# So whats NZ really like?



## atalia

Hiya, obviously every place has its good and bad. I haved lived and travelled in a lot of places. For the past five years we have lived in Portugal. For anyone with teenage children I would not recommend it. There is a lack of sporting/social activities to do for them. Also the job market is pretty bleak for them. 
Will it be anyway better in NZ?
For me, well if you are not into big time boozing, then Portugal isnt much fun either!!
We will be in the Waipu area to begin with but am open to suggestions of hidden gems.
Thanks-Maria.


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## kiwigser

atalia said:


> Hiya, obviously every place has its good and bad. I haved lived and travelled in a lot of places. For the past five years we have lived in Portugal. For anyone with teenage children I would not recommend it. There is a lack of sporting/social activities to do for them. Also the job market is pretty bleak for them.
> Will it be anyway better in NZ?
> For me, well if you are not into big time boozing, then Portugal isnt much fun either!!
> We will be in the Waipu area to begin with but am open to suggestions of hidden gems.
> Thanks-Maria.


Lifestyle, Pretty good, especially if you like the outdoor life. Teenagers have a lot more freedom here. Sport is top of the list and if you want social activities then join a few clubs, groups etc. and you will find people of your ilk. Kiwis like people with positive attitudes, and will avoid whingers. 

Of all our many friends here, none have returned to the UK or left for Aus.


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## Song_Si

not easy to generalise about a country; for every good point one migrant may mention, another could well counter with a negative.
as with most countries there are places more/less desirable to live
before any international move I'd suggest a holiday to look at the territory.


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## atalia

*Hi there*

Well I am definately not a whinger or negative. So that is good to hear. In fact that is on of the things that is driving me away from Portugal. My son has suffered a lot due to lack of sporting opportuities. He runs and cycles a lot, plus we had horses here, so that kept us sane. What part of NZ are you in?


kiwigser said:


> Lifestyle, Pretty good, especially if you like the outdoor life. Teenagers have a lot more freedom here. Sport is top of the list and if you want social activities then join a few clubs, groups etc. and you will find people of your ilk. Kiwis like people with positive attitudes, and will avoid whingers.
> 
> Of all our many friends here, none have returned to the UK or left for Aus.


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## atalia

*Love the car!!*

Hi, we are doing the move step by step. I am keeping our house here. Hubby is staying here. It is just my son and I doing an extended recky. I am spending a few months in the North Island. I am also going when the weather isnt at its most desirable. Therefore I am not loking at it thro holiday shades!!!
All quite sensible I thought?


Song_Si said:


> not easy to generalise about a country; for every good point one migrant may mention, another could well counter with a negative.
> as with most countries there are places more/less desirable to live
> before any international move I'd suggest a holiday to look at the territory.


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## kiwigser

atalia said:


> Well I am definately not a whinger or negative. So that is good to hear. In fact that is on of the things that is driving me away from Portugal. My son has suffered a lot due to lack of sporting opportuities. He runs and cycles a lot, plus we had horses here, so that kept us sane. What part of NZ are you in?


Auckland, as are the majority of kiwis and immigrants. Good life and not much chance of an Earthquake. We have the Hauraki Gulf and islands, which should never be taken for granted.


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## topcat83

kiwigser said:


> Auckland, as are the majority of kiwis and immigrants. Good life and not much chance of an Earthquake. We have the Hauraki Gulf and islands, which should never be taken for granted.


...but always the remote chance of a volcano! And Kiwigser is right - the Hauraki Gulf and the islands are beautiful - in their own way just as much as the Bay of Islands.


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## kiwigser

atalia said:


> Hi, we are doing the move step by step. I am keeping our house here. Hubby is staying here. It is just my son and I doing an extended recky. I am spending a few months in the North Island. I am also going when the weather isnt at its most desirable. Therefore I am not loking at it thro holiday shades!!!
> All quite sensible I thought?


