UK biker (stormerUK)

[Molly]

I would describe the weather here as being like 'nice English weather'. By that I mean it's mostly like the better end of what you get in the UK. We don't get the severe winter weather and we don't get that wearing, endless heat you might find in Australia.

I live in Christchurch and find I can comfortably expect to ride my bike all year round. In the depths of winter I'll usually wait until the frost has gone out of the shaded bends though. They put gravel on the road on some of the colder days too. Bloody dangerous but at least it doesn't rot your bike like the salt used in the UK.

Waiting for fine weather to coincide with a day off work could take weeks and weeks in the UK. Those rare, hot, sunny days when I used to take a run to Devil's Bridge or Rivington Barn are etched in my memory because they were such an infrequent event (two, three times a year?). To cut a long story short, the riding weather is bloody good.

This summer's been nice so far. I'm waiting for the sun to pass round a bit so I can get on with painting the house... Well, that's my excuse.

[freshair]

no sun for two years!! forget about the bird life, there must be a few depressed humans hanging out of trees !!

[Whynot]

no sun for two years!! forget about the bird life, there must be a few depressed humans hanging out of trees !!

I think he may have been exaggerating .... i'm pretty sure i saw the sun yesterday.

[Supertwin Don]

I think he may have been exaggerating .... i'm pretty sure i saw the sun yesterday.

Saw this one so I thought I'd sling in my two-pnnorth (5c worth)
Wife and I (both Kiwis) are looking at returning to NZ after 25 years in UK - I've just had a 4 week bike tour of NZ (see NZ Holiday Ride 2008) so I reckon I can say I've seen both countries recently.
UK still has plenty going for it - you don't HAVE to have a bike/car to get around, just takes a bit more time.
BUT: NZ definitely has the edge when it comes to the clean/green thing but you do (virtually) HAVE to be able to operate a vehicle to get around.
I agree with an earlier comment about age / time of life having a big impact on perceptions of lifestyle and standard of living, so the following breakdown of kiwi life may draw some comments
0yrs to 5yrs - great dairy products, good support for Mums, social activities a bit limited.
5yrs to 15yrs - great outdoors, interaction with other cultures pretty limited
15yrs to 25yrs - great outdoors (if you are still into it) limited cultural opportunities (unless living in certain areas) not many proper graduate jobs for all the graduates, all good opportunities seem to be overseas.
25yrs to 50yrs - great place to bring up kids, providing you have a job/income and are able to drive the people carrier
50yrs plus - great place to retire providing that you are in reasonable health and able to drive/ride (unless you live next door to doctors/A&E)

P.S. I reckon I saw the sun yesterday, too

[stormerUK]

Supertwin Don......I'll go with the 'great place to retire'
Molly most bikers in the UK ride for 1/2 year and store their bikes for the other1/2 (sad).
Whynot....if you see it again then please send a picture!

[McJim]

Molly most bikers in the UK ride for 1/2 year and store their bikes for the other1/2 (sad).

Mate, you need to stop mixing with those Honda riders. Get over here and come out for a rainy ride with me on my Ducati!

She rides in all weathers - I used to use the Duc to commute in Auckland coz they have appalling congestion on their one and only motorway (they have a dual carriageway they call the Western Motorway as well but that doesn't really count) and no public transport.

All in all the decision to move should be made with your eyes open - it all depends on what you are looking for. If you have no young dependants and a bit of money for a house you will probably have a ball.

When I arrived the emigration itself sucked up most of the money I had intended to use for a deposit so I had to buy a house at the absolute limit of my finances. My wife couldn't return to work as baby number one was too young. We then had baby number two and she certainly couldn't return to work. I have therefore been the sole breadwinner for five years now and the culture shock has been harsh. For the 4 years before I came here we lived in a luxury London apartment with a 12.5 metre heated pool, a car each and well paid jobs - as a result we would piss off abroad when we felt like it for a holiday in the sun - most Fridays, Saturdays were spent pubbing and clubbing in London - other weekends we would pop up to Glasgow for a curry.

So I have had to live for 5 years with no disposable income after having had a party for 4 years. Hence my experience is NZ = no fun but UK = loadsa fun.

Now here's an important perspective. Make sure you come to New Zealand for New Zealand's sake - If you are just coming to New Zealand to get away from the UK or the world recession then it's probably a bad move.

Best of luck with the move. Remember to visit the South when you get here :

[stormerUK]

