[Taffy]

Hi Lara,

It's important to know that NZ isn't a crime free paradise. In some parts of the country crime, drugs and gangs are also dominant features of life. The thing is though, that for the best part, NZ IS a safe country to live. You do feel safe walking down the road at whatever time of day, depending on where you live of course. Gangs only tend to fight with other gangs, and leave the general population out of it. Serious crimes tend to be solved and in most neighbourhoods, people look out for eachother.

South Auckland has the worst reputation in the country, and when you see it you can tell it's probably not a nice place to live. There's a lot of graffiti and run down houses. Apparently Gisbourne has serious gang issues, but I'm not certain of that never having been there.

The thing is, here you can usually tell whats a good and bad area just by looking at it. It's easier to find a good neighbourhood than a bad one, and often the biggest issues in choosing an area are the reputation of the local schools and the houses available to buy - some parts have old houses which can be damp and draughty!

So in short, NZ does suffer from crime (show me a country that doesn't) but in all the time I've been here I've never once felt threatened. I feel safe in the city centre no matter what time of day or night.

You can live in much worse places than NZ!