......and I just don't get it. If there are a more inward, casually racist, obstinate and rude group of people then I've yet to meet them. Admittedly I'm in Auckland but the only friends we have are other Brit ex-pats and they all feel the same to.

We've been ripped off by various 'Kiwi owned and operated' companies (Kiwi owned and operated should be viewed as a warning by the way), we took in a couple of ChCh 'refugees' after the quake who robbed us and did a flit, we've almost been killed on numerous occasions by stupid arseholes driving cars as if they were on a racetrack, we've observed the most appalling of bullying and psychotic bdhaviour in our respective public sector employment and almost unbounded stupidity when it comes to approaching any task or recreational pursuit.

I appreciate that there are a lot of ex-pats that won't admit to making a huge mistake by coming here because it all starts to unravel somewhat but this place is really the arse end of the world with HUGE social problems, a corrupt criminal justice and regulatory environment, it is an inherently racist country and unless your Great Grandfather went to kindy with someone who signed the Waitangi treaty, you will never be accepted.

Looks like someone strayed off the expatexposed board

What an utterly disrespectful post you've made, typical of the blinkered approach that the locals adopt as well as a few ex-pats - how long before someone says that old Kiwi classic 'IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT - **** OFF HOME'

I'm not aware of what 'expatexposed' is - my view is my own and based on my two and a half years here - nothing more.

The evangelical zeal with which some ex-pats approach life in NZ isn't for everybody - I suspect many of the most vocal are unhappy too but they haven't, or cannot, admit to the truth of the circumstances they find themselves in. If they think too long and hard about it, they'll realise how backwards this place is and how they are trapped here with little prospect of ever escaping.

Scratch beneath the surface for many immigrants to this country and you'll find people with doubts and worries - people who know there are issues of them ever being accepted as equals along with demonstrable drops in the standards of living that they enjoyed elsewhere.

For us, money isn't an issue, we both have 6 figure salaries and no mortgage but we are surrounded by inward looking locals, casual racism, an utter lack of critical thinking and intellectualism, crappy education, poor family values and a piss poor public infrastructure for health, roading, transport and governance - there are still people taking a dump in portable toilets in ChCh and living in shipping containers - the country has no money, it is over leveraged internationally and the brightest people are leaving in droves to Australia - more people are going now than coming.

But if you like it, good luck to you, I happen not to.

No it isn't disrespectful, it was just a response to your first post. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. On the other hand, I would ask that you don't swear at other members, that is disrespectful and won't be tolerated here because we ask that everyone treat each other with respect.

Going by your first post it seems you are not happy in NZ and of course that's fine. That's your experience, and your opinion, and we don't walk in your shoes. It's just as you've not interacted much on the forum some of the members may feel you've only used BE to have a rant, rather than engage with other expats. I'm sure that really you just wanted to let off a bit of steam and didn't want to do it amongst you NZ friends, and that's completely fine. But it's always a good idea to get to know people first. I wouldn't want to turn up a party of people I didn't know and start ranting away . However I do appreciate we all like to let off a bit of steam now and again, I like to a have a moan about some of the things I'm not keen on in the US so tend to off-load on BE rather than alienate my American friends. However, if you could just lay off the swearing it would be much appreciated.

Many thanks

Wishing you a better 2012

Sue

Wow where abouts do you live??? sounds so awfull NOT.... You might have a shock if you went back to the UK. You say you happen not to like it here so why have you lasted 2 and a half years????

Yes it is disrespectful. I'm not swearing in the first person context either, I'm merely repeating the standard response one gets if one so much as indicates an opinion that the blinkered and repressed people of this country don't like.

'Going by your first post, it seems like you are not happy in NZ'

No shit Sherlock (now I am swearing for the benefit of the Americans here who don't do irony) - it's a hole - there is no snese of community here just self interest - people get ripped off and don't complain - they allow children to be abused and beaten but 'she'll be right' - they actively discriminate against the indiginous people but that's 'good as gold' etc etc.

People talk about a culture shock when it comes to describing how people can feel alienated here when they arrive - there isn't any culture though!

