DOC And The Pigeon Ratas. When Is A Tree 'Dead'?

We recall an article back in July in the Otago Daily Times which covered the "theft" of Rata Wood from living trees on Pigeon Island. At the time there was a justifiable outcry about the wood having been hacked from the trees as the island is supposed to be one of the few places where it could be found. There was even a photo of a tree to show the damage that had been done (see link )

At the time Queenstown Lakes District Council parks manager Gordon Bailey was quoted thus:

"the council was contacted by staff of Rippled Earth Kayaks who noticed a "freshly chainsawed rata" on the island during a trip. These are big sections of timber that would have taken some transporting by boat," Mr Bailey said.
The council was keen to hear from anyone with information on the theft of the rata.
Mr Bailey said he was disgusted anyone would destroy healthy trees and make off with the wood. "It's a real insult to the community and in particular the hundreds of people that have volunteered countless hours to plant trees on the island," Mr Bailey said. Taking anything from Pigeon Island was illegal and subject to prosecution, he said."

And so it should be.

The offenders were uncovered recently. They turned out to be two Dept of Conservation (DOC) employees and they've just been clobbered with  a bill for £3000 which covered the investigation into the "theft" but there has been no prosecution, just red faces all round, not least for DOC.

However, the story now is slightly different in that the removed limbs were "dead wood" taken from "healthy trees" and they'd been given to the hut owner on the island where the DOC people had stayed to observe and check on the buff weka. Well....it must have been cold in July, no doubt the warmth they generated on the burner would've have been welcomed by all?

Mr Bailey said of the DOC staff:

"In their defence, they had considered that the removed limbs were dead wood, but both have acknowledged that taking the wood from a live tree is an offence. It was an unfortunate case of poor judgement on their part,"

We doubt that people who make a living out of studying Weka are also arboriculturalists who are qualified to make the judgement call, but then, we could be wrong because they obviously knew how to wield a chain saw.

They offenders have been subjected to 'departmental disciplinary procedures' in addition to paying $3,000.

So the question is when does a perfectly healthy tree become 'healthy but with dead bits' -  when  it's needed for the fire?

Time for solar panels.

Emily May Harper Named As American Woman Who Died Swimming With Dolphins

The American tourist who was found face down in the water whilst swimming with dolphins in Marlborough Sound on Tuesday has been named as 27 year old Emily May Harper from Denver, Colorado. Please see this article for further details.

Initial postmortem results suggest that she may have suffered a cardiac arrest. Her boyfriend told the press that as far as he knew she had no health problems and he said she was a competent swimmer. Her death was especially tragic as he'd only proposed to her a few hours earlier and had yet to give her the engagement ring he'd picked out for her. The couple had known each other since middle school 14 years previously and had shared an apartment in Capitol Hill with their cats.

Our thoughts are with him and the couple's families and friends for their terrible loss.

Ms Harper's death, sadly, is one of a number of adventure tourism related tragedies to have beset New Zealand in recent years. Other fatalities have included British woman Emily Jordan who died when she became trapped underwater whilst riverboarding, Paul Woods A doctor who died jet boating, Brett Singleton and Anton Woitasek died when their jet boat collided with two jet skiiers on the Kawaru River,  Yang Wang a Chinese tourist who died whilst jet boating, British woman Katie Bond who died in a quad bike expedition, a Skytrek hang-glider Andrew Michael Scotland and his passenger Argen­tinean Gerado Bean were killed near the Remarkables, Catherine Peters died when she fell from the Ballance Bridge Swing and six high school students and a teacher   drowned whilst canynoning with an outward bound centre.

A safety review of the adventure tourism industry is supposed to be currently underway following  calls for improvements by Chris Jordan (father of Emily Jordan who died whilst river boarding) He called NZ's safety regulations no better than "third world"

According to the Dept. of Labour website the following timetable shall apply to the review
Phase I - Scoping and establishing the knowledge base will be completed by 18 December
Phase II - Analysis, problem definition and reporting will start in January and end 31 March 2010.

A full report is expected to be with the minister of Labour by 31 March 2010, two years after Emily Jordan died. It will contain "options and recommendations".

