[beenAwhile]

Hi tottefan (?),

I'd say 'yeah' - on the whole they are a friendly bunch. The thing is, it doesn't always come across that way ;-)

Some Kiwis can be very 'dry' and quite blunt. That doesn't mean that they are being rude - some of them just tell it like it is and that can take some getting used to - my advice would be to let it all wash over you until you know them well enough to give some back !

From a personal perspective I have met some really lovely people - friendly, helpful and chatty. On the other hand I've met some out and out plankers ! I guess it's like anywhere really. My family are (finally) starting to build friendship groups with the 'locals' and my wife and I have shared some good nights out with our Kiwis friends. But in our experience (so far), our social integration tends just to be at group functions - parties and work gatherings for example. We haven't had many (well, any to be honest) invites to Kiwi homes. Plenty of promises but nothing ever materialising. Perhaps we are still being appraised...?

One thing I must say though is that I've not (yet) met a nasty Pom out here. Now - before you all go shouting and sharing your experiences to the contrary - I can say that I honestly haven't. I will also say that ALL of our closest friends here are Poms. We naturally gravitate towards each other ! We can relate more closely to each others experiences I guess and the fact that we have all been through 'it' (emigrating - leaving home, finding homes, finding work, home-sickness etc), we also know EXACTLY what each of us is going through at every step of the way. Believe me, at times that's nice to have.


[quote="tottefan"]I was wondering what people honestly thought about Kiwis. Are they generally a friendly bunch? I'd like to become a part of the community so I wondered how hard that would be.