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Thread: "Myth New Zealand"

  1. #1
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    Default "Myth New Zealand"

    By Justin Brown

    "Many immigrants say they have never been as cold as they have been since moving to New Zealand.

    Our houses disappoint them enormously: damp rooms, weeping windows, Antarctic temperatures, dodgy heating systems and poor construction. Some experience wood-burner rage. Some (those who have built their own insulated pads) are sorted. Others manage to re-vamp weatherboard villas but, on the whole, most continue to freeze their nads off.

    Recent arrivals didn't like being able to buy party pills in dairies. They don't like welfare spongers, having to get a WOF every six months and shorts that are too short on men. Television is awful; Sky is worse. Traffic lights take an age to turn green. Septic tanks, the health system, bullying in the workplace, hoons, P, the gangster culture, hard nosed Kiwi kids, racism and carrot, cheese, egg and beetroot sandwiches were among the gripes of newcomers. One Brit, who wrote [on an emigration forum]'having to park in someone's backyard and pay them $20 each time I watch the rugby at Eden Park' clearly didn't realise it's all part of the gamesday ritual.

    Another blogger considered Auckland was King Kong in drag, while the tyranny of distance buggered many, with someone pointing out: 'It's not a sixty minute ferry ride to France.' Others swore the best red meat was exported, bemoaned car prices and our 'rollercoaster roads.' And perhaps the hardest feedback to swallow?

    'Overall, New Zealand is a bit dull.'

    Okay, that hurts; no one wants to be Belgium or Norway."

    http://www.justinbrownbooks.com/mythnz.htm

  2. #2
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    Sorry, can't help it..., if people don't like it, why don't they just stay where they are?????? It's not as if someone is forced to live here, is it?

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by newarrival View Post
    Sorry, can't help it..., if people don't like it, why don't they just stay where they are?????? It's not as if someone is forced to live here, is it?
    Justin Brown, the author of the book is a native New Zealander.

  4. #4
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    "traffic lights take an age to turn to green"

    which put another way is "traffic lights stay green for ages so you're less likely to get stopped at a red light".

    But despite what you may think, I actually appreciate these posts. I generally don't agree with much of the stuff in them, either because I've not seen the things people don't like, or I don't let them annoy me. But before I came then I found the posts like this invaluable for helping me to be realistic about what life was going to be like over here. Even the recce didn't show everything, so keep on posting. I'd much rather have someone changing their mind before coming over than someone coming over and giving up and being miserable about it like you have once the are here.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Duncan74 View Post
    "traffic lights take an age to turn to green"

    which put another way is "traffic lights stay green for ages so you're less likely to get stopped at a red light".

    But despite what you may think, I actually appreciate these posts. I generally don't agree with much of the stuff in them, either because I've not seen the things people don't like, or I don't let them annoy me. But before I came then I found the posts like this invaluable for helping me to be realistic about what life was going to be like over here. Even the recce didn't show everything, so keep on posting. I'd much rather have someone changing their mind before coming over than someone coming over and giving up and being miserable about it like you have once the are here.
    Have you read the book?

  6. #6
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    carrot, cheese, beetroot and egg sandwich? what's that? how does it come?

    other than that one item (that I don't know about), the rest seems pretty accurate!

    I still like NZ though! I have just come to realize that NZ is full of hicks, hillbillies and rednecks and that has made it easier to understand why things are the way they are. (I am from Texas and it is not much different there tbh!)

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by GrumpyGoat View Post
    carrot, cheese, beetroot and egg sandwich? what's that? how does it come?

    other than that one item (that I don't know about), the rest seems pretty accurate!

    I still like NZ though! I have just come to realize that NZ is full of hicks, hillbillies and rednecks and that has made it easier to understand why things are the way they are. (I am from Texas and it is not much different there tbh!)
    It seems the author is still a big fan of NZ—he just wanted to come out with a tad more accurate portrayal than the usual propaganda.

    NZ kind of reminds me of my home town as well, which I still consider a lovely place to visit

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by eassae View Post
    Justin Brown, the author of the book is a native New Zealander.
    And Abu Hamza is British.
    Last edited by whakapapa; 14th November 2010 at 11:19 AM.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by GrumpyGoat View Post
    carrot, cheese, beetroot and egg sandwich? what's that? how does it come?

    other than that one item (that I don't know about), the rest seems pretty accurate!

    I still like NZ though! I have just come to realize that NZ is full of hicks, hillbillies and rednecks and that has made it easier to understand why things are the way they are. (I am from Texas and it is not much different there tbh!)
    (Ex-)Texan!



    /me throws rocks from the butcher knife state to the north.

    Zeke

  10. #10
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    Excuse my last whimsical post. Look you have posted some valuable information with regards to the pros and cons (mainly the cons) of emigrating to NZ. It is often useful to use the rhetoric messages in our thought process. But there comes a time when "the lady doth protest too much, me thinks". Then your (valid) points become a case of the boy who cried wolf.

    If you think the "native" had a point let's discuss, let's not just post his thoughts and sit back expecing the majority who are here because they LOVE NZ to agree. Because then I think you just posted this to be inflammatory.

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