Pros and Cons of New Zealand

a thread made especially for @Eli1

So how's it going to work...you give me all the pros and I tell you all the cons?

I live across the ditch from New Zealand. I have visited it many times and actually lived there for a year. It has beautiful countryside, especially the South Island.
The people of New Zealand are very open & friendly. Just don't mention rugby or cricket!

Are you in the east or west? I am in the west.

I was in New Zealand.. years ago..
- short trip.
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Awesome/spectacular scenic views..

My family emigrated from UK to NZ in the mide 60's. I lived there for about 2-1/2 years. I was 15 when I left for Australia. The rest of my family stayed in NZ. I've never been inclined to go back to live. I'm 72 now. Scenery is wonderful, apart from that I am not a fan.

Ok looks like pros are scenic views, open friendly people
Cons are...rugby and cricket....with the scenic views they come at a price...landslips, windy roads, removal of forest cover, concentration of people into cities so the countryside is empty, top dressing with chemical fertiliser and 1080 poison, earthquakes and volcanoes...if you live on a road with a scenic view, chances are you are isolated from everyone else and your house may collapse off the cliff in the next landslide

Cons of rugby and cricket

Rugby is a violent game and if NZ loses the country is in mourning for a week, supporters will get drunk and males will beat up their wives/missus if they not happy /havent won. Also fierce provincialism means love for your home team but hatred for anyone else. Also, everyone wants to do the haka except the pakeha have NOOO idea what the words mean

Cricket is a bit more sedate but endless and many men are lured away to mindless watching of cricket for hours and hours when they dont play it. Cricket has been spiced up a bit and now like all other sport has endless sponsors and ads spraypainted on the fields so that KFC logo is permanently in your line of vision. When a six is scored there will be a loud blast of music and you may even get cheerleaders in skimpy costumes in the future in a despeate bid to attract more viewers and sponsorship.

also a con of cricket is rigged games, match fixing, and sometimes drugs are involved. The ones who arent batting may spend the time shooting up on drugs as it takes forever to play cricket.

There's the gangs that the police fear/don't do anything about. Like Chicago, perhaps?


https://youtube.com/shorts/wTt2m1zAn-s?feature=share

Is there any place in NZ or AU where it is fast-paced (busy city life) or is it overall rural? Are there any mega churches there? They both sound adventurous, are there animals like kangaroos about and what's the weather seasons like? Sorry, I'm totally unfamiliar except for what I see on TV shows.

Lanolin .... Crickey, thanks for opening this fun topic and for telling us some of the cons.
Why are New Zealanders leaving the country like you said? What are some of the reasons they're leaving?

Oh, and feeding off the racism thread, do different regions of New Zealand "hate" each-other and have different customs and accents?

yea there's gangs
Mongrel Mob and Headhunters and Killer Bees are some of them

Im not speaking for australia - they'll need to make their own thread. We are two totally separate countries.

NZ has four main cities of which Auckland is the biggest.
Yes there are mega churches in Auckland but they are probably small fry to what people in bigger countries are used to.
No there arent any kangaroos in NZ except for in zoos.
Seasons can be variable but its generally temperate climate until you get further north which is subtropical (no winter snows, they call it 'the winterless north')

lack of decent well paid jobs
or they are curious and want to explore the world, living on islands can be a bit isolating

There seems to be a bit of a divide between North and South obviously there is a literal Cook Strait between the islands
The hate is more between different tribes or rugby teams lol
there is a subtle difference between accents of more Southern nzers and they have a slight scottish burr.
Everyone who is not from Auckland hates Aucklanders (they call us JAFAS...you can look that up) but only cos they are jealous as everyone wants to live in Auckland.

NZ is the "Canada" of the Southern Hemisphere. Progressive, woke and broke. The new PM is worse than Jacinta Ardern, which I thought impossible. China is a totalitarian country that respects only the forceful. Chris Minns says that Xi is not a dictator. I'm sure that Xi was not all happy about that. He revels in his power.

I dont really pay much attention to the politics but weve always had a love/hate relationship with our politcians its just the way it goes.

It is generally warmer than Canada though. There are now too many canadian teachers they all seem to come here to escape the cold.

nzers dont pay much attention to what politicians say. We know they all have a tendency to lie or charm on camera and they all say nice things to each other publically but backstab in private. If you want the truth generally a politcal cartoonist will draw it the next day.

Its not that different to other countries who all have their problems, and most of them are now broke but Im not really keeping track. So if you do move countries you'll probably have a nice honeymoon period before reality sets in.

Pro. Finn brothers and their bands.

Con. Something about politics I likely don't like, but I don't know what it is.

para . . . .