Hi McJim.....definately ride my bike all year...hate the 6 month riders they come out every May with m/c's way above their rusty skill levels and go about killing themselves or other bikers going the opposite direction.
Think you might find the UK a different place than when you left. Wages in the city are twice the level as elsewhere now with property being out of the range of all but a millionaire hence the commuter belt moving out well beyond the 100mile radius. Traffic levels have doubled in that period so nipping up to Glasgow now would most probably take all weekend! Young people in the UK cannot get a mortgage unless both are working full time and property repossession is at an all time high. In the last 3 years we have seen a monumental influx of European races coming in mainly from Eastern Europe so we now have a population the government think is nearer to 65 million with another 25 million expected in the not too distant future. Since you vacated London the population has grown by 1/2 million!. Fly into the UK now look out of the window and be shocked by the housing growth. The Euro is now 1:1 with the good old £, so cheap hols are a thing of the past!
The recession is something that had to happen due to people trying to get too fat too quickly and for the time being at least it has stopped ridiculous house building in its tracks.
NZ immegration have all but shut its doors at the mo to help protect NZ jobs for NZ workers...a lesson we need to learn but fast!
My wife and myself want out of the UK to get away from the shear hostile attitudes that have entered our society in the last 3-4 years, road rage now is frightening..ask any UK bikers site as to what we have to put up with. Average speed up the M6 m'way is so low that the average speed cameras are defunct.
Majority of major roads in the UK are now controlled at 50mph (80 kph) with 6000 speed cameras in operation!
Worse of all is crime nowdays, not breakins even, they are a daily issue where the police send an incident number over the phone and do not attend unless someone is seriously hurt. The crimes I mean is where our ambulance crews and fire fighting services cannot attend a lot of calls without police protection as they are themselves being subjected to serious attack! Only a brave man goes out for a beer in the town centre on Friday or Saturday nights in case of violence.
OK parts of Scotland and Wales are still untouched but their weather I do not need I want to live outside not with my head stuck up a chimney 8 months of the year1. here in the midlands we have just had 3 weeks with the temp not getting above freezing! and I still had to ride the TDM to work.
So I will go along with SupertwinDon....'over 50 a great place to retire.'
ATB Dylan

[Whynot]

lots of stuff

I can see what you're saying there mate .... all good points.
Just don't think that you are going to get away from crime, traffic, speed cameras and expensive houses by moving to NZ.

[stormerUK]

Maybe right there Whynot...but at least it won't be so cold! Plus side is I have a house to sell.

[Molly]

Funny you should mention average speeds on UK motorways. I drove on the M25 last year and couldn't understand why everybody was going so slowly (barely more than 60mph). I think the huge numbers of cameras have finally frightened everybody into submission.

Just so you come in with your eyes open, keep watch on www.stuff.co.nz for local news and issues.

[Supertwin Don]

Hi, Guys,
I wouldn't judge the UK motorways by the M25 - it has been called the "longest car park in Britain" !
The average speeds on other motorways aren't too bad, but once you get onto the A and B roads the average drops significantly. That is, unless you are being a maniac and giving the rest of us a bad name!
I'm having to use four wheels at the moment while I'm refurbishing the front forks on my Guzzi, and while I was taking the fork tubes to be reground and rechromed, I was thinking about what I like and dislike about UK and NZ.
UK likes - never more than a couple of miles from a pub (midlands area), europe is on the doorstep (I'm 15 minutes from East Midlands Airport), a postal and courier system that works reasonably, a public transport system that is available (though sometimes late/overcrowded), museums / architecture, pretty much anything you want can be had in a variety of quality grades and prices, Santa Pod and Shakespeare County Raceway being only a couple of hours run away
UK dislikes - traffic, sheer numbers of people, the fact that, no matter where you go, people have been there before, the number of things that I don't need that people keep trying to sell me, the assumption that if it is different it must be better.
NZ likes - less traffic, fewer people, space, the fact that it is a long way from other places, most people are a bit more friendly, it's warmer and drier.
NZ dislikes - it is a long way from other, different places (Australia is too similar), having to have and be able to use a motor vehicle, parochial attitudes.

Note that this is not a total list - I'm sure I could find more in all categories if I tried.

[stormerUK]

Molly...,thanks for the link.
Supertwin Don.....totally agree...well.put.....exactly why I want out!

[Molly]

Having bounced around the world a bit my lasting feeling is that a person should decide where they want to be and make the most of it. You've got to take the rough with the smooth.

If I found myself living in the UK again it'd be in the Lancaster area (studied there and loved it). I'd make the most of the Lake District, Kirkby Lonsdale, etc. and of being a short hop from Liverpool and Manchester, and of the live entertainment opportunities. I'd take as many trips into Europe as I could, and do my best to avoid the constant bad news, negativity and doom-sayers.

England is a truly beautiful country (or at least parts of it are). The sense of humour is great, the media is of a high standard, and the infrastructure impressive. For me (forty something teacher married to a nurse) it was just too difficult to get established in a reasonable home and area, and my job had become so prescribed, measured, and generally governmentally interfered with there was just no pleasure left in it. I came to feel that everybody wanted an increasingly large cut of my pay; that I couldn't turn without having to pay someone something: car tax, TV licence, parking, petrol, and more and more stealth taxes, property taxes etc. etc. etc. Any sense of freedom was gradually being eroded, every road was bristling with cameras, surveillance technology seemed to be pointed at the average person rather than the criminal element (just a perception but that's all it takes to affect quality of life).

In short, to me England is a beautiful country run by nasty, self-serving f*****s, where you need a six figure income to enjoy a basic standard of living. NZ feels freer and more egalitarian by comparison and a decent standard of living more accessible. The people are friendly and, on the whole, optimistic, and you've a sense that you're here at the start of something rather than struggling in the dying embers.

But that's just my feeling.

[stormerUK]

Excellent write up Molly

[Molly]

By the way Stormer, a few years ago I stuck a camera on my bike and filmed a few local rides. They're still there on Google Video (as are many from other riders). I searched on 'Harley Ride Port Hills Christchurch' and got this link:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...stchurch&emb=1

There are a few more under 'More from this user' if you've broadband and can be arsed ;-)