Extremely sensible. Regarding the weather, you will appreciate this, we have just had our nth brilliant summer. Now mid march (Sept up north), still in sunnies, shorts and tee shirts, with sun block, and one sheet over us at night. I can see the boaties going out onto the gulf, and hear the circadas making a racket. Just driven open top up the coast past Maraitai and had coffee looking over the beach. 
A group of my mates kiwi and ex brits, were out diving at the weekend, we might take the kayak out this weekend.

You probably cannot see this in Ireland, but give it a try

North | Television New Zealand | Television | TV One, TV2, U, TVNZ 7


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## Song_Si

hi - very sensible; I can make a comparison with our shift to Thailand; this week moved to our third 'permanent' location in our 3rd year here, takes some time to know an area and if it is for you.
For me if I were to move back to NZ ideally I'd head for Tauranga/Bay of Plenty area - I like it there - but know people who don't. 
Takes all sorts!

Best wishes for your NZ experience.


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## Dumbo

Where ever you go in New Zealand you are close to most things. Don't centre your thoughts on just Auckland and the bigger cities. Many smaller centres have just as many attractions. Cheaper housing, many sporting activties. Just one example is Wanganui. Temperate climate, friendly people and very sports orientated.


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## valuesourcer

Dumbo said:


> Where ever you go in New Zealand you are close to most things. Don't centre your thoughts on just Auckland and the bigger cities. Many smaller centres have just as many attractions. Cheaper housing, many sporting activties. Just one example is Wanganui. Temperate climate, friendly people and very sports orientated.


Wanganui is very tight knit community and not many jobs. Unless you consider retirement there and you have some good savings stashed up, it'll be challenging to continue to live in Wanganui.


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## Dumbo

Wanganui is one of many. If you like the big cities with it's high housing costs ok or the more rural area's with cheaper housing and friendly people ok. It depends on what you are looking for and what you can afford and your lifestyle expectations.


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## Song_Si

I'm not sure what to make of this article, have only seen one Woody Allen movie that i can recall, and I can't see any parallels from that one (_Vicki Christina Barcelona_) not qualified to comment on this man's comparisons . . . 

Over to the forum!

*Kiwis suffering 'Woody Allen syndrome' - US academic*
Thursday Jun 23, 2011

*New Zealanders behave like American comedian Woody Allen, with an attitude to their economy that is "a bit depressed and neurotic" when in fact "by every possible metric, New Zealand is a success," a visiting US academic has told a top level seminar on the country's economic imbalances.*

Viewers of Allen's movies soon realised "the whining is not fully justified", even if there are "certain traits that could be improved on," said Professor Sebastian Edwards from the University of California, Los Angeles and the US National Bureau of Economic Research.

"As Woody, many New Zealanders worry a lot," he told the two day seminar, jointly organised by The Treasury, the Reserve Bank, and Victoria University, who commissioned Edwards and two other highly regarded international economists to analyse New Zealand's economic weaknesses.

"They worry about the economy and about the country's position in the world.

"They are convinced things are going downhill, and believe that the future looks rather bleak."

Where Woody Allen has a beautiful girlfriend, interesting friends, a nice apartment and a well-paid job, New Zealand is "at the very top" of the World Bank's rankings for "doing business", has one of the strongest educational systems in the world, and is one of the least corrupt countries.

"There is no imminent danger of a crisis, growth is likely to be realtively robust in the next few years, net indebtedeness is indeed high but has declined recently, and policies to address low savings and vulnerabilities are being put in place, or at least are being considered."

But, like Woody, if New Zealand worked hard on a few glaring issues, it could make the country's position in the world "even better", and there was some evidence that political concerns were behind the failure to push ahead on policies to improve both productivity growth and competitiveness, which could improve economic performance "markedly."

Edwards also expressed surprise that economic policies aimed at insulating New Zealand, with its high levels of external private debt, from international economic shocks had not been discussed as an "insurance" issue.

"When the probability of 'bad states of the world' increases, it is generally recommendable to 'purchase' additional insurance."

