moving to New Zealand from USA...what to expect?

[graceschmidt]

Oh, OK...thank you! 8^) I'm obviously a newbie at this 8^)...cheers! Grace

[USAGary]

Should be leaving the USA within the month (cross my fingers) and on the way to a life on the North Island beach at the mouth of the Manawatu River. I look forward to great fish and chips, chocolate, fresh garden vegetables, good environment and nice people. I'll be the big white American on a bicycle accompanied by my Kiwi wife if you happen to cruise by. I am really looking forward to a less hectic life and enjoying the outdoors. We'll be reviving the local radio station too so keep your ears open for "Foxy and the Yank."

[jawnbc]

Originally Posted by USAGary

Should be leaving the USA within the month (cross my fingers) and on the way to a life on the North Island beach at the mouth of the Manawatu River. I look forward to great fish and chips, chocolate, fresh garden vegetables, good environment and nice people. I'll be the big white American on a bicycle accompanied by my Kiwi wife if you happen to cruise by. I am really looking forward to a less hectic life and enjoying the outdoors. We'll be reviving the local radio station too so keep your ears open for "Foxy and the Yank."

Awesome! Be sure to webcast it as well!

[USAGary]

Originally Posted by jawnbc

Awesome! Be sure to webcast it as well!

That's the plan. Also guests via Skype and QQ.

[Kiakaha_Chch]

Mrs Rose



I am from Christchurch which is my home town - I grew up there and I know everything there is to know about Chch, I literally just left (thank God I married a Canadian!)

Pro's
- Awesome access to beaches, mountains (hiking, skiing), rivers, adventure tourism etc
- Generally speaking its cleaner, safer (so long as you're not reckless or just plain stupid).
- Less fast food (which is also expensive on purpose), even though we're 2nd fattest in the world to the US, we don't rely that much on convenience food. We don't have 7/11's, we have dairies which sell bread, milk, junkfood, magazines etc at exorbitant prices, usually run by immigrants.
- Its very easy to have a rural existence in an urban city like Christchurch
- There is no such thing as traffic (comparatively to Auckland), even during 'rush hour' its pretty cruisy.
- Everyone is pretty friendly, and expect you to be open and friendly as well. Its pretty normal to have strangers nod their head and smile at you during a walk, or have people open doors for you, or let you go in front of them in traffic. If you break down on side of the road, people will generously and sincerely help you, no strings attached.
- No large or poisonous animals to worry about, the animal at the top of the food chain out here is your friendly neighborhood cat. You might see or hear the odd possom at night. But seriously - all we've got are lovely little critter insects that don't hurt you that our beautiful native birds like to eat.
- Unlike the US, we are not workaholics and we don't value nor encourage workaholism. Our business hours are family friendly. Most stores open at 8am and close at 5-6pm (all dairies close at 8pm). So if you forgot to buy some milk, you harden up and go without til the next day unless you're so desperate you drive to the nearby BP gas station to sell an organ just to afford their milk. Theres no such thing as 24 hour Walmarts or Drugstores.


Con's

- Umm I hate to say this but most New Zealanders have a strong distaste for Americans. And its highly likely you will get beaten up if you're overheard to say "Gawd Bless AMERICA!!", "If it weren't for America..", "We rule the free world!", "George Bush - what a wonderful man he is!" Also, politics is much more of a private thing in NZ. Its highly insulting to demand a politics debate from someone (since who anyone votes for is their own business not yours) and they hate it even more litening to American's spitting tirades on the opposing side to their chosen party. We honestly don't care.

- In case you've been living in a cave, or maybe CNN or Fox just didn't think it was news worthy but last February (2011), Chch was hit by a huge earthquake. It was bad. Our CBD (downtown) was reduced to rubble, the majority east side of Christchurch is unlivable (because the city is built on an old swamp). Our infrastructure is back up but things are really difficult for a lot of residents hereformany reasons. If you're a trades person, we love you and want you to help us build our city, if not, theres not a lot of work opportunity. Also, the housing situation here is pretty bad. Be expected to pay A LOT for a house that is undamaged and comes with no insulation. Because of the rebuild, no matter where you live you will have to live with the sound of roadworks on your street for a very long time since the majority of the city's pipes are heavily damaged and need to be repaired. Oh did I mention the roads? Lets just say - you're gonna need a car no wait a 4WD with excellent suspension. Though its great if you're in the car mechanics industry.

