New Year + Xmas Kiwi Style

pclancy

Happy New Year everyone! Wondering how everyone spent their Xmas and New Years celebrations Kiwi style?

We had a lovely breakfast in our sunny garden with my sister who's over from Brisbane, then a huge lunch with 30 of my Kiwi-misses's family which was great and lovely and sunny. Didnt make it to the beach for my annual Xmas day swim so just spent the rest of the day gorging.

New Years was my most sober and quiet ever, our little baby girl arrived on boxing day so the world has been revolving around feeding and sleeping, when it hit 12pm we both went "oh yeah its new years!!"

Matt Simis

Christmas day with lunch at one house and then drinking/party at anothers.. still just enough people around Welly at Xmas!

New Years Eve and Day (and back just now) Tramping (22km in total) across the Tararua's then to Mitre Peak where we were nearly blown off and had to abort about 200m from the summit itself! So not at all like in Ireland really.

pclancy

Ah nice one, haven't made it to the Tararua's yet but looks epic.

Yeah its true how much Wellington empties out over Xmas eh! Ghost town.

MrCreosote

Presents, beach for a few hours in the morning and lots of food for us. The water at Scorching Bay is perfect at the moment- warm and none of those freaky jellyfish that were around last summer! Disturbing that for the kids a summer Christmas is normal.

Congrats on the new arrival PClancy. At least the sleepless nights are shorter in the summer. She'll be bitter for the rest of her life about having a birthday so close to Christmas!

Cookie_Monster

500km of cycling in 7 days is mainly what I got up to

MrCreosote

Nice distance on the odo there CM.

Cycling has been an extreme sport in Wellington the last few days with the wind. Even on the turbo trainer you're in danger on getting blown over!

Cookie_Monster

I did the Festive 500 on strava, great way to spend christmass, especially over here. Up early every day, less drinking and generally finished by lunch so can still spend the days with everyone.

Went to Napier for a couple of days as well which was a nice change. Nice place, the CC is a bit industrial and the beach can be dangerous with the tides but some fantastic cycling, lots of good wineries and good food. Its a very pro cycling city with lots of routes and paths developed, strange to see so many people cycling over here

BlackEdelweiss

Had a kiwi couple up for new years eve. They were planning to be home by 10.30 but we kept them out till after 3 am and showed them how to do it irish style.

Christmas is **** here, all the stuff listed above is summer holidays stuff, Christmas Day just came in the middle of it. Irish Christmas is what Christmas is all about, you have your specific holidays for it, you have the run up to it, the actual day and then the come down from it with the build up to New years eve thrown in. Here it is just a day in the middle of your summer holidays, my wife works in the Council and had to work till 5pm on Christmas eve. She couldn't even get around the shops as they all closed as normal at 5pm. No effort was made to make things feel like Christmas, people would hardly even reply when you said happy Christmas and none offered the salutation first.
A kiwi in my wife's work went to England with her English husband last Christmas and she came back and said that actually felt like Christmas.
Christmas here is just a day in the summer, what a waste of the best holiday in the year. Another point for Ireland!

Cookie_Monster

irish xmas is just 3 months of commercialism with the day itself being a massive anti climax
at least here its all about enjoying the weather and family - out on the beach or relaxing in the garden or what have you. It's nowhere near as commercial and that makes it so so much better

Cookie_Monster

irish xmas is just 3 months of commercialism with the day itself being a massive anti climax
at least here its all about enjoying the weather and family - out on the beach or relaxing in the garden or what have you. It's nowhere near as commercial and that makes it so so much better

Mrs OBumble

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

Christmas is **** here, all the stuff listed above is summer holidays stuff, Christmas Day just came in the middle of it. Irish Christmas is what Christmas is all about,

ahh, I'm thinking that's northern hemisphere Christmas you're missing, not specifically Irish.

