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Your life in NZ vs UK

Your life in NZ vs UK

Old Jul 4th 2011, 7:55 am
  #31  
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Default Re: Your life in NZ vs UK

Originally Posted by EdT

As for clean and green - most kiwis drive around in 20 year old V8's that are probably the least efficient and environmentally friendly cars you can find. I pulled up at the lights over the weekend, and a guy pulled up next to me with a vintage Datsun with no bonnet or wings.... takes the whole lotus light weight / power to weight concept to a whole new level. The country is not as clean and green as I imagined.... and it is only because it is a country the size of UK with less than 10% of the population that it appears that way.

I don't want to sound down on NZ - I love it in so many ways..... but the slower way of life / work life balance / clean green..... are all the things that netted me in the first place. This is just not the case for many expats I have spoken with.
If anyone still thinks NZ is clean and green then they should forget it.
NZ hardly has one green policy. and relies upon its relatively small population. Even so, beaches and rivers are often incredibly polluted.

As for cars, that makes me laugh. NZ has the worst polluting cars I have ever seen in my life. Im not just talking about the emissions , but the noise pollution. Can someone try and tell me that NZs culture of modifying cars to make them as noisy as possible is clean and green, let alone desirable? This is the noisiest crap hole I have ever lived in my life.
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Old Jul 4th 2011, 8:12 am
  #32  
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Default Re: Your life in NZ vs UK

England - Towards the south coast
House - 3 Bedroom terrace - little or no noise from neighbours. Central Heating. Wore shorts and T-shirt inside house all year round.
Nearest beach - half and hour. Never went to beach, but went to coast resorts easily.
Mortgage - quite small
Car - did a lot of miles
Commute - 35 minutes each way in car
Salary - decent
Annual leave - 25 days
Hours worked per week - 35
Spare time - loads, great sports clubs and leagues with associated culture
Social life - the world was our oyster, decent country pubs with decent people, quiz nights, restaurants, bands, variety of all sorts within easy reach including parks, NT properties, bridleways, scenery etc. Interesting places to visit would occupy you for several lifetimes.
Holidays - plenty of opportunities within Europe and also weekends to all sorts of interesting places in England within 2 to 3 hours drive



NZ

Wellington
House- bigger house and garden, but no heat or sound insulation and little heating. Wear jumpers, socks and hats regularly, and put more on to go to bed.
Nearest beach - 5 minutes, but thats it - theres just a beach. No ice cream shops, piers, amusements, mini-golf, bars, boating lakes or any of the things that make these places interesting.
Mortgage - will soon be bigger than Id like.
Car - dont do many miles - nowhere to go
Commute - 30 minutes
Salary - Finally quite decent after 8 years of proving myself.Annual leave - 20 days. Stuck in Wellington (or perhaps Auckland) to find any sort of decent work.
Hours worked per week - 40
Spare time - reasonable, but nowhere interesting to go. 3 hrs drive north of wellington gets you to nowhere you want to go. After living here a year or two, there is really nothing there you want to see.
Social life - not too bad thanks to the ex-pat British and South African friends. If we had to rely on the kiwis it would be dire.
Holidays - due a holiday now, but its hard to work out where to go thats affordable. Options severely limited compared to living an hour from Gatwick.
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Old Jul 4th 2011, 8:22 am
  #33  
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Default Re: Your life in NZ vs UK

Originally Posted by Browner_
England - Towards the south coast
House - 3 Bedroom terrace - little or no noise from neighbours. Central Heating. Wore shorts and T-shirt inside house all year round.
Nearest beach - half and hour. Never went to beach, but went to coast resorts easily.
Mortgage - quite small
Car - did a lot of miles
Commute - 35 minutes each way in car
Salary - decent
Annual leave - 25 days
Hours worked per week - 35
Spare time - loads, great sports clubs and leagues with associated culture
Social life - the world was our oyster, decent country pubs with decent people, quiz nights, restaurants, bands, variety of all sorts within easy reach including parks, NT properties, bridleways, scenery etc. Interesting places to visit would occupy you for several lifetimes.
Holidays - plenty of opportunities within Europe and also weekends to all sorts of interesting places in England within 2 to 3 hours drive



