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New Zealand - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.


Wayne Potgieter

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So today gave us windless blue skies for basically the whole day.

My limited experience of NZ weather just hasn't lived up to the negative hype.

Yip! I went for a 94km ride, I'm still buzzing.

One want to find something to complain about, one will find it everywhere. Excuses also exist everywhere.

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My boet 'if the weather carries on like this I'm coming home!'

 

Keeping in mind he has gone there to retire and spend time with his 2 daughters and their families ....he is a very outdoors type guy, cycling and camping and stuff

Yah, the weather is always an issue, us South Africans take the sunny weather for granted, I got terrible cabin fever at first because I was also a very outdoors person, I thought to go outdoors you need sun, and when it rained you came indoors, and stayed there, till the sun came out again a few hours later.

 

But here the sun doesn't come out for 6 months, well it does but its a different sun, so now I have adjusted I realize you just have to do different stuff outdoors when its cold and snowy. 

 

On the other hand people here, (me included) really appreciate the lovely summer days, much more than I did in South Africa anyway,... streets are packed with people till late at night, shops are open till midnight, some later, sidewalk cafe's are full of people enjoying a late coffee, the parks are full of people just enjoying the sun, having a Picnic, playing ball, even the office staff at lunch hour go outside and play handball, its crazy, heres all these office johnnies, shirtless, with no tan lines and as white as snow, in their long pants and smart shoes throwing ball. Its great, I love the atmosphere.     

Edited by GrumpyOldGuy
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My only complaints are that I have not really been on my bike, nor have I been on the water.????

 

Sent from my HUAWEI VNS-L22 using Tapatalk

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Ramrod, welcome back

You were gone so short it could have been considered a holiday

Did you sell up everything and send it over or did you do a "recce" type trip first.

And do you see SA differently now

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Ramrod, welcome back

You were gone so short it could have been considered a holiday

Did you sell up everything and send it over or did you do a "recce" type trip first.

And do you see SA differently now

Hey Dips

 

I sold up house and cars but took furniture with.  I did a few recce trips before moving the whole family over.  I went over in March and Family came over in April.  NZ is a beautiful country and were it not for the personal/family issues i would have probably stayed.

 

You do look at things differently when you are back. You realize that we are not as backward as we think we are. In fact some things we do better than first world countries. Then again we are more barbaric in other ways. Little Crime and they way people drive here is probably what i miss most about NZ. 

 

The biggest thing i took out of the experience is how i react to people. You realize that the car guard is not there trying to ruin your day. He is trying to provide for his family because he is probably unable to get work with a decent pay.

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You hear a lot about 'all those that came back' (and I'm one) - what you don't hear about are all those that stayed, have stable lives with stable currencies and who, apart from some sadness that things can't seem to work out for the good in Africa so they had to go, have new lives in new places.

 

Ratio of those that come back compared to those that stay?  In my experience?  If it's 1:20 that would be a lot. Probably 1:50, maybe more.  

 

And folk are less likely to come back to SA as it is now compared to how it was even just a few years ago.

No doubt. Less than 0.5% of saffers who move to Oz ever leave (based on their immigration stats). I've many friends and family there who've made a good life over there, but then again I've got many friends and family who have a pretty good life here - me included. It's a very tough decision to make.

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I found out about the traffic enforcement the hard way.

Parked my car over the weekend near the Christchurch Airport, while I flew up north.

There are some free parkings within 10min walk from the airport, so I thought Happy days!

I returned home Sunday night to find a $200 fine on my windshield for an expired WOF (which I forgot about).  :blush:  :ph34r:

 

Rookie mistake! lesson learnt!

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I found out about the traffic enforcement the hard way.

 

Parked my car over the weekend near the Christchurch Airport, while I flew up north.

 

There are some free parkings within 10min walk from the airport, so I thought Happy days!

 

I returned home Sunday night to find a $200 fine on my windshield for an expired WOF (which I forgot about). :blush: :ph34r:

 

Rookie mistake! lesson learnt!

yep. They don't muck about.
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I like New Zealand and one day I'll return! Been trying for a while now, but no luck with getting a Job offer secured, thought it wouldve been a bit easier, but alas, no so...

 

Ah well, keep on trudging I guess...

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I like New Zealand and one day I'll return! Been trying for a while now, but no luck with getting a Job offer secured, thought it wouldve been a bit easier, but alas, no so...

 

Ah well, keep on trudging I guess...

are you applying for work here from Sa?
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I like New Zealand and one day I'll return! Been trying for a while now, but no luck with getting a Job offer secured, thought it wouldve been a bit easier, but alas, no so...

 

Ah well, keep on trudging I guess...

What industry are you in? Our company is always looking for people...

 

Plus I get $2200 for a successful referral, haha  :ph34r: :lol:

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I found out about the traffic enforcement the hard way.

 

Parked my car over the weekend near the Christchurch Airport, while I flew up north.

 

There are some free parkings within 10min walk from the airport, so I thought Happy days!

 

I returned home Sunday night to find a $200 fine on my windshield for an expired WOF (which I forgot about).  :blush:  :ph34r:

 

Rookie mistake! lesson learnt!

think we've all fallen foul of that one. Just send a letter explaining how you forgot and it will prob be waived...they done it for me.

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So today gave us windless blue skies for basically the whole day.

 

My limited experience of NZ weather just hasn't lived up to the negative hype.

The weather in NZ is hugely variable - the west coast of the SI, for example, and indeed most of the area south of Christchurch, isn't really habitable by civilized people. But yeh, generally, most of it is better than you would have expected (but nowhere near Jhb weather)...

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What industry are you in? Our company is always looking for people...

 

Plus I get $2200 for a successful referral, haha :ph34r: :lol:

I have a B-Tech - Mechanical Engineering (been working in Oil and Gas, as a Project Manager)

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I have a B-Tech - Mechanical Engineering (been working in Oil and Gas, as a Project Manager)

 

Look for companies in New Plymouth, there are tons in those type of industries.

I was approached by one a couple of weeks back looking for a Mech Eng in Project terms actually...

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