pedro8000

ok, ive been in NZ 6 months now from the uk and heres my honest assessment. my family and i are living in the north shore auckland and paying a kings ransom for a what is effectively a garden shed. ive insulated the place to death but it is still v cold and draughty and weve spent most of our time here sick. electricty is twice the price were used to and we have to use a lot of it as we have 5 electric heaters going 5 hours a day. at night we just sleep without them. we have rats in the loft and damp and moud in the bedrooms and this is the nicest place we seen by a mile after viewing 20 or so properties. thats the housing anyway.

food is twice or three times the price of uk and if its not in season you wont get it. the choice is very limited and the general shopping experience is a joke really. i asked a shop worker if he had strawberries the other day and he just laughed. my daughter now eats fruit out of a can if its not an apple or bannana.

TV is just emabarrising, must remember to cancel sky tomorrow because its a complete waste of time. never watched so many dvds in my life.

Driving and roads go without saying but you get used to it, just dont stop concentrating.

kids nursery is half decent but i had to look at loads to find a suitable one although we are paying through the nose for it.

the standard of living in nz is simply far lower then the uk and if anybody has any doubts give my kiwi partner a call and she will tell you as she would go back to the uk tonight.

the plan for us is to stay for 3 years and save a few quid, luckily i have a decent job and head back to the uk. im sure the summer will put a nice gloss on things but we've agreed that nz isnt for us but we will make the most of it while we are here. i dont regret coming for one minute but i guess every bodies different and are leaving diff circumstances in their home countries.

my partner feels really guilty for bringing us here and shes a born and bred well educated kiwi. i would even argue it isnt a safe place to bring up kids. the sun is just fierce and the roads are lethal. health and saftey hasnt caught on yet and it generally doesnt feel as safe to bring up kids as the uk.

im sure ill be shot down with flames but im not really bothered, this is just my honest assessment. im sure we'll have some great times in nz over the next couple of years but live here forever, no chance!

bourbon-biscuit

It's fine to have your own opinion and experience and share it, and I'm proper sorry you're living in a shite house, that sucks and can colour everything. Hope you are able to return ok.

I disagree with this bit of your post though-

*My* standard of living is much higher here. I live a charmed life in a safe, peaceful little town in a warm, dry home with a lovely big garden.

simonsi

Sorry to hear its not panning out as planned. The rental sounds a trial, Auckland is in a rental property squeeze at the moment though so that drives choice down and prices up.

Puzzled by your food shopping comments, though. We spend around 20% more than our Tesco shop in Pak n Save (Albany), so not 2-3 times as in your experience and our 3 children have grown in the last 2yrs so that would push the bill up somewhat anyway.

Countdown in Whangaparaoa has strawberries. Right now. Can't find green seedless grapes though.

Where are you doing food shopping, from your description I wouldn't recognize you were shopping within 100miles of the Shore???

Not at all sure NZ is a come-and-save environment though, I think it will take longer than 3yrs simply to save the return travel and shipping costs.

Archangel

Sorry to hear things are not going well for you and the family. When I came to NZ in 2006 I thought it was wonderful for the first 2 months then I injured my neck and on top of it all I became terribly home sick and just wanted to go home.
The first house we rented was a nightmare, but we moved into a nice home, which is still a little too cold in the winter, but the summer more than makes up for it.

I go back and forward to the Uk and to be honest there are pluses and minuses for both countries. The wages is not as good as the UK and somethings are a little over priced, but I have learnt to do without somethings and I am a lot healthier than I was in the UK.
6 months isn't really long enough to throw the towel in, but then again you always know in your gut that things will never be right.

Give it a shot here. Don't give up at least not yet. New Zealand is a lovely country and I am glad I gave it a go, but I guess its not for everyone. Good luck.

love30stm

Agree, our standard of living is much better we live in a warm house with a huge Garden in the nicest area in Wanganui and have much more social life and money even managed to save every week and only husband works full time.

Auckland would make me depressed if i lived in a shack and i know we would have had a different exprience living there

BEVS

Hi pedro1000.
Sorry to read it is not going at all well for you. Quick post to let you know that as this is an update, I've moved it to 'Updates'. It has not been shifted because of it's content. Just to make that clear to everyone.

Caz8NZ

Not wanting to shoot you down with flames as you say and I do feel sorry for you with your housing situation. That will make you miserable…hopefully you can move to somewhere a bit better.

I have to say that I think a lot of what you say is to do with adjusting to NZ life and not expecting it to be the same as the UK.

Yes, food can be more expensive here – I’ve needed to adjust the way I shop and what I buy. You are right – if its not in season you won’t always get it – but I’ve learnt to accept it – we are living in a country far away from other places so the cost of flying the out of season food in is a lot. The supermarket is also, not always, the best bed for your fruit and veg…the markets and veggie shops can sometimes be much better value. As for strawberries, pretty sure I’ve seen them recently in the Dom Road Countdown – but probably at $7 for a punnet!!! Would have to be a real treat at that price.

