Negative aspects about life in NZ?

[ourquest]

As humans we do seem to have a tendency to want an improvement in everything, when this is a bit over-optimistic. It is all so personal too; some people are predominantly positive, some are negative. To some money is significantly important and they feel that their personal worth is reduced if they take a pay cut. Others have situations in the own country of origin which mean that a move to NZ will by definition be an improvement.

And despite all of these factors, everyone's own moods will vary and some days it will all seem worthwhile, and other days it most definitely won't, and so the danger of listening to other people's opinion is that you have absolutely no way of knowing their own personal circumstances, motives or mental outlook at the time of voicing the opinion. Most of the time, we don't even know ourselves.

Bottom line is you could pay everyone a six figure income, and some will complain. The sun could shine every day and some will complain. It might rain every day, and some will complain.

Complaints are only thoughts, and not entirely related to the subject about which these people complain. For example, an interesting thread on a controversial forum looking at the negatives about NZ, and specifically that of racism, left me with the distinct impression that the contributors had confused their condemnation of racism (justified) with a condemnation of NZ as a whole (unjustified). The entire thread would give the average reader the feeling that NZ was the problem, and not the attitudes of some individuals who might have lived anywhere.

In summary, NZ isn't one person's experience, or one type of weather, or represented by one person's salary, and if you (anyone reading this) is an objective, adaptable, tolerant and positive thinker then you will enjoy and benefit from most experiences in life. So the ultimate advice is to place more emphasis on improving these traits in yourselves than on taking to heart other's opinions of external factors outside of your control.

Knowledge is power, but knowing about yourself comes first.

[LesleyS]

Very insightful Ourquest, and objectively written.

I still maintain that the wages we have been offered for a highly skilled worker with experience in an area of 'immediate skills shortages' are not adequate to support a family - so far they do not even cover rent and food! And our expectations before we arrived were not 'rose tinted'.

[Moorf]

I have friend who is a native New Zealander (she lives in Holland with her Fiance at the moment). Regardless, she says that for some industries it is more or less expected that new graduates of university will go overseas to get themselves experience. No wonder that many of them stay for longer than a few years.
She has mentioned that the typical post university plan tends to either involve starting a new business in NZ (entrepreneurial spirit ) or going overseas for a few years of experience.
It's also common, according to her, to rack up lots of debt before age 30 and then at 30 look at moving home to NZ and settling down and paying off the debt.
Not sure how accurate that is, but certainly an interesting perspective.

My neighbour's daughter lives and works in Melbourne (Kiwi born and bred) and I remember her telling me how, because she's out of the country, she doesn't have to repay any of her student loan (which, 10 yrs after Uni and a stint in UK, is till c. $15k) - I think she also mentioned the interest is frozen? Either way, sounded like a good reason for not coming back until they could save to repay to me.

Does anyone else know of this arrangement? I may have grasped the wrong end of the stick.....

[incredible hulse]

My neighbour's daughter lives and works in Melbourne (Kiwi born and bred) and I remember her telling me how, because she's out of the country, she doesn't have to repay any of her student loan (which, 10 yrs after Uni and a stint in UK, is till c. $15k) - I think she also mentioned the interest is frozen? Either way, sounded like a good reason for not coming back until they could save to repay to me.

Does anyone else know of this arrangement? I may have grasped the wrong end of the stick.....

Not sure if this is true now. I've looked recently at getting a student loan to pay for a CPL for helicopters. One of the thoughts I had was then to go to Oz to work and the loan would be frozen until/if I returned to NZ as I had been told by a colleague this was possible. What actually happens now is after 6 months out of the country the loan becomes interest bearing and repayments have to start.

In terms of negative aspects of NZ and why young locals would want to leave I would cite the following :
- Work - not just poor salaries but also the fact that in many areas NZ is way behind the rest of the world in terms of infrastructure and technology. I suspect if you were a bright young kiwi who wanted to be pushed you would have more chance in Europe, US or Oz.
- Travel - the rest of the world contains a lot of historic, cultural places that just aren't available in NZ
- Fun - I would suspect if you had grown up in Hicksville, NZ the thought of London, Paris, New York, etc would be an attraction for some in their late teens.

[boatieman]

Hi I would love to PM you on this but you have PM switched off. Let me know when you switch it on

[pleccy2000]

As humans we do seem to have a tendency to want an improvement in everything, when this is a bit over-optimistic. It is all so personal too; some people are predominantly positive, some are negative. To some money is significantly important and they feel that their personal worth is reduced if they take a pay cut. Others have situations in the own country of origin which mean that a move to NZ will by definition be an improvement.

And despite all of these factors, everyone's own moods will vary and some days it will all seem worthwhile, and other days it most definitely won't, and so the danger of listening to other people's opinion is that you have absolutely no way of knowing their own personal circumstances, motives or mental outlook at the time of voicing the opinion. Most of the time, we don't even know ourselves.

Bottom line is you could pay everyone a six figure income, and some will complain. The sun could shine every day and some will complain. It might rain every day, and some will complain.

Complaints are only thoughts, and not entirely related to the subject about which these people complain. For example, an interesting thread on a controversial forum looking at the negatives about NZ, and specifically that of racism, left me with the distinct impression that the contributors had confused their condemnation of racism (justified) with a condemnation of NZ as a whole (unjustified). The entire thread would give the average reader the feeling that NZ was the problem, and not the attitudes of some individuals who might have lived anywhere.

In summary, NZ isn't one person's experience, or one type of weather, or represented by one person's salary, and if you (anyone reading this) is an objective, adaptable, tolerant and positive thinker then you will enjoy and benefit from most experiences in life. So the ultimate advice is to place more emphasis on improving these traits in yourselves than on taking to heart other's opinions of external factors outside of your control.

Knowledge is power, but knowing about yourself comes first.

You have a great way with words.