What is it like to live in New Zealand?

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jmp78

I moved to NZ after living in Paris France nearly all my life and in London as well. I like living here, the pace of life is slower even in Auckland. I do recommend a short holiday here just for you to see what it is like (if you have never been), even though holidaying here isn't the same as living, it will give you an insight on the country.

The weather is pretty temperate but can be quite extreme, as it has been the case recently. The people here are very friendly. For a small country, you are actually able to do a lot of things here. In my experience I was able to do things here I never could in Europe and it's given me the opportunity to do different things and experience a different culture. For me it was the right move but NZ isn't a country for everyone :)

Hope it's helped you a bit!

Doug

New Zealand is a wonderful place to live.

Dune

New Zealand was recently voted 2nd safest country in the world to live.
I would suggest you search some of the main centre's city websites to get an idea of the type of city you want to live in.
As a rule the further south you go the more relaxed the lifestyle is. It is also colder as well.

ardanienalmondite

New Zealand is a gorgeous country, with all the benefits of both a small population (low crime, no overcrowding) and a prosperous western-style economy. Not to mention it's beautiful and the most peaceful of the English speaking countries. Pay no attention to camellia_senensis above, every country has urban areas, but you'll never be far from the suburbs or nature in New Zealand, and that nature is free for everybody.

No country is perfect, but NZ is a heck of a lot safer and cleaner than most.

NZ may be a small country, but there's nothing you could do in the UK that you can't do in NZ.

wintersnow

NZ has a kind of social complexity that you do not encounter in any other country.
It is a small isolated country. So what you think the major source of income is. Of course it is agriculture and tourism.The problem is because salaries are low most educated people leave for better income overseas. This creates a big problem.. As I said it is a small country.So what do think people might feel when most young generation emigrate. Well they feel they are invaded by foreigner migrants especially Asians, Indians and others. For many years white people dominated the country and Maories were lower class citizens. When the white young generation is emigrating the country, fear of losing the power and fear of losing the working class (age 16-45) can cause a hostile environment towards new comersâ€¦.If you spend some time with them you will see how much they adore and admire themselves and their younger ones compared to other nationalities no matter where they are fromâ€¦..This is a dominant cultureâ€¦even if a kiwi commits a crime if the victim is not a main stream New Zealander the chances that lawyers and justice protect their own people is quiet high. Because they want to keep their people and stop them from leaving. This culture exits in all of them .Almost all of themâ€¦politicians, doctors, lawyers, taxi drivers, farmersâ€¦..almost all of them maybe because they want to teach them to value their country and stayâ€¦.however because tourism is their biggest source of income over many many years of dealing with migrants and foreigners they know they need migrants for their moneyâ€¦.I have never seen any other nationality in the world being able to rip off so skilfully as kiwis. They make a slave out of you. They make you work for free. Most skilled migrants are young, motivated, energetic and have some saving. They come to NZ to make a better life. They spend some of their best years of life, the first five years after leaving their country to work hard to achieve nothing instead. I have seen many families break up, I have seen many of them get depressed. A lot of them leave NZ after a few years of putting up with abuse, some leave for Australia, some go back to their home country. Some of the migrants who have some kind of support network and can stand the abuse or work as selfemployed may stay and instead the way they cope with this culture is they turn to be like their kiwi abusive mates. I have seen some of them start cheating, stealing and exploiting others to be able to mentally integrate into the society around them and of course some of them do none of these and stay the way they were but in a less motivated, depressed slavery mood. Ironically when foreigners get ripped off by kiwis they get blamed for not being careful. I have seen young rich Japenese students who get bashed and their money get stolen but instead they will get criticized of being careless. Kiwis have this mentality that foreigners are rich, are pain free and they have their money because their mummy and daddy gives them their money and they do not work hard for it so they deserve their money to be taken away from them because this is the kiwi land and if these foreigners want to stay here they should help us with our economy. We are the best people in this world, our country is the most beautiful country in the world, our government is the least corrupted government of the world(of course that is the other way round), our graduates are the brightest in world, our poo and wee is from gold and because of all these all non-kiwis should adore us and pay us lots and lots of money because we deserve it.

DeepSeaWreck

We emigrated from the UK 4 years ago, and although this is a beautiful country it has the same 21st century problems of the larger populated nations.
Negatives - the small population means higher taxes and less infrastructure. There are still '70's style biker gangs around in the major cities - drug problems etc. High interest rates for mortgages. Wages aren't brilliant.
Inefficient heating in houses. Export Gold.
Positives - The actual country is stunning - the people are proud, fiercely competitive in sport and mostly friendly. No terrorists. They have Guinness.
Come for a holiday - do the travel, try shopping (the biggest change for us) and make up your own mind.

sailzar

i have lived here since i was 7 and i just wanted to get outta the place so i went back to england for 2 years, all i wanted to do was come back to nz i had to leave the place to realise what we have got here!looks like camellia_senensis has lived in christchurch for to long! which isnt even the niced place in nz, so i wouldnt go by anything they said. where i live is a peninsula, which a a really thin bit of land that sticks outta the water so there are heaps of beaches then up the road you have real country side and im only half an hour away from Auckland City so you have get a good job there too. and then there is Queenstown which probably has the best scenery in thw world. so there is somthing for all tastes over here. and do come for a holiday first just so you can have a relaxed look around

Good Luck

Tahini Raving Weirdo

I've moved here from the UK, and I love it. It feels like a whitewashed Britain on a happy pill. I am an anglophile and I like my Victorian buildings, pubs, Minis, Jaguars, and telly, and they're all here.
But I've also lived in Western Canada, California, France, and South America, so I've seen other places and know a fun one from a drab one.
Of all the places I've lived in and visited, NZ is the only one I could wholeheartedly recommend to another person - maybe include Sweden, Canada, and Australia to be fair.
Life in NZ is a lot like life in the UK, with a few differences:
Fuel is cheap, have fun and get a big, powerful car;
Living the good life out in the country is perfectly possible and affordable;
Commuting is easy, no traffic jams;
Restaurants are dirt-cheap, and the food is great;
There is no post-code vanity here;
The culture is softer, no class system, more spiritual - people talk openly about deep things;
The houses and streets are reminiscent of Wales in the 1960s;
The pace of life is unbelievably mellow, with people going traveling and taking time-outs of several years when they feel like it.

event.horizon

I have lived here forever in Christchurch, Canterbury (the largest city of the South Island) and let me tell you if you believe that by moving to New Zealand you will live between wall to wall vistas of environmental beauty then you are wrong.

Most of New Zealand's pristine scenery is contained in our National Parks and/or reserved for those who can afford to buy it.

If you move here you can most probably expect to move into a city. I live in a city and it is no different that any other concrete jungle. There is crime, filth, graffiti, gangs, hoodlums, drugs and violence which is all common place thanks to our pathetic justice system. Murder of a Police Officer only warrants a 16 year sentence here y'know?

There that is what our tourism commissioner wont put in the brochures.

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