What’s the best city in New Zealand to live in?

Written by Travis

There’s no best city in New Zealand to live in. The question is, which city best suits you? Having said that, the city that offers you a job is (initially) the best city in New Zealand, and since one third of New Zealand’s population lives in and around Auckland that means one third of the jobs are in Auckland. So Auckland is the most obvious choice of cities to move to. However, if you’re moving to New Zealand to escape the daily grind and get back to nature then moving to a city of 1.4 million people defeats the purpose.

These two blogs will give you a better idea of what life in Auckland is like:

http://brokenluggage.wordpress.com/2011/02/24/so-youre-moving-to-auckland-what-you-should-know/

http://brokenluggage.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/austin-aint-got-shit-on-auckland/

But what if you don’t want to live in a city with 1.4 million people? A quick glance at a map of New Zealand will show thousands of cities and make you feel overwhelmed. However, most of those cities have less than 20,000 people in them and only a few jobs, which you’ll probably have to wait for someone to die to get. Even then, the job will probably go to someone who is on a first name basis with the prospective employer. If you look at the list of cities in New Zealand with more than 20,000 people the list becomes much more managable. I’ll go through that list and tell you what I can of each city. However, bear in mind that this is only one person’s opinions, and they’re based on his limited experiences. I’ve also only included cities that I’ve been to. So I’ve left a few off, but if they weren’t impressive enough to draw me to them then that must say something.

Christchurch- Pop 360,00

Christchurch is built on relatively flat land, which means is has relatively straight roads (a rare luxury in New Zealand). The geography of the city allows business and subdivisions plenty of room to build. Immediately outside the city limits you’ll find rolling hills and picturesque beaches favored by people, seals, penguins and dolphins. I was put off by Christchurch a little because it reminded me too much of America with its strip malls and intersections. However, the locals swear by it, and if you’re worried about culture shock then the easy navigatability of this city will help ease you into your new life.

The downside of Christchurch is that its been hit by a series of earth quakes, and nobody knows if there will be more. As a result people are leaving the city in droves and heading to Dunedin. This means the city is losing jobs, but housing prices are dropping, and the businesses that remain are desperate for employees.

Wellington – Pop 200,00 and Lower Hutt- Pop 100,000

If you like Seattle you’ll like Wellington and its sister city, Lower Hutt. The weather is notoriously bad. It’s cold, windy and rainy. However,the city has a vibrant indie feel to it. The main tourist street downtown (comparable to New Orleans’ Bourbon Street or Austin’s 6th Street) is called “Cuba St.” This anti-establishment, left-wing title is echoed in the city’s counter culture. The architecture is vibrant, and the surrounding mountains offer plenty of houses with a view (though usually the view is of dark clouds).

Hamilton- Pop 145,00

Like Christchurch, Hamilton has unusually flat land that is conducive to business. However, the city lacks impressive architecture and generally has a grimy Detroit feel to it. If I were a meth head I would move to Hamilton, but I’m not. So it would take a damned good job offer to lure me to Hamilton, especially when there are so many more spectacular cities in New Zealand.

Dunedin- Pop 118,000 (this shrinks significantly when school is out of session)

The weather isn’t perfect, but the architecture is stunning. Unfortunately, a lot of its Victorian mansions have been turned into slums for university students. Speaking of which, Dunedin is New Zealand’s quintessential tourist town. This makes it lots of fun for young people, but if celebrating the new year by burning couches in the streets isn’t your thing you may not want to settle down here. Also, when the university students are gone for summer break the population that’s left seems to be mainly red necks and geriatrics.

Hastings- Pop 75,000/ Napier- Pop 57,000

The Hawkes bay area where Hastings and Napier are located enjoys unusually good weather, and as such boasts a number of wineries. Napier is famous for its art deco architecture, but in my opinion they overplayed that card a little. Napier is a posh area that would be good to raise kids in, but young adults looking for a trendy scene would do better in Hastings, Wellington or Dunedin.

Rotorua – Pop 69,000

Rotorua’s foresighted city council has gone to great lengths to turn the city into a tourism mecca. There are hot springs and geothermal activity that make the area a geologist’s heaven. However, active sulfur vents make the town smell like rotten egg fart most of the year. You get used to it in a day or two and don’t notice it anymore, but  you still live in a town famous for smelling like rotten egg fart. Having said that, if other people don’t want to work there then there may be a job opening for you.

Invercargill- Pop 53,000

This town is located on southern most tip of New Zealand. This means Invercargill has two major setbacks: isolation and arctic weather. The downtown area has some beautiful architecture, but the whole town has a cloud of dejection hanging over it. It’s like so many isolated American red neck towns in the dirty south where all the young people want to escape from in their primer-painted hot rods but never do. Most Kiwis I’ve spoken to have advised against moving to Invercargill.