4 months of my contract left and I escape - woo hoo. I'm going home to rights, infrastructure, properly built houses, cheap food, nice neighbours, family and friends. The evengelical are stuck here constantly going on about how lucky and priviliged they are to be here - here in a place where as long as you can pay the immigration fees and don't have AIDS you can stay because they want to bleed you dry to pay for those who saw the light and left for Australia quicker than you can say 'You're not in Guatemala any more Dr Ropata'

I personally cannot wait to see the back of 'Pure New Zealand' - the land of the mediocre overweight Kiwi who has never been anywhere, has never seen anything and thinks that this country is the most developed and most diverse country on the face of this planet. A place where a 16 year old shot putter is the lead story on the news 4 days in a row and where people still poo into chemical toilets in ChCh because the powers that be can't organize an orgy in a brothel because the infrastructure and expertise to fix the country isn't there. Or where the beaches got ruined because they all looked at that leaking boat and wondered what to do next, or where they looked at the mine and wondered if they should rescue the lads stuck down the hole but then realized that they couldn't because they didn't have the most basic of safety equipment or where the police can't investigate crime because they don't have forensic expertise or where the head of the immigration department forged her qualifications and got her staff to fast track family applications or one of the many examples of corruption and institutional stupidity which is out of proportion to the size of the country - it's no coincidence folks - the country is corrupt as it can be but even then they choose to use surveys where only 'reported' matters are recorded rather than what many know to be the case of 'there isn't any point reporting corruption ebcause it's a way of life here and therefore doesn't get reported'.

I came back from an overseas business trip recently and about 6 hours out of Auckland, I felt a knawing feeling inside, a real sense of panic building and on reflection, I now know what it was.

I was coming back to New Zealand.

Good luck to you who call this home, good luck to those who dream of calling it home, it will never be home because you'll never be one of them. You are just cash cows waiting for, or in the process of, being milked and bled.

Cheers.

I have PR but my contract pays a bonus after 3 years - I want my money and then I'm gone. <snip>

I'm told they take the edge of the misery that living here eventually hits most ex-pats when they realize this is it.

Thank you for saying this, and being honest, I was staggered when I read the post, I have thought all of this for so long but have not been able to put it into words quite as well as you.
It’s just all so true. And nothing will ever change as ex pats won’t stand up for themselves or face the ‘idiocracy’ head on.
Beaches are nice though.

Beaches are nice, I agree.

Sorry you've had such a bad experience LeeMarMit. I agree with some of what you say but not other bits. The standard of driving is frightening but I drive defensively & so haven't had any great problems. Just mutter to myself about it & occasionally ring *555, which makes me feel better.

There are certainly some scum around. We were robbed by a couple of Brit expats who moved to ChCh taking some of our stuff with them. Wonder if you had the same scumbags with you.

I used to be a midwife but I dislike the maternity system here, in the end I left. I do miss the NHS both personally & professionally.

BUT, mostly I like living here. We have made friends both with locals & other expats. We are very involved in our local theatre (backstage stuff, neither of us are performers) & are accepted for who we are.

I will always think of England as home & I'm very proud to be English. I have a love/hate relationship with NZ but then I had the same with the UK.

I wish you well for the future

Wow, sounds like you have had a crap time of it. But you have thrown in a lot of sweeping statements, with much to back it up.

As I write this, you have had a total of 12 post over the 2 years you have been here. Not a big contribution to this community, so I find it strange how you have reacted to the "happy clappers" here! We are not living in a state of denial. We are just getting on with our lives and moving forward with our dreams and plans. If you do not like the way things are, then all you have to do is change it. It sounds like you are also on your way to make things better in your life and for your family. If leaving NZ is positive step for you, then good for you. I am sure once you get away, everything in your life will be much better.

I agree

Are you a 'born again' Kiwi? You must be with that '12 posts in 2 years' nonsense - sounds like the reason why many ex-pats can't settle because they don't have family that got deported here 180 years ago. I've lurked here long enough to know that the dissenters get shot down in short order in case they upset the really unhappy people that find themselves trapped here for a variety of reasons ostensibly financial.

You do that patronizing thing that the locals are very good at too, 'I am sure once you get away, everything in your life will be much better' - it'll be better for not surrounding myself with people from the the village of the damned for sure. The local gym is like the 'Stepford Wives'.......

Like I said, good for you if you like it here but I haven't quite given up on a life just yet hence the overwhelming need to escape rather than be a good little Kiwi and accept all manner of shite and stupidity.

Good luck to you.

Incorrect my friend. Everyone is welcome to post & join in with the community. That is whether their personal experiences of their country of residence be of the positive brand or the negative.

It can be the written tone to others that can let a post down, not just the content.

You have found those that agree with some of what you have stated & some who don't agree. Each experience is valid and doesn't deserve to be sweepingly denigrated by you simply because you don't happen agree with it.

We have a benchmark for the way we hope our community members will interact with each other.
Incidentally, Sue - BE Admin is not an American mate.

LMAO, now you sound like a crazy person mate.