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

[patham]

I'm now an expert on the sqeeker, Patham, so go ahead and ask me anything you'd like to know about it   

 

Only an armchair expert! You have never experienced the disappointment of hauling your catch above water and being greeted by the slimy ugliness of a squeeker that can now mortally impale you with toxic spines.

 

 Its enough to make you open another beer.

[intern]

Only an armchair expert! You have never experienced the disappointment of hauling your catch above water and being greeted by the slimy ugliness of a squeeker that can now mortally impale you with toxic spines.

 

 Its enough to make you open another beer.

 

Sounds like landing a barracouta here...snoek in South Africa. Over here it's considered a bloody pest, as is kahawai...

[intern]

Only an armchair expert! You have never experienced the disappointment of hauling your catch above water and being greeted by the slimy ugliness of a squeeker that can now mortally impale you with toxic spines.

 

 Its enough to make you open another beer.

 

 

Also, I once landed a hagfish. Now that was horrifying!

[patches]

Hey Patches just bought the 2017 WR450F, only has 1500km on it. Now I have to go to Whangarei to fetch. Yeeehaaaaa!

 

Nice! Very nice indeed!

 

And it just so happens I live on-the-way to Whangarei, so it works out well to get your toolbox to you!

 

EDIT: BTW Uretiti beach (about 33km south of Whangarei) allows bikes on it and has a couple of fun dunes.

Edited July 28, 2020 by patches

[patham]

Sounds like landing a barracouta here...snoek in South Africa. Over here it's considered a bloody pest, as is kahawai...

 

Our local supermarket fish counter often stocks smoked snoek from S.A. I never liked it back there either....

[intern]

Nice! Very nice indeed!

 

And it just so happens I live on-the-way to Whangarei, so it works out well to get your toolbox to you!

 

EDIT: BTW Uretiti beach (about 33km south of Whangarei) allows bikes on it and has a couple of fun dunes.

 

Sounds appealing BUT: Dude I bought it from is collecting a KTM 690 Adventure from Rotorua either this Saturday or next and will bring the Yammie with. How nice n helpful.

My bum's burning to get on the scoot though as you can imagine. And I'm moving house this weekend, too, not that that minor inconvenience would prevent me from riding or fetching bike!

[intern]

Thanks. I completely understand the rational argument. And I'm with you on moving to a new city (and country!), finding a rental, etc. As hard as it would be to leave them behind I could come to terms with it if we were able to find good homes for them. 

 

However, my wife would never let that happen. In her mind there are two options (1) animals come with (2) animals are too sick/old to come with and so we have to put them down. She won't leave SA without them...I know everyone loves their pets but my wife takes it to a different level (I know we aren't snowflakes and everyone probably feels that way).

 

 

Another harsh reality Travis; if and when you have kids and have no support structure here, believe me your view (and even your wife's view) of the pets will change. Now you'll have the relentless demands of a baby or 2 on your hands, the pets become even more of a burden - you have to clean up after the kids and the pets, it is a major further overhead on your life. Being in a new country with no support with babies or very young children is seriously difficult; it ruins your productivity, one of you will have to at least go to part time rather than full time, and you'll have no time for anything fun and even taking Fido for walkies can be somewhat unbearable in this Brave New World .

It's a LOT of money and effort putting pets through the travel grinder. And when you can't get a decent rental, when you can't go away for a weekend, and when you're cleaning up pet poop and vacuuming up cat and dog hair in your not so ideal pozzie, and when life's looking like that scene in Very Bad Things with an ankle biter making his or her presence felt, you may ask yourself...

 

How did I get here? 

 

Anyway, I did all of the above with my pets. Loved the dead dog dearly, love the living one dearly. But would I do it that way again? Certainly not. Both would have been perfectly happy with family or mates back in SA, and I would have been happy enough without them, though would undoubtedly have missed them. But having kids tells you one important thing about pets: they are not furbabys or 'like children' at all. They are dogs and cats. Precious, sure, but not comparable... 

[Wayne Potgieter]

Hey Patches just bought the 2017 WR450F, only has 1500km on it. Now I have to go to Whangarei to fetch. Yeeehaaaaa!

PEEEEKTCHAS

[GrahamS2]

Thanks. I completely understand the rational argument. And I'm with you on moving to a new city (and country!), finding a rental, etc. As hard as it would be to leave them behind I could come to terms with it if we were able to find good homes for them. 

 

However, my wife would never let that happen. In her mind there are two options (1) animals come with (2) animals are too sick/old to come with and so we have to put them down. She won't leave SA without them...I know everyone loves their pets but my wife takes it to a different level (I know we aren't snowflakes and everyone probably feels that way).

I had the exact same decision to make. One of my dogs had to be put down before we left, and the other we brought with us - she lasted 3 months before she died here.... If your dogs are over 9 years old, DO NOT DO IT. You can't get pet insurance on animals over 9yo, and vet costs are next level expensive. Cost to bring the one dog over was R60k. Vet bills in the 3 months she lasted here were R30k...

