KiwiDean

Hi, just to introduce myself- I have been living in the UK for approximately six years, and returned to New Zealand with my British partner in November, 2017. I admit that for the past few months, I have occasionally checked into this Forum, to read a few posts.In this post, I will try to be as objective as possible in my comments. As a Kiwi, I know this country is far from perfect, but what has astounded me, is the absolute negativity from some of the regular posters. I would like to make some comments regarding my impressions of this forum.
Statistically, about four and a half thousand Brits emigrated here in 2017. A few of these recent arrivals, post messages asking a variety of questions ranging from places to live, to work conditions. Very few of these recent arrivals carry on with any further correspondence. The majority of posters on here are regulars. The question must be asked, why don't more Brits stay with this Forum? I believe it is because of the continuing negativity of regular posters. If you read over the topics and pages, some on here find absolutely nothing positive to say about Aotearoa. Complaints range from cost of living, food prices, weather, failure to make friends, the attitude of ALL Kiwis, work practices, this country causes mental problems like depression, bad driving, lack of culture, and the list goes on.
You don't have to be a genius to figure out that geographical situation and population statistics will cause some items to be more expensive. This should be obvious to all, even prior to leaving the UK. Some go on about food prices- I suggest you go online and look at where fruit and vegetables in the UK come from.They don't come from some sun-blessed orchard in the south of France or Spain. They come from huge greenhouses covering thousands of hectares where the produce never sees sunlight and where what you buy is full of chemicals. I know there are greenhouses here in New Zealand, but where we now live in Clevedon, South Auckland, we can buy very cheaply all the produce we need. There are roadside stalls where locals sell everything from watermelons, to strawberries and sweetcorn.
Brits love moaning about the weather. Again, logically the closer you are to the Equator, the warmer your climate. London's latitude is approximately 51. Auckland's latitude is 37, Casablanca has a latitude of 34. Therefore, logically the climate is better and warmer in New Zealand than in the UK. As a kid, we were told, if we dug s tunnel to the other side of the world, we would come out in the Mediterranean.
Finally, lack of culture- Why would you expect to find a European culture in a country, 12,000 kilometres from Europe? Since we arrived back here, we have been to Polyfest 2018, to see amazing performances by Kapa Haka groups, and Tongan, Niuean, Samoan groups. We went up to Albert Park in Auckland for the fantastic Chinese Lantern Festival. And just recently, we took part in the Dilwali Indian Festival.
Now to be fair, this negativity does not relate to all posters. I won't mention names, but a certain individual from Dunedin and another one from the Bay of Plenty, always give a balanced opinion- they cover what they like and what annoys them. I am disturbed that some use this forum to vent their personal problems which they blame on this country. If you hate this country so much, why do you use this forum to show your frustrations? Newcomers ask good questions, and are often met with a barrage of hate and moans about New Zealand.
I expect I will be heavily criticised for presenting my point of view- my perceptions of the UK after living there for six years. are a combination of what I really liked and appreciated, and what annoyed me. But, I would never use a Forum to continually air my grievances and give a totally biased viewpoint.

Pom_Chch

I think it's just the nature of a forum and the type of person whom that attracts. If a person is happy and getting on with life, they are likely not interested in posting about it. If you're unhappy then you will likely want to seek support from others and have a rant. That would skew the forum more towards negativity. And negativity breeds negativity both from a personal point of view and within a group in general.

I do agree with you in that some of the comments on here in the past have been pretty harsh towards NZ and its people. There's nothing wrong with discussing pro's and con's but that can't seem to be achieved around here without it turning into a UK vs NZ competition. I'm way past that now as are a lot of the happy clappers! So we usually bow out and get on with life leaving the negative Nancy's to hold the fort

mikemike

Excellent first post

''There are roadside stalls where locals sell everything from watermelons, to strawberries and sweetcorn.''


Reminded me of Kent, where you parked up wandered the fields and orchards picked your own an left money in the honesty box next to the scales with a list of the items and price by weight. Sadly no water melons but lots of strawberry, apples pears cherries, plums etc plus root crops for those who never minded a bad back at the end of their session)

Some are miserable no matter where they are or where they go.

I like the cultural celebrations and living at the moment in Se Asia we get to see a great many, its fund exciting and vibrant. NZ is still a very young country, pioneering for some Brits, certainly out of the comfort zone for many. For others that is the reason for arriving and the excitement of being there.

MrsFychan

Its is a shame that all that come on this forum don''t stick around after they have gained the information they wanted/required and give their feed back on how things are going but thats how things are, cant force anyone to to continue to input be it positive or negative. Nature of forums is to give your experiences and opinions, positive or negative and there really is no point moaning that its one or the other, it is what it is.
Your post is actually being negative about other posters but mikemike sees it as a good post.

Justcol

KiwiDean, I couldnt agree more

So many on here only seem happy when they are moaning or grumbling about something
I actually get criticism for being extremely happy here. My response to them has always been, stfu and if you dont like it here, bugger off, but apparently that doesn't go down well.

mikemike

On line quick comparison for those who then want to do a currency conversion.