We await its publication with interest.

One Dead In Waiotapu Smash

One person has been killed and two others injured in a four vehicle smash on State Highway 5 at Waiotapu this evening.

Just how four vehicles became involved is unknown at present.


View Larger Map of road through Waiotapu
We believe this to be the 11th death on the roads this month and emergency services are already said to be bracing themselves for a jump in road incidents over the forthcoming Labour weekend.

Migrant Stories - What They Wished They'd Known

The question asked on one site was "Name one thing you wish you'd known about BEFORE you moved to NZ". Most responses covered the familiar issues of poor quality/damp houses, how expensive some things are, how cold it is, foodstuffs, dogs and access to the countryside, plus a number relating to a serious issue that we are hearing more and more about from migrants in NZ- poor mental heath. The responses included:

• "How expensive it is and number 8 wire attitude."

• "Hard to narrow down to one thing...so its a tie between the poorly built houses (at any price range) with little or no heat and the realization that the "100% Pure" motto is a huge marketing scheme..."

• "I wish i would have known how expensive dentists are here!!"

• "I wish I'd known how HUGE an impact emmigrating can have emotionally/mentally.I might have been more prepared. I might also have realised that its OK to feel depressed & sad even though from the outside it looks like you have nothing to be miserable about because most of your circumstances have changed for the better."
  

• "Yes, the impact on your mental health, as above."

• "I'd have to agree with (the above) on the mental health stuff and no amount of research can prepare you for that."

• "Again,I agree-I wish I knew what an impact it would have on you psychologically.I now know it can be quite normal to feel totally shell shocked,depression and desperate..........."

• "I wish I'd known which fruits and vegetables were in season and when so we didn't have to spend the first few months wondering whether the prices we were paying were reasonable or not by watching for the fluctuations each week."

• "That employee attitudes tend to revolve around "what's in it for me?" rather than "what can I do to help the company be successful?".

• "Without sounding like an alcoholic - how expensive spirits are here - ah I crave a Friday late afternoon G&T."

• "I wish I had some concept of just how cold a 'winterless' 10 degrees was when you have no heating."

• "This is pretty minor, but the first thing I thought of: I wish we had known how expensive razor blades are so that we could have stockpiled them before coming!"

• "I wish we had known that we couldnt get decent bacon and sausages that dont have such thick skins on them we would have weaned ourselves off them before we arrived or stuffed our faces lol"

• "Mine's another financial one - I wish I'd realised that I would need double the money that I had anticipated as a start off (just for the things that I forgot I'd need to buy - all those household items that you only use a little bit of and always have in the cupboard); I'd have sent over more than I did initially. (but then again, if we'd had more in the bank, then we'd probably have spent more without thinking about it - all those gorgeous coffees that we've had to deny ourselves would have added up!)"

• "I wish we'd known that in NZ pit bulls are legal, are immensely popular and dog controls are poor. Two pit bulls moved into an unfenced property on our street around a year ago and, sure enough, a pedestrian and his dog were attacked by one of them a few months later. We have had so many encounters with pit bulls that have been off the leash in parks, on beaches etc that the few places I can really relax with my family are in dog-free areas."

• "I think my "wish I had known" would probably have to be "that there are no Public Footpaths or Bridleways in NZ so you can't really go for a walk across the countryside!" I used to take my dogs across farmland to the pub, into the pub while I had lunch then back across the farmland to home!"

• "Mine would definitely be the poor construction of housing in terms of little or no insulation/double glazing/heating."

• "I am convinced that our kids have been sick purely because of the massive ranges in temperature from room to room (due to the fact there's usually a single heat source in the living area and nothing anywhere else) and the associated damp/mould issues. Oh, and the very high cost of living relative to the poor wages. Sorry, that's 2."

• "I wish I'd known beforehand how expensive it was going to be to ship our two European cars, have them inspected, (for a small fortune) and keep them in parts etc (yet another small fortune). After hubby got his job offer on our recce trip, we had but a few months to move from the UK, and were reluctant to sell our two cars at a loss. In hindsight, we should have just bit the bullet and got rid. Hindsight's a wonderful thing isn't it!!! Needless to say, I would urge potential migrants to research the benefits of shipping and maintaining their cars here."

