Aussies and Kiwis....

[InTheSand]

X-ray wrote:
Sooooo....no Kiwis wanting to offer an opinion? Miles? Castellen? InTheSand? Hmmmm?

Heh! I'm a Pommy ex-pat! I've only been in NZ since March 2005.

I've never been to Australia (yet!), so can't really comment there...

But as for New Zealand, pros (at least for me, and in no particular order) are:
* Fantastic vast areas of unspoiled countryside, great scenery and outdoor-oriented lifestyle, etc
* Only 4 million people in a country just over the size of the UK - no overcrowding
* Few traffic problems (unless you live in Auckland!) - in the South Island, on a three hour drive during the day, I'll probably only see ten cars outside of the town areas!
* Friendly people (genuinely)
* Good system for buying a house - it's all signed off within days of an agreement, none of the months and months of uncertainty like there is in the UK (and no such thing as gazumping)
* A relaxed and laid-back pace of life
* A reasonable climate (especially in summer - weeks of great sunny BBQ weather!), and not too hot or cold
* No Australians!! (Just kidding, the Aussies I've met have been good fun!)

Cons (again for me and in no order) are:
* Low wages, cost of living is actually fairly high
* Imported items cost a fortune and take forever to get here
* Computer-related goods (e.g. printers, etc) can actually cost *MORE* in NZ (for NZ/Aus models) than in the UK when doing a direct £ to $ conversion... Unfair! But the manufacturers quote small market size, etc...
* IT jobs are hard to find outside Christchurch, Wellington or Auckland
* The resident telecoms operator is a privatised monopoly (think British Telecom in its worst days of the early 1980s and multiply it by a few thousand), resulting in expensive line rental and expensive capped broadband with no alternative (as other ISPs have to buy their capacity from the incumbent)
* No digital telly (though this is set to change in 2007) unless you pay for the rather poor offering from Sky NZ or make do with a handful of FTA channels, and no digital radio (yet)
* Cold houses! Broadly speaking: no double glazing or central heating, no mains gas (aside from a few areas). Heating in most houses is via a fire in the lounge, using either wood or coal. More modern places use electrically controlled heat pumps but electricity prices are quite high

So, in a nutshell: I really enjoy living here and wouldn't consider going back to the UK.

However, beware the cost of living. It's easy to see NZ as a cheap place when you're bringing in pounds or US dollars, but you'll get a shock when you start earning and thinking in NZ dollars.

 - Ali

[InTheSand]

X-ray wrote:
Do you think a radiographer can earn enough bucks in New Zealand to be comfortable?

Err... I guess so, if you stick to one of the larger towns or cities. A good place to check is on the Seek job site, but often jobs are shown there without a salary range, which can be a pain!

It's good that you have the immigration stuff sorted. Quite a lot of the job ads state that you have to be resident in NZ and with the right visas/permits before you'll even be considered. I'm here on a family working visa at present (my other half's a Kiwi), and I need to apply for residency very soon, currently getting all the evidence together to support my application.

smithy wrote:
I had to choose I think it'd have to be NZ. I love that it's just like England, but even more English than England, in a funny kind of way. It's what England should be like.

I wouldn't say NZ is like England, or that it's particularly English - the old notion that NZ is "like the UK was in the 1950s" no longer holds true. However, people are certainly friendlier to each other and have a lot more respect - imagine how much friendlier people were in the UK in the 1970s and perhaps early '80s, where you could pop down the road and leave your door unlocked, etc, and speak with your neighbours, etc. - it's a bit like that (obviously depending on the area you're in).

 - Ali

[InTheSand]

adz wrote:
So you're one of the few "New Zealanders" that can actually say "Fish and chips" :-P

Hehe! Yep, no "chups" or "fush" for me!  :-)

It took a bit of getting used to the accent, especially to start with! My girlfriend had been in the UK for around five years when I first met her, so her accent wasn't so strong, but coming from the relatively accent-less southern UK, some words do sound weird!

A quick NZ speaking guide!
Fish = Fush
Chips = Chups
Black = Bleck
Ali = Elli (rhymes with "smelly", much to my girlfriend's niece's amusement!)
Check-In = Chicken
New Zealand = NewZild
Grown = Grow-Un
Shown = Show-Un
Pair = Peer
Bare = Beer
Beer = Beer (just to be inconsistent!)
Air = Ear (always amuses me when people talk about the "earport"!)
Beat = Bet
Auction = Oction (but Auckland is not Ockland!)

And, like Australia, every sentence is a question? Which can get a bit annoying? As the intonation is raised at the end regardless? :-)

 - Ali

P.S. Yes, NZ does have fantastic scenery! I nearly always take my camera with me when we go visiting and will quite happily take a few hundred shots in a few days at some places. Glad it's digital, or the cost would bankrupt me!

[InTheSand]

iamaboringperson wrote:
The NZ accent alone puts me off.

It's the worst accent in the world.

Well, that's a bit harsh!

Surely it's not as bad as a Forrest Gump-style accent! Does anyone even speak like that?!  :-)

 - Ali

[InTheSand]

adz wrote:
I really think its just an Aussie thing, for some reason we cannot stand the New Zealander accent. It bares the brunt of many a joke. I guess thats the reason we haven't invaded yet :lol:

I don't think Kiwis fear an invasion from the West Island!  :-)

Besides, your feesh and cheeps wouldn't go down so well!

In any case, to most people outside of Australasia, you all sound like Aussies anyway!

 - Ali

[InTheSand]

So where are the Orcs?!

In Orcland of course!  :crazy:

(Sorry!)

 - Ali