[Wayne Potgieter]

I had the exact same decision to make. One of my dogs had to be put down before we left, and the other we brought with us - she lasted 3 months before she died here.... If your dogs are over 9 years old, DO NOT DO IT. You can't get pet insurance on animals over 9yo, and vet costs are next level expensive. Cost to bring the one dog over was R60k. Vet bills in the 3 months she lasted here were R30k...

My current next door neighbours are from Durban. They brought over a dog and a cat. took them 6 months to find a rental that would allow pets (they had to put the pets in a boarding house until they found a rental and within 1 week of finding said rental and moving in, the cat was run over in the road.

 

Yes, you read that correctly - it took 6 months to find a rental. I cannot imagine how horrible it must have been for the pets to be shipped halfway across the world only to be stuck in a kennel for 6 months.

 

Honestly Travis. It aint worth it and if its a deal breaker for your wife, then you need to question if this is for you. There are lots of compromises along the way and refusing to compromise on this is possibly not a good way to begin.

[Slowbee]

My current next door neighbours are from Durban. They brought over a dog and a cat. took them 6 months to find a rental that would allow pets (they had to put the pets in a boarding house until they found a rental and within 1 week of finding said rental and moving in, the cat was run over in the road.

 

Yes, you read that correctly - it took 6 months to find a rental. I cannot imagine how horrible it must have been for the pets to be shipped halfway across the world only to be stuck in a kennel for 6 months.

 

Honestly Travis. It aint worth it and if its a deal breaker for your wife, then you need to question if this is for you. There are lots of compromises along the way and refusing to compromise on this is possibly not a good way to begin.

The hardest part right now, is the aging parents and being "the glue" of the family. Asking to leave them behind is not so easy.

[Wayne Potgieter]

The hardest part right now, is the aging parents and being "the glue" of the family. Asking to leave them behind is not so easy.

yep. This is a set of concerns my wife had to go through.

 

At the end of the day she came to the realisation that she has to make good choices for the next generation. Not the previous generation.

 

That doesn’t make it any easier.

 

Just yesterday she found out there is a HIGH degree of certainty that both her folks have COVID but there is nothing we can do because of how far away we are.

 

I did not have to deal with any of this. I never thought there would be a silver lining in being the last remaining relative.

[Slowbee]

The desertion fear is very real.

 

I do not know how high the water temp has to get before the frog realises it is about to be cooked.

 

But I do know, we (I) need to decide, either get out to cooler water, or stay in and make do. Because this sitting on the fence is not helping the health, nor any business decisions, nor any other decision. (Yes, I am fully aware of the business risks and all the other risks etc etc etc).

[patham]

yep. This is a set of concerns my wife had to go through.

 

At the end of the day she came to the realisation that she has to make good choices for the next generation. Not the previous generation.

 

That doesn’t make it any easier.

 

Just yesterday she found out there is a HIGH degree of certainty that both her folks have COVID but there is nothing we can do because of how far away we are.

 

I did not have to deal with any of this. I never thought there would be a silver lining in being the last remaining relative.

 

Sorry about the COVID issue, my mother-in-law in Jhb was in isolation for the last 2 weeks due to a COVID contact with one of her relatives, test came back negative in the end.

 

As you mention, and probably the other Zimbos here can also attest to, my family is scattered everywhere, so the issue of family bonds was not something I had to process in the pro's and con's of migration.

[WrightJnr]

Contrary to the sentiment above to not take your pets and understand I moved to Dubai and not NZ. But for me, hands down the BEST decision we made was to bring our pets. Two Jack Russell’s, they have been the one consistent thing in our lives over the past 18 months. The fist time we took them for a walk with the family I knew we had done the right thing (for us).

 

Has it been a sacrifice, for sure. Had to rent a villa further out of town we would like and we had to find a sitter for we we go away. Vets are crazy expensive. But my JR’s are bulletproof so they very low maintenance.

[travisza]

I had the exact same decision to make. One of my dogs had to be put down before we left, and the other we brought with us - she lasted 3 months before she died here.... If your dogs are over 9 years old, DO NOT DO IT. You can't get pet insurance on animals over 9yo, and vet costs are next level expensive. Cost to bring the one dog over was R60k. Vet bills in the 3 months she lasted here were R30k...

Thats terrible. We are very much in a similar position. We have *2 dogs and 2 cats (so basically the people least likely to be able to rent a house ever.) One of each of those is 9 years old right now so the thought of the strain on them of moving is definitely on my mind.

 

*Those exclude another 2 dogs that my wife's parents have indicated they would take but I can't see this happening in reality. So yes....we have 6 animals at the moment. No, I would never consider trying to bring all 6 across. I couldn't afford to get them there nevermind the rental issues etc. once there