[Nigel]

Hi All,
Interesting reading about other's experiences in N.Z.
My wife & I moved to Palmerston North in 2002 with our then 12yr old daughter.
We just packed up, sold all, I came on a visitors permit, got a job as a Toolmaker and then applied for permanent residency. We figured if it all went wrong we'd have a nice 3yr holiday in N.Z.
We left Eastern Ontario, Canada, near Montreal/Ottawa. Also a nice place.

Both my wife and I love N.Z. Yes the standard of living ( money wise ) is lower. Energy costs eg: power, gas are much higher, but that is not what we moved here for. If money was the issue the U.S. would probably offer the highest standard of living.

Access to Tramping ( hiking ) is awesome. Within 1-1 1/2 hr of Palmy I have the Tararua and Ruahine forest parks and an awesome array of huts and tracks, tons of hunting, no season for deer here. Hunt all you want as deer are a pest.

My wife found a great job and loves the low key lifestyle. Kiwi's work very hard in our experience, ( not unlike Canuck's!! ) and we found very little culture shock at work.

As far as crime, racism etc... I don't really know what to say...yes petty crime is a problem here in Palmy. But it's a University town....Massey...so kids hoon around on the weekend, but Montreal was also scary at night...

The tension between Maori and Pakeha is palpable in the news, not a problem on the streets and workplaces i've visited.
Canada also has native issues, but we have them confined to " reservations". Do a search for " Oka crisis " on Google news to see how relations between Mohawk and whites are in eastern Canada.
My point is that we'll make of something what we want. Both positive and negative.

So as Canadians in N.Z. for going on 2 yrs, we love it.

Nigel in Palmerston North.