I haven't seen this addressed yet, and I'm curious about the cultural climate of NZ.
I live in the West of the US, in ranch country, and the people here tend to be very opinionated and open about their views, on everything from politics to childrearing. What's it like in NZ? Is it vastly different from one island to another? Everyone says that kiwis are laid-back - but in what way? Will I be ostrasized because, even for an American, I've got a big mouth? (LOL, not really, but you know what I mean) I tend to be very forthright in my speech and have offended Westerners, because I grew up in Boston, which really [i:463be0298f]is[/i:463be0298f] 3000 miles away culturally.

And what about the symphony? Art museums? Science museums? All the goodies, you know. :icon_wink:

We were thinking of moving because of the recent political scene in the US, and decided that, regardless of the outcome of the election (in November) that our family would be better off elsewhere. The environmental damage alone done to this country is appalling. NZ is still a fairly clean country - are there policies in place to keep it that way? There are other political reasons to move, mostly due to our religious beliefs. What's the official/unofficial climate in regard to separation of church and state? For you curious folk, we're Quakers, which means we are pacifists. (Very hard to live in a country at war, with the death penalty.)

I've been reading the posts about making a living in NZ, too. Are the technical/science jobs mostly in the bigger cities? I'll be coming over with a degree in Chemistry, but I think we'll be actually better off financially there than here. Any ideas about where to check the starting pay for various sectors?

Thanks for listening to the spout. We won't be moving until I finish my degree, in 3 years or so. I am on the pay-as-I-can college program, which means about one class a term. Slow, but I'll get there. There are internships available that I'll be looking into in a year or so. It's a good way to check out the country!

- Phantasm