Me and my family emigrated there in 2001, its a fantastic place with some great scenery and some lovely people, BUT.
Know this scenery, people, lifestyle doesnt pay the bills, and although there is a list of job vacancies make sure you get one before you go, and you know the salary.
i think you will need a minimum of $50k nz to survive, there is no agricultural or gov subsidy there so a good loaf of bread was about $2 and in general everything including lamb! was expensive, please do your homework.
also check out somewhere to live, we where based in hamilton and the rents varied from about $150-$350 also check the standard of accommodation, we are european and there is a distinct difference in standard, the houses tend to be timber framed and clad, also a little dated, they are not generally central heated and can be quite different to what your used to. the areas with the cheapest rents are generally the ones with a high crime rate or predominately maori/islander based, i personally got on well with them but their culture is very strong and they are not very forgiving, hey mate get over it with a shrug of the shoulders is normal and in general they are a tough breed of people.
all of your earnings are liable to tax @ 30% at the time, so remember to take that into consideration when doing your sums, they also have their version of vat called gst which at the time was 12.5%.
if you only want the simple things in life, and love the outdoors and rugby, netball, sport in general, agriculture, and you are willing to work hard and not complain then its a great place to go, percentage wise its got just the same amount of criminals,drugs and problems as everywhere else, its just that there are only 5 million people strewn across the same land mass as the uk, so it seems some areas have no problems and others have more.
we came back because of financial reasons and we had children when we went, at the time we had 11 & 9 year old boys and a 2 year old girl, so it was tough, we also had the family ringing up and crying to the kids which doesnt help, that home sickness thing is hard to whack, we could have stayed there and be debt free in a house on about an acre, but we would have been stuck because its a long way from anywhere and a return trip back to the uk would have cost us about a years salary, also as the kids turned 18 they would have been straight back to the uk on a tour probably never to return.
i loved it but im a bloke and i love the outdoors and rugby so for me its great, my advice and opinion, do your homework real well, dont wear rose coloured specs, cus the reality is there is no benefits system for an emigrating family/person, only asylum seekers of which it takes its fair share, and if you go for a job and the other bloke going for its a kiwi with less qualifications, dont get upset when he gets the job. racism is alive and kicking in the southern hemisphere and you need to be able to accept that you will be the immigrant.
there is a difference between quality of life and standard of living, make sure you are fully aware of this before you go anywhere and you know your own parameters. you will be surprised at the standard of living for the working man as opposed to europe, and the void between the haves and the have nots.
no offense is meant by the above to anyone or malice meant, these are just my opinions and experiences.
Adam.
) if i had the chance again i would move there, amazing countryside, keeps its nose out of world politics, relaxed life style and amazing countryside too