NZ

Wellington
House- bigger house and garden, but no heat or sound insulation and little heating. Wear jumpers, socks and hats regularly, and put more on to go to bed.
Nearest beach - 5 minutes, but thats it - theres just a beach. No ice cream shops, piers, amusements, mini-golf, bars, boating lakes or any of the things that make these places interesting.
Mortgage - will soon be bigger than Id like.
Car - dont do many miles - nowhere to go
Commute - 30 minutes
Salary - Finally quite decent after 8 years of proving myself.Annual leave - 20 days. Stuck in Wellington (or perhaps Auckland) to find any sort of decent work.
Hours worked per week - 40
Spare time - reasonable, but nowhere interesting to go. 3 hrs drive north of wellington gets you to nowhere you want to go. After living here a year or two, there is really nothing there you want to see.
Social life - not too bad thanks to the ex-pat British and South African friends. If we had to rely on the kiwis it would be dire.
Holidays - due a holiday now, but its hard to work out where to go thats affordable. Options severely limited compared to living an hour from Gatwick.
Not sure what Kiwis you are mixing with, nor understand similar comments from others on here that Kiwis are insular or unfriendly, but I find they are really nice people; laid back, friendly often with a good knowledge of life beyond New Zealand. I can only compare with what I know and where I have lived to say that they are generally friendlier than British and Australians.
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Old Jul 4th 2011, 8:31 am
  #34  
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Default Re: Your life in NZ vs UK

Originally Posted by Browner_
England - Towards the south coast
House - 3 Bedroom terrace - little or no noise from neighbours. Central Heating. Wore shorts and T-shirt inside house all year round.
Nearest beach - half and hour. Never went to beach, but went to coast resorts easily.
Mortgage - quite small
Car - did a lot of miles
Commute - 35 minutes each way in car
Salary - decent
Annual leave - 25 days
Hours worked per week - 35
Spare time - loads, great sports clubs and leagues with associated culture
Social life - the world was our oyster, decent country pubs with decent people, quiz nights, restaurants, bands, variety of all sorts within easy reach including parks, NT properties, bridleways, scenery etc. Interesting places to visit would occupy you for several lifetimes.
Holidays - plenty of opportunities within Europe and also weekends to all sorts of interesting places in England within 2 to 3 hours drive



NZ

Wellington
House- bigger house and garden, but no heat or sound insulation and little heating. Wear jumpers, socks and hats regularly, and put more on to go to bed.
Nearest beach - 5 minutes, but thats it - theres just a beach. No ice cream shops, piers, amusements, mini-golf, bars, boating lakes or any of the things that make these places interesting.
Mortgage - will soon be bigger than Id like.
Car - dont do many miles - nowhere to go
Commute - 30 minutes
Salary - Finally quite decent after 8 years of proving myself.Annual leave - 20 days. Stuck in Wellington (or perhaps Auckland) to find any sort of decent work.
Hours worked per week - 40
Spare time - reasonable, but nowhere interesting to go. 3 hrs drive north of wellington gets you to nowhere you want to go. After living here a year or two, there is really nothing there you want to see.
Social life - not too bad thanks to the ex-pat British and South African friends. If we had to rely on the kiwis it would be dire.
Holidays - due a holiday now, but its hard to work out where to go thats affordable. Options severely limited compared to living an hour from Gatwick.
Earlier you used the word "horrible" to describe NZ. Your post above doesn't make NZ look horrible, really. My dogs make my beach interesting, not mini golf

I think that living in Afghanistan, or Sierra Leone, might be "horrible" though

EDIT - for some living in the UK, NZ is in itself a dream holiday........

Jan
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Old Jul 4th 2011, 8:33 am
  #35  
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Default Re: Your life in NZ vs UK

Browner.... thanks, I almost forgot to mention..... Houses.....

Many people like to say... you can buy a lovely big 4 bedroom house with lots of land really cheap.... well you can, but it may have similar materials of construction to a decent / quality building you can buy on the shelves of B&Q! So hardly, double skinned brick walls, thermally insulated, with double glazing, and central heating!

