Would you ever consider moving to New Zealand?

[redmom3]

My dh rec'd a call about a church looking for a pastor in NZ and we have a couple of days to let them know if we are interested.

 

Part of me would love the adventure and beginning anew, but my mom would be soooo upset. We live 3 hours from my parents and they come help if we have a baby or get sick etc. and they love the grandkids. My MIL lives in town, but we do not see her much.

 

I know nothing about NZ. We are from TX and live here now, but lived 5 yrs in SC and 1 year in MI-would the culture shock just be too much?

[Rosie_0801]

Heheh. We may be in a different hemisphere, but we're not on another world! Think of it, if Heather in NC can move from Detroit (or wherever it was) to Malaysia, you will be able to handle the English speaking New Zealanders, even with their funny accents :)

 

Your Mum will live. Technology has it's uses :) You can Skype and all those sorts of things, these days. And an adventure in NZ doesn't mean you must stay forever.

 

Rosie- Not NZ, but just next door, across the ditch ;)

[Whereneverever]

I so would. I've wished on and off for years to move there!

[redmom3]

True-not another planet :0) But for a dh 49 and me 40 it is a really big decision. Technology does help in keeping up with friends and family -isn't is great --not like when Laura Ingalls family left the Little House in the Big Woods.

We have friends here from NZ and we love the way they speak.

[Rosie_0801]

Of course it's a big decision. It would be a big decision for me and I'm not that far away! You can always go home when your contract expires. I don't think it would be much more of a culture shock than moving to the other side of the US.

 

Which would be a bigger regret? "New Zealand is a lousy place to live, I'm glad we only had to stay for a few years." Or "We could have been out and seen the world, but we didn't!"

 

Rosie- wanting to live vicariously through other people... :)

[lionfamily1999]

It's our "in case of emergency" destination :p Some people say Canada, but dh is really not interested in colder/snowier winters... So, Australia or NZ it is (or was... but that's a whole nother can of worms).

 

So YES, go and enjoy yourself. It looks like an incredibly beautiful place to live :)

[elegantlion]

Yes, in a heartbeat.

[Rhonda in TX]

I wouldn't be willing to move just anywhere in the world, but New Zealand? Absolutely.

 

My family lives close by, too. And my MIL and FIL would NOT be happy. My dad, on the other hand, would say, "What are you waiting for?? GO!" :)

[MelanieM]

Yes, in a heartbeat. My mother visited NZ for a week when I was a kid and she cried when she had to leave. She said it was the most beautiful place she'd ever seen.

[Deb in NZ]

I moved to NZ, but my dh is from here so we were moving to his home. I love life in NZ & it is so-o-o-o easy to homeschool in NZ. If you have any questions feel free to ask here or PM me.

 

Blessings,

Deb (from Vermont, but living in NZ for over 12 years)

[speed.cleaner]

New Zealand is a small, beautiful, and very friendly country. You can jump in the car and drive for a hour or two to a landscape quite different to the one that you have left. And you are never far from the beach, the country is just not that big!

 

My husband is a Kiwi (we live in Australia) and we very seriously consider the move each time we visit. THe main thing that holds us back is his work commitments here!

[redmom3]

The church is in Dunedin.

 

How long would a flight be back to Texas I wonder?:bigear:

 

Would this be a move where you would sell your stuff and buy there or ship it? We don't have super nice furniture. Appliances there? Just trying to think it through.

15dd would be apprehensive. 5ds, 3dd, 2mo dd would never know any different.

[Rosie_0801]

The church is in Dunedin.

 

How long would a flight be back to Texas I wonder?:bigear:

 

Would this be a move where you would sell your stuff and buy there or ship it? We don't have super nice furniture. Appliances there? Just trying to think it through.

15dd would be apprehensive. 5ds, 3dd, 2mo dd would never know any different.

 

 

Tell your daughter that boys like girls with foreign accents ;)

 

It seems flights are just short of 24 hours.

 

Buy second hand appliances and furniture when you get there. Does the church provide housing? It might well be furnished. If you brought your own stuff, you'd have to buy plug adaptors.

 

Rosie

[Alicia64]

We just moved from the west coast to the east coast. No culture shock. Just a more solemn adjustment to living without the familiar then I'd expected.

