Is New Zealand a great place to live?

Question

Racism? Technology? Education? People in general?
Anything negative you know about New Zealand? Please tell me.

Answer 1

Let me assess it for you on a scale of 1 to 10.

Racism: 5 (we do have the odd incident, and the attitudes even my university colleagues express at times are not as PC as they were in Britain or Canada)

Technology: 6 (this is a 1st world country, and everything is available, but not necessarily used. Cars are not tested for their emissions yet, in contrast to e.g. Germany, where this has been the case for over 25 years now, and coal stoves are still considered an adequate way of heating the house. People make do with far more arcane standards of technology in NZ than they would accept in Europe or North America).

Education: 10 (I am impressed by the way schools and tertiary institutions are run, by their standards, and by the outcomes the students achieve. Only Scandinavian and Asian countries compare, and I know what I'm talking about, because I work in that field).

People in general: This is obviously very subjective. If I ranked the British, Japanese, and Swedes a 10, the Canadians and French 8, and the Americans and Germans 7, I would rank the New Zealanders a 9. This may say more about my own preferences though than about any objective realities about the people.

On the whole, I can tell you that you will not want to leave again once you've adjusted to life in NZ.
The things that take adjusting to are the driving (it's fast, aggressive, and at times crazy, our traffic deaths are on a par with those of Hungary and Russia), the building standards (housing here is often lousy with respect to climatization, the quality ramshackle), and the fact that people are not always friendly. If you are used to Canada or Britain, brace yourself. This place is more like France, or Scotland. On the upside, if you have a bad day and feel like barking at people, feel free to do so, everybody does it.
And then there's the issue of money:
Living here is not expensive by comparison with the UK, Northern Europe, or US. You can live a good lifestyle with a car or two, boat, your own house by the water, as much outdoor stuff as you can handle and then some, and eating in restaurants, of which there are many, and they are good. Having said that, food prices can be on a par with those in Britain (yikes), depending on your choices (I am vegetarian and don't buy processed things, so I don't care anyway), and buying plane tickets and other things of international pricing can be painful on a Kiwi salary. Expect to earn about the same as in Canada, two-thirds of what you would earn in the US, and about half of what you would earn in the UK.
Don't underestimate taxation and deductions, which run at 39% if you are earning the kind of money you should be making. They include social insurances of various types, comprehensive health cover, retirement plan, and UI though, so you're getting a good deal.

Answer 2

racism is everywhere, but alot less of it than the rest of the world, technology is exactly like the US, canada or australia, its a well developed western nation, education is some of the best in the world, with some of the greatest minds in the world originating in NZ, the splitting of the atom was partially discovered by a new zealander, people in NZ are very friendly and accepting, one of the greatest countries in the world in my opinion

Answer 3

Too far away at the end of the world