The worst 9 months of my life in NZ
 

People whom have read my threads before will know I was pretty excited about emigrating here

BUT after 9 months here and experiencing

An Earthquake
My rental house being burgled ,
The schools being so academically behind in there teaching process
My daughters mobile phone stolen whilst being looked after by the school, when we complained about the head master to the police we were reported as we should not complain about a man in authority !!!
A bully for a boss whom hated the poms, when I reported her I was ignored by management ,after the 4th complaint they investigated and immediately fired her for professional misconduct.

Now today my car was vandalized and bag stolen , by the way the police could nt be bothered to even come round and see me ,, Whats the point of complaining
Not to mention the bureaucracy we ve experienced
I ve just about had enough of New Zealand,
I have a beautiful house near to the beach with its own swimming pool.. But I just want to return home now,,,,
If I had read this thread it probably would not of put me off coming but for anyone thinking of emigrating to NZ,, It certanly is not easy, you need to have a good solid relationship broad shoulders ,alot of money as NZ is expensive , and a lot of luck

Re: The worst 9 months of my life in NZ
 

Sorry to hear that. It isn't paradise for sure but you have likely been unlucky or it may be a post-quake Christchurch thing.
I got my car window smashed in the first 9 months in a posh Wellington suburb though....several years ago... so I'd almost forgotten that...you reminded me.
The 'deep pockets message' is very important...and sadly overlooked by too many, the risk being of trapping yourself here. Hope you haven't done that and that you can see a way through :fingerscrossed:.

Re: The worst 9 months of my life in NZ
 

Really sorry it,s not worked out for you :( It,s a very important message to anybody reading it tho, This is not a cheap place to live. Good luck with what ever you decide to do

Neil

Re: The worst 9 months of my life in NZ
 

Deep, deep pockets. Which amazes me that the forex subject gets virtually ignored. Your capital you come with will be the make or break in many cases. The kiwi is still well below 2 for 1. It amazes me that anyone is prepared to emigrate at these historically ruinous rates. $2.20 is more what it should really be..maybe even as high as 2.30..but 1.93!!!!!!!!????

How does anyone reconcile making a major exchange at this rate??? I think I would rather take my chances and stay in the UK. There is no way I would have cashed in my UK equity at these rates. I know I only got 2.64 in 2005 and in 2001/2 $3.80 was on the table but I knew that 2.70 was a 10 year median then thus I knew I got a good rate. But the rate now it akin to robbery. I guess if you want a new life that bad you will swallow it eh?

Re: The worst 9 months of my life in NZ
 

Yeah life can be a real bitch eh? We have had some severe shite flow under our bridge in the 6 years we have been here and there are times when I utterly loathe this (IMO) corrupt, up its arse, insular tin pot country. We have been ripped off (big time) on a number of occasions, suffered at the hands of lazy, good for nothing builders, plumbers, lawyers, financiers and those that are supposed to look after our interests.

The main good things about NZ are that it is empty, has a good education system, good healthcare and my kids have a great life here (ours is not too bad either when you forget about the shite above!!).

Good or better luck for the future.

Re: The worst 9 months of my life in NZ
 

Sorry to hear about your bad times. Honestly, I believe this place does not offer many opportunities for the Brits any more. There are many more exciting places in the world where there are better advantages than here.

Folks who still want to come here should look around at other options. It's not the great laid-back, open spaces, good quality life-style that many think it is. Over the past months I've heard so many hard luck stories like the above and they can't all be wrong or simply unfortunate.

Re: The worst 9 months of my life in NZ
 

The education system I would strongly debate,, My kids although in primary are behind as to what they were achieving in UK..
I work in the health care sector ,, A private organization (well known in the UK, thats why I decided to work there ) BUT belive me where I worked I would not put my dog overnight there let alone the old and vunerable of NZ .It mostly employs immigrants on work visa,whom can t speak english. Alot had no reference checks or even police checks done on them.. Needless to say I m leaving ,, I just hope my faith will be restored in the health system with my new job,
The open raciscism was a shock to us as well
Also get ready for the police ,, In NZ they are certainly a different breed than the UK ,The majority we ve met have strong attitude problems.
Yes the scenary is unique and takes your breath away however its not enough to keep you living here ,,
We have decided to give it another year but if I still feel like this we will take the bullet and the great financial loss and get the hell out of here
I don t want to sound like a winging pom but I m just trying to let people know about my experiances and feelings about emigrating here
My advice NZ is great for a holiday but the reality of living here is bloody hard::(

Re: The worst 9 months of my life in NZ
 

Hi

Have you thought about trying somewhere else in NZ?

We did 3 years in ChCh and after experiencing both Earthquakes decided it was time to move due to jobs, social life etc etc. Before the EQs we were only going to remain on NZ for another year before heading back to the UK.

We have now been in Auckland for 6 months and love it and will be buying a house very soon something we never bothered to do in ChCh.

Just my thoughts, good luck :)

Re: The worst 9 months of my life in NZ
 

I'm not sure why you're sticking it out to tell the truth and I'm not sure that your experiences will be that much different if you move somewhere else in New Zealand - especially as with regards to education standards.

There are some issues that you've listed that are a factor in many people's reasons for leaving New Zealand, including mine. They're not going to get much better for the sake of another 12 months. So, instead of just marking time and hoping things will get better, start to look at your options. You don't have to go back to Britain, the reasons why you left it are still there and you run the risk of having to accept the lesser of two evils, or becoming a ping pong pom for want of a better description.

A lot of people make the move over here and find it suits them better than New Zealand does. There are also other countries to be explored, don't give up on your dream just yet.

Re: The worst 9 months of my life in NZ
 

Irony is a wonderful thing.

If you don't like it go home.....easy as !!!

Re: The worst 9 months of my life in NZ
 

Thank you for your advice and grammar lesson !!!! ,,justcol ,, There is always one on these forums
We are giving it a year, so we can build up funds to enable us to move on and also decide on a place to live

Re: The worst 9 months of my life in NZ
 

:thumbsup:

Re: The worst 9 months of my life in NZ
 

Ignore him yjx1nt7, he's fresh out of both manners and toupe tape ;)

"you"?

Re: The worst 9 months of my life in NZ
 

Mate. I am seriously not impressed and I really am a bit surprised and saddened about this from you TBH. Please read the previous posts by this person.

If you still have difficulty , PM with me .

Re: The worst 9 months of my life in NZ
 

Sorry it's all gone to the wall for you. We bailed out of Christchurch at the end of June as my husband was offered work on the North Island. We could not afford to go back to England as we had run out of money after three and a half months unemployment in NZ. We would have had to go back on credit cards, it would have been so dicey. We did not have the emotional resources for a return move either.
It's terrible for you that you have to deal with the emotional impact of what's gone wrong on top of the emotional impact of emigrating.