 

When all is said and done, I'm with the "life is too short" crowd not to take chances and do amazing things.

 

I had parents who adore my kids who lived 2 hours away who are very sad. The mother in law is sad too, but we rarely saw her so that was okay.

 

It was just leaving my hair person, our favorite parks, our library -- just everything that makes up a life.

 

Plus I don't know how great it is for kids to be uprooted moved, then uprooted again, moved back. Take school out of the mix and it's a lot better for them, of course, but I think the parents have to make a real effort to keep the kids in touch with their friends/relatives. To demo for the kids that relationships aren't tissues that are disposable.

 

We moved a lot when I was little and my parents made NO effort to keep my relationships w/ kids. I did end up feeling like I didn't matter. That my connections w/ others didn't matter.

 

Still. . . it's how the parents handle it.

 

Can you tell I've had a glass of wine after a long day?? I'm rambling.

 

I'd still go for it!

 

Alley

[LauraGB]

Yes, in a heartbeat.

 

:iagree:Yup. Neither dh nor I would hesitate to pack our bags as soon as possible.

[Deb in NZ]

I visited it years ago when dh took me on a trip to see NZ & decide where we wanted to settle. We decided to live up north in Whangarei, where he is from, but Dunedin is beautiful. I could have lived in the South Island very happily.

 

Dunedin is home to one of NZ's main universities, making furthur education for your eldest quite handy. Google Dunedin & homeschooling and you should come up with some HS/ing contacts.

 

Flights AKL to LAX are 12 hours. I'm not sure if there are direct flights to Dunedin from the US.

 

Furniture would be better to get here. You may find that the church gets you set up. Don't bring any appliances as power here is 240v. You can get in NZ most of what you can get in the States. It's not worth fooling around with converters.

 

JMHO,

[Liz CA]

Heheh. We may be in a different hemisphere, but we're not on another world! Think of it, if Heather in NC can move from Detroit (or wherever it was) to Malaysia, you will be able to handle the English speaking New Zealanders, even with their funny accents :)

 

Your Mum will live. Technology has it's uses :) You can Skype and all those sorts of things, these days. And an adventure in NZ doesn't mean you must stay forever.

 

Rosie- Not NZ, but just next door, across the ditch ;)

 

There you go. Couldn't have said it better! What a potential adventure. Go for it and see if God opens the door(s).

[Deb in NZ]

redmom3,

Some things that you may want to bring are:

*2-gallon size ziploc bags (we have smaller sizes, but no the huge size)

*poultry seasoning (if you use it. I like it for my stuffing for turkey & chicken)

*HiddenValley Ranch dry seasoning

*Secret solid antiperspirant (roll-ons & spray easily found here, but not solid deodorant)

*children's books (books are available, but not the selection found in the States & books are much more expensive here) Dunedin should have a good library as it is a quite large city, by NZ standards ;).

 

 

Appliances are easily found here. They cost a bit more $=$ than in the States. Just buy what you find you use a lot. I have a microwave, breadmaker, stand mixer, food processor, & crockpot that I use a lot. Processed foods are becoming more common in NZ, but I still find that I cook most things from scratch as my dc like my American recipes.

 

JMHO.

[Rosie_0801]

Not sure who on here is in NZ, but Keptwoman would know. She's one of the moderators: http://www.rockpoolhomeschool.com/

 

Rosie

[Mrs Mungo]

Sure, we'd consider it.:001_smile:

[Miss Sherry]

I would consider moving to New Zealand. It's English,so you already know the language. Also, from what I've seen of photos of it, it's beautiful, so I'd love to see it.

Even if you move away from TX to another part of the country, depending on how far from TX you move, there are differences in culture. We moved from OR to a small town in AL and there were some obvious cultural differences. We live in WA now. If I had the opportunity I'd go to New Zealand. I am 48 and feel I haven't had enough adventure yet. But I don't have any babies and I know that makes a difference in how much energy a move is going to take. But even when I did have babies no one in my family or my dh's family ever helped us with them, so that wouldn't be a reason for me to decide to miss out on New Zealand.

 

Maybe your family would love to have an opportunity to visit you in New Zealand.

 

Maybe you can ask for an extension on the time frame to decide in , if you are unable to decide that quickly. Otherwise, if you don't decide in that time frame, the answer would be no by default.

