sr71

Not sure lack of ready meals is a bad thing, they seem to be a UK/USA thing. Australia, Europe etc don't really have them either. Auckland has a fantastic cafe/restaurant scene, Uber Eats etc - apart from cost there is no issue with quality, variety or availability

NZ outperforms the UK in PISA tests

Pisa tests: Singapore top in global education rankings - BBC News

And has higher performing graduates

Which country really has the cleverest students? - BBC News

Unless you're in a bad school or area then the NZ education system is excellent.

carcajou

Australia certainly has plenty of ready-made meals.

The UK and NZ education systems are roughly equivalent in value. Which one is "better" depends on the needs and circumstances of the student.

sr71

No, they are worse than NZ, their supermarket chains are terrible. Most Aussies wouldn’t stoop to ready made anyway, they have great markets and love cooking decent food

carcajou

What?

I am in Australia now. Every supermarket I go to has loads of ready-made meals.

Some (not all) of the markets are good. But if there isn't one within 100 km of you, that is not relevant, and most are only one day a week if that.

MrsFychan

I think that is personal opinion, In my experience if the child has done several years in the UK system they will find it hard, if academic, in the NZ system.

Spacecake799

I wrote my opinion, yours is obviously very different. Im glad your children love the schooling in NZ.
We were supposedly in top schools, they didnt suit my children. My opinion.

Justcol

I have two very academic children who went through NZ's education system, they both did very well

I would suggest those who's children do well are happy Those who think their children should be doing better than they are / or did will grumble.

batesfamily

Ive sent you a PM, having just made the move to Auckland - 8 week Anniversary tomorrow -

Any questions fire away..We are loving it now after the initial shock of the first two weeks... Food, well you just change the idea that you can get anything you want at a reasonable price. Our weekly food bill is actually less than it was in the UK and thats now including packed lunches for the kids when they had school dinners in the UK! You have to change your habits and buy whats in season and cook more varied selection of meals.

sr71

I lived there the last 10 years, there is a small amount of ready meals of poor quality, no better than NZ. Certainly nothing compared to M&S

NZ and Australia both generally have better cafe & restaurant scenes than the UK, rendering ready meals a poor option. (if you live in a city)

BEVS

I disagree .

I find the dining out here to be samey and expensive for what it is.

Just goes to show that it is all a matter of opinion.

sr71

Well I should clarify I mean major cities, outside of Auckland or Wellington the food can be very average

BEVS

I'm including Aucks & Welly. It is all much of a much sadly.



Thinks ! Perhaps we should have a fab dining experience thread.

simonsi

There really should be a ban on making countrywide generalisations on this site, making 3 of them in one sentence is bound to end in tears

Maybe this forum needs a sticky post equating UK cities to NZ cities, that might actually be useful to people looking for such comparisons...bet we would have a hard enough job on agreeing there though...

garethwm

Ha. Never heard Auckland dining out being called samey before. Its anything but. Within a small radius around Ponsonby - City you can get anything you fancy. Just today we lunched at a superb wholefoods cafe called Mondays in Kingsland and recent dining has included Filipino down at the Viaduct and a French place on Ponsonby Rd. Most meals are about $30 or roughly £15. As far as packaged frozen dinners are concerned, you guys need to try Tomorrows Meals brand. Range from chicken pasta, roast beef to lamb hotpot and to me taste as good as anything home made, especially anything I can make. The freezer is full of them. At $10 a pop, darer than Watties or McCains, but so worth it.

sr71

I eat out about 6-7x a week with a mix of brunches and dinners, rarely at the same place. Huge number of cuisines and restaurants these days. London would be the only place in the UK that possibly has more variety, but in many cases worse quality (UK doesn't do Asian food very well)