9 months here - our list of likes n dont-likes

[kokopeli]

The fish (from left to right) are a pan-sized snapper, the whale, a trevally and a bigger-pan sized snapper. Although the meat from the trevally was lovely (very sweet), you can't beat fresh snapper.

Taffy, she said that I was beaming SO much that she couldn't get my head and the fish into the same frame! You can imagine how disappointed I felt when I saw that picture.....

[nick_and_jacky]

Bermy Girl

We have just had a Mitsi Heat pump fitted today. 7Kw I think. Just over $3000 fitted. This is probably as close to central heating as you can get in terms of the off-able on-able aspect. They are very efficient, for every $1 of electricty they use they general the equivalent of $4 of heat from say an ordinary fan heater. Its works like a fridge, but backwards. In the winter - cooling the outside and transferring the heat into the house. In the summer it cools it down and throws the heat outside. We will only need it on for an hour in the morning and a few hours at night.

Ordinary oil filled heaters are cheap $50 will get a decent one, but they are more expensive to run than a heat pump or a log burner.

Kokopeli

Got my first kingfish this year, late march with a lure 30kg. I dont eat much fish myself but we hot smoked alot of it and it was yummy. It took about a wek for me to stop smiling. The guys at work didnt talk to me for a coupel of day either!


Forgot to mention the sandflies on our list of dislikes. Nasty little ba$%!$?s. We have gotten used to using spray in the summer and long trousers and tops when the sun goes down, but the little sods catch you off guard quite alot. Apparently, dont know if its true, but according to Maori legend, the gods put sandflies in NZ just to let you know you havent arrived in heaven. I like this tale alot, and yes aprt from the sandflies it nearly is heaven.

[Bermy Girl]

Originally Posted by nick_and_jacky

Bermy Girl

We have just had a Mitsi Heat pump fitted today. 7Kw I think. Just over $3000 fitted. This is probably as close to central heating as you can get in terms of the off-able on-able aspect. They are very efficient, for every $1 of electricty they use they general the equivalent of $4 of heat from say an ordinary fan heater. Its works like a fridge, but backwards. In the winter - cooling the outside and transferring the heat into the house. In the summer it cools it down and throws the heat outside. We will only need it on for an hour in the morning and a few hours at night.

Ordinary oil filled heaters are cheap $50 will get a decent one, but they are more expensive to run than a heat pump or a log burner.

That sounds good! Here's to warmer mornings I know I'm not a big fan of getting out of bed when it's cold, so we will definitely have to invest in heating for the winter mornings. The rest of the time, we'll just do what we do here and wear more clothing because we don't have central heating here either and believe it or not the winters are cold getting down to 9C.

[Dawn]

Yeah, I'm loving this thread too. Thanks for putting my mind at rest re the footy thing. And my boy loves fishing too so I'm going to show him these pics and he'll be well happy.

What's this about kids giving up their seats for adults Amy! No way! You can just imagine what the kids would say here can't you?

More people need to add their likes and dislikes it's so interesting. Keep them coming.

Johnty, September really isn't that far away matey. We were saying that about July in May and now, wow man, it's nearly on us!!!!

[kokopeli]

Forgot to mention the sandflies on our list of dislikes

Ahh sandflies. Hmmm. Now they really are horrible little party poopers. The ones on the North Island are almost friendly compared to the monsters you get on the West Coast. They hang around in big gangs between Te Anau and Milford Sound wearing leather jackets and swinging bike chains. You can wear long sleeves. You can spray repellant. You could even walk round in a mobile mosquito net. They'll get through somehow. It's amazing how something so innocent looking can wreak such havoc and discomfort.

One of the things we like most is that there aren't any sandflies in Christchurch

[RedAlligator]

Ok heres my list. Might be repeating some others here as well.

Likes

1. The weather, even in Auckland it just isnt as cold as the UK.
2. The beaches. Wherever you look there is a beach. The accessibility to the beaches is great.
3. The cafe society
4. The food especially the seafood, crayfish, huge mussels and prawns.
5. The food & wine festivals all over the country love them. Can recommend The Devonport Food & Wine Festival and The Scallop Festival in Whitianga especially and the Auckland Food Show in Greenlane (really good value this one).
6. Also all the cultural festivals around i.e. Pacifica, The Lantern Festival, The Diwhali Festival etc. All great to go to at least once and taste the great ethnic food and buy great ethnic products.
7. How friendly people are and helpful. People even speak to you on buses (not quite like travelling on a tube!).
8. Never ever feeling unsafe travelling home at night from Auckland city back to the North Shore on my own on the buses (always did on the tubes).
9. Batches and great weekends away.
10. Having my very own deck with a bbq on it that is still getting used!
11. Going to super 14 rugby games and seeing the All Blacks live and totally immersing myself in the rugby culture here, love it!

