Genesis

I hoped for more space, less stress, a better life for my young kids and living somewhere 'nice and leafy'. I also worked out the sums and realised that we would be better off here on a day to day basis..that too is a reality even having had the Hanover Experience!! We also have a far better work/play ratio. We put in 33% less hours here than we did in the UK.

We have not been disappointed. What were/are your hopes?

And now for an NZ update. The interest rates are still coming down, so are house prices. Car prices are too set to drop as with the current recession cars are the 1st thing peeps will cut back on. The new administaration looks like its what we needed and the pundits are all hopeful for a 'fresh start'.

Petrol is down to $1.43 a litre and the £/$ is hovering around £1=$2.75.
Not bad considering the weakness of the £ and that apparently $2.78 is a long term median. By the way petrol can be up to another 20 cents less a litre with the ubiquitous gas voucher from the supermarket.

NZ still has all its problems that are very sad, child murder, domestic violence, severe drug and alcohol abuse and general violence all still very much in the news. The car issue surrounding noise, no need for insurance, excessive speed, driving at 15, drink et al are all still causing carnage.

Fortunately the horrible things above will rarely impact upon Mr and Mrs Joe Average. Unless like some of our members you live in an area ruined by small pricks with big exhausts.

I hope this is perceived as neither a negative or positive spin. This is how one person views their life in NZ after 40 or so months. What I consider as 'good' in my life others may well consider rubbish. NZ is full of the good the bad and the very ugly.

Miss lots about the Uk but would not return..however Scotland looked soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo alluring when I watched the Waterhorse with the kids at the weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Hmmmmm.

Wooly_Cow

It's a film mate!!!! They made Sheffield and Ashington look OK in 'Full Monty' and 'Billy Elliot' ....and I can assure you it's not full of stripping steel workers or ballet dancing miners!

Genesis

I think the lochs and the mountains are actually real. I noticed them when I was there.

Fooferfish

I had hoped for a more rural lifestyle, been here well over 3 years in Dunedin, yes we need the work and local amenities, but i would have loved to have been living in the countryside with native bush and wildlife, maybe we will get that one day, but once you are in a town or city and the kids do all the thing that a city has to offer, then it would be hard to remove them from that.

We were very lucky with the move here and have no mortgage that has given us the opportunities we wanted, no debt and my wife had the chance to do what she wanted to do, she choose to study and is about to wear a robe and graduate this Dec, i had hoped to do more outdoors things, have learnt to fly fish and thats awsome, nz country side and rivers are wicked fun, would like to be somewhere warmer where we could go in the sea without 30mm wetsuit on.

I have managed to get down to less than 30hrs a week even though i have started my own business.

We hope that when my wife finds the work she has studied for we both hope to get down to 4 days a week each, long weekends.

Back to UK Poole this Christmas, so hope that will renforce why we came here.

Nige, Dunedin May 05

mickey_d

Most of it was filmed here (bits in Scotland). Most of the loch scenes were actually Queenstown.

Genesis

Weird that because I actually thought.....that looks just as good as QT if not better!!!!!!!!

Its nice to know thats just a few ks south. No need to hanker after bonnie Scotland now? Just need $2 million for the QT pied a terre.

Marvelous.

iain_moore

Hi all,

We are hoping for a better way of living, better climate and happier people.

scrubbedexpat094

We are hoping to get rich quick.

JasonSouthYorks

Sheffield still looked like shithole!

luvwelly

NZ scenery constantly reminds me of a fab touring holiday I did in Scotland a few years ago. Scotland is beautiful...it's just a shame it rains so much.

Wooly_Cow

Being serious, I know what you mean about the comparisons between Scotland and New Zealand. Scotland is one of my favorite places even the cities! ....and New Zealand is fast becoming a favorite too

No wonder they use both countries for film sets (and yes G. I know what you mean about the lochs and glens in Scotland, they aren't only beautiful on film but even more so in real life...if you can get a day between the rain, snow and midges to appreciate it!).

...and to the point about Sheffield....hey it aint that bad...I lived there for many years and what they say is right ' a dirty picture in a beautiful frame' and the people are just the best!

Genesis

They do however manufacture some marvelous type 18/8 stainless cutlery, which is nice. You can even get it in presentation boxes..which is nicer.

The kiwi is over $2.80 now. Even nicer if it suits you.

Stef_Paul

We were hoping for pretty much the same as you Genesis and all in all we have got it...BUT...we chose to move from Timaru to Auckland so I suppose saying we wanting more space was a slight contradiction. Although in the scheme of things Auckland is not a busy packed in city like the English ones. We thought we wanted a lovely deserted town with enough amenities to get by but we underestimated how queit Timaru was...it was too much of a step for us...Auckland is perfect! I just wish some of the people here were happier. Manukau can be so depressing at times, we have already decided our next rental / purchase will be alot closer to Auckland like Mount Eden or Ponsonby etc. That is the beauty of renting I suppose...sorry I am digressing!

Anyway we are both happy here...we did think we would be better off financially as we thought we brought a good deposit over from England but the exchange rate went against us and the house prices went up. That is the only real dissapointment but not everything is about money.

I know what you mean about the lovely folks with the big exhausts...our only problem in our new house is the planes...can people please stop coming here and encouraging the planes to keep flying over my house...it wakes me up! hee hee hee hee

All in all happier here, not going back

nukiwi

What did we hope for:

• the houses here would look like the photos How do they make them look like they have plenty of space in front and behind, then when you go to look they are sandwiched together with no space at all
  
  
• the neighbours would be friendly and come around and introduce themselves but been here 3 months and the couple the one side just blank us and the others we have not set eyes on.
  
  
• We hope that when we sell our property in the UK we will be able to buy a place here mortgage free

Apart from that we are happy here and can work on the first two as we are only renting so we will try somewhere else after Christmas. As with the house in the UK.... well who knows..... we don't need to sell as long as it continues to have paying tenants in it.

Like most we would like a lower crime rate, lower food prices, free banking etc.. but it is what it is...

So at present NZ is good and we have no regrets.

southerner

We hoped for:
Significantly reduced debt
Significantly reduced commuting
More leisure time
Less hassle getting good education for the kids
Being able to pay our way
That UK family would come and see us regularly

So far we're not disappointed, although it may get harder to get family to visit now they've all been out once. Oh, and I never seem to get as much leisure time as i thought I would. Might be something to do with having young kids.