
The good, the bad, the ugly and the wild
It seems, fingers crossed, that end of the year/early next year the borders will be open. Hopefully we can travel and visit each other soon.
Meanwhile I just wanted to drop few lines of the good, the bad, the ugly and the wild things of living in New Zealand. Hopefully you may want to visit or live here too!
The good
Nature, it does not take much effort to find awesome landscapes, beautiful tracks, many places to explore. If you are into road trips, hiking, biking, sailing etc. then New Zealand is a must do. Check this article if you are not still convinced: 26 reasons why New Zealand is the world’s best country – Travel (telegraph.co.uk). Also, there are no dangerous animals, forget about spiders, snakes, crocodiles etc.
Food is premium quality. Do not buy into the stereotype that the only thing we eat here are pies or bread with beans, that may be old people from UK, I’ve never tried that, not even when camping! If you are a foodie or if you like to cook a bit then you can find that a standard supermarket usually have many good quality options, can’t be easier to find organic, range free, paleo, no additives, etc. There are couple premium supermarket stores too and great range of options. Beef is great here, fish or seafood is just average, but at least everything is 100% natural (in fact New Zealand bans Salmon from several countries due to the chemicals used to intensify color/flavor – that Salmon taste you may be used to have may be just toxic chemicals). So after living few years here when you eat something overseas it will taste just meh, even at top restaurants. But even if you miss something from you home country there are many local shops where you can get almost anything: I usually get Dr. Pepper from America/TX at the local supermarket, still love it.
Openness. People in general is welcoming and open, even while we probably live in one of the bests countries of the world, we do not brag about that (but we love to hear that other people mentions that). Also it is not hard to get residency and then citizenship, provided you are not a criminal etc.
Work-life balance. I remember back in my home country working 9 or more hours a day, with no chance to leave earlier without being labeled as lazy or a not team player. Usually needing to stay until late. So I ended up with 10-12 hours of the day gone, every day. Here the usual work schedule is 9am-5pm, then you are back at home 5:30-6pm. Fridays 4pm is also common to socialize at the office etc. (the so called beer o clock time). It may not sound like a great difference but having an extra hour every day is a lot!
Life quality. People may argue that you can make more money or that taxes may be lower overseas, that may be true, but health is free here, education and dental is free for under 18 and many other services are free too. Back in Chile we had to pay extra to have some cover for private health or wait and be lucky to use the public health system (depending of the are where you live that may be under budget or with basic services). Here we only have insurance to cover for extreme cases. Side note is that healthcare is good, with modern equipment and infrastructure. Dental care, on the other hand, is not included in the package and there is no insurance for that. Is not just about “making” money that you have then to spend to live more or less at the same standard, there are many other small things that help to have a better life, like safety, freedom, etc.
So, what are you waiting to move here?
The bad
Housing is the main problem here, it may be really hard to find a good balance in quality/price/commute to work/live near the city with an average office job. A whole article about housing here
The ugly
Two or more realities, Maori/Pasifika people here suffers from poor access to health, education, opportunities, etc. Life expectation can be also 7 years less for them. There is no open discussion about solving that, in fact the current trend is to create Maori health chapters, an almost parallel Maori elections system, etc. I do not think that will solve the problem, but event mentioning that fact can be tagged as racism, so… we’ll need to live with two realities for a while. That is something local people may not like to talk about, but reality may be not that different overseas anyway.
The wild
Size is a wildcard, it may be good or bad for you, depending on expectations and many factors. The country in area can be compared to California or to a large portion of Europe, still the total population is just 5 Million, the only vibrant big city is Auckland, then if you like living in crowded areas with plenty of night life then New Zealand may not be for you. But if you enjoy living a relaxed or balanced life style, even alternative (or hippie or hipster for some standards) then you will love this place.
Location is a wildcard too. To be away from everything worked perfectly during this pandemic, but it may be an issue if you move and need to travel back and forth to your home country.
Opportunities are up to you, that meaning you may not find the exact same job you have in you home country, but you can recycle skills to work at something similar, if not exactly, to make a living. Also you can always start your own business and the country is really open to that too.
Identity is something to consider too. New Zealand is a relatively young country, sometimes it feels like we live in a happy village during a colonial era. If you ask a resident what makes a New Zealander in most cases the answer is vague, because there is no such thing as a strong identity like in other countries. It may be up to you then to define or help shape what makes a New Zealander, as land of immigrants. On the other hand you may notice that sometimes the narrative is about white colonizers bringing everything to the island as islanders are just primitive, uneducated or lazy people. Some people live that narrative on either side: being a white colonizer or a native adopting the new language and culture. That would be probably one of the things I don’t like about living here, as it drags society into old times and unresolved issues that on the long term is producing or feeding two realities.
Disclaimer – all this writing is considering the case when you can speak English and can either start fresh or use or convert your skills and have a qualified job here. Again, please don’t drop your education or try to get in through tourist/student visa, work visa, residency etc. as you may probably get stuck several years with low paid jobs, no access to healthcare etc. Check the official immigration website to have an idea of the options to move in
___
photo/credits Miles Holden – Roys Peak/Wanaka from newzealand.com website