I have lived and worked in New Zealand for 20 years - AMA

[aurynne]

I often see questions from many posters about living in New Zealand, so I thought my experience could be useful to anyone considering the option or just curious about what goes on in an average day in the Land of the Long White Cloud.

I am not British, but I have lived in the UK before too, I moved to New Zealand 20 years ago and have been living here, in 3 different cities/towns, since then.

I have also studied a brand new career in New Zealand and lived through the Christchurch earthquakes. I have hiked some of the most amazing routes (done 8 out of the 11 Great Walks) and lived through the White Island eruption, Chriscthruch mosques massacre and Covid pandemic here.

I now have citicenship and a NZ passport too.

Happy to answer any questions.

What's the new career that you've studied in NZ? Did you get support from the NZ government or did you pay out of pocket for study/training?

Is new Zealand as beautiful as they say?

I studied midwifery (direct entry). Although I was alredy a citizen when I applied for the degree, I did not fulfil the coinditions to receive support from the Government. I paid the fees from my savings (I could have asked for a student loan, but I had enough savings so it was not necessary).
If I had not been a citizen, fees would have been 3 times as steep and I would have needed a loan.

It's stunning. So many of the landscapes have the WOW factor, some places I visit several times a year, and every time when I am there I still go "WOW, I didn't remember it was SO beautiful". The South Island, where I live, is paradise. It's not only the beauty, but how pristine the air is (when I go home to visit, the first thing I notice when I leave the plane is the stench of car exhaust fumes and the smell of drains), how clean everything is (you barely ever see a paper or a piece of plastic on the floor, the beaches are just sand, sea shells and sea, the colour of the water is unbelievable... lakes look like a child painted them. Before coming to New Zealdn I did not know water could be so green, turquoise, bright blue...), the diversity of landscapes... you can be in a glacier, a paradisiac beach, the top of a snow-capped mountain, a pristine lake and 37 km sandy spit within 2 hours of distance of one another.

You have to have the means to travel to these places, though. Public transport is very deficient and you need a car to get to places. I know immigrants who have been stuck in Auckland or Christchurch (or worse, Palmerston North or Hamilton) for years and have never seen any of these breathtaking places everyone talks about.

Just 3 examples below, so hard to choose photos... these 3 are The Hooker Valley track, in Mount Cook; Mackenzie saddle in Milford Sound; and one of the hundreds of stunning bays in Abel Tasman National park, which is just a bit over an hour from where I live.

Cool, thanks for answering. Hope you're enjoying it!

Sounds like rural England and Scotland, love it.

We’re moving in the new year for dh’s job to Auckland, so excited, where should our first hike be? we love hiking!

Photos are amazing, I'd love to visit sometime. Are there any downsides to living in NZ?

What is the education system like?

I am loving it, especially after some years practising, when now I feel confident enough to choose how and where I work. Midwives in New Zealand are autonomous health professionals, we can diagnose, prescribe, practise as self-employed (but still working within the public system). I work as contract and casual in a variety of roles and can't imagine working any other way right now.

Oh God, so many options!

In Auckland, I would recommend the Waitakere Ranges. Goat Island if you like snorkeling. The Coromandel Peninsula is not that far away and was a favorite of mine when I was living in the North Island. But my favourite place in the NI was the Tongariro National park. Not only for the Tongariro Crossing itself (one of the best one-day hikes in New Zealand, where you feel as if you were walking in another planet), which I did many times, but for all the other stunning tracks in the area (Taranaki Falls, Tama Lakes, the Northern Circuit...), and the snow.

The Taranaki region is also beautiful and has amazing hiking. Depending how fit you are, you can try summiting Taranaki (this was the hardest hike I've done), but if not ready for the leg-breaker, the around-the-mountian tracks are beautiful. I recommend starting with the Pouakai tarns walk and go from there.

For more mountain terrain you will have to head towards Wellington, there are hundreds of peaks there to explore.

PS You may want to do avoid a visit to the South Island though... because if you're hikers, I guarantee you, you will want to move down here.

I’m a £10 Pom (British but grew up and educated in NZ) and lived in palmerston north which is a dump so no argument there!

my education was fantastic and I am really glad I went to school and varsity in NZ not England. There’s none of the competition for school places as the population is so small, but education standards are high. My high school really went out of its way to cater for me and what I wanted to do which was amazing as the school had the worst reputation going.

there are lots of downsides to living in NZ as there to living in any country. Drugs and gangs were an issue when I lived there, and they aren’t the most receptive to migrants. COL is very high, housing standards are not good and houses are expensive.

and even worse, a lot of NZ houses only have one bathroom which would probably horrify most Brits. I don’t know how we all survived the trauma of growing up in houses with no central heating and no en-suites.

