Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > World Forums > Australia and New Zealand
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 06-30-2014, 05:07 PM
 
1,111 posts, read 1,222,579 times
Reputation: 474

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by dave nz View Post
As far as how most people will treat you. Pretty good. The people here are mostly friendly and laid back.
What part of the US are you from Dave ?

I noticed a distinct anti-Americanism when I lived there, Americans being slightly below Australians on the pecking order for derision.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 06-30-2014, 06:01 PM
 
Location: New Zealand and Australia
7,454 posts, read 13,379,962 times
Reputation: 7783
Quote:
Originally Posted by Samuel,J View Post
What part of the US are you from Dave ?

I noticed a distinct anti-Americanism when I lived there, Americans being slightly below Australians on the pecking order for derision.
I'm not from the US mate. Was basing my opinion on American relatives that have lived here and a lessor extent American tourists I know have been here. That is generally what is said. May be they are just being nice though

As far as the relatives, they both work respectable jobs and are good people with a family. So of course that helps, on how you will be treated.

Last edited by dave nz; 06-30-2014 at 06:11 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-30-2014, 09:53 PM
 
Location: New Zealand
1,872 posts, read 6,471,794 times
Reputation: 5607
I am an American, moved to NZ a few months ago with my family (we lived in London before that). We live in a small town on the Canterbury plains on the South Island, so our experience is probably different from someone living in say Auckland or Christchurch.

General impressions:

- People are generally quite friendly and welcoming (almost American-like, and very unlike Londoners). I have not experienced any negative reaction from Kiwis on hearing that we're Americans. Instead, they're usually curious about where in the US, how we find it here, etc.

- Pace of life is slower, akin to say Iowa, not Chicago or London (we lived in both Iowa and Chicago as well).

- Quite a car-dependent culture -- little/no mass public transportation.

- No problems with groceries -- there may not be a hundred different types of cereal, but there's enough of everything. Besides, if you want to buy everything you have at home and recreate your "native" lifestyle, doesn't that kind of defeat the purposes of living abroad? Why not branch out and try what the locals do/use/eat?

- Most produce is seasonal. So no year-round blueberries, etc.

- Number of choices of goods and services can be limited, especially for specialized items. For instance, I'm into photography and astronomy, and it is very hard or impossible to get certain pieces of gear. I've been looking for a particular type of Bluetooth earbuds, but no luck anywhere in town -- may have to go to Christchurch and look around at several places. In the US and UK, if the local store didn't have something I could always find it on Amazon and get it delivered in a day or two. No such luck here, since no Amazon. No Netflix either (unless you use a VPN).

- Things are expensive, especially any gadgets, sporting goods, etc. An attachment for my ski boots cost me US$15 in the US just cost me NZ$42 here. I rarely/never convert currencies to compare the cost when buying stuff, but it may come as a shock, so be aware of the higher cost of living.

- Most homes have no central heating. Wood-burning stoves, space heaters, or heat pumps will be your heating sources.

- Lots of open, empty spaces to enjoy -- great if you're into the outdoors. And fantastic dark skies at night for astronomy.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > World Forums > Australia and New Zealand
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top