My recommendation, is that you live in the West side in undamaged family friendly suburbs like Halswel, Hillmorton, Westmorland, Papanui, Belfast. And if you really like the rural lifestyle with a commute to Chch I recommend Lincoln, Rangiora, Pegasus, Tai tapu, Rolleston. But be prepared to come with a lot of money as houses are in high demand and landlords/realtors have no qualms about raising the cost with the high demand.

Last but not least, the aftershocks are slowly but surely going away (hopefully! kinda hard to predict), but they do still occur every now and then but theyre nothing to worry about. Just little wobblies.

[Kiakaha_Chch]

On a second note I also recommend you research everything to do with the February earthquake and how its impacted us, and the infrastructure and systems etc just so you know what you're getting yourself into...

And on a third note if people hear your accent and suddenly look grumpy at you, say you're Canadian and you're from some some obscure place like Saskatoon lol.. If you want to win New Zealanders over quickly - learn rugby and enjoy it - fast. A love of rugby will cover all your sins incl being American. Jokes LOL

[MrsRose]

Originally Posted by Kiakaha_Chch

- Umm I hate to say this but most New Zealanders have a strong distaste for Americans. And its highly likely you will get beaten up if you're overheard to say "Gawd Bless AMERICA!!", "If it weren't for America..", "We rule the free world!", "George Bush - what a wonderful man he is!" Also, politics is much more of a private thing in NZ. Its highly insulting to demand a politics debate from someone (since who anyone votes for is their own business not yours) and they hate it even more litening to American's spitting tirades on the opposing side to their chosen party. We honestly don't care.

Haha. I'm hoping we won't be perceived as 'typical' Americans. We don't exactly have the 'typical' patriotic attitude about the US...hence, the immigrating to NZ.

We understand that the US is a good country to live in compared to some other places when it comes to cost of living, opportunity, freedom, etc... But really, the US isn't what it used to be. And I don't know how anyone could argue that we rule the free world when we are so financially indebted to other countries.



Anyways, where our family moves in NZ (north or south island) will depend on where we get the best job offer.

[cliche]

Originally Posted by Kiakaha_Chch

Mrs Rose



I am from Christchurch which is my home town - I grew up there and I know everything there is to know about Chch, I literally just left (thank God I married a Canadian!)

.

Thank you for a detailed post. I loved the South Island and work in IT (may up my skills if I decided to live there). I visited the South Island last year and fell in love with it (West Coast, Te Anau, Queen Charlotte Drive, Haast Pass etc). I visited Christchurch a week before the earthquake too.


Can I ask you why you seem happy about leaving Christchurch ?

[USAGary]

Originally Posted by Kiakaha_Chch

I hate to say this but most New Zealanders have a strong distaste for Americans.

Kiakaha_Chch,

Wow, so I take it you don't like Americans. Stereotypes abound! It is quite trendy not to like Americans, I googled it and found out. I am quite satisfied to leave people to their own bigotry, I know everyone does not share the same opinion. USA is on my birth certificate and not imprinted on my soul or forehead. But I do have a Kiwi wedding ring on my finger.

I had asked about living in Christchurch and everyone told me it was destroyed and only the rich parts survived. I like it because it is a small town by the ocean. The "pros" above are the trade-offs of living in a small town. Rural life where the streets roll up before dark, less people and so less of many things. Must be quite quaint and I look forward to visiting it. Thanks for the posts.

[jawnbc]

Antipathy towards Americans isn't unique to NZ; generally huge countries that have the population and economy to allow insularity inspire rancour in others. You could change American to Russian or Chinese and get a similar reaction.

Prejudice isn't right; neither is behaving badly and using culture as an excuse. I've seen many do the former towards Americans...and many Americans do the latter.

Be a good, mindful, and self-reflective person and it's all good!