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

[patches]

I went to an AFL (Aussie Rules) game at the Sydney Cricket Grounds on Saturday night.

Firstly... the SCG... what an awesome stadium.

 

As for the game though... I had NO IDEA what was going on. It's like rugby, netball, and quidditch, all rolled into one!

And the fans... insane! Saw some of the most bogan people ever! It was a great experience, hahaha!

[SlowManiac]

The Aussie sporting landscape is pretty weird. Rugby is almost non-existent here, very much a minority sport. 

 

Most of NSW and QLD it's all rugby league and the rest is all AFL. Most Sydney-siders wouldn't have a clue about AFL but that's changed in the last few years with 2 Sydney based AFL teams (the Swans and Giants).

 

I would say league fans trump AFL for boganess! Not a week goes by without some idiot footballer in the headlines (peeing into their mouth, simulating sex with a dog, and these are just the funny ones)

 

Cricket is the national sport here - EVERYBODY loves cricket.

[patches]

The Aussie sporting landscape is pretty weird. Rugby is almost non-existent here, very much a minority sport. 

 

Most of NSW and QLD it's all rugby league and the rest is all AFL. Most Sydney-siders wouldn't have a clue about AFL but that's changed in the last few years with 2 Sydney based AFL teams (the Swans and Giants).

 

I would say league fans trump AFL for boganess! Not a week goes by without some idiot footballer in the headlines (peeing into their mouth, simulating sex with a dog, and these are just the funny ones)

 

Cricket is the national sport here - EVERYBODY loves cricket.

 

Yeah, I was at the Swans vs Crows game.

 

I was was chatting with an Adelaidian, and they said AFL is more southern and western Aus. As you say, NSW and QLD is NRL territory. And QLD is where I believe the majority of that boganity comes from, hahaha.

 

Here down in NZ though... the people eat, sleep, and live for rugby! League has a fair amount of support, but with only 1 kiwi team in the NRL, it doesn't get much traction. Union though... well like it or not, the All Blacks are one of the most successful sports teams of all time, so yeah, black Adidas trackies are like a national uniform. Especially here on the South Island.

 

When I got back into Christchurch last night, the official at the biosecurity saw my passport and asked if I went away to Sydney for the weekend to escape the game. I told him that I didn't follow the game at all so was unaware of the score. He asked if I wanted to know. I said yes. He then informed me of the slaughter.

 

Good thing I wasn't in Chch that night, hahaha!

 

One of my colleagues (also Saffer) went to the game. He proudly wore the green and gold, but resorted to large amounts of beer for consolation, hahaha.

[Amberdrake]

I flew with the money pit last week..... Was actually the best flights I have had to date.

The first flight had very good flight staff, Landing happened so smoothly I had too really concentrate too make out touchdown vs approach shudder. 

Second one I got upgraded to 1st class because I moved up flight time, Was super nice and landing was even smoother this time around.

 

SAA has been a nice experience tbh fortunately company pays because they are more costly.

[beanz]

So I created this thread to talk about the journey of fitting in to a new country. The thread title is all about the good and the bad. So far, we have mostly been talking about the good. I would like to talk a little about the bad.

 

Don’t kid yourself. There are some negatives. 

 

• Missing friends and family and your familiar support structure
• The first 6 months are really tumultuous. Lots of highs as you discover new things. Then the reality starts setting in and the normal day to day grind starts taking its toll
• The winter days are pretty short and I miss the summer. It’s not super cold or anything, but every day just feels rushed.

 

 

Like any married couple, my wife and I argue about things. I don’t understand why, I am pretty sure I am perfect to live with. (Insert sarcasm font). Back in SA we were used to dealing with those days with Jobs that gave us satisfaction and friends to discuss things with. Also, we had really busy social lives and were able to take a break from the bad by doing "regular" things. It is (for now) different here. We are only beginning to build up social circles. This means that when we feel blue or down, we internalize things and it festers and molehills become mountains. We are trying to find new ways to deal with old problems. Sometimes we get it right, sometimes we don’t.

 

Job satisfaction is non-existent and the corporate culture is very different, so I can’t even throw myself at my work for a few days to get over the hurdles. 

 

I knew when I signed up for this that the first two years were going to be emotional and ever changing. I still firmly believe in my decision to move and genuinely believe that this will pay dividends in the mid to long run.

 

I know I am not alone in these thoughts. I am friends with a lot of people on this thread as well as other South Africans that have made the move and we talk a lot outside of the hub. I know we are all having ups and downs. Some of us are battling to find our feet at work, or are maybe battling to adjust to the way our relationships are changing with our significant others. But we need to just remember that this is a long term plan. 