• "I wish I would have known the "pub culture" does not exist as much here (or my experience of it), where we would have met up with friends and family etc all the time -drinks are far too expensive!, plus people have better things to do with their time when the weather is good! But the weird thing is I don't miss it. Now I am thinking about buying bikes to go cycling and camping gear for a holiday!! I never would have done that before!"

• "I wish I'd known how cold wellington is - I'm a warm climate person and I'm cold 9 months out of the year. I realize it's not like we get two feet of snow in the winter (I grew up in the midwestern United States so remember what that's like) but it's much colder and damper than I expected. Or maybe this year has just been hard; it's definitely the worst of the three years I've been here it seems like autumn ended quickly, winter was wet and spring hasn't impressed me either (nice southerly yesterday! Brr!)"

• "I wish we had known being on the SKILL Shortage list - doesnt mean there are lots of jobs for you to choose from - infact for us it ment JOB shortage !! Did arrive in the recession - they have now taken some jobs off the skill shortage list - but still not lots of jobs here - be careful - Having No job for OH was EXTREMLEY stressful!! However if we had known that maybe we wouldnt have been brave enough to give up 2 good jobs in the UK and just come - SO worth it."

Today's posts - click here

Another Nail In The Coffin For 1080

As we predicted 1080's days are definitely numbered as public pressure against its aerial distribution continues to gather strength in New Zealand.

At the start of the month Taupo passed a resolution calling for the abolition of the aerial dropping of 1080 and demanded a sustainable alternative to it for possum control. Now the mayor of Kaikoura, Kevin Heays, has added his voice to the argument by calling for a ban on the toxin in the Kaikoura District.


View Larger Map of Kaikoura
Earlier in the year Westland District Council voted to end aerial 1080 operations around drinking water catchments after submissions from opponents of the pesticide but suppored the ground application of the bait.

Mr Heays' call comes just hours before the Animal Health Board begins control of possums in the Hapuku Buffer and Kowhai/Swyncombe area.


According to an article in the Marlborough Express:

"In September, Marlborough District Council approved resource consent for the aerial application of 1080 poison in the Waihopai Valley. Contractor to the Animal Health Board, Valley Pest Control, sought a discharge to water permit for the planned drop over 7000 hectares of Department of Conservation reserve and 4200ha of private land in the lower Waihopai Valley and Waihopai-Spray. Ground drops were planned over a further 18,000ha.

The Animal Health Board programme manager for Canterbury and Marlborough, Ron Walker, said this drop would go ahead as soon as the weather had settled.

The amount of 1080 applied annually varied significantly depending on the need for vector control, he said. The 1080 was used to kill possums and rats, but stoats were also killed through secondary poisoning.

In Kaikoura in 2007/2008, 40 tonnes of 1080 bait (60kg of 1080) was applied to 16,000 hectares at a cost of about $420,000. In 2008/2009 no 1080 was applied in the region, said Mr Walker.
In Marlborough in 2008/2009 28.5 tonnes of 1080 bait (42.75kg of 1080) was applied to 14,200 ha at a cost of about $350,000."

 1080 use in NZ:  A Youtube Video Playlist

American Tourist Dies Swimming With Dolphins

A 27 year old American tourist is said to have died whilst swimming with dolphins with Dolphin Watch EcoTours in the Tory Channel at around 11 this morning.

She was swimming with other tourists in the group when they noticed her floating face down in the water, a doctor among the group tried unsuccessfully to revive her.


View Larger Map

Migrant Stories - Education

Stories about education, and not just from migrants These are all from genuine sources, click on links to see the source:

Kids And Schooling
"Been here nearly three years now, when we arrived my son who was seven seemed to be a year ahead. But alas, three years latter he has been dragged down to the NZ standard. Do any other posters feel their kids education is gonna suffer for living in NZ. The future is not rosy for your kids in the long term, they will soon do a sharp exit when they are old enough as there is nothing to keep them here, especially Canterbury.

