Re: Is it really the differences?
 

Back on topic

Climate...the differences between the extremes in NZ seem greater than those in the UK, the drier warmer bits are drier and warmer than in the UK, the days are appreciably longer in winter where we live which is great. Rain tends to come in short sharp bursts although these bursts can last for a week (or so).

Education NZ seems to have landed the idea of the 70s, educate the majority well and ignore those who need the most attention, either as a result of being able or because they have special needs. There are very few places for kids in special schools and more integration than in the UK. Don't want to be too controversial but being married to someone who has worked in that sector in both UK and NZ I can see the problems when integration is taken too far.

People - there are lots of people that relate to expats mainly as they are either second generation immigrants or they have lived and worked overseas. However, there are a minority who seem to have a small town mentality and others who are totally resistant to change or to anything that does not originate in NZ. There are other cultural groups and an indigenous people who are not Europeans but who have adopted some things from those cultures. Plus there has been some cross-fertilisation the other way. That is a significant difference from the UK and requires cultural sensitivity as well as experience in order to deal with many people you will encounter.

Driving (road signs and the left turn rule) all piss poor but you get used to it after a while.

Food - the supermarkets have us over a barrel, GST on food makes everything even less affordable and there is far more seasonality in the market. Fresh fruit and veges in season from out of town outlets can be great value. Plus these taste like real food which is great.
Food in restaurants and fast food outlets seems pretty cheap probably as labour costs are low.

Scenery - lots of it. Not seen it all but what I have seen is more diverse than the UK, although you could argue that the UK is only a 2 to 4 hour flight away from most of what there is in NZ, eg Alps, vulcanism, fjords and that's not much further than getting from Whangarei to Milford Sound.

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

Strangely enough I think the chicken tastes 'different' in NZ .....so perhaps "chicken" and "chucken" are in fact different! ?? !!

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

Interesting...

I think of NZers (the ones that have been there more than 2 generations) as like a rather large, inbred family, with family in-jokes and ways of talking that are hard for outsiders to crack. We don't even know we are doing this - honest.

I'm not kidding. Some Canadians here who have met kiwis find that a. they all look similar (which is true, compared to the ethnic diversity here) and I've had people ask me if I'm related to this person or that person because I look so much like them or my mannerisms are the same. I jsut tell them up front we're all related. Cos honestly, if you have a family history back long enough, we probably are.

I didn't realise this until I left.

I feel for anyone trying to break in there. This is not to say kiwis can't be friendly etc. etc but REALLy to break in...yeah, that's diffficult. Funnily enough, in a previous computer course I was talking here in Van I ran into a woman who was married to a kiwi. She was Afro-Canadian and found it very, very, very difficult to break in, and she and her husband finally left Auckland due to what they percieved as the lack of acceptance of their interracial marriage/her ethnicity. (though actually I wonder if they thought she was American, knowing how anti-American my lot can be). She loved a lot of aspects of NZ - like the emphasis on sharing, egalitarianism, etc, b ut in the end the close-mindedness was too much.

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

It does take ages and ages and ages to "break in" - properly - which is why I'm sure there are so many ex-pats who all bunch together instead.

We've 'broken in' to a group of kiwi friends most of whom are not Aucklanders themselves and are away from their immediate families too - this makes for a real sense of camaraderie amongst us all as we all rely on each other. 6 years in and I can easily say that my kiwi friends out-weigh the english ones. However the kiwi friends I have are beer guzzling, night owls who resist the stereo-typical family image and love to party..... I don't think any of them are "typical kiwis' - but I'm not sure what is..

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

Not so sure I would want to break into their little clique groups anyway I'm happy with my friends mostly British

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

Interesting "Like for Like" survey in Sunday's Herald showing that overall NZ comes out as more expensive than Oz, Germany and the UK for a basket of "essential" supermarket items.

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

None of the Kiwis i know are interested in soccer! its all about the AB's

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

Really? I reckon the Oz comparison must be rubbish. I live in Oz and I spend about twice what I did in NZ on a weekly grocery shop and that's without converting, i.e. I used to spend about $150-180NZD and I now spend $250-350AUD.

However, milk is pretty cheap....$3 for a 3 litre.

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

Yep, really. I can't find the article on line.:frown: Ahh. have found paper.

It was based on bottle of Shiraz, 1l milk, 12 medium eggs, 500g butter, 100g smoked salmon slices, 100g Nescafe; Totals;

Oz (Coles) $36.01
NZ (Foodtown) $44.71
UK (Tesco) $37.35
Kaufland (Germany) $33.12

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

Not sure Foodtown is a good comparison with Tesco. Always find it more expensive than New World & Pak N Shove and Tesco was always good value.
Also the Shiraz part of the equation is way too much of a variable.
However, in terms of affordability NZ must be way out ahead of the UK Oz and probably Germany in terms of how much work the average person has to do to afford their weekly shop. What with the tax regimes, salaries, etc, etc

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

When was that in NZ, cause prices here are nothing like they were even 6 or 12 months ago. Everything is way too expensive, particularly dairy and meat.
Everyone is going to slow cookers, cheap cuts and vegetarian stuff, a sure sign that we are all too poor to afford real shopping :thumbdown:

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

Participation wise football (what's soccer?) probably rivals or even exceeds rugby participation for kids, but you only have to see the sports coverage in tv/newspapers where 80+% of it is rugby, to see rugby-centric NZ is.

