The life and times of a Swimming Pool
Pools- lovely to look, but you have to clean them if you want to use them. Not that we have used ours this year yet – because the summer has been a very long way away.
This is how it starts off at the end of winter. The water is slightly green, murky and full of leaves (even with a pool cover you can’t quite stop all the leaves getting in).
So the first step is to dump some Chlorine in to get rid of the green murk.
But this still has crud in the bottom – so a bot of hoovering, filtering and backwashing is in order:
And then you end up with a clean sparkly pool all ready to play in:
With water the most stunning colour in the sunlight:
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Stars
We were in Wellington last night, I looked out the window around 11pm and was most surprised.
To see stars.
Not something I’d expected when in the middle of the CBD. My feeling was very much encapsulated by the phrase “OMG, it’s full of stars”.
Most cities I’ve been in over the years have no real night sky, since it’s all drowned out by light pollution. So seeing the stars last night was a pleasant surprise.
Holiday in NZ vs. Here for good
Filed under: Cost of living, Getting to New Zealand, Hubby's Views, Life in New Zealand
A friend from the UK came to visit yesterday. He’s been holidaying in NZ on an almost annual basis for the past two decades. Before we emigrated out here, he was one of the few people I knew who had really spent any significant time in NZ – so he was a great source of information, places to go, what NZ was really like etc.
This time, he is in NZ for six months after he left his former employer with enough cash in hand to tide him over for a year or so. {nope, he’s not one of the Westpac fugitives}.
So as you do when you’re young(ish) and single, he’s spending six months travelling around NZ, staying with various friends, and enjoying being away from the UK winter. And UK politics (until today – sorry D!)
He’s found this trip quite a revelation. Where as on previous holidays he’s been ‘right which restaurant shall we head to this evening?”, ‘cos you do when you’re on holiday and NZ restaurants are (relatively) inexpensive. Only this time, with no job and much longer here, he’s been to the supermarkets – and looked at the actual cost of living here.
So I asked him, what did he find as the major differences on the extended trip? In order of immediate response he said;
Bloody hell, the cost of [supermarket] food is high
I can’t believe the [high] cost of electricity
OMG, Kiwi’s don’t know how to drive, they’re lethal on the roads
Enough said.
Now it sounds (to us) like he’s living it up here, some motorcycling, off to get his glider pilots license, more biking, horse riding, more motorcycling and the odd biking race, plenty of outdoorsy stuff that is what NZ does best. The joys of free time and no domestic obligations, but he’s shocked at the cost of living.
For example, his UK electricity costs for three months equate to different friends average NZ monthly electricity costs.
For all that he’s spent plenty of time riding the roads of NZ previously, it’s only now that he’s absorbing how poorly some Kiwi’s drive. We’re all still undecided whether this is because;
- People are (relatively) inexperienced, compared to driving in and around London on a weekly basis. Or long stretches of packed motorways for hours on end. Or stuck in half hour traffic jams during a morning rush hour to get into some middle market town for work/shopping/whatever
Or
- With the slower speeds and lower levels of traffic, people are more relaxed, and there really is time to pull out right in front of other cars because they’re only traveling at 50 kph. And besides, the other guy can always stop if he gets too close or almost hits me.
Not that any of this seriously colours his perspective on Quality of Life vs Standard of Living. The Standard of Living may be higher in the UK, but you have to work harder or longer to achieve that, and then work even more to maintain it. The cost of servicing a BMW M3 can be a bugger.
He still see’s that NZ has a better Quality of Life, even if traffic has grown a lot in 20 years. Now he (had) a really good job, with high pay, good bonuses and plenty of perks. So he’s used to spending plenty of money on things as required. The cost of living is still a shock, which is at least reassuring for us that we’ve not got a uniquely daft perspective.
It’s interesting to hear from someone with a long term love affair with NZ, that he see’s the same stuff we did five years ago when we arrived.
And that it’s still worth being here.
Avalon’s Money Thread – Will you have to take a lower wage?
We also had to take a large pay cut when we first came here – but it didn’t take us long to find out that Hubby had been ripped-off because we were not Kiwi’s. Apparently the lady who hired Hubby was dancing around the office because “she had got this really great guy dead cheap!” It was pointed out to her that if he were that great – it wouldn’t take long for him to leave! But the theory is that if they hire a migrant – they have got your loyalty for at least a year. So, on the basis that we knew the value of his experience – we went shopping for better offers, and got 3! All of which would pay nearly the old UK rate!