Take yourself back to 1970's UK, single glazed windows..... chipping ice from the inside of the window during winter... Well it is not quite that bad, but during winter, unless you burn copious amounts of wood (back to environmentally friendly NZ) then you will be very cold. My other half is sat on the sofa with a quilt wrapped around her... and we are in a 2008 property! A 3 year old house, and yet it still was not built with double glazing.....! The last property we rented had damp rising all the way up the walls, to the extent that all the nice furniture we spend a LOT to ship over was runied after one kiwi winter. When I described the situation to my parents (in their 60's) they laughed and replied it sounds like your grandparents house when I was a kid - so 1940's!

Again, this is one of the differences of life in NZ.... not wanting to sound like I am having a go at NZ.... just highlighting the differences, and how many folk live here. There is nothing wrong with it, and many kiwi houses are very charming with bags of charecter.... They build the houses 'fit for purpose' and in some respects, the terrible disasters / quakes on south island support why they may be made of wood and tin roofs.

It is a different way of life here.... and that is all we need to remind ourselves of..... it is a Kiwi way of life, and we have to be respectful of that. Life is full of comparisons.... and many things compare favourably to the UK..... my key message is that it isn't all the work / life balance, low cost of living, cheap housing that many seem to believe..... I know I did, which may have lead to my dissapointment with certain things.

Do I regret coming to NZ..... maybe.... but would I have regretted not giving it a go..... definately..... and at least I can say I did give it a go, and have many fond memories of NZ. I am just not sure / convinced that NZ is a long term option, primarily due to financial reasons..... and long term financial considerations.
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Old Jul 4th 2011, 8:38 am
  #36  
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Default Re: Your life in NZ vs UK

Originally Posted by EdT
Browner.... thanks, I almost forgot to mention..... Houses.....

Many people like to say... you can buy a lovely big 4 bedroom house with lots of land really cheap.... well you can, but it may have similar materials of construction to a decent / quality building you can buy on the shelves of B&Q! So hardly, double skinned brick walls, thermally insulated, with double glazing, and central heating!

Take yourself back to 1970's UK, single glazed windows..... chipping ice from the inside of the window during winter... Well it is not quite that bad, but during winter, unless you burn copious amounts of wood (back to environmentally friendly NZ) then you will be very cold. My other half is sat on the sofa with a quilt wrapped around her... and we are in a 2008 property! A 3 year old house, and yet it still was not built with double glazing.....! The last property we rented had damp rising all the way up the walls, to the extent that all the nice furniture we spend a LOT to ship over was runied after one kiwi winter. When I described the situation to my parents (in their 60's) they laughed and replied it sounds like your grandparents house when I was a kid - so 1940's!

Again, this is one of the differences of life in NZ.... not wanting to sound like I am having a go at NZ.... just highlighting the differences, and how many folk live here. There is nothing wrong with it, and many kiwi houses are very charming with bags of charecter.... They build the houses 'fit for purpose' and in some respects, the terrible disasters / quakes on south island support why they may be made of wood and tin roofs.

It is a different way of life here.... and that is all we need to remind ourselves of..... it is a Kiwi way of life, and we have to be respectful of that. Life is full of comparisons.... and many things compare favourably to the UK..... my key message is that it isn't all the work / life balance, low cost of living, cheap housing that many seem to believe..... I know I did, which may have lead to my dissapointment with certain things.

Do I regret coming to NZ..... maybe.... but would I have regretted not giving it a go..... definately..... and at least I can say I did give it a go, and have many fond memories of NZ. I am just not sure / convinced that NZ is a long term option, primarily due to financial reasons..... and long term financial considerations.
Whilst I agree that insulation/double glazing/leaky homes etc are a huge problem, can I please please remind people that this is an earthquake zone. Your double skinned brick house would have collapsed and maybe hurt/killed someone. We have a wood frame house with a steel roof - not without its heating issues, but it has survived three very major earthquakes, and, one day, some other houses in NZ might need to do that too.

Jan, near Christchurch
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Old Jul 4th 2011, 8:41 am
  #37  
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Default Re: Your life in NZ vs UK

I also worry that should I return to UK..... will I now end up comparing UK to NZ...... That is the big head screw with making such a profound move, and not being totally happy / convinced of the move, as I am now..... the idea of packing everything back up, organising everything to go back, finding a job, a new house, and settling back into life in UK is quite a daunting thought....
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Old Jul 4th 2011, 8:45 am
  #38  
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Default Re: Your life in NZ vs UK

Originally Posted by EdT
I also worry that should I return to UK..... will I now end up comparing UK to NZ...... That is the big head screw with making such a profound move, and not being totally happy / convinced of the move, as I am now..... the idea of packing everything back up, organising everything to go back, finding a job, a new house, and settling back into life in UK is quite a daunting thought....
I am in the middle of doing just that, packing up back to UK. In fact people have just collected the sofa and dining table from Trade Me sales today.