 

Are you expected to sign any kind of contract that commits you to staying there for a certain length of time ?

[Charles Wallace]

Land of Murray Ball and Footrot Flats? Of course! What a wonderful adventure is in store for your family.

Besides...it's MIDDLE-EARTH, people!!! :D

 

 

Oh, and for you NZs here...

 

 

This is a bit off-topic, but I have a question about accents.

 

All right. I was watching an interview with Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyer for Lord of the Rings, and they were talking about things down on the sit. They had to get to the sit early, it was a beautiful sit, et cetera.

 

Took me a while to realize that they meant "SET," as in "movie set."

 

My question is this: If NZs pronounce "set" like "sit" (to rhyme with fit and wit), then how the heck do they pronounce "sit," as in "I would like to sit in this chair"? What if you want to sit on the set?:D

[Deb in NZ]

http://sheafdunedin.blogspot.com/

 

I'm not sure how to do links, so just type in the above address & you'll see a page regarding homeschoolers in Dunedin.

 

Blessings,

[dangermom]

I would totally move to NZ!

[MangoMama]

I haven't gotten to read the whole thread yet, but I would definitely move there. In a heartbeat! PeachyPapa and I always talk about how wonderful it would be to be able to move to New Zealand (or Australia ... but especially NZ!!).

[Rosie_0801]

http://www.emigratenz.org/AccentNewZealand.html

 

(Except we don't say feesh and cheeps here.)

 

Rosie

[Erica in PA]

My dh rec'd a call about a church looking for a pastor in NZ and we have a couple of days to let them know if we are interested.

 

Part of me would love the adventure and beginning anew, but my mom would be soooo upset. We live 3 hours from my parents and they come help if we have a baby or get sick etc. and they love the grandkids. My MIL lives in town, but we do not see her much.

 

I know nothing about NZ. We are from TX and live here now, but lived 5 yrs in SC and 1 year in MI-would the culture shock just be too much?

 

Family is very important to me, so that would be a huge factor. The only way I would willingly move that way away from our family would be if we really felt a very strong call from God to be a missionary or serve Him overseas. Other than that, nothing else compares with being near family for us, especially while we're raising children. Friends have scoffed at us when we've said that we wouldn't move away for any amount of money or position, but we honestly mean it. Living near grandparents is invaluable for kids, we really believe.

[muffinmom]

I would love to go there...looks so beautiful!

[Rosie_0801]

Family is very important to me, so that would be a huge factor. The only way I would willingly move that way away from our family would be if we really felt a very strong call from God to be a missionary or serve Him overseas. Other than that, nothing else compares with being near family for us, especially while we're raising children. Friends have scoffed at us when we've said that we wouldn't move away for any amount of money or position, but we honestly mean it. Living near grandparents is invaluable for kids, we really believe.

 

Obviously you wouldn't want to make a permanent move, but would the strength of your family ties disallow you to take a year or two for an adventure? Just curious. I'd have loved to go on an adventure overseas for a year or two but dh wouldn't. We were either moving to stay, or not going at all :( As I told him, I'm supposed to be back here to look after my aunt in her dotage so I can't go forever. (Well I could, but I wouldn't want to.) But she's only 50, so maybe I can change his mind before she gets there.

 

:)

Rosie

[Dobela]

My question would involve things like how long will you be away? And, who will pay for you to come back and visit the states? My friend's dh is from NZ and he has not been able to travel back in years due to the very high cost of airline tickets - just one was well over $2000 the last time he looked. We have friends that are missionaries in another foreign country and they say that while they love it, the once a year visits with grandparents is the hardest part.

[cathmom]

Yes, dh's cousin and his family were there for over a year and were very sad to come back!

[elfgivas]

My dh rec'd a call about a church looking for a pastor in NZ and we have a couple of days to let them know if we are interested.

 

Part of me would love the adventure and beginning anew, but my mom would be soooo upset. We live 3 hours from my parents and they come help if we have a baby or get sick etc. and they love the grandkids. My MIL lives in town, but we do not see her much.

 

I know nothing about NZ. We are from TX and live here now, but lived 5 yrs in SC and 1 year in MI-would the culture shock just be too much?

