Move to New Zealand?

[wez130]

If I got offered a job in Helmand Province I still would've given it thought over Wigan mate

I'm on North Shore in a small place called Torbay. I love it on the North Shore, when I come over the bridge from Auckland going North I get a sense of 'home feeling' as soon as I get on this side

I'm not meeting in Hamilton if that's what you want ha ha.

I'm in auckland to, infact, i'm probably about a 40 minute drive from you, though it feels a million miles from Auckland CBD lol.

@[FnG]magnolia, what do you disagree with about Auckland? Don't get me wrong, I do like the city, but essentially, that is what it is, it has highrises, shops, bars, cafes & restaurants, a uni, museums, parks and millions of tourists roaming the street (usually). Traffic is crazy, just like most cities.

 

[[FnG]magnolia]

I'm in auckland to, infact, i'm probably about a 40 minute drive from you, though it feels a million miles from Auckland CBD lol.

@[FnG]magnolia, what do you disagree with about Auckland? Don't get me wrong, I do like the city, but essentially, that is what it is, it has highrises, shops, bars, cafes & restaurants, a uni, museums, parks and millions of tourists roaming the street (usually). Traffic is crazy, just like most cities.

Hey buddy

I think it's about whether you like cities or not. So to your point, is Auckland any different or better than other cities? Well, it does get voted in the top 10 cities in which to live each year but that doesn't mean much if you don't want to live in a city.

Auckland is a group of suburbs that loosely align to form a city; there's flex, expansion, and a looseness which you don't find in Wellington (a very traditional and conventional 'city' by NZ standards). I find it [e: Wellington, for clarity] small and slightly boring because of that. I'd still live there more than anywhere in the UK, or most of the world actually, because it walks that very fine line between city and community feel, all the time like it's pretending not to be a village and wearing grown up clothes.

Anyway, did we ever hear from back from @almoststew1990 and where he's likely to be based?

e: clarity.

 

[MissChief]

While I appreciate you asking for advice, TBH I'd be out of here like a shot. England is rapidly going to **** and unless Scotland gets it's independence in the next 5 years will likely follow suit. Boris could be in charge until 2024. Let that sink in. And brexit will continue the recession we've entered thanks to Coronavirus for several years. You wouldn't see me for dust. Think of it like this, if you're still here in 2 or 3 years time will you sit at home thinking 'Boy I'm glad we didn't go to NZ!'? Of course not. If you don't like it you can come back you know?!

 

[yer_averagejoe]

I moved to New Zealand from Dundee last June so I have a year under my belt and have done a lot in that time - travelling to a lot of places in the north and south island.

I moved with my work - basically switching offices (we have one in Dundee and one in Auckland - Kumeu to be precise) so that side of things have been really easy. I already knew people I was going to be working with and my work remained realtively unchanged. I'm currntly living in a suburb of Auckland called Te Atatu peninsula, so not in the city but it's only a 15 minute drive away. One thing I will say - and it's important if you do consider living here, is that 15 minutes going towards the city at rush hour can easily turn into an hour. I'm lucky, as my commute takes me in the opposite direction to the main flow of traffic so I have a 20 minute commute each way.

Auckland is a terrible city for tourists. Public transport is shocking, it's not a 'pretty' city (infact, the aesthetics of a lot of Kiwi towns leave a lot to be desired. I think in britain we're spoiled by grand old buildings and a general sense of cohesion in architecture and highstreet visual standards), and it's pretty spread out. You can't spend a day walking around the city like you can in more metropolitan places like san fransisco, melbourne, barcelona, edinburgh etc. and that space leads to a certain sense of social distance while living here too. All your friends live not within walking distance, but driving distance. Which kills the idea of nipping out to the pub or catching a drink with colleagues on a friday evening.

BUT, it is a good city to live in. Once you get to know the place, you learn its secrets, the food, the parks, the markets and shopping districts etc. There's a lot going on in Auckland - you just need to dig a little.

So where you might want to live depends really on what kind of person you are. Coming from Dundee which is a small, hyper-social city - I'd have been better placed in Wellington, honestly. But that doesn't mean I don't prefer Auckland to Dundee.

However, the city you choose to live in is not representetive of New Zealand. The whole country is designed around being outside. And that outside is nothing short of magnificent. I can take a 45m ferry from Auckland and be climbing a dormant volcano. I can drive to the west coast and hike in aincient forests or go surfing. The east coast is great for swimming and snorkelling. To the north I can mountain bike and further north is no shortage of beaches (that are basically tropical in nature) and more hiking. I can take a weekend to go skiing in either the north or the south island. The South Island is just other wordly, with incredible mountains, glaciers and multi-day hikes.

Summer is actually summer here, in that it lasts for months! and the winter isn't even that bad! if You get a sunny day in winter - that's a perfectly usable day! I was camping last winter while trying to discover the country a bit and that was pretty much like camping in summer in scotland

Life is more laid back for sure - people value their free time more than time in work (as evident by the number of bank holidays!) and people are friendly (like the scottish).

Go for it.

Edit. I'm also 30ish, if that helps. And wanted to add, I can't tell you how much of a relief it is to live in a country with a competent PM

 

[skaif]

Just go already!

 

[regulus]

Been here six and a half years now. I'd say go for it. I'm in Wellington so slightly biased when I say it's probably one of the better cities to live in in NZ, but I could just as happily live in Tauranga, Auckland or Dunedin. I'd stay away from Christchurch. Lived there for about 2-3 years and whilst it's undeniable pretty in certain areas, there's something off about the mood of the place which I just can't put my finger on. It's the Somerset of New Zealand in my opinion . Saying that, I met heaps of other Brits there that swear by it. YMMV.

I think I've so acclimatized to the place that I cannot look at it with fresh eyes anymore. I find it hard to see what the tourists see. I'm just another local now with a slightly suspicious accent. It's NZ. It does what it says on the tin. You can expect all the things here you read about or the photos you've seen. There's also downsides but I'm not really affected by it (house prices, low wages in certain sectors, poor quality housing, expensive food prices, etc) or have gotten so used to it that I don't notice it anymore.

Your attitude will be the most important. I sat in a design meeting last week with a Welshman that's been here 9 years. He pines for 'home'. He kept arguing with the consultants by starting his sentences 'in the UK, this is not how it's done ... '. He desperately misses the smokey old man pubs on a rainy Sunday afternoon and the stagger home past ancient churches and scattered monuments on the green hills of 'home'. You won't get that here. You have to understand that it's a different country and culture. It will bend to accommodate you (Kiwis are good like that) but it won't waste much time on people that still have one foot in the UK. And there's many of them here. Don't know why they torture themselves instead of just heading back home, but there you go.

It's been good for and to me, but I do think I'll head back to the UK eventually. Maybe just for a few years sometime in my early to mid 40s. Either to reintroduce myself to the place or properly say goodbye. And also for my daughter to get a taste of where her old man grew up and tread some of the same roads.