And if insurance proves difficult to buy, 'self-insurance' mechanisms were often adopted.

Among options the government could consider were whether the country's international currency reserve holdings were sufficient to meet a crisis, whether more macro-prudential regulation of the banking sector could be justified, indexing government bonds to the terms of trade or the borrowing spread, and the establishment of pre-approved swap lines from major central banks.

Taxing capital inflows was another possibility, although this had not been found to be effective in other countries, with prudential regulations more likely to cover the risks such taxes were intended to mitigate.

Of the economic performance issues New Zealand faced, the most important were the decline in the tradeables sector over the last decade, and the country's relatively low services sector productivity, particularly in the public sector.

"For services as a group, New Zealand's productivity is only 75.3 per cent that of Australia during the most recent period (2001 - 2006)," Edwards said.


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## kiwigser

*Aussie baiting*

Must add the national sport of Aussie Baiting, (if from the UK, Scotland versus England). A large proportion of Aussie have this "we are the best" at what ever, as the Guardian put it "They (Australia) have turned superiority into an art form".

This is confined generally to sport, when we loose its down to the 5:1 population advantage that Australia has, or they have bought our best players. But when we win, that's a different matter. Yesterday the Baby Blacks trounced the Young Wallabies 37 7 in the world champs, the All blacks keep beating the Wallerbies even if they have a Kiwi coach. The Silver ferns are world champs, so are the Kiwi's and didn't they squirm and try to fiddle things when we won the Basketball league.

Finally of course our cricketers and soccer teams got further in their respective world championships. 

Of course all ribbing is in the "best possible taste"


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## anski

kiwigser said:


> Must add the national sport of Aussie Baiting, (if from the UK, Scotland versus England). A large proportion of Aussie have this "we are the best" at what ever, as the Guardian put it "They (Australia) have turned superiority into an art form".
> 
> This is confined generally to sport, when we loose its down to the 5:1 population advantage that Australia has, or they have bought our best players. But when we win, that's a different matter. Yesterday the Baby Blacks trounced the Young Wallabies 37 7 in the world champs, the All blacks keep beating the Wallerbies even if they have a Kiwi coach. The Silver ferns are world champs, so are the Kiwi's and didn't they squirm and try to fiddle things when we won the Basketball league.
> 
> Finally of course our cricketers and soccer teams got further in their respective world championships.
> 
> Of course all ribbing is in the "best possible taste"


Kiwigser,

As an Aussie, let me tell you it's all a game & worldwide sport always seems to result in divisions of opinion. :boxing:

The Aussies don't only rib the Kiwi's but if you live in Sydney or Melbourne the same friendly rivalry goes on. When I lived in Sydney we all used to boast that Sydney Harbour was better than the Yarra River etc. If you live in Tasmania then you can only expect the insults to be worse!

The greatest stirrers in the world would have to be the Aussies.

But when the chips are down in either country they are usually the first to offer each other help.


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## Song_Si

anski said:


> But when the chips are down in either country they are usually the first to offer each other help.


recent years have seen plenty of examples of this, NZ teams to assist in firefighting efforts, flood relief too in Australia, and NZ getting expertise and people from OZ mines when the Pike River mine blew last year, then the huge support from Australia, search and rescue personnel plus 300 Police to assist after the Christchurch earthquakes.

There is nothing political about this support - it's what friends do.


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## Dumbo

Yep! It is called the ANZAC spirit. Proud of it.


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## topcat83

Song_Si said:


> recent years have seen plenty of examples of this, NZ teams to assist in firefighting efforts, flood relief too in Australia, and NZ getting expertise and people from OZ mines when the Pike River mine blew last year, then the huge support from Australia, search and rescue personnel plus 300 Police to assist after the Christchurch earthquakes.
> 
> There is nothing political about this support - it's what friends do.


Absolutely. And it's when two parties (people or countries) feel comfortable enough to gently take the mick out of each other that you know they're _good_ friends.


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