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

seeing your Avatar seems that you're not too serious either!

Seriously though, I know lots of Kiwis who are obsessed with football and some who hate the attention that the ABs/RWC/ITM/Super rugby gets, mainly League fans and the odd cricket fan who have that attitude (all Kiwis).

May be a skewed sample as I am in one football team, coach another and co-ordinate the coaching weekly sessions for another 5 teams.

At our club we have around 400 kids up to 8, then about the same in 9 to 12 and plenty more older kids, girls and mens/womens. Probably not as many as the local rugby club but close.

Get most of my footie tv fix from Aus, who seem to be moving faster and further than NZ in the right direction. Check out SBS on freeview satellite for Europa, Champions Leagues, European/EPL/South America Highlights, FA Cup, World Cups, etc tec

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

NO wonder NZ is out in front, they used Foodtown, which is much more expensive than say countdown or woolies or pak n save.

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

Yea granted it was a couple of years ago, but my friend and I were comparing prices of some thing syesterday (she shops at pak n save) and I still reckon most Oz food is more expensive.

Dairy products are cheap here (Oz) but that is really about it.

Meat, fruit and veg are ridiculous here too. Bananas at my local supermarket are currently $17 a kilo so we have stopped eating them LOL. A 3 kilo bag of spuds is like $8 - wtf?! And I pay about $6 or $7 for 4 medium sized apples (what the f***!!!!!!).

We went to the supermarket the other day just to get the absolute necessities, milk, bread, a little bt of fruit for lunches, some muesli bars, dog food and loo paper...plus a few other bits and bobs that you generally need often, but not a proper shop and it cost us $150. We bought hardly anything because we are moving in 2 weeks and it still cost us $150...

Also, for 3 of us to get KFC, it costs us more than $40 which REALLY annoys me LMAO (not supermarket I know).

I guess it's all relative though but I find food excessively priced here and often of poor quality (meat, fruit and veg only there really - especially the fruit and veg)

EDIT: However, now that I have been eating Oz food, its possible I would go back to NZ and find the quality there poor because I have adjusted to Oz food. And perhaps I may find the food expensive if I were buying it in NZ dollars.

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

I meant it is the most played sport in NZ...,...and in fact, the world

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

at least you now have the ALDI option in many parts of Aus....

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

indeed - but soon it will all be branded Countdown.
I see what you are saying on the costs of NZ vs Oz
Perhaps the NZ competition (foodstuffs) brings down the prices in NZ over those that Progressives can charge in Oz??
Most of the stuff (dry goods anyway) in Countdown (and lots in the foodstuffs stores) over here is from Oz.
So I am surprised that it costs less here as there is GST on it here unlike unprocessed food in Oz. :confused:
Maybe the market can stand higher costs in Oz, or the wage bill is just so different. :confused:

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

and do people of a certain ethnicity take their M&S bags along to Aldi so that they can carry the groceries home in the right bag? :p

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

...Waitrose bags are even better!

I remember reading in TNT Mag when I first arrived: "Your choice of supermarket is considered important in Britain, as your social standing will be judged on this." :lol:

Times have changed a bit, mind. Thrift/austerity is the new virtue.

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

Yes, one loved the coloured bags that "the man" from waitrose delivered one's shopping in...........but one can't quite seem to get the staff in the colonies :rofl:

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

Choco Cake,

Your comment 'Participation wise football (what's soccer?) probably rivals or even exceeds rugby participation for kids'.

The problem with soccer here in NZ is that the participation rates fall away at the critical age, that is, 13-19 years......if thr coaching co- ordinator for the club I coach at, is to be believed. Chris has been at the club for years & doesn't see any improvement. If it isn't losing talent to rugby, it's to skateboarding, grog, girlfriends, etc.

It must be mostly the strikers who are quitting the game, as I have been very, very impressed with the national U17 & U20 teams at the world cup, particularly at the back & keeping. We just haven't been able to find the net.

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

Depends how much your net earnings are. Our personal grocery bill for the basics has certainly increased in price , however net earnings have not matched that increase. If anything that has dropped.

Actually, as someone that price checked all the supermarkets for several years, I can honestly say they are all much of a much. Their prices are all very similar . PaknSave might come out marginally cheaper but not on all stocked items. It is the marketing that gives people this perception of P&S.

Foodtown is Woolies & Countdown.

Foodstuffs is New World. Fresh Choice, 4 Square and Pak&Save

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

ahh - so you are of the "them and us" mould!!?!

:)

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

Overly simplistic - it is cause and effect.

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

That sounds overly complicated.......:D

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I wish we lived in simpler times. It is so tempting to stick some cotton wool in your ears and 2 pencils up your nose - but like they said - who would notice a mad man around here. :)

Re: Is it really the differences?
 

So as a percentage of weekly take home wages, I used to spend probably about 15-20% in NZ. In Oz I would consistently spend 30-35% of my weekly take home pay on food alone.

Luckily we are a two income family!!

I used to work at Pak n Save many years ago and changed to shopping there as I always found my grocery shop was much cheaper there, often saving 20 or 30 dollars a week. Perhaps that is because of shop n go so you can keep an eye on what you are spending.

Here in oz we shop at woolies, or sometimes at our local (which is a rip off but convenient). We never shop at Aldis....there is nothing there LOL. No selection at all.