You CAN make decent money over here. It’s just not true to say that it can’t be done. OK, so not everyone can earn big bucks, but then that’s the same anywhere. We were earning good money compared to most people in the UK, and we are here too.
I honestly do not believe that you have to earn less to be happy or that by taking a lower salary you are somehow automatically gaining a “lifestyle”. Why can’t you have both? What you may have to do is spend less than you earn!
I can and have been very happy on no money, and I’ve been miserable and very poor while earning very good money. However, I also manage to be pretty contented and happy while earning a decent and fair wage. It’s just wrong to pay a migrant less than a Kiwi for doing the same job. The same as its wrong to pay men and women different wages for doing the same job.
Any company will pay its employees the least it can get away with. (Sometimes its called exploitation – why do we accept it?) It doesn’t mean we have to take it if there’s a better choice elsewhere. I feel (imho only – its just a feeling – not based on ANY factual evidence – just what I’ve picked up) that there’s quite a con going on in convincing migrants that they will have to take massive pay cuts to come here. Whether its because you “have no NZ experience” or “we cant afford high wages here”. Fine – we have no NZ experience – but hey – we have UK experience and by and large – if you want to be a “world player” you need that experience – so pay for it! In Hubby’s job for example – NZ experience just means you know the worst way of doing the job. UK experience means you may have some idea of how it’s SUPPOSED to be done!
NZ has apparently got a booming economy and a surplus of cash (edited to add – even now that it doesnt – we can afford to pay our MP’s a salary in excess of $100k plus upto $50k in tax free “expenses”). Why should the shareholders be the only ones getting a cut? The workers should be fairly and equitably paid. I hope one day that migrants will get paid a fair wage for doing the job and not get talked into “necessarily” earning lower wages than they deserve.
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Oh The Irony :)
Mum and dad have just received a lovely welcoming letter from our local MP John Hayes, which is a standard letter sent to all new constituents to the area (we received one when we moved here).
In it he says:
As your member of parliament my job is to represent all people in the Wairarapa regardless of who they vote for. I am here to help with any issue or constituency enquiry that you may have.
Funny – the one time we asked him for help – he all but told us to bugger off. And he made it quite clear that it was NOT his job to represent us. Oddly enough, we do know that he helped another potential migrant – who was not his constituent. I wonder if he has a problem with younger people?
Tosser!
Oh well, it gave us a real laygh yesterday – so thank you Mr Hayes – you were at least good for something!
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Beach report – Riversdale 26th July
Since one of our favoured past times since we got to NZ is bumming around on the beach, I figured it was time to start an ongoing series of beach reports.
So today, having spent weeks working our butts off with a variety of issues, I decided it was time to take a day out and head to Riversdale.
So, I can report today that;
1. The beach was busy – there was at least 20 people I saw on the beach while we were there
2. It was bloody cold! Fortunately the wind wasn’t strong enough to whip up sand into the face, it was still darn cold requiring a blanket to sit on the beach despite the glorious sunshine.
3. The waves were pretty shallow, and not that huge or choppy. And there was no one in the water, not even the singular hardy surfer.
4. It looks like there has been some storm erosion of the dunes, which means that instead of the nice slopes going down to the beach proper. The dunes are like they have had a slice taken off, just like the slips on the side of hills pouring mud down onto roads, rail tracks etc.
Still, it was gloriously sunny and the air was fresh, so we felt quite relaxed while we were there.
Being able to head to the beach is one of those things which helped Avalon with the home sickness. While I was never much of a beach person in the UK – lack of swimming ability being one area of caution – I’ve grown to really enjoy being at the beach. On honeymoon we started touring round some of the beaches, and I rather enjoy being in the choppy waves at Riversdale now.
Another water baby converted by NZ’s beaches.
Watch those School “Donations” when you move to New Zealand.
I blogged about the rather mis-named school donations a while back, and how for many parents it is not the voluntary donation it should be. Well now it seems that some schools are going even further to try to force parents to pay up.
It seems that some schools are now reporting unpaid donations to the Credit agency to Baycorp, the credit agency -which now means that some parents will have problems with credit scoring. Worse – there are also schools who have passed on the “debt” to debt collection agencies.
This is so far out of order it just isn’t funny. We all know that schools don’t get enough money – but hey – parents don’t either, and screwing up their credit rating is just appalling. Pulling a stunt like this is just not on. It’s dishonest and unethical at best.