Anyways ... just have a mid-winter Christmas in July/Augustish ... just like Kiwis in Ireland do (http://www.newzealand.ie/index.php?option=com_acymailing&ctrl=archive&task=view&listid=1-mailinglist&mailid=26-2013-summer-bbq&Itemid=53)

BlackEdelweiss

I have nothing against Christmas not being all commercial but they dident bother replacing the commercialism with anything, they just took the fun out of christmas. If they had replaced it with a good dose of religion then that would at least have been something but it is just not the same thing down here. As I said earlier all the stuff listed above was summer holiday stuff, Christmas day just came in the middle of it. If there was no such thing as christmas then your holidays would have been just the same as they were, you just wouldent have had a big feed on one day of them. We are nearing our first anniversary in NZ and we were just starting to settle in until Christmas arrived and ruined our positive mood. Dont get me wrong, I dont hate NZ its just that some things down here are really crap and Christmas is one of them but maybe that is just because I like a traditional Christmas with all the commercialism and cold, dark evenings. I love the sun but everything has its time and place and Christmas is meant to be cold.

TrueDub

So Christmas somewhere else is not like Christmas at home? Is that why it's called a foreign country?

Christmas in most places is not like Irish Christmas - in some ways it's better, in others worse. That's life.

BlackEdelweiss

Thats exactly what I said, Christmas in NZ is crap.

TrueDub

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

Thats exactly what I said, Christmas in NZ is crap.

It's not what you said - read it again.

MrCreosote

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

Thats exactly what I said, Christmas in NZ is crap.

I think you missed out an "In my opinion..." there.

Most of the stuff about the traditional Irish Xmas, like getting pissed on Xmas eve, getting pissed on Xmas Day, getting pissed on Stephenses Day, getting pissed on NY Eve, getting pissed on NY day, are hardly something that can only be done in winter.

Much nicer to have a quieter holiday without the relentless shouty commercialisation, crap presents and piss artistry masquerading as The Craic.

pclancy

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Anyways ... just have a mid-winter Christmas in July/Augustish ... just like Kiwis in Ireland do (http://www.newzealand.ie/index.php?option=com_acymailing&ctrl=archive&task=view&listid=1-mailinglist&mailid=26-2013-summer-bbq&Itemid=53)

Yep thats what a few of us ex-pats do here, get together for a good xmas style dinner when its cold, rainy and dark, just like Xmas at home. The Irish society do a lovely mid winter meal as well with all the Xmas decorations up and stuff.

CatFromHue

Christmas is very different over there but I found myself not missing it as the weather was so nice. Could be different if you've kids and that I'd imagine but it really didn't affect me much.

carnie

Weatherwise, with the exception of a few really nice days I found the last couple of weeks very homely.

I had a good christmas. I actually preferred it to a christmas back home. I'm normally not a fan of it due to the pressure dumped on you for what ends up to being a boring anti-climax of a day.

BlackEdelweiss

TrueDub wrote: »

It's not what you said - read it again.

Sorry, I actually said "Christmas is **** here". I should have been more accurate with my response to you. It is basically the whole point I was making in any of my posts so I am not sure what point you are making.

Yes, I should have included an "in my opinion". If Irish style Christmas is not what you like then I am sure the kiwi version might appeal to you but it just dosent to me.

I miss all the adds on tv for the kids toys and watching the kids get excited when they come on, listening to them all screaming "I'm getting that, I'm getting that" as every new add comes on, then fighting over who said it first because they are the only one getting that thing. I miss all the nice food in M&S to stock the fridge full of nice snacks and nibbles, I miss a nice turkey not like the horrible "free range/wild" thing we bought this year or the ham that was equally as repugnant. I miss all the talk and thinking about what people are getting for christmas, not one couple I know bought their partner anything for christmas, even the kids presents were crap, I want Christmas to be an exciting time for my kids just like it was for me growing up, that dosent have to cost a fortune but it should at least be worth waking up at 5am for.

CatFromHue

I wonder does that make the Kiwis less materialistic?

BlackEdelweiss

The kiwis are definitely less materialistic but that dosent mean things are better here because of it. I dont think it is because they dont want things it is just you cant get anything decent down here without paying through the nose for it. They all have the same level of electronics as we do back home, it is things like clothes etc that are so dear they dont buy that much stuff and wear it for years. We are like that now but only because we cant afford to replace anything that is a bit worn. Anyway I'm not getting into another argument about how good/bad NZ is, I dident like Christmas here. The Irish are no better than the kiwis and the kiwis are no better than the Irish, we do some things better and they do somethings better. When it comes to a celebration and having a bit of craic the kiwis are dead in the water. When it comes to water sports and outdoor pursuits they win hands down. If we had a better climate we would probably do outdoor stuff just as well as them but we would also have a bit of craic afterwards! Then we would all go home and watch tv on our widescreen tv's or surf the net on our laptops and tablets and talk on our smartphoines while the kids played on their xboxes and ipods. We would just be dressed for less money.

Kiwi in IE

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

Had a kiwi couple up for new years eve. They were planning to be home by 10.30 but we kept them out till after 3 am and showed them how to do it irish style.

Christmas is **** here, all the stuff listed above is summer holidays stuff, Christmas Day just came in the middle of it. Irish Christmas is what Christmas is all about, you have your specific holidays for it, you have the run up to it, the actual day and then the come down from it with the build up to New years eve thrown in. Here it is just a day in the middle of your summer holidays, my wife works in the Council and had to work till 5pm on Christmas eve. She couldn't even get around the shops as they all closed as normal at 5pm. No effort was made to make things feel like Christmas, people would hardly even reply when you said happy Christmas and none offered the salutation first.
A kiwi in my wife's work went to England with her English husband last Christmas and she came back and said that actually felt like Christmas.
Christmas here is just a day in the summer, what a waste of the best holiday in the year. Another point for Ireland!

Hahaha! I have read this post in the midst of a truly awful, miserable homesick moment, so despite that it is April I feel compelled to respond in defence of Christmas how it should be!

Weather: A white Xmas is a nice novelty for a Southern Hempisphere native sure, but how often does that happen? Usual Xmas here is grey sky, grey wet buildings and roads, dead looking gardens, mud, rain, people scurrying about in dark heavy clothing looking cold and wet.

Food: Come on now you cannot say Xmas food is better here! Turkey, ham, brussel sprouts and mash? No thanks I'll have something similar to that for a normal dinner often enough. And what is with jelly and tinned pears in trifle? Yuk! Trifle is supposed to be filled with loads of fresh berries between layers of cream, custard and sherry sponge.

Activities: Sitting inside watching ****e on TV, or at best playing board games. Compared to beaches/rivers/swimming pools/BBQ's/Camping. If Santa brings a bike or a trampoline, it is nice to be able to actually use it. I feel sorry for kids over here who have winter birthdays too.

Holidays: Two weeks not enough over Christmas. As a kid there was a build up and excitement to the school holidays and Xmas combined and then once Xmas is over its family summer camping holidays and the whole of January off. Although I do acknowledge that nobody in their right mind would want the revolting month of January off here to sit around inside doing nothing and feeling more miserable than the normal dose of January misery. The month that was my favourite all my life has turned into the one I most despise.

New Year: Bonfires/Camping/Heading out wearing summer clothes and drinking in outdoor bars. Having to put 50 layers over party clothes and heading out to a stuffy, stinking indoor pub compares very poorly. So does having your hair destroyed by the inevitable rain/damp/drizzle by the time you get to said stuffy pub.

It amazes me that many people who have tried both think Xmas is better in the Northern Hemisphere. I hate it.

Kiwi in IE

Another thing that has stuck me as bizarre here at Christmas is people exchanging tins of store bought biscuits (Jacobs etc)? Come on now it's not 1945 and store bought biscuits are not rationed, rare or special in any way. They are not even very nice. I keep a packet in the cupboard in case I get caught out with nothing nicer to offer guests, but they are a Christmas present to about the same extent as a bunch of bananas.

BlackEdelweiss

Kiwi in IE wrote: »

Hahaha! I have read this post in the midst of a truly awful, miserable homesick moment, so despite that it is April I feel compelled to respond in defence of Christmas how it should be!

Weather: A white Xmas is a nice novelty for a Southern Hempisphere native sure, but how often does that happen? Usual Xmas here is grey sky, grey wet buildings and roads, dead looking gardens, mud, rain, people scurrying about in dark heavy clothing looking cold and wet.

Food: Come on now you cannot say Xmas food is better here! Turkey, ham, brussel sprouts and mash? No thanks I'll have something similar to that for a normal dinner often enough. And what is with jelly and tinned pears in trifle? Yuk! Trifle is supposed to be filled with loads of fresh berries between layers of cream, custard and sherry sponge.

Activities: Sitting inside watching ****e on TV, or at best playing board games. Compared to beaches/rivers/swimming pools/BBQ's/Camping. If Santa brings a bike or a trampoline, it is nice to be able to actually use it. I feel sorry for kids over here who have winter birthdays too.

Holidays: Two weeks not enough over Christmas. As a kid there was a build up and excitement to the school holidays and Xmas combined and then once Xmas is over its family summer camping holidays and the whole of January off. Although I do acknowledge that nobody in their right mind would want the revolting month of January off here to sit around inside doing nothing and feeling more miserable than the normal dose of January misery. The month that was my favourite all my life has turned into the one I most despise.

New Year: Bonfires/Camping/Heading out wearing summer clothes and drinking in outdoor bars. Having to put 50 layers over party clothes and heading out to a stuffy, stinking indoor pub compares very poorly. So does having your hair destroyed by the inevitable rain/damp/drizzle by the time you get to said stuffy pub.

It amazes me that many people who have tried both think Xmas is better in the Northern Hemisphere. I hate it.

Stop, you are making me even more homesick now!

Kiwi in IE

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

Stop, you are making me even more homesick now!

Can we swap?

Kiwi in IE

I'd even be prepared to go straight into an NZ winter after having just endured January, February and March here!

qdawg86

CatFromHue wrote: »

I wonder does that make the Kiwis less materialistic?

Personally, I think that's a bit of a generalisation.

A lot of Kiwis are really into their massive utes, their boats (some of the gear my in laws have is unreal), they love their wine and fine food and some of the houses in the fancy suburbs in Auckland would give the D4s a run for their money.

I live in (what I consider) a lovely area in Auckland but there is definitely status attached to post codes.......others have informed me that I most definitely do not live in a lovely area

I think no matter what country you live in unfortunately, you will find shallow/materialistic people.......Kiwis are no exception.

Kiwi in IE

Perhaps we need a homesickness thread in this forum where Irish in NZ and Kiwis in IE can rant, drivel and moan about things they miss from home and culture shock without anyone taking offence!

I agree with the above post that Kiwi's are not necessarily less materialistic. I think we are materialistic about different things. Here a lot of people seem to want to be 'seen' to have things. An example of this is the car number plates with registration date on them. What purpose does this serve other than so people will know when you are driving a new car. Also someone else said about clothing and electronics. To me the 'latest' (within six months of release) phones, tablets, big tv's are totally unnecessary and clothes with big, screaming designer names are at best tacky. However people here who are obsessed with the huge smart tv, the 14 number plate and having everyone know in no uncertain terms that their shirt was made by someone employed by Ted Baker's company, can hardly fit the TV in their tiny lounge that is attached to their neighbours lounge. I don't get this. Hardly anywhere, if anywhere at all in NZ, do you find 'estates' where hundreds of horrible houses are all horribly identical, tiny and joined to at least one other house with a backyard the size of a small room. Either that or appallingly ugly bungalows that for some reason people seem to like painting in yellow, peach and pink hues. Feck Ted Baker, up to the minute electronics and 14 number plates, I would rather be dressed in rags and use a push bike for transport so long as I could live in a proper house. I think there must only be about 3 architects in Ireland because almost every house is set out the same inside and outside with about 3 variations. Very posh areas, period houses and rural areas are an exception, but otherwise the average, standard type of housing that ordinary people live in in the towns and cities are absolutely hideous by NZ standards.

Kiwi in IE

qdawg86 wrote: »

A lot of Kiwis are really into their massive utes, their boats (some of the gear my in laws have is unreal), they love their wine and fine food

Yes because we have nice food and wine. Things that are a bit more imaginative than bacon/cabbage, stews, roast dinners, boiled in jacket potatoes with every god damned meal, and served at lunch time (1 pm)!


Disclaimer:I live rurally just outside a town in Wexford and I do realise I am being irrational and judging the whole of Ireland on this Poxy small town. It is just that I am very homesick at the moment and for all you rave about your potatoes, they suck and you only have three varieties

spunkymunky

I get that you are venting a small but don’t take it out on lovely Ireland!!
Yes, Ireland does like a little bit of keeping up with the Jones and their rich antics but a lot of this was due to huge amount of money being delivered to everybody in a small time. We were a poorish country and BOOM, the boom happened and people went a little nuts. Any country would do the same! We are getting better.
Materialism in NZ tends to be needs driven. I need a ute to tow the boat and carry the fish I catch from the boat
The food you talk about (Bacon and cabbage and stews and that) come from this poorer times where cheap hearty filling food was all people could afford. You mention you have nice food and you do but the variety is no more than Ireland. Yes you have more fish and kumera (which I love by the way) but what else have you that you can claim is Kiwi? Pavlova? Lamb(Exported!!) and Wine of course Some good Asian food here to!
We have Irish dishes loved around the world. If you don’t like, don’t eat???? And yes, 1 pm lunch time….I hate 12 pm lunches…cant do it!
With regards the houses. New Zealand is so much bigger than Ireland (ill never complain about the 3 hour Dublin to Galway drive again), allowing the space to build those detached house, which are great in design and space. New Zealand has developed with all this space and that carried over to the way houses are now designed. This is biting you now a little as more and more people are coming here for the exact reason of space. The result is and ever growing city rivaling London in size and lacking an infrastructure to support it and a population density that justifies building it!! Hence the ever growing number of cars on the northern into the city everyday with one person in them.
I guess Ireland developed slightly different with the big estates with little imagination.

Kiwi in IE

You are right we have totally different attitudes to materialism. I get materialism when the point of acquiring is that your family can have fabulous summer holidays and memories (boat, bach, ute, swimming pool), I do not get materialism when the point is to be 'seen' to have the newest product release (swapping perfectly good phone for latest model that comes out a year later, waiting until July to buy new car to get the most of having a 142 number plate). To me that is completely pointless. I would rather drive my crappy 01 car and spend money making sure my kid has enough space to play and has pets, family holidays etc (not necessarily in a UK/IE resort in Spain where all restaurants and pubs sell UK/IE food and drink, just so I can say I am 'going abroad'). A family holiday by a beach, river or lake in Ireland is good enough, and if I'm going abroad I would rather go 'real' abroad (go to Spain to experience culture, food, customs, not a resort that is a mini Ireland but with sun).

The food thing, I am not so much talking about specific Kiwi food, but I think NZ has far, far more variety than Ireland, what is most surprising is that we have more international influence (Asian, Mediterranean, Mexican etc) despite being as OH says, the a***hole of the world while Ireland is in Europe .

The houses here are much warmer and heating systems are not even comparable, but Irish houses are frequently exceptionally ugly. State houses at home are generally far nicer than a lot of homes that average families live in here. New subdivisions in NZ (which I always hated and thought very ugly and generic looking) are like paradise compared to most Irish estates. At least the houses are not identical. I do get the influence of spacial difference but it's not halting my rant at the moment.

I do acknowledge that I am having a big, massive rant of epic propotions and I am being hugely unfair to Ireland, because I moved from a city in NZ to a rural area just outside a rural town here, where attitudes, food etc are particularly conservative and 'traditional'. In order to accurately judge the differences I would have had to be living in New Plymouth or Ashburton.

Mrs OBumble

Kiwi in IE wrote: »

In order to accurately judge the differences I would have had to be living in New Plymouth or Ashburton.

You're being a bit harsh on New Plymouth there .. I actually think of Galway being like NP + Dunedin with some music thrown in.

I think there is a streak of conformity in the Irish psyche that actually makes 'em like the houses/estates looking the same: my (Irish) father used to go on about the lack of rules in NZ about how design/colour, and I never got it 'til I came here and saw row after depressing row. (Cue the Coro. St music ...)

I now know some people here who wanted to do something that would have made their semi-D look different from others in the street. Can't remember what it was exactly, maybe a ranch-slider window or something. But they didn't get planning permission 'cos the neighbours complained that having one place look different was wrong!

And in fairness, if you drive around some of the greenfields estates in east Auckland, you can see a similar thing (with leaks!), though generally painted in more cheerful colours.

BlackEdelweiss

I cant believe that you actually think the NZ houses are better than Irish houses. Maybe houses in NZ all look different from the outside but they all share a common charracteristic inside, they are ****e! I have never seen such depressing, dull, drab, 1970's badly thought out houses in my life and I lived in Ireland in the 70's. We have radiators in Ireland because it gets cold there, it gets cold in NZ but nobody seems to have thought it would be a good idea to do anything about this, well they have I suppose. Curtains!!! Curtains dont stop heat loss in a house, they are just material, it dosent matter if the material is black!!!My wife spent hours scraping mould off the windows in our house every month due to condensation caused by **** housing. Two of my kids had to be treated for asthma related symptoms within 6 months of moving here, both were on inhalers all winter due to the bad quality of housing. NZ is rife with asthma yet people still live in drafty, damp houses. Our front door has a 1 inch gap between the floor and the bottom of the door, in Ireland the contractor would have been called back and asked why the fcuk did he put in a door that was the wrong size. We bought pannel heaters for our last house and sole them to the landlord when we moved out rather than taking them off the walls. When a woman came round to view the house she asked the landlord why there were radiators in the house, was it a very cold house.My landlady explained it as the previous tenants were from ireland and she thought that was ok. We had radiators because it gets very cold in NZ and you need to heat your house. Why is this such a hard thing for people from NZ to understand? Irish houses may look the same on the outside but people take a lot of pride in doing up the inside of their houses as this is where we spend most of our time, our weather does not permit much outside living so we concentrate on the inside. Some NZ houses look nice outside but lots look like slums, they are unimaginative and badly kept and when you add this to the knowledge that the inside also looks like **** you really cannot rate the housing in this country as anything better than 2nd world.
With regard to food NZ is no better than Ireland. NZ is all about meat and if you want a vegetarian option you are out of luck. You have a million varieties of hummus for some reason and you say we only have a small selection of cheese, I have seen about 3 main types of cheese here, tasty, edam and some other crap, anything else and you pay through the nose for it. I have not had manchego cheese since leaving Ireland, you have loads of hallouimi and feta but not much else. What or where is all this brilliant food you mention? I personally like to buy my vegetables in a shop that does not have a layer of flies sitting on the openly displayed food! I like my supermarkets not to have birds flying around, it is cute at the start but that novelty soon wears off. I like to know I can buy a pepper for the same price all year round and not pay $2 one week and $6 the next. You can shove seasonal up your arse, if you cant afford to buy stuff what is the point in having it there. NZ has one of the fattest populations in the world so dont try and tell me that your diet is healthier than ours.
I had a 32 inch tv in Ireland, I could not buy a tv that small here, I have a 50inch as that was the best deal I could get. My boss has a 60 inch smart tv. I dont know anybody in Ireland with a tv as big a mine here. NZ is just as materialistic as Ireland just in different ways.
I could go on and on about what I hate about NZ but the only positive thing I can say is the weather is better. It is the arsehole of the world and I cant wait to get out of here. I have met some nice people and have some nice friends who would probably do more for us than our Irish friends when we were at home but it is just so boring here. We had a really nice day today, a guy from my wifes work invited us out to his farm and gave us a trailer of logs for helping him split some wood, it was beautiful out there and I thought this is something I would like in later life, but it just would not be enough for me to stay here. I want to go to europe and see cities and see different cultures, I want some sun holdiays in spain, I want more from life than NZ can give me. I will be sad to leave as I think this country has not lived up to what my expectations were.

Kiwi in Ie: Dont take any of this as a personal attack on you, I am in the same boat, homesick on the other side of the world, far away from everything and everyone I grew up with. NZ is just not for me. I can see how new zealanders like it, they grew up with it but it is a hard place to move to.

qdawg86

Kiwi in IE wrote: »

Yes because we have nice food and wine. Things that are a bit more imaginative than bacon/cabbage, stews, roast dinners, boiled in jacket potatoes with every god damned meal, and served at lunch time (1 pm)!


Disclaimer:I live rurally just outside a town in Wexford and I do realise I am being irrational and judging the whole of Ireland on this Poxy small town. It is just that I am very homesick at the moment and for all you rave about your potatoes, they suck and you only have three varieties

So what are you saying ? That Ireland doesn't have any nice food. Only potatoes.

Yes you are being irrational. Get out of the rural area if you don't like it and if you can't then shovel some more bacon and cabbage into your gob....at least it will stop you whinging for a minute.

Sorry, who raves about potatoes ?........actually don't answer that I don't care

My point was that a lot Kiwis love their food and wine.....just as a lot of Irish people do.

I can only laugh when people vehemently claim that places like the UK, Ireland, NZ or the States are these vastly different places.....polar opposites, where you will be tormented by the crippling feeling of homesickness.

And the reason ?

The are only like '3 kinds of potatoes' here.