 

When investing in shares or properties, it pays to ignore the daily up and down fluctuations and focus on the long term. I need to remember that there will be bad days. 

 

I look to my children for inspiration. They love their new lives here. When we bring up RSA they, tell us they don’t want to go back. They are having too much fun.

 

I suppose, I need to relax a bit and go with the flow. To stop comparing to my old life and rather embrace the positives in the new life.

 

Maybe this is a great opportunity for me to leave the baggage from my old life behind and focus on the new and wipe the slate clean. This would apply to my marriage and the mistakes I have made.

 

I hope the rest of you read this and know that WHEN you have your bad days that you are not alone. 

 

Very nice post Wayne - I can really relate to this. I found the first 3 months here like being on holiday. Wife was not working, so everything was ordered and clean, dinner was cooked and clean. And it was summer (last year), weather was perfect. Everything was new and a process of discovery.

 

Now a year and a half later we are both working pretty much full-time, and daily grind has set in. Evenings involve coming home, helping kids with homework, cooking / washing up, and quite a bit of the weekend is spent washing, cleaning, vacuuming and other household chores. Winter feels like it has been quite long and wet, and is a bit of a slog.

 

I still don't feel like I have a very firm footing here - job has gone well so far, but has had the feeling of being slightly flaky and could come to an end at some point, and it's been like that since the beginning. The depth of opportunity is obviously not like in the US, UK or possibly even Australia. In many ways the working culture here is quite mediocre if you ask me, but I'm hoping I can carry on making the most of the somewhat limited opportunities in my field. 

 

As for meeting people and building networks, I'm at the age and stage where the kids are very demanding, and so I tend to be a bit inward looking towards the immediate family. And cultivating these takes time and energy. Not something I always have a lot of at the end of a long day or week. That being said, we're doing fine, and my wife is very good in that way, but of course we miss the long standing friendships from home, and most of all the family connection, with neither of us having family nearby. The nearest family we have are uncles / cousins in Australia.

 

I'm really trying to keep in touch with SA friends, but I'm finding the time difference to be a real problem. It only leaves very narrow windows of time on the weekend where it's convenient for a chat, and that time is usually taken up by family chats. This time difference has affected me more than I thought it would. It's like I feel slightly out of phase with the rest of the world. For me, day-to-day, this contributes more to any feeling of isolation than physical distance does.

 

So those are some of the things I've grappled with. As with you, my kids absolutely love it here and are thriving. It's hard to imagine a better setup for them than they have here. So likewise there's no real interest in going back to SA from their side, apart from to visit sometime. We often have the chat about pros and cons of being here and all that, and my feeling is the scorecard is pretty even, until you bring kids into the equation. It's the real clincher. That being said, I do worry that the education system is somewhat narrow and rigid. Or maybe the place is too safe. I sometimes wonder if going to orderly and conformist decile 10 schools on the north shore is really going to bring out the best in them as human beings.

 

I work with a bunch of guys from all over, but many youngsters from eastern europe and russia, who came over for the job. It's been interesting to see their experiences. I think in the end, most of them will leave. Without the family focus, or a specific focus on outdoor activities, there just isn't enough here to keep them.

 

Making a go of the whole thing, it's so much a case of having a flexible open attitude, being effortful, patient, and taking one day at a time. And savouring the opportunity to have a whole new and different life experience. Like our kids do.

 

As for access to outdoor amenities this place just can't be beaten. Auckland is not really that much of a cycling city - there are some tracks here and there, but not like Wellington for instance where there are trails everywhere. So I only really ride to work sometimes. There's a lot of cyclists out there, but cycling as a pursuit doesn't seem to have the same uptake on a large scale. Maybe there's too many other things to do. And indeed there are any number of awesome options, many of them taking advantage of the fact that there's nowhere in auckland more than about 20 mins from the water. In my case I've become totally hooked on kite hydrofoiling, and this is what I do at every possible opportunity. I'm grateful to have found an activity that is unbelievably awesome and totally accessible. I have a choice of about 6 regular spots anywhere from a 5 minute walk to a 20 min drive from where I live, plus a whole bunch of others further afield.

 

Next weekend things really do shift a gear. We move onto daylight saving, which means time after work to play. And by the end of the month, sunset will be around 7:30pm, with 6 months of this ahead It's still quite a long time before it's remotely summery here, but at least the days are getting long. 

 

I don't really visit the hub much these days, but it would be nice to meet up with some of you in AKL for a ride, beer or whatever sometime.

[Wayne Potgieter]

Geez, the Hubber contingent in NZ is growing like mad.

 

Lets get a list going of all the folks on here that are in the land of the long white cloud.

 

(forgive me if i dont put your name on here - those that know me well will understand what a Moron I actually am)

 

Wayne - East Auckland

Ramrod - North Shore

Hayley - East Auckland

Intern - Whakatane

DawieO - 

NiteRider - Maraetai

Delgado - (i think Wellington)

Patches - Earthquake Central

Beanz - Not Sure

Big Bens Brother

Pappa Bear -  Not Sure

Nolipoli - North Shore

 

Actually, perhaps if you are keen, PM me your local numbers. I will create a whatsapp group for rides and general misbehaving.

 

Sweet as Bro's (that includes you Hayley)

[canfan]

Geez, the Hubber contingent in NZ is growing like mad.

 

Lets get a list going of all the folks on here that are in the land of the long white cloud.

 

(forgive me if i dont put your name on here - those that know me well will understand what a Moron I actually am)

 

Wayne - East Auckland

Ramrod - North Shore

Hayley - East Auckland

Intern - Whakatane

DawieO - 

NiteRider - Maraetai

Delgado - (i think Wellington)

Patches - Earthquake Central

Beanz - Not Sure

Big Bens Brother

Pappa Bear -  Not Sure

Nolipoli - North Shore

canfan - North Shore

 

Actually, perhaps if you are keen, PM me your local numbers. I will create a whatsapp group for rides and general misbehaving.

 

Sweet as Bro's (that includes you Hayley)

Added myself to the list.

[hayleyearth]

Geez, the Hubber contingent in NZ is growing like mad.

 

Lets get a list going of all the folks on here that are in the land of the long white cloud.

 

(forgive me if i dont put your name on here - those that know me well will understand what a Moron I actually am)

 

Wayne - East Auckland

Ramrod - North Shore

Hayley - East Auckland

Intern - Whakatane

DawieO - 

NiteRider - Maraetai

Delgado - (i think Wellington)

Patches - Earthquake Central

Beanz - Not Sure

Big Bens Brother

Pappa Bear -  Not Sure

Nolipoli - North Shore

 

Actually, perhaps if you are keen, PM me your local numbers. I will create a whatsapp group for rides and general misbehaving.

 

Sweet as Bro's (that includes you Hayley)

 

Dirty Sanchez - Wellington (I think)

[patches]

Geez, the Hubber contingent in NZ is growing like mad.

 

Lets get a list going of all the folks on here that are in the land of the long white cloud.

 

(forgive me if i dont put your name on here - those that know me well will understand what a Moron I actually am)

 

Wayne - East Auckland

Ramrod - North Shore

Hayley - East Auckland

Intern - Whakatane

DawieO - 

NiteRider - Maraetai

Delgado - (i think Wellington)

Patches - Earthquake Central The great city of Christchurch, founded on the plains of Canterbury, on the South (read: Better) Island.

Beanz - Not Sure

Big Bens Brother

Pappa Bear -  Not Sure

Nolipoli - North Shore

 

Actually, perhaps if you are keen, PM me your local numbers. I will create a whatsapp group for rides and general misbehaving.

 

Sweet as Bro's (that includes you Hayley)

 

There, Fixed

[hayleyearth]

http://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/articles/news/2016/09/tsunami-sirens-set-to-be-tested/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ourakl_edm&utm_content=Tsunami%20sirens%20set%20to%20be%20tested%20%7C%20OurAuckland&utm_term=&uid=

[beanz]

Please sign up for this to make auckland a better place to ride:

 

http://www.bikeableauckland.nz

[Wayne Potgieter]

 

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[niterider]

20160924_100040.jpg20160924_092317.jpg

 

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Rotovegas? Or Woodhill?

Edited September 24, 2016 by niterider

[Wayne Potgieter]

Rotovegas? Or Woodhill?

Woodhill

 

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[DawieO]

Geez, the Hubber contingent in NZ is growing like mad.

 

Lets get a list going of all the folks on here that are in the land of the long white cloud.

 

(forgive me if i dont put your name on here - those that know me well will understand what a Moron I actually am)

 

Wayne - East Auckland

Ramrod - North Shore

Hayley - East Auckland

Intern - Whakatane

DawieO - Kohimarama

NiteRider - Maraetai

Delgado - (i think Wellington)

Patches - Earthquake Central

Beanz - Not Sure

Big Bens Brother

Pappa Bear -  Not Sure

Nolipoli - North Shore

 

Actually, perhaps if you are keen, PM me your local numbers. I will create a whatsapp group for rides and general misbehaving.

 

Sweet as Bro's (that includes you Hayley)

Added, my geos. We should hook up a ride when the heavens stop trying to wash us all into the sea...

[Wayne Potgieter]

Added, my geos. We should hook up a ride when the heavens stop trying to wash us all into the sea...

Sounds good!

 

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