So all of you prospective immigrants beware, short term gain long term pain. So much so back to the UK it is.

Along with this, NZ has not lived up to expectations in other departments as well, It's sold as a lifestyle change the only advantage I have is I only work part time. Basically there is nothing to do here. Christchurch can be done in a day, then what? Limited activities and limited access to the countryside. But I suppose it's what you are accustomed to, just to many downsides to list.

Returning to the kids, when they have flown the nest, are you happy to spend the rest of your life here with your immediate family thousands of miles away?"

Response to the above: "We got here in July,just as the kids had finished a full year of schooling back home. When we got here we had the thoughts of do we make them repeat 6 months?? and allow them to settle in and not need to worry about the school work or jump ahead 6 months?? and see how they settle. The Principal made the decision to do the former,but we wish he had done the latter. My boys are bored out their heads and know much more than their class mates. I am trying my best to ensure they do not fall away from their present levels and capabilities by encouraging reading,extra maths, research etc but do not want them to be too far ahead so that they are bored in class!!!!AAARRGGHH it is really frustrating. Having said that cannot fault the school or staff in any way, it is the system.

What's a teacher's view on this?


"Students Get NCEA Without Learning Anything"
Students can get NCEA, that is gain credits without actually 'learning' anything. I watch it happening all around me in my high school. The teachers do all their work, the kids just type or write the answers. Its a scam so we can pretend that we have an educated population. In fact we have kids illiterate in 2 languages [Maori and English],

Teachers who are undereducated who came through makeshift courses designed to give them a degree much like a birthday present, and yes teachers and students lacking in numeracy skills.

My school is a 'pretend' school. Kids spend more time on so-called extra and co-curricular then they do in 'learning' to read, to comprehend, to write [yes, to write, I had a 15 year old ask me to teach him how to write last week], to do the sums that will help them manage their money or more likely 'the dole'.

National Standards may begin to redress that. I live in hope...I teach high school boys who still cannot write a sentence or comprehend even at senior school.

Basics at primary school is essential and a lot less of computers, games, cellphones and TV. The kids are so addicted they get angry when deprived; they come to school exhausted because they've spent the night on some electronic device.

The violence and abuse of teachers in schools has also increased and is out of hand even to kids throwing stones at a teacher without any consequence!"


See also news reports:
Schools fall behind on new lesson plan - only 2% of schools ready for overhaul of national curriculum
We fail in basic maths - 1/3 of students entering secondary schools are numerate says university lecturer

Today's posts - click here

Migrant Tales From New Zealand

People often migrate because of the push and not the pull, migrants are  looking for a better quality of life, keen to establish a better work life balance, somewhere better to bring up the kids and to escape some of the problems of their own countries.

Very often the reality of life in New Zealand can be a terrible disappointment for them when they realise that they are worse off as a result. This is a representative cross section of the sorts of issues migrants face, they relate mostly to common problems such as lack of money, their qualifications and experience not being recognised, bullying, racism, poor living/working environment, lower education standard, finding it hard to get a job, etc. These are taken from various migrant sites around the web and are all recent:

Like Podlings - Sucked Dry

"Remember the film The Dark Crystal - well we all feel like podlings with their very essence sucked dry since coming to New Zealand in Dec 2006. We came here full of hope for this new chapter in our lives. I had researched the place (well, I thought I had - and I was a Uni Research Associate in the UK) and we had visited for 6 weeks. My wife got the job offer as Nurse, I am a postgrad with 14 years research experience - well you can guess where this is going. I've had enough now that I couldn't care less about the place anymore. We've basically lost all our money, extracted by robbing kiwis during our house renovations - god I hate this place, all smiles upfront and knifes outback. I apologise if this email is not particularly articulate and structured as I'm just blurting it all out.

