Hi from Warwick, England

[revvinkevin]

Just joined. Saying hello and gonna pester you all with loadsa dumb questions about NZ cos Wifey and me are just about to start the immigration process and come and live over there.

I'll do my best to stick my posts in the right place but if I cock it up..........sorry

So to start off with.

Where on the islands can you do all year round riding?
I ride year round here, the only weather I won't ride in is snow because the arsehole drivers over here don't have a clue about skid control. This winter has been very mild, only one or two snow days in Warwick so my season hasn't been curtailed.
Last summer was unbelievably wet, floods everywhere.

Oh, I'll do my best to convert distances into Km but if I get it wrong it's because I don't work in metric. I work on vintage cars and they were all imperial.

Hopefully some of you will shout back to me.

Look forward to chatting with you.

Kev

[TimeOut]

Hi and welcome

The North Island has a milder winter the South Island roads can be a bit icy at times although the main routes are usually gritted.

The South Island has a drier less humid summer, this last one was a beauty.
All of NZ has some great biking roads, did a trip around the east of the North Island up to the Coro last month my brother picked some great roads we had an absolute blast.

[James Deuce]

Four points to remember.

1. We don't live in huts with dirt floors.
2. The climate ranges from temperate to sub-temperate. NZ is NOT a South Seas Tropical Paradise. If you're after tropical and an equivalent lifestyle with all-year riding weather, go to the big, brown, dirty, island continent 2000 miles to the left.
3. The distance between Wellington and Brisbane is about the same as the distance between Southampton and Kiev. You can't swim to Australia in your lunch time.
4. The Total Land Mass of NZ is slightly more than the UK and we have no motorways connecting cities. We also have a longer coastline. It takes a lot more time to get from A to B in NZ than it does in the UK. Despite this we are LESS parochial than most of the UK and our accent is broadly similar across the whole country. None of this driving 200 kilometers and hearing three wildly different and yet equally comically incomprehensible accents.

[YellowDog]

Hiya Kev, and welcome.

I'm a Pom too who went through the PR thingy. If you need any help with that, use http://www.move2nz.com. It's run my 2 ex-poms Tammy & Mike in CHCH and the forums will answer all of your questions plus help you decide where to live.

Being a Londoner, Auckland is the only place I could live, but there are lots of excellent places. You need to be careful that the wonderful place you choose to settle is not too remote and isolated. Journeying between towns can be tougher than it should be.

The climate in the North of the North Island is mild all year around. It rains a lot, though generally at night. When bad weather hits, it is on a far larger scale than in the UK. You can however ride all year around without any problems. I would recommend bringing your UK bike out with you as they cost loads more here.

No mud huts however some of the differences will take a bit of getting used to. NZ sufferes with what the UK suffered with in the 1970s in that it was disconnected from mainland Europe and the things that should have come to the UK were stopped by the water. That was all resolved with cheap air travel and a tunnel. In saying that, no one is stopping you living live a European lifestyle (perhaps avoid the male handbag thingy).

Housing is cheap compared with the UK, though the Auckland Kiwis don't understand an Englishman's need for Privacy. You donn't however want to get a Kiwi mortgage, as they are out of kilter with the rest of the world (>10%). You will also need to pick and choose carefully, you will also need to take care over the construction of the house you buy, as some of the PAST local authority approved building regulations were sadly not as good as having a mud hut. It's one of thoses only in NZ things.

BTW Coro = The Coromandel peninsula. Very nice indeed and a great place to holiday and have your second home. NZ is a wonderful country and I would say that of the entire English speaking world, in general the Kiwis are by far the most honest and honourable people I have experienced.

We have no regrets at all. You will love it.

[revvinkevin]

We will probably start out around Aukland cos mrs Kev is a financial type bod and that seems to be the place to start.
I don't want to bring my Pan over, especially if roads ain't that clever. I reckon something along the lines of a V-Strom 650 sounds a fair bet.

[James Deuce]

The Pan is fine. Better than you would imagine. Going from an ST1300 to a V-Strom 650 would be a move you would regret.

As already mentioned, second hand, an ST1300 is a significant amount of money.

There are a large number of ST1300, FJR1300, and Concours 1400 owners on KB.

[Unit:Me]

Hey Kev and welcome to the KB nut house. Dont mind the bollix on here, there are a lot of great people and in person some quite different to how they appear on line. Fantastic motorcycling community in this country.
I am from Whangarei, Northland and lived there off and on most my life. Awesome roads but can be a bit tricky some of them have hidden surprises. I lived in Christchurch for five years and thats where I learned to ride. Hardly any traffic as it is a big Island with a low poplulation, you will get here and wonder where all the people are! Auckland will seem a sleepy little town compared to London.
We now live in Tauranga and love the area, the weather here is outstanding. Northland is very wet. Dunedin is 45° south and becomes sub-antartic so gets quite cold down there and low lying land gets snow.
We have Taupo Track in the middle of the North Island. There are loads of track days to go to which costs $100 in general to register for the day. These are non competitive days and doesnt matter what you ride everyone has fun.
Meremere just south of Auckland but north of Hamilton is our drag strip and winter drag wars are great, again anyone can enter.
They are building Hampton Downs (sounds English doesnt it) beside the Meremere track and are hoping to attract the GP championship bikes in a few years, it should be completed by 2010 and we are looking forward to getting on that track.
The Coromandel (coro) loop is a famous bikers heaven.
The legal speed limit here is lower than in the UK and can be very frustrating at times.
Wellington is famous for being very windy.
Nelson is gorgeous and one of the sunniest places in the country.
Local wines are world renowned.
Overall, a pretty good place to live.
All the best with your immigration

[McJim]

Four points to remember.

