Lifestyle. NZ v OZ.

[janno]

aussie doesnt have corners, not very good riding to be had.

Tons of great biking roads in Aus, it's just that they are either several thousand kilometres apart or else have several thousand tourists on them.

I rode from NP to Wgtn return over the weekend and was dribbling with happiness the whole time about the lack of traffic, even from Levin onwards. Was just mildy inconvenient instead of wall to wall bleedin vehicular chaos like in South East Queensland. The sheer numbers of vehicles on the road at all times of the day and week in SE Qld is just mindboggling compared even to Auckland. So you need to be really careful where you decide to work and live. I've known people there to turn down good jobs because it would involve a worse than usual commute.

[TLMAN]

Thanks JANNO, was actually looking at north of Brisbane somewhere.

As far as snakes and spiders go, ill become a regular Steve Irwin in no time, and besides they have anti venom for most of what bites over there these days.

[Al]

Moved from East coast in South Africa to Auckland.
Moved from Auckland to 100km South of Darwin in the Northern Territory....

Hot, humid, snakes and insects - just like we are used to.

Now own a 40 acre block with mangos and cows!

Aus is good..... NZ is good too, just too cold for us!

Take care

Al

[Joni]

NZ is good too, just too cold for us!

Indeed

TLMAN, a good friend of mine moved from Auckland to Brisbane - he says he should of dont it years ago... never looked back! Good luck

[Mikkel]

Good luck with the move.

I don't think there's quite as big a spider/snake issue around Melbourne. And it seemed like a nice place when I was there.

In Sydney you have the Funnel Web Spider (teh [sic] nasty!), but quite good access to Blue Mountains (I seem to recall a fair bit of nice windy roads around there).

Canberra is good - weed is legal and you got easy access to the few skiing resorts in Oz during winter. Plenty of good roads for riding around that area too I believe.

Queensland, too warm, too humid, too many snakes, too many spiders, too many nasty nasty things in the water... Good place for a vacation, but I wouldn't want to live there.

[janno]

Some really lovely towns in North Qld, Mackay and townsville, cairns etc. But you really need to be sure you can handle the HEAT!! Have you spent longer than a quick holiday in summer over there? You do acclimatise, but it takes 3-5 years it seems.

Snakes seem to bugger off if they can, hardly any Aussies are bothered by them and think it's a real hoot that we kiwis are so paranoid, so I just decided that when in Rome . . .

Work and money wise, Aus is the place to be if you are willing to put in the effort. You can really get ahead there compared to here.

[TLMAN]

But you really need to be sure you can handle the HEAT!! Have you spent longer than a quick holiday in summer over there? You do acclimatise, but it takes 3-5 years it seems.

Not a problem, I have found New Zealand too cold over the last few years and the summers over here have been a waste of time.

Am looking forward to walking around in just my speedos...

[janno]

Am looking forward to walking around in just my speedos...

Oh the humanity! Think about the children . . .

If you are a sun bunny then you and Aus will be a perfect match. Have fun!

[k14]

aussie doesnt have corners, not very good riding to be had.

Well when I was over there last month I stumbled upon a pretty good place to ride

Yeah I've been thinking about moving over there for 6 months or so now. Not quite ready yet but more than likely within the next 18 months. Was in Melbourne last month and after the initial shock of how friggen massive it was I liked the place. Just need to get your head around the public transport and then its easy to get from A to B. Only problem would be finding a place that has a garage for the bike

The other thing is the tax rates are lower over there. I worked out that if I earned what I do now in Auzzie dollars I'd be 10k better off in the hand a year. Thats a bit isn't it?

[k14]

Am looking forward to walking around in just my speedos...

Remember they're undies unless you can see the water

[The Pastor]

im sure there are some good roads in aussie, but no where near as good as in NZ.

[pritch]

The Eastern brown snakes are nasty and come into the suburbs looking for water during a drought. (Most of the time?)

There was an item in the paper a week or so ago where a woman was chased by a brown snake, her dog had attacked the snake but was in a coma.

A year or two back friend of mine came home from work to find a very upset wife and two very excited dogs. His dogs had just killed a brown snake. They were luckier. Another brown snake had killed the neighbours boxer a few weeks previously.

In WA my brother lives across the road from a golf course, he said to take care walking on the footpath there at night, the snakes come out to lie on the warm concrete. He also told me not to take short cuts across grassed areas in the dark on the way to the shops.

At his gun club nobody really wants to be first to use the toilets in case a "long tailed possum" has taken up residence therein since the previous weekend.

So it isn't like it doesn't happen. Things are a bit different, there are dos and don'ts and you'd best find out what they are sooner rather than later.

[P38]

Just returned from a month in Queensland checking out a move for us too.

My thoughts

Awesome bike riding roads everywhere you look. Lots of MC Clubs too (gangs as well)

Didnt consider Brizzy, dont like big cities but there are heaps of opportunties their.

Gold Coast: Housing too expensive near Surfers, inland and south to Collengatta is cheaper: but still plenty of jobs, mostly touristy stuff.

Sunshine Coast: Fu*king expensive housing. busy streets, not so many jobs.
Retiree area

Rockhampton: Reasonable housing. Heaps of jobs (labour shortage up here) good money too.

My Choice

Townsville:
Very reasonable housing.
More jobs than you can imagine. Severe labour shortage area,
Work in town, for the military or in the mines
Very nice city, beaches, islands, people, weather.
All the shopping of a much bigger city too
Very nice cilmate if you dont mind being warm all year round. can max out at 42c but average is closer to 28-30c
Food is a little more expensive than NZ but wages smash what youd get in NZ.

Eg. My son works in a carton fibre factory running a machine and earns $30/hr
His flatmate welds reo bar for concrete preforms and gets $32/hr. every construction site I saw had a list of trades wanted displayed on bill boards Immediate start.

Wife's cousin contracts for the military laying fibre optic cables and earns obscene amounts in excess of five figures.

Down side is there is a shortage of rental housing but if your buying $350+k will get you 3-4 bedrooms with all the bells n whistles.

Check it out
Jobs
www.seek.com.au

Housing
www.realestate.co.au

Cheers
P38


P.S seems every second person you meet is a bloody Kiwi too.

[Grahameeboy]

My mum just moved to Melbourne. The place she is moving into is brand new, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and is the same price as a shit version in Auckland. I so thought it would be more expensive over there. One thing they found was that things are a lot smaller over there.

Best of luck with your move!

I was told that building a house over here is like 4 times what it costs over in Aussie due to all the regulations etc

[Grahameeboy]

Not a problem, I have found New Zealand too cold over the last few years and the summers over here have been a waste of time.

Am looking forward to walking around in just my speedos...

Compared to UK the weather is summer all year round here.