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-livin...ry=New+Zealand

scrubbedexpat094

I love a good moan, where I come from it's called "putting the world to rights". I have a good few Kiwi mates who love a good moan too.
I just say it how it is for me, it's my experience of living here and others are perfectly entitled to take it or leave it. I see this as a safe place to vent my feelings when I'm feeling depressed and struggling with being far away from home. I used to suffer with seasonal affective disorder in the UK but I find that I need to be on anti-depressants all year round living in NZ. I know quite a few expats who are the same sadly. I wasn't expecting that.

We didn't come here expecting to be better off, we came for the adventure of doing something different. I'll be honest, we didn't look too much into the cost of stuff when we first came over 13 years ago. Actually back then, NZ wasn't so expensive as it is now because at the time we got a good exchange rate. After a number of years living here it has become more expensive and salaries have stayed fairly static. I gave up a career I loved in the UK because it wasn't as enjoyable here, so that has impacted us negatively. I have tried to get into other areas of healthcare but have been turned down. Employers don't seem to get transferable skills in NZ. It has been very frustrating.

I post very little in this forum now, I prefer to head to The Lounge and various other forums. I welcome input from other forumites in here, it makes for a more interesting and wide-ranging discussion. As Spouse of Scouse lives in the UK, her opinions are no less valid than anyone else's.

scrubbedexpat094

Because not all of us can just bugger off, as much as we would like to. Sometimes life gets in the way!

Justcol

yes you can, you simply choose not to

scrubbedexpat094

I choose not to leave my OH.

Justcol

there you go

KiwiDean

First time back since my initial posting. Thank you for the responses.My partner and I have been tossing up where to go for a short holiday. Can't decide between Queenstown and Rarotonga. For me, a tropical island is far more appealing- especially when we are having a very rainy Winter. In regards to my first post- the comment below really exemplifies what I wrote about:


<snipped>

Admin note:
It is not good etiquette to quote randomly from other threads , especially since the post in question was over 2 years ago, on another subject & the poster has not entered your discussion. Thank you.

scrubbedexpat094

I personally find Queenstown too touristy for my liking, I prefer Wanaka and I love Te Anau, however at this time of year I'd be heading to Rarotonga. Your not guaranteed sunshine but your chances are better than Queenstown. We prefer Aitutaki as it's much quieter and therefore more relaxing. But it is expensive! We have been in June on most occasions as that is when our wedding anniversary is. Last year it was the coldest and wettest we'd known it to be on both Raro and Aitutaki. I think we've been to Raro 7 times and Aitutaki 3 times since 2007. The Cook Islanders are really friendly people, the dancing is amazing, good food, beautiful location. What's not to love!

Now how's that for a positive post

KiwiDean

Thanks Vitalstatistix for your informative reply. We hadn't considered leaving the main island and going on to Aitutaki. I looked it up on Google- the photos certainly look awesome. Unfortunately, I only have five days off and we have a limited budget.

carcajou

KiwiDean - the forum can be used for many purposes, including, as you did, to wave the NZ flag. Nothing wrong with that and I encourage you to become one of the "regulars."

But there does seem to be less margin for error, for migrants coming to NZ. This site is not the only one to point this out and other sites have been devoted exclusively to negativity. Certainly there are many positives, but the advice forumites give is situational and specific to a poster's situation. It's not the role of the Forum to just be blanket happy-clappy and back-slap them down a primrose path, if that is what they are starting to go down.

UK/NZ is also not a binary choice, and many forumites have a lot of experience elsewhere, and can highlight potentially better options for OPs to consider and doing so is not "negative" to NZ.

I will give you an example. We get a lot of intending teachers coming on here. Do you realise, for instance, that the maximum base salary step for a high school teacher in New Zealand is $78,000 NZD - while in Western Australia, it's $113,000 NZD?

Pointing that out is not intended to "be negative" towards New Zealand. But if a potential migrant who is a teacher comes on here and asks for information - and we do get a lot of them, as you know from your check-ins - linking to the collective bargaining agreements, advising them to have a look, and pointing out that they would be almost $3,000 NZD better off per month in Australia, and that maybe they should review their financial situation and see if they need the extra money and should have a look at Oz before making any final decisions - is, in my view, very sound information to pass along and not intended in any way to bag New Zealand. Maybe you can toss aside $3,000 NZD a month, but a lot of people can't.

I do believe if you go back through and find the exploratory posts of those with employment offers or reasonable chances of employment, and realistic ideas of the country - those posters are encouraged to come.

Those who come on believing that NZ is a South Seas England just with better weather and shorter working hours, get a bucket of cold water poured on them. As do people with no real shot at a visa or those who seem totally unprepared for migration. Unfortunately it's my perception that, especially in the last year or so, we have gotten a lot more of the latter - a lot of posts like "hey, wanting to move to NZ for the lifestyle! We're a family of five, husband is an electrician, I'm a stay at home mum to the three kids. What's the best part of Auckland to buy a house in? We want a pool and a big garden." I'm exaggerating with that, but sometimes not by much.

Sometimes we also get people on here who don't actually want advise or information, just affirmation, and it can be confronting for them to find out they haven't fully researched to the extent they thought they had, or there are pitfalls they hadn't thought of.

I will look forwards to your next post.