are:
1. Overcrowding here- it can take me over an hour to get to work 11.5miles away by car, only 35 mins by pedal bike
2. Every spare bit of land over here seems to get a load of new houses thrown up on it, leading to more over crowding of roads, schools etc
3. Loss of standards and increased lawlessness over here

The list could go on and on.
From what i have read in the books and on here NZ seems to have a few problems with crime but these seem to be confined to AKL and perhaps one or two suburbs in th e other larger cities, but nothing compared to the UK.

We are hopefully getting over for a recce in the new year, but i would appreciate any other good reasons for upping sticks and moving to teh other side of the world.

many thanks for the replies so far

Gary
I know im not allowed to say this because you have censored this thread to positives only but i will say it anway - if you are coming to NZ to escape the 3 things you listed you may find yourself bitterly disappointed. Dont take that as a dig, it is a piece of free advice. Feel free to ignore it if you want but you might come to regret it.
 
Old Dec 20th 2005, 5:26 am
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Smile Re: Quantify please "The different way of life"

Originally Posted by turkeytickler
I know im not allowed to say this because you have censored this thread to positives only but i will say it anway - if you are coming to NZ to escape the 3 things you listed you may find yourself bitterly disappointed. Dont take that as a dig, it is a piece of free advice. Feel free to ignore it if you want but you might come to regret it.

Wahay! The voice of sense suddenly spoke up! I was going to say the same but restrained myself.

Cheers

Buzzy
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Old Dec 20th 2005, 6:34 am
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Default Re: Quantify please "The different way of life"

Originally Posted by turkeytickler
I know im not allowed to say this because you have censored this thread to positives only but i will say it anway - if you are coming to NZ to escape the 3 things you listed you may find yourself disappointed. Dont take that as a dig, it is a piece of free advice. Feel free to ignore it if you want but you might come to regret it.
Agreed. I am only able to do realistic. Just cannot do the ' positive and the negative ' thung. Both words are loaded within fourm life . Both words stifle true expression in response to a post/ thread.

We have just had a meeting re. Youth control and glue sniffing problems. Just had a paint session to cover up local grafitti. We are not in a sizeable city.

Every spare bit of land over here seems to get a load of new houses thrown up on it, and the infrastructure simply cannot take it. Sections are becoming smaller and smaller.

According to locals we meet with there is a loss of standards and increased lawlessness over here.

We can see the stars at night and use the same telescope I was given as an 8 yr old.

We grow our own veg , just as we did in the UK. That way I know its not sprayed relentlessly as it can be both in NZ and in the UK . It grows well, as it did in the UK

I leave the back door unlocked as i did in my UK home town. I have and had good neighbours on both sides of the world.

Work travel times are greatly reduced and on less crowded Roads.
Driving standards are more dangerous here than in the UK.
Pay for the work you drive to is greatly reduced against standard of living.

It's simply different. It's not the jolly garden of eden many want to portray. Happy,happy, and puke time happy.
It's not the pits either. Moan ,moan and more moan.

Come to the other side of the world to try something different for you, your partner and your family. Keep an open mind and be brutally honest with yourself about your expectations before you come . Then be brutally honest with yourself and your expectations once you have arrived and lived here for at least a year.

You move because you want something other than you already have. The other side of the world is not necessarily the answer.
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