Yup – TV isn’t that great. Oh well….there’s more to life than TV  and now I watch particular shows rather than just rubbish.

Driving – erm – yup! Not much to say about that – driving to work this morning saw another shocking piece of driving – this is the norm though!

I do not agree whatsoever that the standard of living is lower than the UK. I was out for drinks on Friday, dinner on Saturday night, and I’ve just had a fantastic weekend enjoying the beautiful winter sunshine. I’m off to a free cooking workshop tonight and next week my pottery course starts a new term. My social life is far better here than it was in the UK.

There are lots of things to get used to living in NZ – one of my bug bears is being charged in the banks! I don’t think 6 months is long enough to adjust really – it takes a while to sink in that NZ life isn’t the same as UK life.

scrubbedexpat094

It does take a while to settle down here though there are some things I'll never get used to like crying windows for instance.

I certainly wouldn't shoot you down in flames for expressing your opinion. This should be a safe place to off-load your feelings & many of us have been there. I was feeling very homesick last week but I'm fine this week. I always feel down about living here in the winter.

Comparing many things with the UK will certainly leave you feeling down. I had to make a conscious effort to stop doing it & that has helped. May work for you, may not but worth a try. Think back to why you decided to come to NZ (obviously your wife had a large part to play in this but she shouldn't blame herself), for us it was a bit of an adventure & I have to remind myself of that at times.

I get you to some extent on the health & safety aspect but then I think back to my childhood in the 1960's & 70's & the freedom we had then & the lack of health & safety legislation in the UK at that times. Most of us survived , that's what NZ reminds me of for kids. I think UK kids are molly-coddled now but that's just my opinion.

I agree that food is more expensive here, I think you have to adapt how you shop to get cheaper prices ie. it's not a one-stop shop. I saw Strawberries at Fruit World,Silverdale yesterday. Didn't look at the price as I would never buy strawberries in winter (even if I lived in the UK), they don't taste as nice IMHO as the sugars haven't developed properly.

We personally couldn't have lived on the Shore, felt too cramped for us, but I know plenty of people love it there. Have you considered a change of location? Have you been to any meet-ups? Just trying to think of anything that might help you as I know how it feels to be unhappy living here.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts & I hope things improve for you.

bourbon-biscuit

Top post Vital.

I agree that it really does sound like you're very early in the adjustment process. In time the seasonal nature of fruit & veg shopping here becomes second nature and you look forward to gorging on strawberries in summer and mandarins in winter. I don't know where you'd buy strawberries or how much aubergines are now, because it's not the right time of year so I don't use them.

I think one of the hardest things is a crap house. Anyone who lives in a poorly insulated, poorly heated house is going to really struggle in winter, imo. I can't believe how much happier I feel in winter in a warm snug home with a log fire to curl up in front of. If you're still here next year make sorting your place a top priority if possible.

Bo-Jangles

It is early days for you guys and I know much is made among some folks with regards my own struggles and niggles with NZ, its people and everything else. Yes, my reputation goes before me and I get the sense that some people might call me a whinger (shh don't tell them that I ignore them) but I am still here and still trying to get on with life and make it work. It is a process, it is a journey and not a destination. Day by day you learn, you change things, you do things differently, you upgrade and make tweaks so that things become more bearable or comfortable. Being here with little money and a shitty cold house is no joke and enough to send anyone back on the next plane.

Talking of upgrades, this week we are trialling Mainland Organic Cheddar. Trial and error, some of the trials are more expensive than others but that's the way it goes. Trial and error, next week we'll try another cheese and eventually we might find one we really, really like.

90% of the time the effects of the daily grind goes on whether I'm here, there or anywhere in the world. Mostly it matters not a jot what goes on outside of my window, so I concentrate my efforts there. Other than that, no matter where I am in the world I'm gonna have to spend 40 + hours in the company of a bunch of jerks who I wouldn't ordinarily give the time of day - but such is life I get paid to do this and turn up every day and do the best job I can with the resources available.

I absolutely hated working here, but suddenly it fits into place, I have moved office again and in the company of fairly sane people who are nice and it makes such a difference to the misery of where I was before. It's far from perfect but I finally feel that I am among folks who value my opinion and back to a place I used to be where relationships and trust have been built, people will back me and I am known to be good at what I do. It's a cliche I know, but all it has taken is time.

I've always been the same but it takes the passage of a certain amount of time to be perfectly natural in your new life and have the confidence to know what to do and do them without thinking, without having to play out the scenarios in your head or fear making a fool of yourself. There is so much to learn and to adapt to that don't come naturally.

I don't think I will make old bones here but when all is said and done I know not what we will do, I am not unhappy and I am not miserable, I don't cry or hanker after things from the past but ultimately I don't know what next, so we just go with the flow and see where we end up. Manwhile we wait for some further inspiration or the funds to start on a new chapter.

rosyglow

Hi Pedro - sorry to hear you're not having such a great time in NZ. I wish I could tell you it gets better, but that depends on so many variables - it's impossible to predict an outcome (for anyone). The one thing that strikes me, reading the replies to your post, is how people just love to come right back with their own 'Well I'm doing ok thanks, my standard of living is way higher than the UK, life is great, who eats strawberries in winter anyway blah blah blah'. Concentrating on the standard of living issue (otherwise I'd be here all day) I can honestly say - and calm down everyone - it's just my opinion, the standard of housing here is set pretty low.