I am now just sitting on the single chair that my wife wants to ship back, like a Bond villain

I have no doubt at all that I will be comparing the UK to NZ, after just getting used to dollars I will have to work out things in pounds again.

One thing I will miss - Tuatara Pilsner. Carling doesn't quite cut it.
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Old Jul 4th 2011, 8:46 am
  #39  
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Default Re: Your life in NZ vs UK

Hi Jan...

Glad to hear you and your home have survived the recent disasters...

As I mentioned.... the houses are perhaps built a certain way for the very reasons you have described..... 'fit for purpose'. I just find it funny (for want of a better word) when people compare the cost of a wood house vs the cost of double skin brick and tile, with double glazing, central heating etc. They are not comparable, and I would argue the cost of the brick to build would be significantly more expensive.... making the cost difference even more significant.....
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Old Jul 4th 2011, 8:47 am
  #40  
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Default Re: Your life in NZ vs UK

Turkeys.... wishing you and your family all the best with your move back to the UK.... I hope it all goes well for you. Keep forum members updated as to your experiences.
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Old Jul 4th 2011, 11:44 am
  #41  
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Default Re: Your life in NZ vs UK

It is not so much the posts themselves which generate interest on these forums, more the responses, especially when New Zealand is mentioned. Do the pro-Kiwi type people work for the NZ government, patrolling the internet to flame those who dare to speak out against ‘Gods Own’ ? They are a peculiar breed, especially considering they are skating on paper thin ice. Having lived and worked for a couple of years in New Zealand I can empathise with most of the negatives, but the one which can not be argued with, is the sense of History, or lack of it. Central Europe and the UK has an extremely and enviously rich and varied history. Not only that, it is accessible. Breakfast in London, hop on the Eurostar, lunch in Paris then off to the Orsay. Or breakfast in London, hop on a plane, and spend the afternoon gazing at the Farnese Cup and other wonders in Naples museum. The list is literally endless. ‘Time Team’ will never make a series (or a program) in NZ! That was not the reason for leaving however, it was more to do with the problems of small country syndrome, which manifested itself as a distinct iteration of the mental processing. Free thought in the worklplace was not encouraged, and ‘we have always done it like this’ is something of a mantra there.

The lack of history also applies to Oz, but there is much more freedom of thought, and it is certainly somewhere I will be very happy for the foreseeable future.
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Old Jul 4th 2011, 12:16 pm
  #42  
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Default Re: Your life in NZ vs UK

" but the one which can not be argued with, is the sense of History, or lack of it. Central Europe and the UK has an extremely and enviously rich and varied history."
Yes but you must know the quote- The rest of the world is doing History but NZ is still doing Geography - very apt at the moment, no?
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Old Jul 4th 2011, 12:54 pm
  #43  
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Default Re: Your life in NZ vs UK

Well they try to do history. There is a sign at the side of the road on the way to Kaitai which says "Important Historical Building". On stopping for a look, the 'building' was a house one of the early settlers built, it is now simply a field, where the building used to be!
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Old Jul 4th 2011, 12:58 pm
  #44  
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Default Re: Your life in NZ vs UK

EdT......double skinned brick houses??? Try single skin studded interior wall! Showing your age maybe?
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Old Jul 4th 2011, 1:25 pm
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Default Re: Your life in NZ vs UK

The seismic activity in Auckland is a little worrying. We lived in Mount Wellington (for those not in the know, 'mount' in this instance refers to a slightly elevated piece of land, a hillock for want of a better term), anyway, we were always worried by the prospect of a Tsunami - nowhere to hide in Auckland. Is the recent activity a sign that Rangitoto is about to go? Or a new fault develop? There is a rumor that the scientists know more than they are letting on, but why would they not tell, it isn't as if there is an important event coming up.
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