Browner_

I take it you didnt go back to Northampton then?
Sounds like you are struggling to come up with positive things for NZ. Same as me.
I'll cheer you up - try imagining NZ with no foreign born people here, and all the people you work with and socialise are native kiwis. Now, that WOULD be enough for me to up and go. Australia or anywhere else.

Genesis

Oh yes..I went back to NN..what a shit hole!! Wild horses or living in a house full of kiwis would not drag me back there!!! As I have mooted before I made this bed and now I shall lie in it. Only one out of the 5 of us is pissed off with NZ as such I am the minority thus we are here to stay. Thank the lord I love the neighbourhood I live in, the house and life in Palmy is generally very cruisy. As I have said it is the 'kiwi psyche' thing that gets me. I am DESPERATE for some new friends who hail from europe. Not sure I could cope with ozzies long term but I understand they do not worship sport like the kiwis and they have a sense of humor..which is nice. I forgot to say that so much of the food here is full of crap too, another thing that really hacks me off..and no I cannot go home for the reasons I mentioned earlier. The rest of my family have no gripes here..it is just me.

Buzzy--Bee

Depends on which part of Australia you're in. Here in Melbourne it is such a melting pot of nationalities that people here are pretty worldly-wise and not insular. They are very keen on their sport but don't have a problem if you're not. I think in places like Queensland the attitudes might be different.


Yep, I have had the worst food I have ever had in my life served to me in NZ, both domestically and in a restaurant. Almost all Kiwis seem to like their food burned or boiled to death at home and I have to say that NZ is the only country where restaurants have been surprised at my unhappiness with for instance cold fried eggs, hairs in the soup and raw roast chicken.

BB

Patrick2007

I know exactly where you chaps are coming from. This is the shock when the honeymoon period is over and you realize what it is like to live in a foreign country. In my line of work we have around five foreign lads i look at them and the way others (not all) speak and treat them and you know what i can see myself in N.Z. i was too getting the same treatment. I remember in one place they brought a lad over from England to manage a department. The Kiwis and i mean the majority just took the piss acted sullen, and that was because they were not having a Pom telling them what to do. Having worked in many jobs this was the rule. It is hard over there and once you make your bed (of nails) like as been said you must lie on it. To leave home to be met with hostility, nastiness, and the like is just not acceptable. You can show as much allegiance to N.Z. as you like you are still in their eyes a foreigner. I also lived in many suburbs stretching from the Hibiscus Coast to the North Shore so i couldnt blame one street etc. Good luck

fish.01

I find people in Melbourne very prone to stereotyping which seems to belie their sophistication...

bourbon-biscuit

I agree, it has made me a bit sad to see his love of NZ fade somewhat recently. Genesis- is there something you can do here or somewhere you can go that gives you back that feeling? For me I get a real kick out of the whole geothermal wonderland stuff so if I feel really miserable a winter trip to Rotorua for spa and an oggle at all the crazy stuff cheers me up. As does a coffee in the sunshine in Cambridge. My weekend at womad cheered me up too- womad NZ style was very pleasant

I'm fairly sure I won't make old bones in NZ but on good days I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity to raise my kids here- they are having a wonderful childhood and education and I think myself lucky that I get to give them this somewhere where we can enjoy long summers and beaches etc. On bad days I think we're all at boarding school, lol. I suspect my time frame for life in NZ is 5-10 years, depending on the choices our kids make.

Genesis

Thank you for your kind words. Lets get one thing straight. I am as mad a as brush (half irish half french) and as such I am a tad emotional at times..swing like a pendulem and have a very, very weird thought process. I am delighted that my children are having a kiwi childhood and that Kate has the job/career of her dreams..the fact that I am in an emotional trench at present is small change.....I know they say 'if mamma ain't happy nobody's gonna be happy' (me being the one doing the motherly stopathome thang) but I am not that miserable..just taking stock of my own feelings. I am being a whinging pom. Kate assures me that she sees nought but goodness in her rounds of all the terminally ill people she cares for and I have taken it upon myself to start doing voluntary work for meals on wheels and the red cross. I am also going to build Kate a greenhouse. That will keep me busy eh? Life is very good here..outside of my tiny mind and I am sooooooooooooo thankful for all the wonderful marvelous things that surround me. These feelings will pass..if they don't, well shit happens. Kate says we ain't going nowhere!! I will survive. PS Google Pixar short films on Youtube..they are short animated films..soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooo funny!!