1. We don't live in huts with dirt floors.
2. The climate ranges from temperate to sub-temperate. NZ is NOT a South Seas Tropical Paradise. If you're after tropical and an equivalent lifestyle with all-year riding weather, go to the big, brown, dirty, island continent 2000 miles to the left.
3. The distance between Wellington and Brisbane is about the same as the distance between Southampton and Kiev. You can't swim to Australia in your lunch time.
4. The Total Land Mass of NZ is slightly more than the UK and we have no motorways connecting cities. We also have a longer coastline. It takes a lot more time to get from A to B in NZ than it does in the UK. Despite this we are LESS parochial than most of the UK and our accent is broadly similar across the whole country. None of this driving 200 kilometers and hearing three wildly different and yet equally comically incomprehensible accents.

Point 1. So you've never passed through Mangere then?
Point 2. Compared to my homeland this place is fucken hot.
Point 3. Despite their whingeing pommies aren't in the habit of swimming the channel despite the fact that it's only 26miles
Point 4. You've not been to Gore then?



Easy way to describe the weather to a Brit. the seasons are as follows:

Spring
Summer
Autumn
Spring
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Spring

Unless you're in Central Otago or the mountains it hardly ever drops to minus 5.

Rains a bit though.

[YellowDog]

Hi Kev,

You will quite soon realise that the fact the UK doesn't use the metric system is a mojor worldwide embarrasment (worse than living in mud huts).

The stated condition of Kiwi roads has not given you the right impression.
Kiwi roads are pretty good by any country's standards. Yes there are some motorways, but most Roads between towns tend to be single lane (in both directions) with (IMO) well placed passing lanes every several kms. Yes there are some dirt tracks and loose stone roads, however these tend to be way out in the sticks.

If all goes to plan, my next bike will be a Triumph Tiger. This is not a reflection on the NZ roads :-) Your Pan European jobby will (NOT) need to be rebadged as a Pan Australasian jobby, but otherwise (apart from the physical size), it will be a great bike to ride in NZ.

Good luck.

[fergie]

Kev good luck with the move, whats your time frame? I was imported many years ago to improve the bloodlines of the kiwis ha ha !

[goodguy8]

Kev good luck with the move, whats your time frame? I was imported many years ago to improve the bloodlines of the kiwis ha ha !

but didnt even work..

[revvinkevin]

Kev good luck with the move, whats your time frame? I was imported many years ago to improve the bloodlines of the kiwis ha ha !

We are going to a jobs expo in London at the start of April, sound out the jobs (my job is on the long term shortage list), Claudine (wife) is a top financial bod but her qualifications don't count for squat.

Once we've got a lot more info, EoI goes in so it could be as quick as 9 months or as long as a couple of years. Got a house to sell but I reckon it will go quite quickly.

Just gotta keep our fingers crossed.

Cheers

[Pussy]

Welcome to KB, Kev. Cheers

[martybabe]

Hey Kev. Born and bred brummy here mate, came over Nov 07.

It's a great place ,at once familiar but soo very different under the skin. As far as biking goes, Think welsh and scotish scenery almost everywhere out of town. Roads are kinda average but tar and chip is the only method they use to upgrade surfaces which means piles of gravel where you don't want em and big patches of melted/melting tar. I cede to the Kiwis on weather advice, just had a cracking summer but some killjoys tell me it's been an exceptional one which is unfortunate. Drivings ok as a rule but tailgaiting is very common.

The people are far less anal,far more philosophical and generally laid back which is cool. Very friendly types. They seem to love thier country which is refreshing.


A few differences .................................................. .................................................. ......... 1. Beer is cold?
2. Some peeps don't wear shoes
3. The language
4. Soccer?
5. Rugby?
6. The language


It's agreat country full of great people and great biking. come on down.

[Rob Taylor]

Hey Warrick,Good choice bro,you wont find a better country. Roads are great to ride,that bike of yours is perfect so bring it along. We ride all winter and do alot of trips from Auckland to Fielding (sometimes Taupo)for racing.Look on a map,we go west of Hamilton through National park and it takes about 5-6 hours by car with 1 fuel stop traveling at about 120kph(70mph).Takes us longer on the bike but we do make a day of it.A lot of cops on the road who ticket you over 110kph so you need a good radar detector. Come on down,You wont regret it...