Saturday, May 31, 2014

The return of the wanderer

Well I'm back from New Zealand and can see the light at the end of a dark tunnel, all I need to do now is the myriad of paperwork required to get a visa to live there. Yes I was offered a job, but, the entry requirements are not easy so I may fall at the last hurdle, still fingers crossed etc.

Paradise on earth

First impressions of the place are the lack of an air of hostility, Auckland the capital doesn't have the feel of London, I never felt the need to be on my guard or watch my back at any time, at roughly 1 million people living in the area of the city though, the place doesn't feel overcrowded (or squalid, ghettoized, dirty, tribal etc) and outside of the city all you have are a series of what are essentially small towns which remind me a little of the USA having one main street where all the shops are and you just park where you want to go.
Yep, parking in New Zealand other than Auckland, they don't charge, they limit your time, but are relaxed about that too.
The scenery is incredible, the people friendly and whilst they have their problems, they are nothing like the scale of the UK's self inflicted ones. People are patriotic and love their country and the true evils of socialism are limited to a few lunatics whilst the system itself is far more like the looking after each other that socialism ought to have aimed for.

Yes they have a volcano on their doorstep

The Capital Auckland from one of the ferries serving the city.
As you can tell I've fallen in love with the place and hope that my visa application is succesful, it's how the UK was back in the fifties and sixties in feel. People look out for each other there and politicians are mostly kept in their place and their powers are limited. There's no council tax, you buy basically bin bags which pay for your rubbish disposal, your water rates pay for water and sewage and the rest comes off taxation which is comparable to the UK.
Anyway, wish me luck, I may need it, but the reward is going to be immense...

5 annotations:

Kath Lissenden said...

Welcome back QM although sorry your back too, if you know what I mean.
I am really glad NZ did not fall short of your expectations.
My friends who live there love it and would never come back.
They did comment that they were rather forced into giving up smoking as they just could not afford tobacco, however in the long run they saw that as a positive.
Fingers crossed you will make it with flying colours, if you don't NZ needs it's head tested.

Anonymous said...

Our youngest son lives there and we are in the process of applying for residence. It takes a long time and costs a lot of money, but we believe it will be well worth it. Like you I felt that it reminded me of Britain in the 50s, but with a lot of the best bits of today.

Mac said...

I do indeed wish you the very best of luck in your endeavors.

Juliet46 said...

Best wishes to you for your new home in New Zealand - but please carry on with your blog -we need you!

Quiet_Man said...

Sadly if I do get a visa I will probably give up the blog as the reasons for anger and the people whose opinions I mirror will no longer be around me.