Thoughts about my move to New Zealand
 

Some thoughts, in no particular order:

- People in Wellington tell me I'm crazy for buying a convertible here. This has been the wettest winter on record (I think). It seems to be raining around one day in three, is cloudy one day in three, and is sunny one day in three. Temperature during the day is between 12c (54f) and 16c (61f). The locals find anything under 10c to be bitterly and disgustingly cold. I'm not certain I've ever been in a more pleasant climate, even counting San Diego, because I like a bit of variety and greenery. Summer is supposed to be around 20c (68f) plus or minus two degrees, and sunny ~70% of the time.

- When I arrived, I immediately bought a car because I do not know any other way to get around. I chose to live with roommates despite being able to afford a place of my own (even to buy), to help socialize and educate me. I'm living with three 30's working professionals, none of whom own a car, despite being plenty able to afford one. Buses arrive in the outer suburbs every 5 minutes like clockwork.

- Initially I considered buying a trailer to move larger items, such as furniture, to save on delivery costs. However, I realized that virtually every petrol station has trailers for rent, and rental prices are extremely inexpensive. Perhaps half of vehicles I see on the road have a hitch, even subcompacts with 1L engines.

- The roads are extremely narrow - at times, traffic on either side takes turns, and my MX-5 barely fits between the lines in places.

- Speed limits are treated differently here. Rural roads have limits you couldn't possibly expect to hit unless you have a death wish. Motorways are typically 100kph (62mph), or sometimes 80kph (50mph). The culture here seems to be to drive 5 under, rather than 5 over, and it's exceedingly rare to see anyone driving above the limit, even when it's perfectly flat and straight. Non-motorways are typically 50 (31), and once you get into any area where foot traffic is common, it's 30 (18).

- Drivers here are very good. Traffic patterns seem much more conscientious. When two lanes merge, people automatically space out and come together every other car. When lanes are narrow or there is a delivery vehicle in the street, drivers don't think twice about sharing lanes with oncoming traffic. When one side is blocked by someone trying to turn, the other side will usually have a driver that sees this, stops their traffic briefly, and lets the signaling driver turn. I have yet to see road rage, though I'm sure it exists. When someone makes a poor choice, it *appears* they're forgiven. The roads feel more chaotic, but at the same time less dangerous.

- Everything is a roundabout.

- Because healthcare is universal, car insurance is both optional and absurdly cheap, often as little as $6 per month. Private insurance and healthcare is available for anyone who wants it.

- I pay a little less than half the tax rate on my first dollar compared with the US, but seem to get more in return.

- I'm starting off my job at 6 weeks paid time off per year and it only grows from there. I'm expected to use it. I'm salaried, but work seems to be 40 hours minus, rather than 40 plus. If I finish early, I go home.

- What surprises me most of all is what I've observed about children. Maybe in more rural areas this isn't true, but I have yet to see a school bus here. Instead, children walk or use normal transit like adults, and as a result, they have the same mobility and access to the community as adults. I see kids walking to the community pool, or in a bakery, or visiting a park, all unsupervised. Or at least, without their parents. The community seems to keep a loose eye on them. I expect because of this, kids grow up being accustomed to using communal services, and don't grow out of it. There's a lot more of a sense of community, and a lot more trust.

- Communities seem to be built around a small business core that is to be accessed on foot. Private ownership of many things just doesn't make sense, when it's a 5 minute walk away (e.g. trailer, swimming pool). Refrigerators are small, because you walk past a grocery store every day, and it's 5 minutes to get in and out with what you're going to make for dinner.

- Eating out is less expensive. Menu prices look higher, but prices always include tax, and there is no tipping.

- On the topic of prices, utilities are less. Car insurance is less (or not required). Medical is "free". Taxes are lower. Food is similar, aside from things that are out of season which can be wildly expensive. Regular consumer goods are often a little higher, and with far lower selection - e.g. stuff like socks, bed sheets and toothbrushes. Cars are much less expensive. Items like computers and computer parts are similar. Chemicals such as paint, solvents, etc. are far more expensive. Tools are more expensive and the selection is poor. Rent in the capital city is similar to a middle-cost US state - not far off from, say, Michigan, and less than Vermont. Buying in the capital city is US west coast expensive - think Portland or Seattle and its suburbs.

- There is so incredibly much access to nature, and it's rare that people don't access it on a regular basis. Over the weekend I walked around 30km. Private land generally isn't off limits, and several times I stopped to play with someone's lambs or kids (goats) while walking to check out a lighthouse or some other cool feature.

Attached is a short video of driving from my community to the beach. These are pretty typical roads.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CcL6u65yb4

I hear the volcano messed with the weather in the south.

Many places in the world are like that: diametrically opposed to US of A experiences that praise status.

Just don't join any cults.

I was invited to an effective altruism club. :rolleyes:

Does that count?

- Being vegetarian seems about 3x more common here.