Nelson- Pop 46,000

At the northern most tip of the south island, Nelson enjoys the best weather in New Zealand. The downtown area doesn’t have the most awe-inspiring architecture, but it’s laid out well. Plus, it’s got plenty of coast, and it’s a short drive to some of the most beautiful scenery in New Zealand. Most Kiwis I’ve spoken to would recommend moving to Nelson, and after spending a few days there I agree with them.

Timaru- Pop 45,000

Timaru is big but quiet. I was impressed by its sleepy, peaceful vibe, but younger emigrants may find it a bit dull.

Taupo- Pop 34,000

Taupo is a favorite tourist destination for Kiwis. It’s got plenty of tourist attractions, a breath taking lake, and it claims to be the sky diving capital of the world (a statistic I’ve added my number to personally). You would not regret moving to Taupo.

Blenheim- Pop 30,000

You can tell which regions in New Zealand have the best weather by the number of wineries they have, and Blenheim has wineries on every corner. If you’re the kind of person who likes the kind of people who like wineries then give Blenheim a good, hard look.

Queenstown- Pop 29,000

Queenstown is the quintessential tourist trap. A breathtaking lake nestled between prime skiing and hiking mountains makes this a favorite tourist destination for Kiwis. Some people complain that it’s over-commercialized, but it’s over-commercialized because so many people want to go there. The only problem is that since tourism is its main industry you’ll have trouble finding work in practically any other field.

Three cities that didn’t make the list because I’ve never been there are New Plymouth (Pop 70,000), Tauranga Pop 115,000 and Palmerston North (Pop. 82,000). I know the countryside around them is beautiful, and I’ve never heard anything negative about them. So they’re worth looking into.

I don’t qualify to move to New Zealand! What can I do?

Written by Travis

We’re not immigration experts. So don’t base your life on our advice. Research the New Zealand Immigration site. Use your own judgement, and don’t break the law.

If you’re over 30 years old and/or don’t have a bachelor’s degree then you probably don’t qualify to emigrate. If that applies to you then here are some tips to get into New Zealand legally.

1. Get married to someone who is qualified.

Point in fact, I didn’t qualify to move to New Zealand because I’m a year short of a university degree. However, Amber has a degree in teaching. So she’s qualified. When married couples file for immigration you’ll list one person as the primary applicant, and that’s the person who will be judged. Whatever else the secondary applicant brings to the table is just icing on the cake, and if they don’t bring anything to the table you’re not penalized for it. If you’re already married and neither of you have a degree then do whatever it takes to push one of you through school as fast as possible. Either way, be warned that you have to be married for two years prior to submitting your application.

2. Get a degree

Every accredited university is equal in the eyes of the immigration board. You won’t get any extra points for going to Harvard than you will for going to Joe Bob’s University. This means you can take advantage of universities like The University of Phoenix, which offers relatively easy online classes and gives you credit for life experiences. Using schools like this will allow you to punch out a degree relatively quickly. But make sure to check out the Essential Skills in Demand list. Getting a degree in one of these fields will give you extra points towards your application. Also, this list is update regularly.

Remember, it’s much harder to qualify to move to New Zealand after you turn 30. So if you’re in your late twenties and need to finish a degree quickly this path could be your best option.

3. Fall in love with a local

As hard as it is to emigrate anywhere you’d think the entire world would collapse if one more person moved to a new country, but for all the red tape involved in keeping you in your birth country there’s a gigantic back door that will let you waltz right into to just about anywhere. If you fall in love with a person from a foreign country you can bypass most of the legal requirements.

Now, marrying solely for the purpose of emigration is illegal. So when you get a holiday visa or a working holiday visa and visit your prospective country and go to the first bar you see and ask the first 30 people you see if they’ll fall in love with you for an American green card, make sure your love is real. As long as you really care about the person you just met, your mutually beneficial partnership will be completely legal. Be warned though, you have to go through a pretty lengthy process of proving to the immigration board that your love is real. This involves references, photos, financial ties and a bunch of other stuff I don’t know about.

4. The Hail Mary

The whole purpose of making the immigration process so difficult is to keep freeloaders with no viable job skills out of any given country. If you can prove you have job skills they’ll let you in, but you’ll still need a job offer before your residency visa gets its final approval. This means you have to apply for your visa, pass several preliminary approvals and then get a job offer. This is tricky, because unless you have amazing credentials in a highly specialized, undermanned career field nobody is going to give you a job offer while you live in your birth country. They don’t want to take the chance that your plans will change when they have 10 people standing right outside their door who can start work tomorrow.