“Principals say the tactic shows that schools are under-funded and want the Government to stop “playing games”.”
I agree – the government should pull all funding to schools that try and extort “donations” out of parents and blackmail them by using credit agencies and debt collectors.
Just take care when you move here – the free education is getting less free as time goes on, and you need to be aware of the situation and ready for it. Make sure you budget for it – and make sure you find out what the fees will be for any schools you are considering for you family.
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Winter Views from the Wairarapa
We have had some truly stunning views here in the mornings. Ok, so any day where we live has stunning views as long as we dont get thick low clouds, but one of my favorite things to do (other than drink coffee with my friends) is to sit a nice toasty house and stare at the snow covered mountains in the distance.
I thought I would share this – as no matter how hard it can be sometimes to make the move to New Zealand and to settle into a new life – there is no doubt that this is a country that can blow your mind with it’s beauty.
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Only In New Zealand – Celebrating Winter Solstice at Stonehenge.
I was hoping to bring you some stunning photos of sunset from Stonehenge Aotearoa’s Solstice festival, but it turns out we should have booked way in advance. So one again we have completely failed to make the 2 minute journey to see this event.
Stonehenge Aotearoa is one of those things that for me typifies the occasional madcap nature of Kiwis. I mean; would any other nationality dare to even think of building a “replica” of the one and only Stonehenge? And then build it out of chicken wire and concrete render? Nope – it takes a bunch of weird Kiwi Astronomers with way too much time and a scary amount of imagination.
Bizarrely – I now live just a 2 minute drive down the road from there, and yet we didn’t even visit it for 2 years to have a look around. Stonehenge Aotearoa was actually completed just after we moved to New Zealand, and like many people we trekked out to the wilds of Carterton to go and see it. And it was closed. In fact it was almost always closed, and if you wanted to go and have a look – you needed to book in advance and go in via a guided tour.
When we finally did it – it was well worth the wait. You get a Audio Visual presentation, all about stone circles, how they were used by ancient people, and then a presentation about Maori Star Lore. It’s really fascinating. You then get taken to the henge itself, and your guide tells you tales and legends of the Maori ancestors and explains more about how the circle works, and why they built it. I think it worth the trip even if you don’t like Storytelling – but as we do – it was really up our street. Ok, so your guide isn’t dressed up in fancy costumes – but what the heck!
It is not actually meant to be a replica of the great Stonehenge. It was built by members of the Phoenix Astronomical Society, and it is designed to mark the movement of the stars, and to act as an educational center – teaching people about New Zealand’s ancestors. The gaps between the uprights (They aren’t stones) act as windows for the different movements of the stars over the year. One of those gaps shows the setting of the sun this evening. It’s a pity we didn’t see it. It was built here in the Waiarapa because we have particulary clear skies – which are fabulous for stargazing. Unfortunately today was completely clouded over, so we couldn’t see the setting sun, but usually we have amazing clarity – virtually no light polution and a stunning view of the heavens. The Astronomical Society also runs monthly stargazing meetings up at Stonehenge, and opens up the three big Telescopes they have up there.
Stonehenge Aotearoa often hold ancient festivals for local pagan groups, so you can if you book in advance celebrate the solstices and equinoxes with Druid Groups. It looks stunning – and I promise I will get to one some day!
Stonehenge is now open during the week for people to just turn up and wander round. I do however recommend booking one of the tours – it really is fascinating.
Given that we didn’t make it to the Celtic Festival – we made do with our own Midwinter Feast. Christmas Dinners always seem a bit odd here – but today it felt a lot better. With a roaring fire, and being cold enough to drink mulled wine it was a lovely day to have a Turkey and Trimmings. And it made up for us all missing Christmas together last year. We just have Black Forest Trifle to go for pudding!
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Right to Roam does not exist in New Zealand.
There is an article in todays Dom Post which talks about a farmer locking the gate which allowed access to a beach through his land. It raises the point that many migrants may find unusual: you have no right here in New Zealand to wander across someone else’s land. In this guys case there is a legal access across his land – but that is not the route that people use. Instead they are making a mess of his land and not taking care of it. So he has locked the gate for the foreseeable future.
If you live somewhere like us in the Wairarapa, where a lot of the land is owned by farmers – just be aware that you cannot go traipsing all over it without permission. We are fortunate in that the land round here is owned by the guy who keeps his sheep in our paddock – so he has kindly said we can walk up on the hills behind the house.
This is just one of the many difference between two contries that many people think are so similar.
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