- An expression I've heard is, "I'm not a lawyer or a farmer" to describe that someone isn't wealthy. Apparently back in the 80's the government decided to do away with all subsidies and handholding, and make agriculture entirely free market. Along with some clever marketing, it has resulted in agriculture becoming wildly lucrative, and the individual farmer with a few acres is alive and well.

-On that topic, the government also went on a massive diet, and cut out a lot of the unnecessary bureaucratic bloat. Despite more services being socialized, it's arguably a much smaller government system. Government spending per Capita is notably lower.

- The indigenous population don't seem to have been as severely taken advantage of as in the US, and still make up a sizable portion of the population, though I see some similar dialectic to what's going on with African Americans. From my brief observations, the Maori are more represented in the bottom income brackets, and you see similar patterns of representation in health, higher education education, crime, and other social issues. Interestingly, many place names are returning to their pre-colonial ones, and a large majority of people are voluntarily learning at least some Te Reo Maori. New Zealand may even change its name. There's a conscious and widespread effort to rewrite the social narrative and hold indigenous views on equal level with colonial ones. At the same time, there's still racial discrimination that can be observed, and is perhaps more obvious to an outsider.

- The household I'm staying in seems to produce around 1/8 the waste of my sister's, despite there being twice as many adults living here.

- Single use plastic is all but banned. My rubbish bags are compostable and made from plants. No bags are offered when checking out while shopping. Many items (such as spices) are sold in fully compostable packaging, if not in bulk.

Some things you mention sound quite similar to what I see in Brazil, while others seem totally different from what I'm used to.

Huge THANK YOU for this!!
The wife and I have been looking for a place to flee from the direction our gov't is dragging us, and NZ is about as far away as the globe will allow.

Based on what you wrote, we are in love, though we are aware that no place is ideal. And you too will notice the darker sides of living there, whatever they may be.

This reminded me of a joke I once heard:
The son of a rich sheikh went abroad to study. After a month or 2, he texts his father that all is good. The father asks whether the gold-plated limo is adequate for driving to school?
The son replied that yes, it's great, but all of his professors ride the bus.
Dad's reply: No problem son, next month I'll send you a gold-plated bus.

That's interesting. The perspective from here, Northwest of normal, is that Eastern Europe (Poland plus three others?) is an island of sanity, while NZ is following Australia down some yawning abyss.

Shows what I know?

Some of the darker side that I've seen:

- New Zealand seems to have a certain branding, of being pure and clean and unspoiled. This is partly true, but also partly not. It's stunningly gorgeous here. However, even as large as it is, the native ecosystem is shockingly fragile, and most of the country is overrun with invasive species. I'm of the opinion that people here put forth more effort to maintain and restore native flora and fauna than most (if not any) other place on earth, but it remains that there are invasive mammals that have decimated the native bird population, and it's a constant battle to keep them in check enough to prevent their complete extinction. On the other hand, the fragile native ecosystem DOES still exist, and it's coming back, because people value it. Most continental areas either just seem to accept invasive species as the "new normal", or the ecosystem is not so fragile as for it to be an issue.

- In some areas, there is gang activity. I'm not super informed on what the gangs are about or why they exist, and the overall crime rate is still a fraction of what it was in the US overall, but the existence of gang activity has surprised me.

- The south island supposedly has major issues with downstream river algae blooms, from agricultural nitrate runoff.

- The weather may be mild and not have any large swings, but it's closer to the adage "if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes" than anywhere I've lived. Most days the forecasts show rain. Most days it does rain, if only briefly: a storm will blow in from the ocean, it'll drop rain for 5 minutes, then the storm blows back out to sea, and the sun comes out. In Wellington in particular, it's hard to plan an outdoor activity more than a day or two in advance, and even then nothing is guaranteed. I keep a rain coat in my car.

- It's fairly humid on the north island. The dew point is low, but so is the temperature. It isn't muggy, per se, and any heated building will feel fairly dry and comfortable inside. Heating and cooling is largely unnecessary, but a dehumidifier is a nice addition to any home.

- Most homes here, for whatever reason, simply haven't been built to be air tight and don't hold heat very well. Single glaze is still most common, and often windows have gaps that wind blows right through. Most heating is still resistive, with heat pumps being a relatively new technology. I came from summer in the US, and until I added weather stripping and plastic sheeting over my windows, I was actually a bit chilly unless I was running an inefficient heater all of the time. The flip side to the "breathability" of homes here is that, although I have indoor allergies, I haven't had any since moving.

- Because it never gets very hot or cold here, and the landscape is so rugged, with houses set down in valleys to get shelter from the wind, many places don't fully dry out in winter for days or weeks at a time. I'm tempted to get a pressure washer to clean the lichens from the stonework outside.

- There seems to be much more of a culture of "making do" than I'm accustomed to. I respect it, but it's a surprise coming from the US, where most anything worn or damaged is simply replaced. It doesn't even seem to be about the money, typically.

Don't take me wrong, there's nowhere that isn't under some kind of stress. It's all human-made of course.

The World's Fastest Indian made the mororcycle gangs appear good-hearted behind the posturing.