As a result you’re going to have to move to New Zealand (or wherever) on a working holiday visa (while you’re residency visa is still in limbo), apply for jobs and hopefully get one before your working holiday visa runs out.

Now here’s the interesting part. You can move to New Zealand (or wherever) on a working holiday visa, get a job and then apply for your residency visa. Since you’re already in the country and you already have a job you’ve already proven to the immigration board that they’re not letting a freeloader into the country by approving your application for a residency visa. This will make the immigration paperwork a little easier and a little quicker. However, this is a very dangerous tightrope to walk. You can still fail your residency application if you have bad health or if they don’t deem your work skills sufficient. Getting a job at McDonalds won’t impress the immigration board. If your job falls under the  Essential Skills in Demand list then you’ll have the best chance of getting your residency visa approved.

There are probably other factors I’m not aware of that could affect your application, but if you’re really desperate and you’re willing to take a risk, this path could potentially work. If nothing else, you could fall in love with one of your coworkers while you’re in country and legally use the marriage loophole to get your citizenship.

5. Get Rich Quick

Laws and restrictions are for poor people. If you can get $3 million in your bank account the immigration board will role out the red carpet for you. But then again, if you’ve got $3 million then why not just buy your own island?

What if none of these legal loopholes apply to me?

Too bad. All the governments of the world have colluded to set the bar to immigration so high that they’ve effectively made the poor and loveless prisoners in their birth country, and they’ve done it in a way that every country can claim plausible deniability. You can justify the systemic imprisonment of the majority of the world’s population however you want, and your justifications may have logic to them, but in the end you’re justifying a system that allows corrupt governments the freedom to exploit and kill their border-locked citizens. On a more philosophical note, if we don’t have the freedom to live where we want then we can never truly say we’re free; what freedom we do have is merely a matter of degrees. But that’s the way of the world, and statistically speaking you’re probably one of the billions of humans beings who is fate and tax dollars are limited by the whims of your politicians…who never miss a chance to “remind” you how free you are.

You don’t come to New Zealand for the money. You come for the lifestyle.

I wrote this blog a while back: http://brokenluggage.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/is-new-zealand-right-for-you/ but I feel like it missed the main point. So here’s my second attempt.

New Zealand has a high cost of living, partly due to the low exchange rate and partly due to the fact that so many products have to be imported. Also, since New Zealand is so small and isolated you don’t get as many of the cheap luxuries you get in a giant continental country with an extensive transportation network. Plus, New Zealand embraces the island mentality where business isn’t (usually) war. So businesses don’t stay open late, and the customer isn’t always right. This doesn’t necessarily mean that life is unafordable, cumbersome and inconvenient. New Zealand recieves thousands of immigrants every year from the South Pacific island, Malaysia, Korea and India where life is certainly harder, but if you compare New Zealand to the United States or Europe, you’ll definitely come to miss certain luxuries and conveniences. Bacon has become a delicacy for me that I savor on the few occasions I fork up the extra cash on special occasions for it.

Having said that, I wouldn’t move back to America for all the bacon and 24 hour convenience stores in the world. For all New Zealand’s petty flaws, I’ve fallen in love with the lifestyle. It’s not like in Tonga where nobody works. You’re going to work 40 hours per week (sometimes more), but the work culture is laid back. So you’re not as likely to hate going to work as much as in America. But you don’t move to New Zealand because you can show up to work in house slippers or have a beer with the boss at lunch. You move here for what goes on after work.

You move to New Zealand to go kayaking at Milford Sound, sunbathing at Whangerei Bay, tasting foods at the Pacifica Festival, skydiving in Taupo, relaxing in Rotorua, hiking at Waitekere, surfing in Raglan and the abundant fishing. You come to New Zealand because you can walk down the street without worrying about getting stabbed or shot. TYou come to New Zealand so your kids can attend a quality university for $5,000 per year. You come for the cheap vacation deals to Thailand, Australia, Samoa, Tonga and Indonesia. You come to New Zealand because you don’t have to feel guilty for paying taxes to support a predatory industrial war complex. You come here because all the different cultures embrace each other instead of fighting (for the most part).

Long story short, you put up with the little worries because you don’t have to put up with the major worries that plague the bigger, more volatile, more violent countries. Bottom line, New Zealand is an adventurer/hippie paradise. You don’t come to New Zealand to sit in your giant suburban home watching 5,000 TV channels shoving your face with big box processed foods. You come here to get outside and have fun. If you’re a die hard Republican and religious fanatic who can’t accept diversity, move to Texas. If you want to live and let live, come to New Zealand and bring your hiking boots with you. Just remember to clean all the dirt off of them first or they’ll get quarantined at the airport.