Dislikes

1. Public transport it is pretty crappy, especially for me being a non driver. I can get around though but its still not great.
2. Being so far away from everywhere and paying through the nose to get out of NZ. Really miss the cheapo flights to Europe.
3. Missing my friends from the UK and not being able to get a single one of them over here!
4. Being bitten to death every summer. Never ever got bitten in the UK, ever but they are certainly making up for lost time now.
5. Not being able to buy half sizes in shoes - have really struggled getting shoes here that fit me.

So, there you go. Not many dislikes really and even those ones are nothing major and the positives far outweigh them anyway. The only one that still really bugs me is not being able to my friends to visit me - that is still a huge one for me.

[Dawn]

Now, here's the thing. I always always always get bitten. Even here in the UK if I go for a run through the woods I'm covered in gnat bites when I get back, in my hair, arms, back (no not the hair on my arms and back Taffy!) but they always get me. Abroad the mozzies get me too. I must taste good. Gary never ever gets bitten by anything. So I'm hoping that when we get to NZ everything's gonna turn tables and I'm never going to get bitten again and Gary's life is going to be miserable to make up for the years he's had it good!! But then he'll moan and Jeez you know what men are like for that!

[KiwiHopeful]

Great thread, great posts!

I'm glad to hear about the highs, since it seems that lately there have been a lot of threads about the lows. (That could just be my anxiety speaking, and isn't meant to be a criticism of anyone.)

[GordonUK]

Hi everyone,
I have spent some time reading a thread entitled 'Look before you leap' and then reading this one. What a contrast!
How on earth are we potential future Kiwis to sort our thoughts in the face of such conflicting evidence and 'advice', I wonder...
It is amazing that a family who visited as part of their decision making (as represented by Clare) can come to such a diametrically opposed view to those who began this thread, who could find little more to complain about than cold mornings (I love 'em!) and boy racers (I hate 'em!!).
I suppose it really does stress that we all have to make our own minds up and, as I think Mother Bear wrote, it's very much a case of horses for courses.
Personally, I have found far more to agree with in the positive outlook than in Clare's.
On a personal note, I found her distaste for what appeared to be a lack of 'health and saftey' considerations refreshing. I find the removal of personal 'risk assessing' by the almost obsessive imposition of 'safety' rather worrying. As children, we learned what was safe and dangerous through experimentation and very few of us seemed to perish in the process. The lessons we learned about things that hurt, things that scared us and things that could have been a lot worse still stuck with us and have kept us safe since then. I was positively overjoyed on our annual holiday to France one year to find a sea wall that was not lined with railings bearing 'Danger' signs: clearly the French have the common sense not to step off a 2 metre high wall and fall onto the beach below, even if we British haven't! So if New Zealand still expects its residents (and visitors) to have a degree of common sense and an instinct for self-presevation, that's another point in its favour.

[MotherBear]

Originally Posted by GordonUK

On a personal note, I found her distaste for what appeared to be a lack of 'health and saftey' considerations refreshing. I find the removal of personal 'risk assessing' by the almost obsessive imposition of 'safety' rather worrying. As children, we learned what was safe and dangerous through experimentation and very few of us seemed to perish in the process. The lessons we learned about things that hurt, things that scared us and things that could have been a lot worse still stuck with us and have kept us safe since then.

As they say 'If there's no pain, there's no gain'. The younger generation needs to grow up learning for themselves what's right and what's wrong, otherwise how will they learn to think for themselves? They also need to experience pain for themselves or they won't be able to understand anyone else's. It's part of character-forming and how you deal with problems you're confronted with helps determine what sort of a person you'll grow into. This so-called Nanny State is trying to make our decisions for us, but, being individuals, we need to be allowed to shape our lives the way we want, not how THEY think we want. We need to stretch ourselves and find out who we really are without some inanimate body throwing up alerts and warnings all over the place. It'll come to no good in the end.

As for the Clare debate (and there was another one with Gossage as the star), I believe how well you settle in NZ depends a lot on whether you can let go of your previous life expectations and immerse yourself in a new way of life. Some people happily embrace this whereas others just can't see themselves compromising their current life with their new one i.e. doing without all the trimmings and niceties. It all depends on what you want out of life and your perception of what 'quality of life' means to you personally. We all differ, thankfully, or NZ would either be empty of migrants or overflowing with them.