thoughts after 3months

[clairebear]

Hi everyone. We started looking into this a year ago and have been living here for 3 months. I thought i would give my opinions which will hopefully be of some use. NZ is a clean relatively safe place. We are living about 50mins outside Napier and have travelled about abit. It really helps if you are into outdoor pursuits, and not just a walk in the park! It takes quite an effort to access mountain areas due to distances involved and size of montains. At the start you think things are cheap when you convert to sterling but i quickly realised that cost of food, electricity, phone is similar to UK. White goods are not cheap, even NZ wine is not cheap.
Scenery and slower pace of life is a definite plus. Hawkes Bay gets good weather, though i think weather is undergoing same sort of changes as uk (eg.not as good, less predictable, it was freezing when we arrived in Dec at start of summer). NZ cities are not up to much, there isn't the same pub culture as Uk which can be a positive or a negative. One thing we didn't realise was, the reason there is such a labour shortage is because alot of 20-40 year old kiwis are in Uk and Oz making better weather. Beaches on the East coast are comparable to beaches on coast of Ireland. Access is often very poor and actually dangerous, there are often very steep, narrow unsurfaced roads to get to them. Lovely beaches at the Coromandel, but water is freezing, wet suit required.
Happy to answer any questions.

[clairebear]

I meant better money not weather, though that too, ha,ha.

[nessie]

[quote:fb43a7482a="clairebear"] even NZ wine is not cheap.[/quote:fb43a7482a]

:021:

[quote:fb43a7482a]i think weather is undergoing same sort of changes as uk [/quote:fb43a7482a]

Hmm, icebergs off the coast, worst weather for 60 years. I think its just a blip :107:

[quote:fb43a7482a]Beaches on the East coast are comparable to beaches on coast of Ireland. Access is often very poor and actually dangerous, there are often very steep, narrow unsurfaced roads to get to them. [/quote:fb43a7482a]

If its anything like the Antrim coast then I'll be very happy indeed. First thing on the shopping list is a Toyota Landcruiser or Surf. And it won't just be used for the school run :icon_wink:

Thanks for sharing that clairebear. Where abouts in Norn Iron are ya from? You're probably still in the honeymoon period with NZ, but has it lived up to your expectations? Anything you wished you had or hadn't taken with you?

F