We bought a house to renovate and found out the survey (if you can call it that) was half fake and made up - the guys gone bust and no comeback. New floors, new roof etc all unbudgeted for. Builders (if you can call them that) doing crap jobs, never returning, etc - on and on and on. All adding another 0 to the end when they hear my accent. Oh, and I am utterly p*ssed for forever getting asked eh?, what? uh? with my mild northern accent - are they taking the p*ss? My daughter has moved school 3 times now in 3 years because of bullying and the kids incapacity here to accept or even acknowledge anything different to their own kiwi crap is unbelievable. She's not going on the school camp as the Principal has now made the biggest school bully who has driven other kids to almost suicide, the SCHOOL LEADER. Just reward the bully would you, she now knows she untouchable, well done that person. The woman even had the nerve to say that camp was not optional it was essential - get real lady. I just said do your worst then. My wife's employer works her to the bone (DHB) and we have about one in 5 or 6 weekends together at the most (thats 8 per year!). I have now applied for over 50 jobs, 8 replies, no interviews, not even for shelf stacking (no experience). We've run out of money (well I have some, not a lot left in UK), unfinished house, can't get a job to get money to finish it. Can't make friends, I have to say I find locals the most insular, inward looking prejudiced bunch of d*cks I have ever laid my eyes on. Local place for local people with no sense of humour, post 8pm it's like 2012 has already been and gone, oh I forgot the usual p*ssheads are out and about drinking and driving with impunity.

We had work, friends, family and lived in a rather nice place in Cumbria but alas were lured by the EnZid propaganda trap, like all of us were really. My daughter had a health scare last year (appendix and some cyst type thing). Not ONE person here offered to help out, not bloody one. Says it all really. When I leave this place, and I WILL, maybe not next year or even the year after but I WILL, I will never ever look back."

2 Years On And It's Still Crap

Can't afford it.
Don't like it.
Kids hate it.
both work full time just to pay bills.
Cant afford price to get out of here.
nuff said....The wife hates it. as you know the system over here sucks, she feels like she cant do her job in the hospital and is just left to clean up after the lmc's. She is looked down on by the maori folk even she is trying to help deliver a baby she is still looked on as a 3rd class citizen. The wage for a rm is pants, and if she were to go lmc she would be putting her life on call 24/7... which wouldnt work as we have two kids.
I do days she does nights, we meet in a carpark in the mornings where the kids get out of my car and into hers she then takes them to school then bed. I come home she gets up and goes to work....
I know there are people in this world worse off than us but all we want is a little bit of a life...

UK Qualifications Not Recognised
I'm a professional female from the UK. With two lots of separate qualifications under my belt. I am a UK qualified paramedic, with plenty of experience, as well a fully qualified and experienced Early childcare educator. I've paid ridiculous amounts of money getting both sets of qualifications assessed by NZQA. (Not to mention the hours of gathering all the crazy information they expect you to have, to meet their crazy demands!!). I've been subjected to all sorts of racist comments and other down heartening experiences also since arriving here a few months ago, which as I'm sure you imagine has also left me somewhat upset as I all I wanted was a job. (And I was under the impression that both careers are on the skills shortage list, which made it that much easier for me to get my work visa).
Today I have received my long overdue results from NZQA just to be told that they have been dumbed down to a standard far below that of a Kiwi's?! I along with a kiwi have been through the standards and compared them and in the case of my paramedic qualifications, I more than exceed the requirements, and I am also more than equal to those of the ECE qualifications. .......I was taken aside after an "informal meeting" to discuss future vacancies and was told "We don't like pom's in our organisation, in fact we can't stand them, if I was you I would find work elsewhere"

Leaving NZ

I am married to a kiwi and also lived there for 2yrs. Even my husbands fills with dread at the thought of living there again!! He says he has outgrown it, which is the case for many NZers!
I also felt as if i was in gods waiting room. Good humour is not one of their strong points, and a fair few of them can be extremely narrow minded. I suppose being so isolated fromt he rest of the world might have somehting to do with it. OH says that once he had left NZ and seen what the rest of the world has to offer, he really couldnt live there again, no matter how pretty the view from your window is!

