intern

Numbnuts! haha

My 5 year old laaitie insists on brushing his school shoes once a week, or when they are scuffed. Good boy, son. Good boy. EDIT TO ADD: We use a tin of Kiwi polish which was bought in South Africa and came over with us, long before Sonny Boy was born. Kinda weird, I guess.

Early fails...didn't help the poor bugger that his next item was about giant frog jumping...

Good luck, go for it. My agent cost NZD11000-odd. Worth every penny, got residence and passport as fast as possible...Paul Janssen at Immagine. Here's a youtube vid of him:

You need to do the right thing, Patches. Get at least one Token Kiwi ® to join in the festivities... haha

Generally smart casual, but depends what type of job you're interviewing for. On beer...stay away from poofy craft beer, if it was good, it would be mass produced. Speights Gold Medal is my preferred beer...Tui is OK, too, Lion Red is fine...

Beautiful child Hayley! It is very hard raising kids on your own with 'no support'; we've done two of 'em. For me, it wasn't that much of an issue because my parents, etc, have no interest in children so I had no expectation of help. Harder for my Mrs; helps, though, that she stopped working for about 4 years, and also that I work from home and am a very hands-on Dad. You have to get used to the idea that whatever you did for fun before, you can't do now any more. There's a whole new ball game of fun stuff to do, and guess what, it';s gonna be awesome (especially if you like playing kiddies games haha). But ja. As for kiwis inviting you to their homes, give it time, they have all their friends already, it is you who needs friends not them. It's also different in AKL vs regions; people here expect you to call in for a cup of tea or a beer, for example, you don't actually need an invitation. And if it is my neighbours, they will see me working in the garden (like this past Saturday) and climb over the fence with a six pack

For a literature buff, you sure take some things very literally, my liege ;-)

Uh, sorry, rubbish. The locals I know (and note how I do not stereotype the entire country, because how would I know) including my Maori mates, will say PRECISELY the same thing, except they won't be nearly as polite. And we call 'em kina here, the sea urchins...

I always strongly advocate provincial New Zealand - I live in a dorp far from anywhere. Affordable housing, excellent sense of community, lots of outdoor stuff on your, er, doorstep...and better weather, esp Nelson, Tauranga (I am 100km SE of Tauranga in Whakatane). I'd avoid anywhere on the west coast except maybe Raglan, anywhere south of Blenheim (too cold), Invercargill no thanks, Auckland's awesome if you are a bazillionaire, Hamilton is too central and too cold/rainy misty, but a nice town and is the centre of cycling, Taupo is beautiful but too cold for me...

Also, always a good idea to appreciate what you have, wherever you may be, rather than what you don't have.

Got a maid, mate? How about a gardener?

You're already grumpy man ;-)

Agree with that. There's no question that you guys live like kings in SA. I think the thing that gets to most 'leavers' is uncertainty - uncertainty of life expectancy, employment or earning potential, wealth preservation, political future and, of course and most importantly, prospects for the next generation. Some of these things you can mitigate, others not so much. For those who stay, the benefits are many, for sure- check the people who stayed behind in Zim or Kenya, for example, they still live like kings 30, 40, 50 years after independence. But have adapted to 'unusual' circumstances. Maybe the same in SA. Anyway, like I've said, it isn't a question of 'better' or 'worse', one country or the other. It is more a question of 'different' and finding the balance which best suits your situation, lifestyle and wants/needs.

Been wondering about that Ramrod...do you miss NZ at all, having been here for a bit? Usually we hear about it the 'other way around'...

Watch out china, they'll raise an eyebrow at you....and THEN you'll see!

That is a pretty big apartment...and the viaduct is an awesome place to live esp if you are young, footloose and fancy free!

Oh, ja, and we hunt pigs here too - lots and lots of feral pigs!

Holy moly you guys are getting seen to on rent; when I lived in Silverdale, was paying 650 then 700 for a 4 bed. Was a nice house and neighbourhood...but yeesh. Right now I have a mortgage and pay around 1100 a month - but I have busted my ass to put equity in the pozzie, which is worth around 650 (same house in AKL would be double the price)...

In our parts, stainless is a must; a carbon fibre stock is also a good idea as you tend to do a lot of walking and stalking through some hectic steep terrain, so you want your walking stick as light as possible. It's not the savanna, that's for sure!

My boys are 5 and 3, so I reckon .243 with suppressor will be a good place to start. Maybe get a .22 as well, always handy for hare and possum...

Red , Sika, Sambar,Javan Rusa and white tailed deer, Tahr, feral goats, hare...and possums. All of which are considered pests which makes blasting them somewhat less...squeamy, I spose....

Busy applying for my firearms license in NZ; fill in a form, submit to the cops, they do background check, ask my Mrs and a few mates how much I moer the kids and neighbours, etc, proficiency test, the cops come have a look at your gun storage situation (check for a suitable safe), then wa la (assuming you haven't moered kids and Mrs more than you should). Keen to get a Tikka T3 probably in .223, .243 or maybe .270; want something with light recoil so my boys can shoot it without any flinch. .270 might be a bit on the recoil-y side. Gonna hunt deer for biltong; while I don't like killing animals, I do like eating them and figured I shouldn't be so squeamish. Also want to get a 12 gauge shotgun for skeet shooting. That's a lot of fun. Probably over/under, but maybe a semi auto. In these parts, the person is licensed, not the weapon, so you can get as many as you want - handguns are hard to get, though, as there's no real purpose for them here other than target shooting.

Put you in the upper end of earners, but not really enough for AKL unless you and the Mrs are pulling that kind of coin.