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| *Travel Tips>>>General - Australia & New Zealand Travel Tips |
Is new zealand more costly than the US? i wanna move there so what shud i know? |
Travel Info i heard its mroe peaceful than ameirca, so what shud i know of its lifestyle? all the world is now expensive, but is new zealand good for slow, relaxed lifestyle, and not the constant barrage of bills u have to worry about like ameirca? Travel Tips Hey I want to move there (Pittsburgh) - lets do a swap lol. Seriously, yes NZ is a slower paced lifestyle. I recently worked out a cost per gallon of gas and from memory Nzers were paying around USD4.80/gal. You'll still get all the bills, phone, electricity, gas, rates (property assessment), sky/cable tv, credit card. I think those general household bills follow you, no matter where you live. Although healthcare in hospitals is free, it does pay to have medical insurance. Some waiting lists for minor surgery is abominable. We have a Goods and Services tax on anything you buy of 12.5%. This is always included in the price shown. Most receipts show you exactly in $s how much the tax was. Tipping isn't the norm and only given when you feel you've received exceptional service. Public transport isn't great in any of the larger cities. You'll need a car and will be driving on the left side of the road. The largest city is Auckland, situated on an isthmus between Waitemata and Manukau Harbours - Population of around 1.2mill. Loads of beaches, very polynesian and boasts the tallest building in the southern hemisphere - Sky Tower. Christchurch is the next largest with approx 4ooo,ooo and often refered to as the garden city or the most English city out of England. Also near good beaches and harbour. Two other harbour cities are Wellington (Capital) and Dunedin. Smaller populations again. Hamilton, is situated inland in an area called Waikato. Very green and lush and horribly foggy in the wintertime. All the cities mentioned have at least one University and Polytechnic. For lifestyle, yes reasonably relaxed and very outdoors due to the temperate climate. People laugh at the thought of having to play some sports indoors either because of summer heat, as in Arizona, or during the winter in Pennsylvania. We do have, or share with Australia, the highest skin cancer rate in the world so always wear sunblock even in winter. Tap water is safe to drink with most places having water without a 'taste'. Food-wise we generally eat what you'd be used to, but certainly not the Eastern European dishes like Pierogies, deli sandwiches like Rubens. If you're the food shopper you'll find the array of deli meats and cheese pitiful. We call Yams, Kumara. Most people haven't heard of Okra. When I was in Pittsburgh last year I cooked a rack of Lamb for my friends. Dollar for dollar it was the same there as here. All in all it's a good place to live. Hope you explorations of websites and yahoo answers about NZ helps your decision to move here. Others From what I remember most commodities are more expensive as NZ has to import everything but the more high ticket items: land, cars, houses are considerably cheaper. They import tons of used cars from Japan so you can get a decent sporty Japanese car for pretty cheap and the housing is relatively affordably as well. Most of NZ is rural and punctuated with a few large cities: Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch to name a few so you can choose between a bustling metropolis or a nice farming community. Of course you will still have bills and you will be taxed at a higher rate than here in the US as they have free health care. As the person above says, yes the public transportation is abominable. I remember in Auckland you basically have to go downtown between where you are and where you are going, like spokes on a wheel all leading to the center. Really dumb. Yes, but nothing like Australia. |
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