Yes, there are a number of them. As everywhere else, it's not perfect. Depending where you come from and what you're used to, they will vary. I will have to tell you my own:

The main downside coming from a European is the isolation. You don't realise really how FAR AWAY from everything you are. The closest country is a 4 hour flight (Australia, and this is if you fly to the East Coast... flying to Perth takes 7 hours), and apart from the Pacific Islands there no other place to go without embarking on an 8 hour flight minimum, and that's to South East Asia. You simply cannot pop out to visit family and friends. Any trip to Europe/America is at most a yearly thing that costs a huge amount of money and leaves you seriously jet-lagged both ways. And you will waste at least 2 whole days of your holiday just with flights. Living in New Zealand is not for the family-oriented who need to be close to loved ones, unless you bring them all with you.

Another dowbnside for me is the lack of social activities after hours. In the country I come from, the streets are buzzing after 5 pm, all shops, cafes and restaurants are open, ther are people in the street until past midwnight every day. in New Zealand, everything closes after 4. Even in bigger towns, most cafes close at 3 or 4 pm, shops close at 4 pm, and there's barely anyone in the streets after that.After 20 years I still miss the liveliness of European cities in the evenings.

Another downside for me is the inequality. New Zealand is a colonised country, and the indigenous population (Maori), as all other colonised populations in the world, suffer from displacement and lower socieconomic conditions which leads to deprivation, poor health outcomes and higher crime in that demographic. In general, crime in New Zeeland is very low and the country is very safe. However there is an underground New Zealand where domestic violence, drugs, child abuse, incarceration and multigenerational deprivation are rife. Not only Maori families, but disproportionately in maori families. Together with that comes a low-level (I mean low compared to other countries where I've lived, included my own birth country) racism by the white (pakeha) population which is umcomfortable to see, as many New Zealanders fail to have the insight to consider the privilege the colour of the skin and background brings. In my previous career I lived and worked with provoleged people around me, so I didn't experience this in first person. As a midwife giving care to all kinds and shapes of women and families, it becomes very obvious. I went through a period of my life when I felt very ashamed that I had not been aware of this.

Something that for me is not a big deal, but for many it may be, is how geologically active New Zealand as a country is. It is called "the shaky isles" for a reason. New Zealand is laying onto a series of deep faults. I went through the Christchruch earthquakes, which killed 185 people in only one city, but I have also felt earthquakes strong enough to wake me up everywhere I have lived, and they are expecting a massive one in the next 30-50 years. There are also volcanic eruptions (yes, a number of them while I have been living here), tsunami alerts regularly, floods, a cyclone here and there (mostly in the North island those ones) and every now and then someone's house/garden
/shed in Rotorua gets swallowed by boiling sulphuric mud. It's something accepted by Kiwis and whoever wants to live here: you need to live with it, because this is not going to change any time soon.

Apart from those, I can't really say there are many more downsides for me. New Zealand is one of the least corrupt countries in the world, so that was a breathe of fresh air for me. Most people are incredibly honest, you can travel around as a solo woman traveller feeling safe, I leave my mobile phone on the table outside when I go to order another coffee in a cafe, and the only time I forgot my bag with my wallet and everything in a cafe, it was returned to me with everything in it a day later. The feeling of safety is one of the main reasons I feel at home here. There is nothing like the feeling of mostly trusting your fellow humans.

How do you find the healthcare system in terms of quality, cost (if any?), waiting times etc?

I’m an AHP and the move to NZ or
Aus has always tempted me!

In this one I can't help much, as I moved here when I was 28 and I don't have children, so I was not familiar with the school system in the UK either.

But I see that @whirlyhead has a very helpful post about that already 😀

Oh God, how could I forget about freezing cold houses in the downsides!

No central heating. Walls made of wood and plastic (they call it "GIB", but it's basic sheets of thin plastic! You can hit your head against the wall in a NZ house and you won't hurt yourself. Hit it hard enough and you'll go through it). Nothing under the carpet. Insulation is considered a luxury. Even when they heat a room, the rest of the house is frigid. So the lounge may be warm, but you freeze your pubes when you get out for a wee. Being cold at home is almost a rite of passage for a kiwi. Bonus points if you go barefoot and in shorts in a house that is 12 degrees inside.

When I bought my house I had already learned my lesson. My number one condition was "double glazing, sunny and with enough heat pumps to make sure I'm warm anywhere in the house". My Kiwi friends often comment hopw nice and warm my house is.

I find NZ used to have quite a good healthcare system, but it has substantially degraded in the last 10 years.

Any injury caused by an accident is covered by a universal insurance called ACC (Accident Compensation Corporation), which means treatment is basically free, including if you fall down a mountain and have to be rescued by a helicopter. I used ACC once when i broke my arm sniowboarding and found it to be excellent. As I wished to continue working but could not drive, ACC provided me with a taxi service that picked me up and dropped me off at work and back every week day (back then i was working as a researcher, so i still could direct my students and write on the copmputer and preferred to continue working instead of remaining at home unable to do much for 6 weeks). They even offered me home help as I was living by myself at the time! I do believe that ACC is a jewel and New Zealand is very lucky to have this.

Otherwise, healthcare is funded at point of care. GP visits have a cost which depends on your income. I pay about NZ$70 per visit (not sure if this has gone upo as I haven't gone to the GP in ages). Prescriptions used to cost $5 but are now free. Specialist visits are free if you get referred by the GP, but about $400-$600 if you choose to go yourself. Emergency care is free at point of care. aternity care is free (there may be a surcharge by some private radiology providers for ultradounds in some areas). of course you have to be a citizen, permanent resident or be on at least a 2-year work visa for this to apply.

The main problem is lack of specialists, which is horrendous in some rural areas, or small towns. new Zealand healthcare professionals are not paid well, and many of them end up moving to Australia or other countries, which causes deficit of care. If you have cancer or heart issues, for instance, you better live close to Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch or you are screwed for appointments and general care. GPs can also be scarce in some areas. Towns that are becoming quite large, and have heaps of tourists, like Queenstowen or Wanaka, don't have a secondary hospital (Wanaka has no hospital whatsoever), so if you need surgery you need to organise travel and accomodation for this. Waiting lists are getting quite bad in some areas.

You can pay for private insurance, but in latest years so many public health interventions have been transferred to private providers that even private patients have long waiting lists.

Personally I have been incredibly lucky that my health has been good so far. But if I got something really bad I would consider going back to Europe for treatment.

For work, it really depends what type of AHP you are and where you'd like to move to. You will make more money in Australia, but I much prefer New Zealand for the lifestyle, especially now that climate change has become so noticeable. I was working in Australia as a contract midwife and, during hot days, I could not get out of the nurses accommodation, it was brutal. Australia has beautiful locations... but honestly... there's no comparison. Many of the ones who emigrate to Aussie stay for the better salaries, but really miss New Zealand.

in New Zealand, everything closes after 4. Even in bigger towns, most cafes close at 3 or 4 pm, shops close at 4 pm, and there's barely anyone in the streets after that.

Where on earth do you live that shops close at 4 pm????? I've lived in the South Island my whole life and the shops in my small town have always closed at 5.30 pm. as they do in neighbouring large towns.

By shops I mean small independent shops. If you mean big malls and The Warehouse, and Bunnings, and Mitre10 large places... then yes, most of them close a bit later (5.30 pm for me is still horrendously early anyway for a business that should be targeting people with money to spend, who often work until 5 pm at least, so when the hell are they going to do their shopping?).

When you have, as you state, "lived in the SI my whole life" you have nothing to compare things to. In my home country, and others around it, shops close at 8 pm. Cafes are open until the last person leaves, often 11 pm. Streets are alive with people until midnight. So maybe you will understand that, for me, even closing "as late as" 5:30 pm is a joke.

5.30 is very early for shops to close from a European perspective! Does that include supermarkets? When do people get their shopping? I’ve got visions of everyone having to go on a Saturday. Can you get supermarket deliveries?

I mentioned that I have lived in the South Island my whole life to explain how I know that shops here don't close at 4 pm. 5.30 has always been the traditional closing time for shops, and as I also finished work at 5.30 for most of my life then I shopped in my lunch hour or at the weekends. I live in a small town, we don't have big malls here and I imagine that if shops closed at 8 pm there would be very few people around shopping. We don't even have much in the way of extended hours at Christmas time now as people didn't bother.

Btw you still haven't told me what this place is where shops close at 4 pm.

The only places in New Zealand where I found small shops did not close at 4 pm were Auckland city Centre, Queenstown and Wellington city centre. Every other place I've been to (too many to list, really... Hamilton, Napier, Hastings, Taupo - except for tourist shops, Nelson, Greymouth - where shops actually only opened when the Transalpine train brought the tourists, Invercargil, Oamaru...) is dead after 4 pm.

I grew up in NZ and now lives in the UK. A major downside of NZ is jobs. There has been a brain drain from before I left. I am 50yo and left after my PhD. Many young kiwis left for better job opportunities. Some went back but many don’t. I still remember the career advice I got from the university of Auckland. We were told to hide our postgraduate degrees. This has not improved and I read an article recently about record migration of young people to Australia.

Houses were very cold but I would assume it must have improved since I was young.

I feel a lot of British I met here have a very rosy view of NZ. But the record number of departures don’t lie. If we have this problem in the UK, I am sure many would be very worried. This is in-spite of having a fairly welcoming immigration policy.

This is a quick google of a link talking about the record net migration loss.
www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2024/11/07/taking-issue-brain-drain.html

Very odd, it certainly isn't the case where I live.