Can you tell me about New Zealand? What is it like to live there?

Question

Any general living/society information is great as I am curious to know. I don't need statistical type information, I can easily Google that on my own, I am more interested in the things that can't be found through internet that only people who live in New Zealand or have at least visited there can tell me ~ Thanks in advance!!

Answer 1

I think Picola forgot to mention the Katipo, which is a venomous spider native to New Zealand. We also have the Whitetail spider, which is an Aussie import and venomous too. But enough of the creepy crawlies. New Zealand is paradise to some. There are remote parts of NZ where you can walk for miles and not see another living sole. Unspoiled beaches and mountains galore, with scenery so stunning it will take your breath away. City life after dark is somewhat overrated as most businesses in NZ close their doors early. Things like pay rates aren't all that flash either, with the minimum wage only $12 dollars an hour. And crime is on the rise thanks to the drug P, with 10+ murders this year.

Answer 2

Both the answerers above sound like their confusing New Zealand with Australia!!

First of all we have no poisonous or even dangerous creatures in New Zealand!! barely even any jellyfish in the ocean - so you've already got people giving you wrong information.

Secondly we are considered as having a very mild climate, not overly hot or cold - although extremes both ways do happen and the south island in  particular gets quite cold in winter, lots of snow on mountains etc

check out this link to a question asked on here awhile to kiwis living in NZ http://nz.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind...

and heres how i answered this same question the other day

Life In New Zealand is great.

We are a safe, clean, poisonous and dangerous creature free zone. Our drinking water is some of the best in the world

we have low crime rates (on a worldwide scale) Auckland, NZ was recently rated 5th best city to live in the world in terms of living standards and wellington number12 - this is behind 3 European cities and one in Canada

http://www.mercer.com/pressrelease/detai...

also Auckland and wellington both were equal at number 10 in terms of personal safety.

Yes kiwis are among some of the friendliest people in the world.

The North and the South island are quite different. For a teenager i'd say the North island is better (i know when i was a teenager and my parents moved me from the North island to the South island that's how i felt!) but for a 20 something plus i'd recommend the South island, its where most of the stunning mountain scenery is and Queenstown is the adventure capital of the world.

check out the New Zealand pages on yahoo answers too that's where you'd find out what people think the best city to live in is etc

i hope you get a chance to come here

the immigration website has a portion on it describing what life in NZ is like http://www.immigration.govt.nz/nzopportu...

****Oceanblue i live in Christchurch too and the population is approximately 400,000 people so its not exactly small.... cool that your mum got to come here for awhile :-)

Answer 3

I think NZ is a bit like the geography of the whole world squished into one little country - mountains, rivers, lakes, plains, ocean, deserts, forests etc.  It's an incredibly beautiful place (see lord of the rings & The chronicles of Narnia)

It is a small country - which has it's benefits and it's drawbacks i guess.  We are a pretty staunch country and stick up for ourselves even against the big guys (see anti-nuclear policy which the USA hates)  

It's pretty safe (i was out club hopping one night with some friends from the US and  took a short cut thru an alleyway - they nearly had a heart attack i think they thought they were going to get mugged or something!).  But then we have our fair share of nutters and nasties too - it's always big national news when something bad happens like a murder - you see things on the news here that just wouldn't even be worth mentioning in other countries!

I'm not sure what else to tell you.  I live here, I love it ( although i wish it were a bit warmer at times).

Answer 4

B O R I N G!!! seriously.

Ok so Ive been to china, hong kong, australia on holiday and NZ is just really boring except we have the cleanest water and the air is so much better. There's nothing to do, the shopping sucks (compared to the places ive been to). Um everyone speaks english and yeah i guess we are like any other country.

Answer 5

As far as I'm aware our lifestyles here are pertty much the same you'd expect in any developed country. We have people who live in the city and those who live in the country and their lifestyles are very different to each others just as they are elsewhere. Our television programmes are mostly American, though we also get a lot of Australian stuff as well as programmes from the UK (though not as much as we used to).

The majority of people here (including the native maori) have British ancestry and that's reflected in our culture such as celebrating Guy Fawkes Day and Queen's Birthday and 'God Save the Queen' is still one of our national anthems though nobody actually uses it anymore. We play rugby mostly instead of soccer because soccer didn't have the same meaning for the British back when they came here that it does today.

A lot of Scots came here and it would be rare to have a public parade without a scottish pipe band, even in small towns, and marching girls are something different if you've never seen them before, but I think cheerleading is becoming more popular than marching.

Hope that helps.

Answer 6

Buttons-----

My mom lived in Christchurch for awhile and now moved back to the US. She had a long distance relationship there for awhile? Do you know who she is...her name is Pam, she also worked at the hospital. I know its a smallish town so I thought Id ask. Hope you see this. ~

Answer 7

Its pretty tropic

Answer 8

Oceanblue Christchurch isn't as small as you think. There are about 450,000 people here so not everybody knows everybody.

Answer 9

New Zealands are very violent. But the climate is hot and tropical, also watch out for marine life and other animals that are poisonous.Hope you like it, they've got some great sea sights and the locals are friendly(or what's left of them).