What did you see on your last vacation?

The difference between America and New Zealand: O.E.

In New Zealand the term “O.E.” stands for “Overseas Experience.” After high school (which Kiwis also call “college” unlike in America where “college” is synonymous with “university”) it’s common for graduates to take 3months to 2 years to backpack around the world or get a work visa to a different country and experience life overseas before returning home to finish university or begin their career.

What Kiwi's imagine when they hear the term "O.E."

In America the term” O.E” stands for “Old English,” a 40 ounce (they don’t even have 40 ounce bottles of booze in New Zealand)  bottle of bottom shelf malt liquor popular with gangstas and university students.

What Americans imagine when they hear the term "O.E."

New Zealand News and Crime

When Amber and I first started looking into moving to New Zealand we had never been to the country and didn’t know anything about it other than which big American movies were filmed there. So we started reading books and articles about New Zealand. It was a damn cumbersome way to learn about a foreign country/culture, and we really didn’t get much out of it beyond a skeletal understanding of what life in New Zealand was like.

We’ve been in New Zealand for just over a year now, and I finally realized what we should have done back in America to get a feel for what life is like in a foreign country without going there. We should looked up the top local news stations and reality cop shows on the internet and watched streaming video of them.  Not that it would have changed our final decision. If anything, watching local, nightly New Zealand news and reality cop shows would have made us want to move here even quicker. What we lost by not watching it was that we weren’t as prepared for the culture shock as we could have been. Don’t get me wrong, we did pretty good, but when doing something as inherently stressful as moving to a foreign country you want to minimize your anxiety as much as possible.

Anyway, Amber and I survived our first year of living in a country that we came to knowing almost nothing about, and now here’s where we’re at. I stopped watching the news and reality cop shows back in America long before I expatriated because they depressed the hell out of me. Now, I take the same joy out of watching New Zealand nightly news and reality cop shows that I’d take from eating a bowl of farm fresh strawberries. Don’t get me wrong. There’s some terrible stuff that happens in New Zealand. New Zealand has its share of violent crimes and dangerous criminals, but for every segment you see that shocks you, there’s three stories about people with first world problems so mundane and un-noteworthy they’re absurd. It’s like watching the Twilight Zone, expect instead of people having to face the dark side of their inner selves after experiencing it projected on their external reality, they’re just mildly inconvenienced and/or intoxicated.

Seriously though, if you want to learn about what life is like on the streets of New Zealand, check out their news and cop shows:

Channel 1  News 

Channel 3 News

Police Ten Seven- reality cop show

Close Up- sensationalized local news

Rescue 1- New Zealand helicopter rescue (This is not mundane and funny, but it’s good to know how people get seriously injured in a country you’re considering moving to.)

If you’re really curious, you can flip through the local TV guide and find all sorts of local, topical shows that might help familiarize you with the country:

TV2 New Zealand TV guide

Introduction to New Zealand Cinema

If you’re thinking about moving to New Zealand, you’re probably interested in watching as much New Zealand cinema as possible to help familiarize yourself with the culture and country. Well, I have bad news for you. There isn’t much New Zealand cinema, and what little there is doesn’t represent day to day life very well since it’s highly dramatized.

Having said that, here’s a list of shows to help you get acquainted with New Zealand:

Boy (on a similar note, you will never get this song out of your head)

Put this movie at the top of your list. It’s funny, heartwarming and a good example of New Zealand humor. Plus, it has some good shots of scenery outside of Auckland.

Once Were Warriors

Saying that all Maori culture is like this movie is sort of like saying all African American culture is like Boyz in the Hood.  Having said that, this movie is a good illustration that New Zealand does have its own social maladies just like any other country. So if you expect moving to New Zealand to solve all your problems in life, watch “Once Were Warriors” for a little dose of reality.

P.S. The main character of this movie is called “Jake the Muss.” “Muss” means “muscle.”

What Becomes of the Broken Hearted

This is the sequel to “Once Were Warriors.” If you’ve watched “Once Were Warriors” you basically have to watch “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted.” Be warned though, “Once Were Warriors” is to “First Blood” as “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted” is to “Rambo II.” The sequel is more or less a hollow action movie, but it still does a good job of showcasing a lot of ancient Maori traditions and how they have been adopted into modern city life.

Whale Rider

Whale Rider is like “Boy” in that it portrays life on Maori homeland…which an immigrant is unlikely to visit and will almost certainly never live on. So it won’t really prepare you to live in New Zealand. However, it’s a heartwarming introduction to Maori culture, and it has shows what the scenery outside of Auckland looks like.

Shortland Street

I’ve never watched “Shortland Street,” but it’s pretty popular here. The low budget is sort of indicative of New Zealand in general. Living in New Zealand is like living in a low budget America, which sounds horrifying to some people, but the upside to the low budget lifestyle is that your problems in life will most likely be equally low key. Plus, life in New Zealand just isn’t a fake as life in America.

Outrageous Fortune

I’ve never actually watched Outrageous Fortune either, but it’s really popular in New Zealand, and everyone I’ve talked to says it does a good job of portraying life in West Auckland. The area out west towards Glen Eden is kind of ghetto. Mount Eden or Mount Albert are nicer place to raise kids.

Love Birds
I will never watch this movie because it’s stupid, and I’m a little disappointed in Rhys Darby for agreeing to be in a formulaic, made-for-children love story that revolves around a gimmicky animal. However, if you watch it you’ll see what Auckland looks like and hear what Kiwis sound like. So there’s that.

Black Sheep

I actually found this movie to be a little boring. I didn’t finish it, but does a good job of showing the scenery outside of Auckland, and it’s a classic example of how Kiwis don’t take themselves too seriously.

Diagnosis Death

This is a comedy from the Flight of the Conchords guys, but it’s not as funny or entertaining as Flight of the Conchords. But it takes place in New Zealand and has Kiwi actors in it. So…yeah.

And I have no idea what the hell this is about.

What Should You Bring With You When Moving to NZ?

One of the first issues you have to deal with when moving to a foreign country is the question of what stuff you should bring with you, what stuff you should ship and what stuff you should sell.

You already know what you’re going to pack in your carry-on luggage: clothes, toiletries, portable electronics and maybe a few knickknacks with sentimental value. What you do with the rest of your stuff depends on one factor: money. Shipping anything to New Zealand is incredibly expensive. Shipping a box of blankets from the U.S.A. to New Zealand could easily run your over $100. Shipping a box of books or furniture is basically out of the question. The simplest solution is to sell everything you don’t need and rebuy everything you need when you get to New Zealand. However, the downside to this strategy is that buying new stuff can be as expensive as shipping it from overseas, and moving to a new country is stressful enough without running all over town stocking your house with all the stuff you take for granted like a college freshman who just left home and realized for the first time that if you don’t go to the store and buy toothpaste you won’t have any.

If you’re rich, I would advise putting all your household goods in a shipping container and have it sent via freighter. It’ll take a few months to get to you, but it’ll take you a few months to get settled in anyway. Oh, and pets cost about $1,000 to ship from the U.S.A. to NZ, and they have to be kept in quarantine for about 6 months.

Regardless of whether or not you’re rich, I would not recommend renting a storage unit and storing all your crap. The cost/benefit analysis doesn’t add up. If you could leave all that stuff behind, obviously you didn’t need it. You do need money though, and storing junk is expensive while selling junk is lucrative. However, if you’re moving to another country, you obviously have a unusual life that takes you to unusual places. There’s no telling where you’ll be in 3-5 years or what you’ll need. So if you have a family member with an extra room who can store your most prized possessions then use that resource.

And as you’re going through all of your stuff figuring out what to do with everything, set aside anything that would fit in a suitcase and is worth more than $100. Some items that fit in this category are: sports equipment, fine linen, jackets, shoes, collectibles, DVD cases, art work, etc. You won’t need this kind of stuff the first few months of living in a foreign country. However, a time will come when you will want it, and it will be just as expensive (if not more) to rebuy that stuff than to ship it. Plus, buying all that stuff is going to be a giant pain. Plus, there’s a chance you might not be able to find some of that stuff in New Zealand and end up buying from an American vendor and paying to have it shipped over anyway. So if you can, set aside a few prepacked boxes of important, expensive and not too heavy stuff that your friend or family member can pick up and throw in the mail at a moment’s notice.

When you actually fly to New Zealand, don’t bring any toiletries on the plane with you. You can buy all that stuff cheaply at your local Countdown (which will, by the way, deliver your groceries to your house for a very small fee) or Warehouse.  Use the extra room in your luggage to pack your lucky hat or sock money beer koozie.  And wear your heaviest, bulkiest clothes on the airplane and fill all the pockets with stuff. A bomber jacket or a pair of heavy duty work boots can take up half the space and weight limit on your luggage, but if it’s on your back or your feet you won’t be penalized for it or have to pay to ship it.

You will most likely be able to use your current cell phone in New Zealand. You’ll just need to replace the SIM chip. We use “2 Degrees” because it’s prepay. You can pick up a SIM chip at a Countdown or any cell phone store, which you can find in most town centers or the mall. You’ll need to buy a power converter for any electronics you have. Most laptops are dual voltage. So you’ll only need a converter for the shape of the plug. For other electronic devices you’ll need an actual power converter, which is expensive, a pain in the ass and will actually fry your electronic device in the long run anyway. I would not advise bringing stuff like an electric beard trimmer or a fancy alarm clock. Just buy a new one with the right plug and the right voltage when you get to New Zealand.

You’ll also want to buy a street map as soon as arrive in New Zealand. If you can afford it, I would strongly recommend getting a GPS device. The roads in most major cities aren’t built on a grid system or any other logical, intuitive pattern. If you didn’t pack your favorite linens and kitchen wares with you you’re going to need to ship or buy that stuff. You may also consider buying local clothing for job interviews. If you’re in Auckalnd and you’re  rich, you can buy designer stuff downtown on Queen St. or Ponsonby. Though you’ll find a bigger selection with more reasonable prices at The Warehouse, a flea market,  the Sylvia Park mall or St. Luke’s mall. I don’t know where to shop in any of the other major cities. Sorry. But basically, if you can get to the mall then you can buy whatever you need. So that’s my advice. Plan to go to the mall on your second or third day in New Zealand.

Religion in New Zealand (and the rest of the world)

In order to explain religion in New Zealand I have to explain religion in the rest of the world. I started coming this a realization about religion when I had to write a college paper on cultural diffusion. The purpose was to analyze what affect it had on art when a large religious group moved to a foreign country that already had an established culture (I chose the topic). My theory was that religion would mow down artistic expression everywhere it spread, but all my research pointed to the conclusion that more often than not, religion bends to culture more than culture bends to religion.

After that class was over I continued studying the places I visited around the world to figure out how religion had shaped the evolution of their art and culture in general. Everywhere I went I found signs that the existing cultures had taken foreign religious ideas and bent them to fit their existing beliefs like bending rebar into a Celtic knot

Take Christianity. In the Vatican, religion is government, and every pillar and wall is adorned with gold. Across Italy, half the kitchens have little book-mark-sized pieces of paper with pictures of saints on them bestowing a blessing. But in the Italian villas, religion isn’t as important as living. Across the border in Germany you’ll find dozens of turture museums filled with evidence of what happens when religion mixes with civil law. And there are plenty of death camps to remind you of the consequence of dividing the world into “us and them,” “chosen and unclean,” or “righteous and wicked.” But now the sturdy cathedrals on the walkplatz get more tourists than worshipers, and the German society set the global standard for civil virtue. In Ireland Saint Patrick couldn’t convince the Celts to give up their sun God. So Saint Patrick just wove the symbol of the sun god into the Celtic cross. Across the pond in America Christianity used to be used to justify slavery and the subjugation of women’s rights. Now it’s used to condemn slavery and empower women because the culture changed standing in place. Today American Christianity looks nothing like Christianity anywhere else in the world. It’s a tent and circus act. It’s an infomercial with a hollow consumer-culture built around it. And its absurdly fractured. When I lived in Austin, Texas I always had an air freshener of the Virgin Mary in my truck because I knew if I got pulled over by the cops, it was probably going to be by a Catholic Hispanic. A lot of people outside America might not realize this, but black and white churches in small town America are still almost as segregated as they were 50 years ago (by choice). And those two cultures worship very different versions of the same God. Some African Americans hang pictures of black afro Jesus in their house. Some white people hang pictures of blond haired, blue eyed suburban Jesus (and visa/versa). In Hawaii…You just have to see it to belive it. In Vietnam they just took the whole thing to its inevitable conclusion and combined every religion into one. I had a Fijian Indian Christian try to convert me to Christianity once, and his main argument was that Jesus chases away evil spirits. I’ve never been to Russia, but I bet Christianity is pretty somber there. I’ve never been to China, but I bet Christianity has a focus on social cohesion and duty there. I’ve never been to Saudi Arabia, but I bet Christianity is a pretty private affair there. See the pattern? Religion yields to culture more than culture yields to religion.

So if you want to understand what religion is like somewhere you have to understand the culture there first. If you want to understand New Zealand’s culture you have to understand that New Zealand is a little melting pot. There are white Kiwis whose families have lived here for generations, and most of them were farmers until only very recently. There are first generation white Europeans and Australians here. There are a few American’s but they’re a novelty. A lot of white South Africans have immigrated here recently. Then there’s the huge Maori population whos vibrant and distinct culture can be found everywhere, even on the money. All the Pacific islands and Southeast Asian countries have communities big enough to support their own markets in New Zealand. And there’s a constant stream of tourists leaving beaten down trails of foot prints everywhere.

Since New Zealand is so small, you can never get away from diversity. You’re constantly surrounded by radically different cultures and beliefs. This means you never know what religion’s you’re surrounded by and who you’re going to offend or get in a debate with if you talk about religion. But you’re probably not going to end up in a debate anyway because island culture says to hang loose, and British culture says to mind your own business and be polite. The resulting culture is one that doesn’t take itself too seriously and keeps its business to itself. I’m serious; if you visit New Zealand, don’t open up about your personal life, and don’t ask people initmate details about theirs. It’s not a horrible taboo. It’s more like since it’s never been done everyone just gets awkward and doesn’t know what to do about it when it happens.

You can see further evidence of this lassiez fairez stance on other people’s business reflected in the fact that prostitution is legal, the age of consent is 16, the drinking age is 18, but they just changed the law so you can’t buy liquor at stores until you’re 21, but you can still get drunk and drink at a bar at 18. Mine and Amber’s favorite pizza place in Auckalnd is “Hell’s Pizza.” You wouldn’t see that in Paris, Texas. Radio DJs can cuss a little on the air here. I once saw a billboard advertising airplane tickets to Christchurch with “prices  that won’t crucify you.” I’ve never seen a Jesus Fish here or a Darwin fish here. There are as many Buddhist temples as churches, and you’re likely to see people wearing grass skirts in either of them. Like anywhere else, worship has a distinctive local spin. A day doesn’t go by where I don’t see at least one bottu or hajib, and half the time the person wearing it is selling me cigarettes. I see Mormon’s riding their bikes around the poor neighborhoods, but I’ve never seen one with a look of triumph on their face. It’s like there’s just not enough room for all the religions here. So they each take up a space almost too little to notice. That’s religion in New Zealand.

Just to drive the point home, I can sum up the difference between religion in New Zealand and America in 2 links:

New Zealand’s Christian Super Store

One American Christian Super Store

5 Ways Traveling Makes You a Better Person

I’ve visited about 19 different countries, and I’ve lived (with a job and mailing address) in 5. I’ve had some crazy adventures and could tell you some crazy stories that are more amusing that most of the sitcoms you’re going to watch this month, but I’m not going to tell you about them because I’ve learned that nobody wants to hear about how you’re better than them. I’m not saying I’m better than you; what I mean is that if you tell people stories that make them jealous they tend to resent you for it because it inherently comes off as bragging no matter how innocent your intentions are. So people don’t want to hear it; hey want you to hear their stories. Dale Carnegie called this one decades ago. If you want to make friends, let them talk, and you act like you’re jealous of them.

So I do my best to refrain from telling anyone (even world travelers) too much about my world travels, and even then I only talk about stories that are pertenant to the topic of conversation at hand. While this tactic keeps me from alienating people, there’s something valuable lost by it. At the risk of sounding conceited I’m going to tell you anyway because it’s important.

Objectively speaking, traveling the world does make you a better person. Let’s not get hung up on whether it makes you a better person than the person standing next to you; the point is that it makes you a better person than you were before. Here are 5 reasons why:

1. Traveling humbles you and teaches you new things. As children we learn how to navigate the world by mimicking the people we’re raised around. We don’t question whether there’s a better way to do things. We just assume that the way the people around us think and behave is the way to think and behave. The longer we repeat these thoughts and behaviors the more ingrained they become. No doubt you know some old person who has been thinking and behaving the same way for so long that there’s no hope of them ever changing even though it’s obvious to you that they’re hopelessly out of date. That’s because the more ingrained our old patterns of thought and behavior become the more invested we become in our culture. Now, every culture does some things better than others and some things worse than others. No matter how great your culture is, it’s still incomplete. There are invaluable life lessons to be learned from other cultures that you could never possibly imagine because they’re so far outside your experiences. The more you travel the more you see this, the more it breaks down your prejudices and preconcieved notions, the more it opens your eyes.
2. Traveling teaches you how to adapt. I’ve heard stories about Americans flying to Germany, stepping off the plane and upon hearing everyone speaking a different language they freak out and board the next plane back to America. On the other hand, you can drop a world traveler in the middle of any city on the planet and they settle in and navigate their environment like a special ops soldier dropped in the wilderness. This skill isn’t just useful for getting dropped in a foreign city though. There are new experiences around every corner, even in the city you’ve spent your entire life. If you consistently run from new experiences it cripples your ability to thrive in any environment. If you consistently accept the challenge of life it trains you to thrive in any environment and live proactively with self-determination instead of letting the tides of life bash you into the rocks.
3. Traveling makes you a more animated person. Every culture has its own idiosyncrasies, cultural neuances, stories and forms of art. How bland would your tastes be if the only food you ever ate was McDonalds? How bland would your style be if you only wore togas? How bland would your vocabulary be if you never heard a foreign word? How bland would your mind be if you never heard any stories except the ones of your ancestors? I lament the fact that there are so many places I’ve never been, so many people I’ve never met and so many stories I’ve never heard because I know that my personality is more bland because of it. Yet I know people who have never left the county I graduated high school in, and they’re proud as hell about it, but in the end they’re really just celebrating how mundane their life and thus their personality is.
4. Traveling gives you more complete perspective of how the world works. I once met a German who explained to me that America’s fanatic patriotism is a mirror image of the same blind nationalism that handed Germany over to the Nazis. I once met a South African who explained to me that black Africans view African Americans as white. I once met an African American who explained to me that African Americans call each other “nigger” as a way of conquering that dirty word. I once met an Australian who explained how “Australia looks towards America” and “New Zealand looks towards Europe.” Even though it’s obvious, I never knew that the Vietnamese call the “Vietnam War,” the “American War” until I visited the American war crimes museum in Ho Chi Minh City. I never knew what abject poverty was until I visited Cairo. I didn’t understand globalization until I saw an Arab in full sheik robes walking through the mall in Kuwait City carrying two giant bags of KFC chicken. I never knew how sexually repressed America is until I went to a topless beach in Italy. Every culture you visit is another piece of the puzzle. The more you see, the more you’ll understand. The less you’ve seen, the less pieces you have to work with and the less empowered your mind is.
5. Traveling makes you a more complete person. That’s what all of this adds up to. “Knowing is half the battle.” “The more you know, the more you grow.” I can tell you all of this, and you can comprehend it rationally, but until you actually step out of your comfort zone and into a new world, you’ll never truly understand it. Of course, this presents a conundrum. Even if you could visit every country in the world you still wouldn’t have enough time to spend in each country to fully digest what it has to offer. So what does that mean? We’re doomed to ignorance and incompleteness? I suppose technically that’s true, but I like to focus on the positive: each new experience makes you a better person than you were before, and becoming a more complete person is its own reward regardless of what happens tomorrow. The only question is how far you’re going to take yourself.

Is New Zealand right for you?

If you’re considering immigrating to New Zealand you want to know if New Zealand is better than the place you’re at. Regardless of where you live now, I can tell you right now that nobody but you can say if New Zealand is better than the place you’re at. Sure, we can pull up all sorts of empirical statistics about quality of life in New Zealand, but unless you live in a third world or war torn country, that really doesn’t prove that New Zealand is any better than where you’re at.

 

The reason for this is because everyone is different, and everyone has different priorities. So the real question, isn’t “is New Zealand better?” but rather, “Is New Zealand right for me?” Here’s a couple of blogs that will help you make that decision:

 

Pro and Cons of living in New Zealand

Honest Talk About Some of New Zealand’s Problems

America is a PC, European countries are a Mac

 

That covers quite a bit, but there’s more to it than that. In fact, the issue is as big as life itself. I once had a world traveler tell me that you can read every travel book about a place and never truly understand it until you’ve actually been there. The best way to understand if New Zealand is right for you is to actually visit the place. Granted, Amber and I had never visited New Zealand when we moved here, and we didn’t even know anybody here. We just took the plunge and figued if it didn’t work out, the worst that would happen is we’d end up right back where we started except with a broader perspective and a good story to tell. It just so happened that we do love it here. So it’s not necessary to visit first, but if you can afford it, it will only help. Plus, it’ll lessen the impact of culture shock and the fear of the unknown.

 

Based on my subjective experiences, here are a few factors that indicate New Zealand could be right for you.

• You meet the immigration requirements.
• You can cope with being separated from your friends and family
• You have a high tolerance for change
• You don’t mind a slow pace of life and minor inconveniences such as limited shopping opportunities and crappy internet connection
• You enjoy living with/around people of wildly different cultures and backgrounds
• You love eating new foods from different cultures
• It’s important to you that you live in a country with a relatively non-corrupt government
• You love the outdoors
• You love to travel
• You don’t mind taking a pay cut in exchange for the lifestyle opportunity (if you’re a public school teacher though you may get paid more)
• You don’t mind long winters 

• You hate living in a cookie-cutter suburban nieghborhood

If you’re still on the fence, you may consider a working holiday to New Zealand. You can live here up to 3 years without the hassle/limitations of getting residence or citizenship.