Re: What is REALLY uncool about NZ
 

This post was/is about what it says its about..'uncool things about NZ'. Driving happened to be the one we started with. I did not think for one minute it would be the only 'uncool' thing about NZ and knew more would follow. This thread adds balance to the other one started about the coolness of NZ. People coming here need and want to know (IMO) the good the bad and the shite..do they not? I knew nothing bad of NZ afore my arrival. Maybe I wished I had? My head was full of all the good stuff I had taken on board during my 6 week recce 15 years perviously.

Re: What is REALLY uncool about NZ
 

Yes, it's great to be informed:) in a constructive, helpful way, even of the 'shite.' Eveyone has different takes & experiences on places & people & life in general,which can be interesting & sometimes v.amuzing:thumbup:
It was just beginning to sound like UK Vs NZ/ English Vs Kiwi again which personally i don't think is helpful, just a little tedious...& very very boring:zzz:

Re: What is REALLY uncool about NZ
 

Earthquakes! and it it ain't cool when the vibration from every passing car causes more damage to your house.

Re: What is REALLY uncool about NZ
 

No compulsory car insurance.

Re: What is REALLY uncool about NZ
 

Are you a Kiwi Tray ? I am married to a Brit.

Sometimes what seems like small thing to us are not small things to others.

I don't think most of us realise just how different our upbringings can be. There is no doubt that the NZ lifestyle is more laidback.

And long may it stay that way even if to some it seems backward. Good or bad it is our uniqueness.

I think the bare foot think is easy fixed. Either wash your feet or you can't come into my home. But don't then spoil it by kissing your visitor because their bacteria is all around their nose, mouth triangle.

Personally I would be interested in if my visitors had been exploring their nose since they last washed their hands.

My biggest uncool gripe about NZ is the volume of those bladdy TV ads. Most other things I guess I have learnt to live with.

Re: What is REALLY uncool about NZ
 

The volume is about to come down!!!

I HATE people keeping their shoes on when they come into my house but I don't say anything and I'm fine with barefeet.

Re: What is REALLY uncool about NZ
 

Uncool? Its utterly dumb-arse, stupid, idiotic, gormless and pathetic. In one foul swoop you could do so much good and no doubt create a few jobs for the huge influx of insurance policies that would have to be created. Just how dumb is every transport minister not to have over turned that one? Yet another good reason not to vote for a bunch of fools IMO.

Re: What is REALLY uncool about NZ
 

yes, bring in compulsory car insurance and driving lessons. Most people are taught by relatives who just pass on their bad habits. What's uncool? People who come here and criticise NZ for it's New Zealandness. This country ishould be accepted as it is - you may not like it but you need to get used to it or you'll be very unhappy. Or did you come here as a social reformer? No-one said this was perfect paradise did they?
It has taken me a year to say this but I really believe that people need to be more tolerant. I have encountered racism and ignorance but this stuff is not intentional - it's just a flawed society. Name me one that isn't.

Re: What is REALLY uncool about NZ
 

Crap.
Two issues here. NZ markets itself as a flawless society which leads to total dissillusionment to anyone who spends a bit of time here.
As for 'the country should be accepted as it is' - that is the attitude that makes it as crap as it is. No-one tries to improve anything, and people just accept crap. It is a society based on no-one achieving anything or aspiring to anything, or recognising whats good. NZ lives on it 100% Pure image which is totally false. It is a totally ungreen country which manages to retain a certain greenness due to only 4m people living here. It doesnt have one green policy. The beaches and rivers are polluted. Its cars are beyond belief.
The countries attitude to cyclists is pathetic. Do I have to go on?

Re: What is REALLY uncool about NZ
 

You are 100% right. but what does that mean? You are as disillusioned as I am about NZ and it's false marketing.(immigration dept must be on drugs) I may not have put my point across well...I meant to say that the country is NOT the way it sells itself and if you come here with false expectations you will be very unhappy. It's as shit as anywhere else. Just stand up and be counted when you encounter racism etc (i.e challenge it) but don't expect too much. I have been here for one year. I intend to go home to my own flawed country asap. The reason we all get so upset about NZ is that it pretends to be one thing and is patently another. I was trying to say that if you kick against it you WILL be unhappy here because this country is not ready or willing to accept change. Maybe it will be better when Maori or immigrants have the upper hand and the old guard of Pakeha are silenced. Racism against Asians is rife but they are moving in in droves. Economics suggests they will reign supreme eventually if they can outnumber the trailer trash mentality. My son had a dream that NZ disappeared into the sea and no-one noticed...

Re: What is REALLY uncool about NZ
 

I went to South Africa for work (not in a tourist area) just before I emigrated to NZ. SA really scared me- it has such serious security problems that I coould not comprehend how people live normal lives there, but they do (behind electrified, barbed wire)

My job entails meeting and working with senior people (in government) that do understand some of the problems that NZ has - and please believe me there is a great will to change things, sort out stuff you have all mentioned above, change the economy to a high tech led recovery, understand how the water supply in Canterbury needs to be protected, increase our high tech value exports, understand that increased tourism does not help the economy, work within the Treaty..... read From Wool to Weta by Paul Callaghan if you want a plain speaking account of what NZ needs to do.

Back in the UK recently, a very distant relative of ours got tortured, and I do use that word advisedly. He was ambushed at home, for cash, and I was so upset at what happened to him when I read it. I have never, ever heard of anything like that here in NZ. I could start a "What is uncool about the UK thread" but I won't, because I would start with his story, which gave me nightmares.

I have said this so often here, but I'll say it again. Nowhere is perfect. Our families probably aren't perfect, neither are our countries. Most people don't have the luxury of choosing to change their country (or family) but some of us (on here) have changed their location. South Africa shocked me beyond belief, yet one of our days there, when we were stroking cheetahs and watching them run close up, was magic. Our planet is flawed and probably over-full, but I chose to live here in NZ, and I take it, warts and all, and enjoy the magic things, -0f which, quite frankly, there are simply loads. The other stuff, we have learnt to live with.

Trust me, I learnt to live with a lot more sh*t in Greater Manchester :thumbdown: than I have had to put up with here

rant over, never leave me alone in the house at night when neil is at work :rofl:

Jan

Re: What is REALLY uncool about NZ
 

Sorry your experience in NZ has affected you so much. And I hope you get out before we sink ;)

Re: What is REALLY uncool about NZ
 

For me it's about the increased costs to the health service in stitching up peoples' cut feet...I don't want to be the one taking my child to hospital for stitches...do you? :rofl:
Most Brits take their shoes off and put slippers on at the front door. In German slipper translates as 'house shoe'.

I am happy to admit to being 'one of those parents' who won't let my kids go barefoot outside, except maybe on a beach.

Re: What is REALLY uncool about NZ
 

What's really uncool about New Zealand is the fact that you dare not mention or draw attention to anything bad and must at all times be on your guard to adhere to the self-congratulatory program of worshipping everything New Zealand has ever achieved or produced.

I missed the small print on my Visa that says:

Now let's all stand and sing the New Zealand National anthem

Re: What is REALLY uncool about NZ
 

It's not a cool look either seeing fully grown men tipee toeing across a gravel car park pretending not to wince at the stones hurting their feet. :lol: