My 2 pence... I'm a pom, and I lived in NZ for 18 months Auckland (sorry) and Christchurch. There are a lot of places that I haven't seen in the world, but after living there, I can honestly say that nowhere I've ever been before can touch it.
I'm in Indonesia at the moment, and if you really want some perspective on how screwed up a country can be I highly suggest you come here (or talk to a South African ;-) ). You have the benefits of an honest police force, I get stopped over here because they think I have money to spare to give them... In the 8 months I lived in New Brighton and on my travels around the South Island, I was in a traffic jam a grand total of once (when they moved a whole house by truck in Queenstown!), here is just on big jam!! If 600-700 skilled people are leaving every week, how many are moving to NZ (honest question, I actually don't know)? The grass is always greener and such, but every expat I've ever spoken to has compared NZ favorably with their country or origin. Everywhere has it's problems, but on balance, you guys have one of the finest places in the world to live! Sorry for the rant, back to work for me! :-) Ben On 21/08/07, Christopher Sawtell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On 8/21/07, Steve Holdoway <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:24:18 +1200 > > Christopher Sawtell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > [snip] > > > Oh for a return to those days when NZ was actually a pretty nice > place in which to live. > > > All things are relative. What's the third largest city in England? Brum? > Manchester? Where would you prefer to be? > > Rural France actually. > > What I do know is that 600 or 700 skilled and qualified people are > voting with their feet every week! > > I'm sick of having to walk along a foot-path which has not been > cleaned by the council since 1984 - I kid you not. The North side of > the street is so encrusted with lichen and moss that slipping and > falling over in wet weather is a very real risk. The South side is so > littered with small shards of broken glass that it's no longer safe to > walk ones dog along it lest the dog's paws get cut to shreds. The > built-up areas of India are better than that! > > Please don't get me going on road safety. I missed being a statistic > by millimetres when crossing the road at a lights controlled crossing > the other day. > > > Wasn't NZ second to Norway in a recent 'honesty' test, handing in lost > wallets? > I do believe that was the case, but it would be interesting to know if > Norway had _six_ finance companies fall over in the last few months. ( > Nathan Finance today ) Who do you think is going to do their dough? I > assure you it's not the company directors. > > Don't forget that NZ has the second biggest prison population as a > proportion to the total of any country in the world. > > -- > Sincerely etc. > Christopher Sawtell > -- Regards, Ben Ford [EMAIL PROTECTED] +628111880346