My husband is a carpenter & completely despairs of the minimum standards NZ's accept in their houses. It's all about the $ here, so new houses are built to JUST meet the required standards - which are way lower than the UK, USA etc to start with anyway. We've been here almost 10 years now & I can honestly say our standard of living has gone backwards. If we had a $ for every time we hear someone (Kiwis) say - 'Cold?, put on another jumper/grab a hot water bottle/visit a friends house that has a good heat pump (I'm not joking), wrap up in a duvet in front of the tv/ go to bed early etc we would have enough $ to take a fabulous holiday.

Personally, I think a lot depends on where you came from and what your standard of living was back in Blighty. We had a fully insulated house, with central heating & part double glazing - nothing extraordinary, many people live like that in the UK after all, but you would struggle to find reasonably priced houses here like that. Yes, it's Winter & yes it's freezing cold here in Nelson & all around me as I type are woodburners being cranked up to the max in houses that have hardly any insulation - old, draughty houses in which people sit with two layers of clothing on, a duvet clutched tightly around them etc. When was the last time you did that back in the UK? For most of us British expats, probably never.

love30stm

Sorry but its not all about the houses living here is it? sure we had a large victorian terrace in the uk with full central heating and open fires , but was a terrace for the same price as i bought my large 1970s detached house with a huge garden with a heat pump and sure it gets cold in a few rooms but winter is not that long here is it? at the moment i have no heating on but i think i used to have the central heating on in summer in the uk.

and houese are built to withstand earthqaukes right, dont think a solid brick house with thick walls is a good idea .

having said that if you do live in a badly damp cold riden house the experience in NZ is not going to be good is it? anyway to me its part of the winter snuggling up in a warm dressing gown watching tv with a mulled wine or too, Love it

Stormer999

+1

Caz8NZ

I don’t think its fair to say that the replies to the OP is

Yes, there have been one or two comments of – well I’m alright thanks, but that’s not really the general response. If you read it, most people have commented that they have seen out of season fruits available – just very expensive and its not really whats done in NZ.

Perhaps MY earlier post wasn’t as helpful as it could have been, I think Vital put it much better – to stop comparing to the UK as its not helpful and doesn’t help you to adjust to life in NZ.

Crap housing is the biggest issue as if you can’t be happy in your home – and warm – its going to be completely miserable. You can’t get past the fact that the standard of housing here is less than the UK but I accept it as being part and parcel of living in NZ – if it was the same as the UK – what would be the point or the appeal in living here?

The house I live in currently is apparently well insulated….hmmmm……well it doesn’t feel like it sometimes! Boy oh boy do I miss central heating – especially in the bathroom! Yeah I don’t get why they don’t have it over here given the climate – but its just something I guess I have to accept.

[QUOTE- old, draughty houses in which people sit with two layers of clothing on, a duvet clutched tightly around them etc. When was the last time you did that back in the UK? For most of us British expats, probably never.[/QUOTE]

Yeah – you’re right – there’s no crappy housing in the UK where people are doing that. (???) sorry but there are plenty of people living in poverty in the UK who do have to live like that as houses aren’t up to scratch and they can’t afford the heating bills. I know people who have to live like that. And Winter in the UK can last for 6 months or more.

Unfortunately – poor housing exists all over the world and is always going to make you miserable.

P.s. I prefer to go to the pub to use their heating

bourbon-biscuit

You're responding to my post, so why not quote me? FWIW, if you read back and read my post instead of skimming it, you'll see I was responding to the OP saying the quality of life out here is lower- period- and if anyone disagrees they can ring up his Kiwi partner If he had said his quality of life here was lower, I'd have said nothing about mine and just felt sorry for the guy. There's a huge difference between identifying what is rubbish for you about your life in NZ and making sweeping generalisations about the whole of NZ, as if your subjective experience is FACT, ergo anyone who experiences differently must be wrong/ deluded, etc.

Sigh- no that's not just your opinion- that's fact. On the whole the standard of housing here is lower. It's cold, damp and draughty and anyone looking to move out here should heed the advice to buy very very carefully and with enough budget to do the work needed to bring the average Kiwi house up to scratch- whatever that means to you.

I partially agree with you but I also think there's a bit of mind set and willingness to adjust, too, as well as being prepared to do work to a house, even if that means buying something cheaper/ smaller to ensure the funds are there. Also, you're exaggerating- I live in a colder area than you and lots of people here seem to have snug enough homes.

If you're stuck renting, as we were for years, it can be pretty demoralising and all you can do is get the best rental possible (north facing, insulated, pref with wood burner), buy dehumidifiers and oil heaters and prepare to spend $$s each winter keeping warm.

Lastly, outside of the cold zones (central plateau and most of the SI), I don't think central heating is really needed.