reply: Hi we've been in NZ about 21 months now. Its several things for us. The very high cost of living just to buy everyday groceries, also huge power bills (over 600 - 800 monthly) because we're still living in a rental that has no heating to speak of but is a five bedroom home, also no insulation so the place is like a bloody freezer in winter and an oven in summer.
The price of buying a house that is poorly built in terms of insulation, glazing & heating etc. etc. We feel the houses are just not worth what agents are asking for them. I swear its warmer outside right now than inside our house!
We love the scenery and living close to the beach and going fishing etc. We're just back from a few days skiing and that was great but again it cost a fortune. I agree with the previous posters who said that to do the outdoorsy quality of life thing is really only possible if you earn lots of money. Also the lack of proper health care facilities and the way you have to pay for absolutely everything unless of course its a sporting injury (ACC) and then no redundancy safety net or welfare state to speak of as well.
Our main worry though is the standard or lack thereof in education. Our two boys are in the latter stages of primary school and to get a reasonable high school education we would either have to be in the right catchment area in Wellington or send them both to residential private school. We can't afford to do the latter and don't want to be without our kids; we might as well have stayed in UK if we have to live in a city for the former. My kids rarely get homework and when they do it is ridiculously simple stuff. They seem to spend a lot of time on art, music, maori lang., sports, RI and minimal time on Maths, English & Science. There are only two teachers in the school with any science background at all, the rest are all arts. Our school is thought of as one of the best here in our area...Goodness knows why. Sorry to whinge on a bit but hard to stop once started.
We hope to return to UK so that our eldest can still retrieve some knowledge from the last year of Primary education in Scotland.
Not so simple though as they're are not any suitable jobs in my husband's field available right now unless we're willing to go to London or Manchester. We really want to be somewhere in Scotland again. So here's hoping a good opportunity comes up in the next couple of month

reply: I have only been here 6 months....not long I know. My hubby came out around 6/7 months before me. I had to stay in the UK to sort out our house over there. I said before we came we need to give it a minimum for 12 months before we made any decision but I think we've made up our minds.

I have to be totally honest and say I don't really miss my family and friends that much. For us it's financial and work reasons. We knew before we came we would be worse off financially but hoped the "improvement" in our lifestyle would make up for it. As you say you need money to achieve that. I have found the cost of living shockingly high, add that to the shockingly low wages it doesn't make good sense to stay. Yes the views are fantastic, I drive the kids to school and think wow look at that but at the end of the day, (like lots of people said to me before we came) views don't pay the bills. Our work life balance has also suffered greatly. We spend less time together as a family than we did in the UK.

Lots of people are telling me to give it more time but I think I could give it all the time in the world but the two main things (work & money) will not improve. I could go on and on but don't want to be a whinge!!

We are looking into the possiblility of getting our old jobs back.....fingers crossed if everything goes OK we will be moving back towards the end of the year/early next year.


Economic Suicide
This wasn't supposed to happen...now we are POOR
"We've been here for almost 18 months now.
We have a similar sized mortgage to the one we left in the uk (very small)
We are now both back in the jobs we were doing before we left the uk.
We have no expensive hobbies or extravigant toys.
We both run a car each (not gas guzzlers)
We now have NO spare money at all once the bills are paid and essentials (food) are payed for.
In the uk we had a disposable income at the end of every month that allowed
us to enjoy the occasional tirip out with the family, or a short holiday break at bank hioliday times, we could eat out every now and again,
on top of the cars i also ran 2 motorbikes, We bought new clothes when we needed to or when we saw something nice.
None of the above were done to excessive levels just occasionally.
We now count every penny....."

"NZ is NOT a bed of roses and nice scenery doesnt pay the bills. There are lots of lovely places in NZ but at the moment i cant afford the petrol to go and see them. You WILL earn a LOT LESS down here and the cost of living is equal if not higher than that of the uk."

"Coming to New Zealand has been economic suicide for us. I have asked before, but still don't understand how Kiwi's manage to run the toys you see on the beach and on the roads.I simply don't understand how they do it on the average NZ income."

NZ 'Mis-Sold', Migrant Felt Misled 
"Feeling a little disillusioned" "
We literally had 2 weeks to sort out accommodation and transport etc...and I feel we've made some bad choices already regarding our location. I dream't of a little villa in the country and we've found ourselves on a massive housing estate with little or no community spirit to be found.
We are really concerned with how expensive just about everything is and are worrying about our financial situation here. