Wooly_Cow

terrier2

[QUOTE=strawbie;7854844] I agree, I think you may have trouble mixing in here with an attitude like that but didnt want to say so in the beginning. Chill out bro!

Jan n Neil

I think you will find the locals are a lot more chilled fella

terrier2

Yes, I thought that was one of the reasons for coming here in the first place.

southerner

Just a warning, and apologies if you are already looking into this, but I'm not sure that an internet based business will meet the requirements for a business visa. NZIS website or a specialist agent can probably sort that one out for you.

Wooly_Cow

[QUOTE=Cuirassier;7853984]Thanks

1) I don't think anyone was trying to audit your business model - just be helpful in case you didn't have experience here, which after all is why most people come on this forum.

2) As I am not self employed I can't advise on bureaucracy but if my experience with other Kiwi local and national government is anything to go by it should be a lot easier to deal with.

3) Although it was me who posted the links regarding natural risks, I have to say that I think the overall risk here is statistically a lot lower than say man made risks. That having been said, if you do have concerns about that sort of thing then it will prey on you mind if you chose to live here. You might be better considering another location where you can see the dangers like Australia (although to be honest the recent 7.3 earthquake in Fiordland had the potential of causing a tsunami that would have washed over the East Coast of Australia and could have caused far more damage and loss of life there than in NZ. Bondi Beach was evacuated when Piha or Kapiti wasn't - not gloating just stating the facts!)

4) Crime rates - I don't think you read the posts right. Everyone here said that there is crime, statistically it is as high as other countries BUT it is localised and a lot of it stays within certain areas and communities. In very many areas most people feel safer than Europe or the US. I know I do!

5) The feedback on trains is spot on - the buses, and trolley buses (and to a lesser extent ferries) are excellent. You have to remember NZ has the population of about half of London, spread over two islands bigger than the whole fo the UK. Compare Auckland or Wellington with similar sized cities in the UK and the public transport is comparable with many (OK Auckland has an issue but that's mainly geography coupled with a love of the car!)

6) Kiwi's I have found are very warm and friendly but also VERY laid back. This follows through to commerce and business.

sr71

Thanks to all. Some of your input has put me off, but not enough. Maybe I should look at Aussie though I am not keen on what they do in the world for sure. I like the NZ Government's attitude of stay at home and mind your own business; don't do dirty business on other people's door mat.
Australia is far more interventionist and you need a license to fart in most states. It's a lot more paperwork to do business. have to get ABNs, you can only get domain names if you have an ABN etc, a lot of businesses need to be registered and licensed with state or federal authorities. NZ is very free.

I would now certainly buy somewhere at least 20 meters above sea level and built on rock not shale. Having endured a nasty quake in a tall building and the Phuket tsunami, I do not want to put myself and my family in that kind of harm's way again.
This site has a lot of panic-mongers on, and this includes comments about crime too. The risks that Auckland has relating to Earthquakes is fairly low. The risk of a Tsumami is actually less than the UK - and if you haven't looked on a map Auckland is protected by quite a few islands. Apart from that many places in Auckland climb steeply away from shore.

I am really surprised about NZ's high crime rate, truly; very sad.
Another thing that certain posters like to propogate. NZ's statistics are seriously distorted by certain ethnic groups and certain areas. No normal person would be going to or socialising with these people. All the people I know, including grandparents who have lived in Auckland since the 60's have never once been the victim of any crime.

any pointers for a nice area (again we are after circa $800,000 property, 1500 sqm, safe streets, community spirit)?
Greenlane, One Tree Hill - not near a beach, but only 10 minutes drive away. But very close proximity to Cornwall park and nice areas to live in.

Bellasmum

[QUOTE=Wooly_Cow;7850052] Very selective cut and pasting there WoolyCow

I suspect that Cuirassier is sharp enough to know that any comments in this threads are mostly opinions sometimes with a bit of cut and paste to back them up.

Cuirassier if possible I would suggest a holiday here in NZ to do some objective research. The Beachlands part of the Auckland region is very nice and not too far away from city life if you don't mind the travel.

If it helps you any

Wooly_Cow

[QUOTE=Bellasmum;7855457] ummm NO! All I did was google earthquake risk in Auckland and that's what came out. I chose a local council information paper as a source...not a newspaper or blog or anything.

Here in Wellington the most detailed maps and risk assessments are produced by Wellington Council so all I did was quote from a similar source.

....thats why I also included the link.

Personally I object to the accusation of being alarmist or selective.

I have researched and sourced my observations for reputable local sources, which is a lot fairer on the reader than making unsubstantiated comments like 'Auckland isn't in an earthquake risk zone' or 'The risk of tsunamis is lower than the UK’ '

southerner

I looked at the document in question and it seemed a very reasonable summary to cut and paste. Only thing I might have added was to say that it takes 12 hours for a wave to come from South America, which hopefully allows plenty of time to evacuate low lying areas. Civil Defence seem pretty switched on to this sort of event, they did a big drill about 6 months ago for getting the warnings out.

Wooly_Cow

....but it also mentions local event tsunamis which get there a lot quicker but in general create lower waves......

.....anyway I POSTED THE BLEEDING LINK for everyone to read the 2-3 pages themselves.

Sorry but people who ignore the real and quantitively measured risks in New Zealand are as bad as those saying 'We're all doomed'. As the Civil Defnce says we all need to be aware and prepared.

My point to the OP was that if these things worry you then it will eat away at you day to day if you live here - I know becuase my OH has these worries - but I would never lie to her and say 'Don't worry love, there's no chance or it's lower than the UK' - that's just plainly dishonest.

Thanks for the support though, my Southern mate .....I'll go an crawl off into my box and wait for the 'Big One' now

BEVS

Not so Bellasmum. Wooly Cow put up the direct links to the articles for all to read.

sr71

Not really, it's common sense to be prepared for a disaster, whether that's a cyclone or power blackouts etc, but for me a 50% chance that some event will happen in the next 500 years (and that will be calculated conservatively) is a low enough probability for me to ignore it and not let it dictate my life. you'll also find that nearly every city in the world has a risk profile performed on it for natural disasters and they will have similar reports produced.

For comparison California has a 99.7% chance of an earthquake > 6.7 on the Richter scale in the next 30 years. New York has a 10% chance in the next 100 years.

luvwelly

OP originally made the point about NOT wanting to suffer an earthquake or tsunami, so why on earth would he choose NZ...last Wellington earthquake anyone? Within a few months of my arrival 2 years ago there was one in Gisborne which caused damage...so it seems like a real enough risk to me...but I'll risk it for the length of our posting.
Many people move here not even knowing earthquakes are a possibility

sr71

Well that's just idiotic - along the lines of "We moved to Perth and have discovered it's so far away from everything"

As I have said before - people need to do thorough research to the place that they are taking the family to and spending a large amount of time and money to emigrate to. There are no excuses for suddenly discovering things like prices, geography, weather etc because it's all available for people to research in books or online.

As for a more comparative view, this report from the UN is quite useful.

http://ochaonline.un.org/OchaLinkCli...&docId=1111350