[Dawn]

Duke, we are that working class family you're talking about who sold absolutely everything and came over with not a lot of cash. We've only been here a few weeks so aren't qualified to tell you how we're managing on a weekly basis but let me tell you what our first impressions are.

We were in the US last Christmas doing the Disney thing (waste of money imho) we had the cash from the house sale and thought it was a once in a lifetime thing we'd like to do for the kids. When we were there we were astounded at how cheap everything was compared to the UK and I mean everything. Houses, cars and driving, groceries, eating out, clothes, shoes, sports gear, everything was cheaper and people get paid well. But would I want to live there? Not if it were the last place on earth, well unless it was all Montana and I had a horse. Don't take any offence please American peeps, just my take.

NZ in comparison to the UK is a difficult one to call I think. There's no sense to stuff just as KH says. The things I imagined would be cheaper aren?t and vice versa. Over the two and a bit years I?ve been on this forum I have noticed that it?s generally been the Americans that seem to think things are much more expensive, the cost of living here compared to the UK isn?t that different all things considered.

The first time we went food shopping in a supermarket here we thought food was expensive. Tesco is massive in the UK, their buying power must be immense, Asda is owned by Walmart (no they?re not as big as those immense stores you have in the US) we?re used to walking into these places and picking up everything we need cheaply. Here in NZ, supermarkets haven?t YET destroyed small business, there are still little individual shops that sell their wares cheaper than the supermarkets so if you go to the butchers for meat and the grocers for fruit and veggies etc etc stuff?s a lot cheaper. We?ve also realised that it?s really only the processed foods that are expensive here so buy fresh ingredients and cook. The veggies are three times as big here as in the UK and they?re fresher and more colourful and in season.

We secured a rental the other day and that is cheaper than we were paying at home for a similar sized house with more land. We went out and bought loads of the basic stuff we?re gonna need, kitchen stuff, towels, pillows, plates, cups, cookware, iron, ironing board, kettle, toaster, espresso machine etc etc and we didn?t buy crap, there was about 4 trolleys full from different stores and we spent about $1000. I don?t reckon that?s bad. We got a cracking deal in the electrical store ? Electrolux brand new model front loading washer, Tumble Dryer, Chest Freezer, Fridge-Freezer, Microwave, Digital Phone, 29? Panasonic TV, Dyson vacuum, 2 sets of headphones chucked in plus free delivery and fitting and all the extraction hose fittings for the dryer $4400. $4400. Yeah, I negotiated but they were up for it and came through. That is loads cheaper than in the UK and not crap brands either. We went looking at furniture today; sofas, beds, tables etc. In the UK we had a lot of handmade reclaimed pine stuff that was moderately expensive not overly so but nice stuff. We were gobsmacked! It?s less than half the price here and yes I know I?m comparing it to ??ssss but vair vair good value!

We?re watching pennies, we?ve got to. We don?t have the luxury of a nest egg sat somewhere gaining interest. We made a bit on the house, we didn?t have any savings, to be honest I don?t think we?re ever likely to have, so what we?ve got has got to work for us. What we do feel is that this place is full of opportunity, if you have a nose for business and an eye for a niche you could get on very well here. We have a feeling that this place is going to be the making of us and in more ways than a few. We are little people, grandiose has never been our style, making an honest living and getting the most out of it is more our scene. Come and join us Duke, there?s definitely room for a few more.