SHUT UP !!!! :rolleyes:

jacksie66

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BlackEdelweiss

This is a conversation I have on a regular basis at weekends.

Me: Did you do anything last night?
NZ Person: No.
Me: Any beers?
NZ Person: No.

Conversation over and commence silence.

How I long to hear a good drunken story full of drunken antics instead of having to feel like the town alcoholic just because I have a few beers at the weekend.

jacksie66

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BlackEdelweiss

1st February 2013. In the north island in a wee town outside Hamilton. I had the choice of Christchurch but thought it sounded a bit better up here.

jacksie66

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BlackEdelweiss

We have a two year visa and have applied for residency mainly because I dont want my boss to know I am thinking of going home as they might get the hump as they paid for us to come out here. I'm glad I came out as I got some experience to get my career started after going back to college but the UK market has picked up and I could get a job there tomorrow. It will take us a while to get the money together to get back to the good side of the world so we will be here for a while yet.

jacksie66

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Cookie_Monster

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

You're being a bit harsh on New Plymouth there .. I actually think of Galway being like NP + Dunedin with some music thrown in.

NP is awesome and anyone who says otherwise is just wrong

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

I think there is a streak of conformity in the Irish psyche that actually makes 'em like the houses/estates looking the same: my (Irish) father used to go on about the lack of rules in NZ about how design/colour, and I never got it 'til I came here and saw row after depressing row. (Cue the Coro. St music ...)

extremely strict planning has an impact as does the general building practices in Ireland, individual builders don't seem to have the interest to do anything other that the standard.
And sure NZ houses may be more colourful and look different but the build quality and standards are like something from a third world country for everything apart from the newest stuff.

We decide to build as we just couldn't find a house worth buying apart from a brand new one with a massive premium.

carnie

Yeah Jacksie.. If you not digging ChCh get out.. I spent the last year in Wellington and I loved it. It's a great city. Could do with a bit of a better nightlife and more gigs but other then that it's a lovely city.

pclancy

BlackEdelweiss I feel for you because your posts are always filled with so much hate for this place that I imagine you're pretty dam unhappy here and are relishing the chance to leave. So for you and your families sake I hope it happens soon!

But I would point out that you're making (as are others which is of course fair enough) quite sweeping generalizations about the whole country, from your vantage point of a wee town outside Hamilton. I assume as you're surrounded by 1970s houses, no entertainment and no culture that you're thinking the whole country is like this? Of course rural NZ is going to be like that, just like rural Ireland. Come to Wellington if you would ike to see culture and have some entertainment. There are plenty of drunken antic related conversations in my office on a Monday morning!

I live in a warm, dry home which is old but very attractive and has been well looked after. I know plenty of friends and family who live in houses with underfloor heating, radiators, insulation, double glazing etc, its all down to the individual whether they kit their house out or not. Not every place is damp and full of issues as you mention, especially nearer the cities where there is much more choice and newer developments.

I own a 32 inch TV, there are many of those and smaller models in any large electrical retailer. Do you seriously think that you can't buy smaller then 50 inch? That must have cost you a bomb!

I shop in a place that does not have flies on the veges, or any birds flying through the aisles and that stocks probably about 50 types of cheese. There are other options then PaknSave you know...:)

For sun holidays you can get to the Pacific Islands for the kind of paradise nothing in Europe can compete with, often for very good package deals. Plus there's the huge expanse and variety of Australia right next door, so surely there are some good sun holiday options here no?

You and Kiwi in IE sound like youre both stuck in crappy one horse towns that are slowly driving you mad...I can empathize having seen plenty of those places but I think its unfair to judge the whole place from your current vantage point.

Maybe do a bit of a tour before you leave and see what other cities have to offer and some of the amazing scenery down south? But yeah sounds like you're certainly making the right choice by moving on elsewhere.

jacksie66

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BlackEdelweiss

I dont think NZ is that bad, it just is not good enough for me to give up my family and friends forever.

CatFromHue

I wouldn't want to stay in Hamilton, let alone a small town outside it, and I like NZ!

Kiwi in IE

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

I like my supermarkets not to have birds flying around, it is cute at the start but that novelty soon wears off

Hahaha I thought of you this morning BlackEdelweiss when I was shopping in Dunnes and there was a big black crow flying about in a frenzy with equally frenzied staff trying to chase it out with mops and sweeping brushes.