Who's moving to New Zealand? (low crime, quality of life, living in)

[dca48]

Now, some of the things I love about NZ.

That it’s so quiet in the morning until about 10.
The culture is not driven by money.
The whole country seems to shut down over January.
The malls don’t stay open late and aren’t hang outs for teens.
Most shops are mom and pop types and very laid back.
Most seem to believe in life balance. (its not unusual for people to make customers leave the store at 5PM so that they can leave on the stroke of the clock)
The lovely sound of exotic birds in the morning.
You can experience 4 seasons of weather in a period of 8 hours.
Central heat and air is rare and therefore you’re not blasted by controlled air conditioning.
Love the expressions like cheers, no worries, and the word lovely when referring to most anything.
Recreation is more of a priority than that work deadline.
Friday fives.
Café culture.
That people aren’t so uptight about fake appearances like designer clothes.
That the square footage of your home or the car you drive is not a measure of your success.
Having so many immigrants away from family back home makes folks more sociable.
Even though they aren’t driven by religion, most shops are closed on Good Friday and Easter Monday, which are national holidays (free four day weekend!)
Typical 4 week vacations (national law that everyone gets 4 weeks paid leave).
So many hiking trails!
So many beaches within 15 minutes from most populated places.
Excellent medical care (and it's paid for by taxes).
one deduction from the paycheck and you don't have to do tax returns.
fresh clean ocean air (except in the cbd).
that you can leave your doors unlocked and kids still do silly things like run around barefoot and climb trees and other structures. Kids are still allowed to be kids here.
70s music in many local pubs.
that I can walk down queen street at midnight and have no fears of being attacked.
when you live here or even visit, you become part of this intertwined braid of life that is NZ. You affect it and it affects you --for life. You may not always feel welcome as an american or asian, but regardless, some essence of you is eternally here. I think that's a maori legend.




So many more things, so yes, I will miss it. The longer you stay, the more you adjust and fall in love with it. I def plan on returning here to retire some day. By then maybe the housing will be better.

[buffy007]

Hi there,
I found this post quite funny and somewhat insulting but I guess you can't expect to much when someone stays in one city/town for a year and decides to judge the whole of New Zealand on it. I will admit there are pro's and con's... I think if you know what you are after you need to see whether NZ is right for you... if its for partying then NZ does have clubs but nothing like London or LA... so in that case it wouldn't suit.

Yes we are quiet and slow compared to most places (population 4 million), there are only around 2 and half cities, the rest are large towns / small towns and farms... yes some houses have problems but only some and they are mostly out in the open now... some people compare New Zealand to England 60 years ago which is kinda funny.
I grew up in a small town and loved the environment... I moved to a larger town for high school (college?) to further my education.

New Zealand varies depending on where you live. Its like living in Texas and judging the whole of America on the experiences you have in Texas, its simply unjust to do that.
You need to find out facts then a number of peoples experiences, not just from the people that live in Auckland.

If you want a sunny place to live right next to the beach for children, research Mount Maunganui.... it gets packed after Christmas for New Years but otherwise its awesome. There are some retirement villages to because of the climate but as always theres good suburbs and bad. A lot of people either live on the outskirts towards Papamoa or accross the bridge in Tauranga if they can't afford the higher priced real estate closer to the Mount.

If instead you like snow and the winters then the south island maybe a better place. Theres a ski resort called Queenstown or a smallish city called Christchurch. Its a known fact that the further south you go the less islanders there are, most Maori are in Auckland or further up north. So there can be a different smaller level of culture found in the south island.

Since New Zealand its somewhat small its easy to go on holiddays to the scenic south island while you live in the north island.
And yes, prices are more expensive then America. Of course they are, in terms of scale you have to expect that a country that doesn't have huge manufactor's won't be able to supply lower prices.

Its the price you pay for being in a country hardly any one knows about... personally I love it and hate it..... I love being distant so we aren't involved in a lot of the worlds problems... but I do miss not having heaps of the toys available in America.

If you choose to live in Auckland the larger of the two main cities then I would advise to live either in Central Auckand suburbs (From Point Chevalier - Grey Lynn/Ponsonby (Villa houses), Mission Bay), or the North Shore suburbs... as the south suburbs can be.... well.... not as nice!

I'd love to clear some stuff up for you if you have any questions, I may not know the answers to all of them but can offer my advice on my somewhat limited experiences.
And yes, NZ'ers are reservered.... we mainly don't talk loud to the neighbouring table in a restaurant... and if we can we like to own a house with a nice backyard and bbq...
We have mySky (some HD) tv... some of its okay... e.g. (American programmes like The View, E! .... which are current, programmes like Hereos which at best can be a week behind, at worst a season!), Discovery, Living Channel, Movies, Sports, ESPN etc... some of its not that great... internet varies depending how close to the town/city centre... can be from 3 - 7 MB connection downstream... with higher speeds inner city.

Lastly, because this has turned into a huge novel, I just want to say to the person who said women don't really work BLAH!!
Ok so if your in an IT environment which looks after DNS services and web hosting, maybe there won't be as much women, but in other IT and non-IT area's we are there!
Jeez how sexist... I personally work for the largest telecommunications company as a web designer and I'm a women... we're not all stay at home moms, not that theres anything wrong with that.

Popular NZ sites:
Trademe.co.nz (like ebay, lists jobs, rentals, houses and stuff)
seek.co.nz (job site)
NZHerald.co.nz (main news site)
stuff.co.nz (another news site)

Cities:
Auckland
Wellington
Christchurch (ish)

Note: Most people not living in auckland can have a chip on their shoulder and talk down about it.... which for me is weird.

[hkgal]

Originally Posted by dca48

Now, some of the things I love about NZ.

That it’s so quiet in the morning until about 10.
The culture is not driven by money.
The whole country seems to shut down over January.
The malls don’t stay open late and aren’t hang outs for teens.
Most shops are mom and pop types and very laid back.
Most seem to believe in life balance. (its not unusual for people to make customers leave the store at 5PM so that they can leave on the stroke of the clock)
The lovely sound of exotic birds in the morning.
You can experience 4 seasons of weather in a period of 8 hours.
Central heat and air is rare and therefore you’re not blasted by controlled air conditioning.
Love the expressions like cheers, no worries, and the word lovely when referring to most anything.
Recreation is more of a priority than that work deadline.
Friday fives.
Café culture.
That people aren’t so uptight about fake appearances like designer clothes.
That the square footage of your home or the car you drive is not a measure of your success.
Having so many immigrants away from family back home makes folks more sociable.
Even though they aren’t driven by religion, most shops are closed on Good Friday and Easter Monday, which are national holidays (free four day weekend!)
Typical 4 week vacations (national law that everyone gets 4 weeks paid leave).
So many hiking trails!
So many beaches within 15 minutes from most populated places.
Excellent medical care (and it's paid for by taxes).
one deduction from the paycheck and you don't have to do tax returns.
fresh clean ocean air (except in the cbd).
that you can leave your doors unlocked and kids still do silly things like run around barefoot and climb trees and other structures. Kids are still allowed to be kids here.
70s music in many local pubs.
that I can walk down queen street at midnight and have no fears of being attacked.
when you live here or even visit, you become part of this intertwined braid of life that is NZ. You affect it and it affects you --for life. You may not always feel welcome as an american or asian, but regardless, some essence of you is eternally here. I think that's a maori legend.




So many more things, so yes, I will miss it. The longer you stay, the more you adjust and fall in love with it. I def plan on returning here to retire some day. By then maybe the housing will be better.

I definitely think the apparent lack of women in the workplace are down to your industry. To assume that your industry reflects the whole of NZ society is frankly laughable.

Glad to hear there are some things you like! It's quite similar to my own list. I was starting to get the impression you thought NZ was hell on earth.

[buffy007]

Originally Posted by buffy007

If you want a sunny place to live right next to the beach for children, research Mount Maunganui....

And the wider Bay of Plenty... North Island.

NZ tourist activities: http://www.aatravel.co.nz/101/

[urbandeco]

I spent 11 days travelling around the whole South Island. i think anyone who wants to move to another country just because it is said to be nice is just thinking "the grass is greener on the other side"
NZ did seem very nice as a tourist but when you dig deeper, with thoughts pf possibly moving there, you may be disappointed. If your from the US, Canada, or Europe, the size of NZ and the fact that it is an island away from most of the world, limits your own travel once living there. Even a trip to Australia, is about 4-5 hours away and not a cheap trip. I thought NZ was pretty on par with say Alaska but after awhile, once living there you are confined like most people around the world to your own commute to and from work so my point is you cant just base your thoughts on moving to a place based on travel ratings. In regards to work, and cost, it is a fact that things in NZ are more expensive and the pay is considerably lower than North America. Hence, lower standard of living. However, if that is your dream go for it. I would recommend extended visits first.

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by urbandeco

I spent 11 days travelling around the whole South Island. i think anyone who wants to move to another country just because it is said to be nice is just thinking "the grass is greener on the other side"
NZ did seem very nice as a tourist but when you dig deeper, with thoughts pf possibly moving there, you may be disappointed.

Yes I would agree. Once I started to spend more time in NZ I started to get a taste of daily living and it is certainly different than being a tourist. I kinda of knew all the issues beforehand but once you actually live it you grasp the reality of it. That's why I can't bring myself to live there year round. A few months maybe but year round unlikely.

I think NZ does have a lot of positives but you do surrender a lot if you are used to an American or European standard. I actually think NZ would be of more interest in my retirement years than now in my working prime.

[Spindle]

yes, that's another reason it was so surprising to see such a lack of kiwi women in the workplace. I've worked at two IT places and both are medium sized, but only realized the other day that I have not met one kiwi woman that works full time. Sure, there are a handful of immigrant women, most asian and south african, and british.

well you are in the IT industry. I don't know about America, but go into any IT course at university here in Australia and women seem to be few and far between, kind of like men in nursing.

[Bobnz]

NZ is actually difficult to move to simply because of the immigration requirements, unless you are from the UK/Australia/South Pacific. Especially in terms of getting a job, as you'd need a work visa. Getting residency is far harder, you have to be well educated, and have lots of money, basically.

[TrueDat]

Can someone explain about the lack of insulation in housing? I've heard this about Australia as well. Is this an unfair stereotype or, if it's true, why is it so? Is it for cost? Would it add that much to the cost of the house to have proper insulation? Seems like it would be a good selling point.

[Bobnz]

Originally Posted by TrueDat

Can someone explain about the lack of insulation in housing? I've heard this about Australia as well. Is this an unfair stereotype or, if it's true, why is it so? Is it for cost? Would it add that much to the cost of the house to have proper insulation? Seems like it would be a good selling point.

First, it depends on the location. Houses in Northland probably need little insulation, houses in Southland need a lot. It has a lot to do with building standards, the local councils decide how houses can be built, and what types of insulation are required. Many feel that they have lapsed in their duty to keep their constituents warm.

Living in Christchurch, I see buildings being built with expanded polystyrene which is an extremely good insulator, however you can end up with damp building syndrome, which means that the wood used to prop up the house decays quickly.

Also, houses in NZ last a long time (probably 50-80 years on average) so any changes will take a long time to make a big effect.

Insulating an existing house can be expensive, probably $NZ5-10,000 to do properly, which means fibreglass insulation in the ceiling and bean-bag type polystyrene chips in the wall cavities (note: I am not a builder so take all of the above with a grain of salt).