Member
Actually electricity prices are more expensive than Australia. Also house prices in Nz are more expensive when compared to income earned. Weather in New zealand is colder in winter but much cooler than Australia in summer. Wages are higher in Australia. Melbourne and Sydney are becoming overcrowded,public transport in Melbourne is not very good especially trains. Don't believe the poisonous snakes /spiders thing. This is more in the rural areas of Australia and attacks are not that common.
Member
Having posted all that we are moving to Wellington asap as the summers in Australia are hot and brutal. The climate in NZ is more to our liking. We will be sacrificing higher wages but it's about lifestyle and being comfortable. Also the population in Wellington is small for a capital city and not as crowded. Melbourne is bursting at the seams to be honest.
Member
I agree with you with most, including the bugs, although I've only been back a short time and saw something very big and hairy on the door the other day..the kids saved me eventually! We do get big huntsman here, no contest..Originally Posted by oz2010
Electricity is more expensive in Sydney than New Zealand, I think I have mentioned this..
Wages are definately higher in Sydney (my hometown), but we are so priced out of the market as you can imagine..we can't even afford a decent home south west of sydney (a loooong way from the cbd), and if we didn't pay at least over $500k, we would be moving to housing commission..
We have a lovely home we paid $430k for in Christchurch that we recently sold, it was in a very nice area, insulated, heated, and we had a beautiful log burner..we can go back and do the same, admittedly we have collateral from our original home, but for us it works..
Plus I do like the climate better..
Member
I totally understand your move. Climate is a big part why we are moving also. Yes big huntsman spiders are around but dont bite humans. We dont kill them because they kill the insects! House prices in Melbourne are rising also,although Sydney is more expensive. I'm looking forward to a smaller population and being able to move again.
Member
Well not quite. The New Zeland katipo is related to the Australian red back spider and can deliver a venomous bite. There have been deaths in NZ.
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/1966/katipo-spider/1
Ocean Viewer
What about those frosts in Canberra and even Alice Springs?Freezing winters?...We have very mild winters in Australia,only Tasmania would really be considered cold.
Junior Member
I think the bit about the snakes and spiders is a bit over the top, yes we do have a lot of both where we live but in the more urban city areas I think you would be hard pressed to find a snake in your back yard, whereas where we live it is quite common to find a Brown snake hanging around. We have so many Red Back spidersaround our house it is impossible to kill them all, I will admit it is one reason we tend not to let our kids play out in the back yard until they are old enough to know the danger associated with these things. The other reason we don't have the kids playing outside is due to the extremely high temps during the day.
My comments are based on living in the northern remote regions of Australia and not somewhere the average immigrant would be looking to live.
Member
Hi Mav,
I live in South west sydney, which is about 35 to 40k out of the cbd, and we have lots and lots of redbacks! My hubby has killed about 5 of them since we moved into our rental a month ago! I also have found a massive huntsman on my door, which I did kill, do not want that thing in my house!
We have had snakes around the area as there is still a lot of scrub around where they are house building, although none where we used to live before we moved to Christchurch..
Junior Member
Guys, you are scaring me with all that spidey talk to a mild arachnophobic guy heading to OZ.
Do these things kill people?
Junior Member
There is no need to be afraid, really. Just use some commonsense and you will be fine. Snakes are more afraid of you than you are of them and they can sense a person coming long before you see them and generally they will head off in the other direction.
Don't go poking your hands into piles of old timber and watch when putting your fingers under over hanging ledges like windowsills etc and you will be fine.
Yes therre are highly venomous spiders and snakes here but the likelihood of you actually meeting up with one is pretty rare.
Huntsmans are very large spiders but are handy to have around the home as they feast on other annoying insects. They are not particularly harmful to you if you accidently get bitten by one. The only time I have seen anyone bitten by a huntsman was my mother who put her hand on one when opening a garden gate. It stung her for a while but she did not get sick or anything.
Our most dangerous spider is the Funnel Web spider and they primarily live in burrows in the ground. The Sydney Funnel Web is the deadliest spider we have and they do tend to be found roaming around on the ground, just after rain, in outer fringe suburbs of Sydney and along the eastern NSW coastal areas.
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