 

fwiw -

 

i've lived in 4 countries, moving with kids. so in our experience, there is always culture shock; you just get better at managing it. the kids always have an adjustment period; they just get better at it. church communities make it much easier. family is farther away; a commitment for grandparents to go one way one year, and the family to return the next year ensures at least once yearly visits together.

 

re flights: new zealand is approx. a 14 hour flight from LAX, so add on your time to texas from that. from LAX, ticket prices as low as 1000 are possible, but its more likely to be several hundred more. a credit card that accrues air miles is a good thing.

 

re appliances: the electricity is a different voltage, so its better to sell things here, and buy things there. the standard of living in new zealand is on par with ireland roughly. i would sell/store most furniture and buy there. is there a manse? that would help a lot.

 

we were in new zealand last year and had a glorious time. it reminded me of canada 40 years ago culturally. we felt incredibly safe. dh was there for a year when he was 17, his brother was 16, and his sister 10. none of them were ready to come back. driving on the left is fun (dh learned to drive there, and had a time when he came back stateside).

 

what an adventure. i'm of the "let's go" variety (just about anywhere), but it has been hard on my dear mom. she's seen a lot of the world as a result, though : ).

 

pray, listen, pray, listen... repeat.

:grouphug:

ann

[Charles Wallace]

http://www.emigratenz.org/AccentNewZealand.html

 

(Except we don't say feesh and cheeps here.)

 

Rosie

 

Fush and chups?

 

To rhyme with "flush and cups"?:confused:

[MorganClassicalPrep]

Although... I'd move practically anywhere in a heartbeat. I have a bit of wonderlust.... a strong desire to travel, but it's an itch I've yet to scratch. Growing up my parents idea of vacation was going to the beach for the week, meanwhile I was buried in books about far off places the entire time! Then I got pregnant at 19, before I had time to go off on my own.

 

Now I'm just waiting for my daughter to grow up enough to make travel together possible!! :D Actually just the other day started to consider planning a trip to Europe for the summer of 2011.... renting a flat, getting rail passes and just travelling whereever we think to go... sounds amazing!

 

Oh right, but New Zealand. I would in a heartbeat. It doesn't have to be permanant, but if you pass on it now you may never get the chance again!

[Hedgehogs4]

in a heartbeat. any kiwis i have known have been absolutely wonderful, and the scenery is to die for.

 

it seems to me that the kiwis have a really strong and deep faith. i was always impressed by the "brand" of christians that i met from there...the real deal, not put-on...genuine.

[keptwoman]

http://www.emigratenz.org/AccentNewZealand.html

 

(Except we don't say feesh and cheeps here.)

 

Rosie

Oh you do so!!! :rofl:

 

Actually the one word that catches me out EVERYTIME I have to say it is pen. Every time the Aussies think I am saying pin. And when you are asking for an artists pen that can create some confusion. :lol: These days I point wildly.

 

I also made sure our phone number had no 6's in it. Less room for annoying teasing.

 

Flight times from Dunedin to Texas:

Dunedin to Auckland 2 hours

Transit 3 hours (give or take)

Auckland to Los Angeles 12-13 hours

then transit and a flight to Texas. With all the transits and check in times it can really add up. From home in Melbourne to hotel in New York was 30 hours. A horrid long and dragged out 30 hours. However it's 30 hours worth doing IMHO to see something different and NZers and Aussies are used to long plane trips to get anywhere.

 

I think you would find the move not a great deal more upheaval than moving interstate in the USA. The only difference will be the paperwork involved in setting up bank accounts and drivers licences etc.

 

I say go for it. But I'm biased :D

[Laura Corin]

Definitely. Lovely country. Great scenery, delicious wine. Except that we've lived overseas enough.

 

Laura

[Rosie_0801]

Fush and chups?

 

To rhyme with "flush and cups"?:confused:

 

Yeah, kind of. If you can sort of clip your vowels as you say it. They're a bit weird with vowels, over there ;)

 

Oh you do so!!! :rofl:

Do Not! Do not donot donotdonotdonotdonot!

 

I also made sure our phone number had no 6's in it. Less room for annoying teasing.

 

Very wise :D

 

;)

Rosie

[keptwoman]

Yeah, kind of. If you can sort of clip your vowels as you say it. They're a bit weird with vowels, over there ;)

 

Look 'e 'ere. We say it proper. Arright???!!!

 

Do Not! Do not donot donotdonotdonotdonot!

Yeah yeah. You keep telling yourself that love. :D

Betcha say you went to sweeem een the pewl too.

[Rosie_0801]

Look 'e 'ere. We say it proper. Arright???!!!

 

That should be spelled "orright," don'tcha know? :tongue_smilie:

 

 

Yeah yeah. You keep telling yourself that love. :D

Betcha say you went to sweeem een the pewl too.

 

I do not. My English grandmother did though! So ner. :tongue_smilie::tongue_smilie:

 

Dear, oh dear. One of these days we'll meet, and these little spats will get personal!

 

:)

Rosie

[nd293]

Go!

 

NZ is extremely beautiful. Very green. Friendly people. They actually give an allowance to homeschooling families!

 

Now, we're a family that had residence permits for NZ, but didn't end up moving there, so here are the downsides: It rains a lot in winter. It's f.a.r. far from everywhere. Houses are expensive (for purchase, I mean, not sure about renting). It's a small market, limited job opportunities, seems like many young NZers head to Australia to work. And absolutely none of these (except perhaps the rain) matter if this is just a temporary adventure.

 

We lived overseas for 5 years. My divorced mother lived 1hr from us before we moved, and my sister had already left the country. Of course my mother was sad, and so were we, but we had an incredible opportunity to broaden our horizons, and more importantly, those of our children. And my Mom got travel opportunities she never would have had if we'd stayed at home! Now we are living in yet another country, and my mother Skypes with my daughter every week, and reads aloud to her for an hour.

 

As for culture shock - we moved to the Middle East - now that's culture shock! Moving from one English speaking country to another is easy. (When we were looking into immigrating to NZ, I read that NZ is like the USA in the 50s!).

 

Go!

 

Nikki (now in Australia)

[nd293]

It was just leaving my hair person, our favorite parks, our library -- just everything that makes up a life.

 

Plus I don't know how great it is for kids to be uprooted moved, then uprooted again, moved back. Take school out of the mix and it's a lot better for them, of course, but I think the parents have to make a real effort to keep the kids in touch with their friends/relatives. To demo for the kids that relationships aren't tissues that are disposable.

 

We moved a lot when I was little and my parents made NO effort to keep my relationships w/ kids. I did end up feeling like I didn't matter. That my connections w/ others didn't matter.

 

 

Really good observations. And if you decide to go for this, and are happy and excited - it will still be tough. It. just. is. It is exhausting to find everything from scratch - hairdresser, doctor, dentist, schools (if that applies), best shops and all the small details that make up the fabric of life. And it's also up-and-down. We've been here a year now, and and I've gone through it's-wonderful to it's-so-hard to it's-home-but-yet-I'm-homesick. There's plenty of really good stuff online about expat transition and culture shock, and also about "Third Culture Kids".

 

Sadly, I've found that if there's one thing moving does teach, it's that most relationship are pretty tenuous. They'll generally resume where they left off if you meet up again after a long absence, but (apart from family relationships) it's best not to look to people from home for support - relationships don't take well to distance.

 

They're a bit weird with vowels, over there ;)

 

I'm a neutral party in this debate, being neither Aussie or a New Zealander, but I must agree with Rosie on this! The "i" becomes "uh" and the "e" becomes "i". Very confusing! Not that South African's are innocent of massacring English. ;)

Edited February 13, 2010 by nd293

[kalanamak]

Yes!

[Lizzie in Ma]

It is as close as I would ever get to Middle Earth. :D

[the4Rs]

I'd move just about anywhere. Hubby would only consider New Zealand. :-) So our answer would be a most hearty YES!!!

[Erica in PA]

Obviously you wouldn't want to make a permanent move, but would the strength of your family ties disallow you to take a year or two for an adventure? Just curious. I'd have loved to go on an adventure overseas for a year or two but dh wouldn't. We were either moving to stay, or not going at all :( As I told him, I'm supposed to be back here to look after my aunt in her dotage so I can't go forever. (Well I could, but I wouldn't want to.) But she's only 50, so maybe I can change his mind before she gets there.

 

:)

Rosie

 

No, I would consider a year or two, possibly, depending on the circumstances. I was thinking about relocating for years, like for most of the kids' childhoods, for example. I would have a very hard time separating my kids and their grandparents for that length of time. But a year or two might be doable-- it would be hard for me to do, but I would consider it for a once in a lifetime opportunity.

[Guest home handymum]

Hi there - I manage the SHEAF Dunedin Blog, linked to in page 3 of this discussion :) (I also see a familiar face in keptwoman, whom I know from the rockpool - hiya!)

 

Moving to Dunedin would be a fantastic adventure (not to mention a totally educational experience, of course).

 

I was born and raised here, have lived for 8 years elsewhere in New Zealand and returned to Dunedin 3 years ago. My DH spent a year in Atlanta, Georgia, about 10 years ago. I have 3 children, the oldest of whom is nearly 6 - all home educated (using the 'relaxed eclectic' approach thus far :) ). So, with that perspective in mind, I can give you some first hand info about the place:

 

First, the good stuff - Dunedin is a University town (University of Otago), so has a large number of ex-pats here, many from the US, with whom I imagine it would be easy to link up with. This also means there are lots of open lectures, free lunchtime concerts, and other cool stuff associated with the university. Also, rental accommodation is fairly easy to come by (although, more on that down in the not-so-good-stuff bit). There are 2 active home ed networks - SHEAF and the Dunedin Christian Home Educators, with a total of about 50 families home educating in the Dunedin area. The Dunedin Public Library is fairly well equipped (and in fact is more well equipped than first glance would indicate - the building itself is not great and much of the collection is 'in the stack' and you need to ask a librarian to fetch it for you). You can also interloan from any public library in the country if needed. The Otago Museum is a fantastic resource, with a good hands-on discovery centre and regular science workshops etc for kids. Lots of the other good stuff can be found by googling "Dunedin NZ" (just be careful you're not reading about Dunedin, Florida!). There are Burger King, McDonalds, StarBucks, KMart... places to go if you feel homesick :)

 

The not so good stuff - these are comments and observations that people from the US and europe have made to me about coming here...

1. Although the weather itself is temperate, the housing stock in Dunedin is old, cold and damp and (especially for rentals) is poorly maintained. You can get some lovely places, but generally not for those of us on single incomes. Americans especially comment on how *small* the houses are, and how basic the kitchens and bathrooms are. Definitely be thinking 1950s, especially if you're in a low-to-mid price rental (it was probably done up in the 1970s, but may not even have a dishwasher, although most do).

2. Electricity is expensive compared to living in the US (although cheap compared to Europe). Most of your heating will probably be by electric space heaters - houses do not have central heating (and some are not even well insulated, with double-glazing being extremely rare). Kiwis generally just heat the room they are currently using and put a woolly sweater on.

3. Appliances are small compared to the US - I have what is considered a large top-loader washing machine, and it has 7 kg capacity (14lbs). Standard ones are 5kg (about 10lb), with dryers also being small. One US migrant commented that this turned into a LOT more loads of washing for her family. Most kiwis use an outside clothesline to dry clothes, as opposed to a dryer (and in winter we often use a clothes horse indoors and limit the use of the dryer, due to electricity costs!). Fridges generally don't come with ice dispensers.

4. Eating out is not the norm - restaurant and cafe meals are generally quite pricey - people will socialise over food by inviting you home for a home-cooked meal (although this happens less and less the larger your family is!)

5. Petrol (gas) is also very very expensive compared to the US (although about the same as Europe) - currently about $1.70 per litre - that's more than $6 per gallon. Offset by the fact that Dunedin isn't actually very big, so you're not necessarily driving lots and lots.

I'm commenting on price a lot because we often hear "Oh my goodness, how do you people survive on these incomes?!" :) And also, I've been a church insider for my whole life and churches tend not to pay very much for the hours they expect.

 

Most of these downsides, though, are not really downsides if you're thinking of it as a big adventure to another country where people do things differently. I wouldn't underestimate culture-shock, though. The most severe cases of such that I have encountered were people from the United Kingdom who expected it to be just like home and then found every little difference to be that much harder to cope with.

 

My one other suggestion would be to find out how big your church is and how many teenagers are there - as potential friends for your teenager. At the moment our home ed groups don't have a lot of teens in them, so unless she is involved in something where she can meet people she may find it very lonely here.

 

So, with all that sobering stuff out of the way, Dunedin is actually a great place to live, would be an awesome experience for your kids, and a huge adventure - but it ain't Texas :)

[Rosie_0801]

My one other suggestion would be to find out how big your church is and how many teenagers are there - as potential friends for your teenager. At the moment our home ed groups don't have a lot of teens in them, so unless she is involved in something where she can meet people she may find it very lonely here.

 

 

There's an SCA group in Dunedin (obviously other hobby groups exist but I know about this one :) ) which also has a college sub group. http://castelburn.sca.org.nz/ We have a similar set up here, so if it's anything like here, there's a lot of really nice late teens/ early twenties people about who'd be happy to look out for your daughter if someone suggested it. Many here (ladies and gentlemen) are involved with the dance practices which are run by a few of the college students. If you like, you could drop them a line and see what the situation is. Being an organisation based on chivalry and such stuff, being creepy is not looked upon favourably, and being creepy to under age girls is Really Not looked upon favourably and can get you booted out of the organisation for anything from months to forever.

 

Rosie

[HS in NZ]

We were originally from Southern California. We were looking for a better environment for our children. We had a friend who lived in NZ. We researched it and found it to have a lot of things we thought we'd like and could live with. We were planning to live there permanently and got permanent residency. We lived there for 7 years and decided it no longer was a place we'd want to live. So, we moved back. We now live in Texas!

 

We actually lived in a small town 2 hours away from Dunedin. We traveled to Dunedin almost every month for hospital/medical reasons, bigger and better shopping, tourist stuff, etc. I liked NZ. I agree with the pros given from other posters. And I agree with the cons given. I like it but I was homesick the moment we stepped off the plane. I was excited to move to some place different because I lived in California almost my whole life. So, it didn't hit me until we got there that it is far away from my extended family! Also, I missed out on the last 2 years of my mother's life. So did my children. When making the decision to move to another country, I never factored in that someone in my family would die while I was away . It is something I will always regret! I enjoyed all the pros of NZ, especially making wonderful friends. I coped (but not very well) with what I thought were the negative sides of NZ. BUT, if I had factored in my extended family... I personally would have not wanted to live there long term. If I had the money, I would do what some of my American friends that I met while in NZ do.... 6 months here, 6 months there!!! For me, it's as the saying goes: It's a nice place to visit. But I wouldn't want to live there (permanently). :o

 

One more negative that I don't think anyone has mentioned is that their type of government, Parliamentary, is too liberal (we're very conservative), "in your face/home", and the referendums are non-binding. For instance, and I don't want to get into a debate, they just made it illegal to spank your own child! 80% of New Zealenders disagreed with this law, and enough signatures were gathered to make a referendum. But the government did not budge! The conservative party even compromised their first position of being against it.

 

But it is a pretty place! :o

 

We homeschooled the entire time we were there. Bought a SMALL home there. We freighted our belongings back and forth as well.

 

PM if you have any questions.

Edited February 14, 2010 by HS in NZ

[keptwoman]

For instance, and I don't want to get into a debate, they just made it illegal to spank your own child! 80% of New Zealenders disagreed with this law, and enough signatures were gathered to make a referendum. But the government did not budge! The conservative party even compromised their first position of being against it.

I can't argue with the government being liberal because it certainly is. But I'm disagreeing with the above. You bought the medias hook, line and sinker. They did not make it illegal to spank your child; they removed Section 59 from the crimes? act. Section 59 allowed a parent to use "reasonable force" to discipline a child. This allowed parents to successfully defend hitting their children with HORSE WHIPS and pieces of wood as "reasonable force." Now I don't know about you, but I don't consider that reasonable. They have tightened it up so that abuse can not be argued away under the law but they have categorically stated (and it's in the law) that no one will be charged for smacking their childs bum, and no one has been. If you punch your kid in the head however, or smack them with a horse whip you may find yourself charged.

 

The referenda situation in NZ is ridiculous and comical, they should be non-binding because they are allowed to be coached in such emotive language that voting truely representative is almost impossible. 80% of people voted the way they did in that referendum because the question was emotive and misleading. And thank goodness the government ignored it! I'd like to see the option for referenda gone altogether, we get our say when we vote, if more than that is needed then a more robust and fool-proof referenda machine needs to be put in place.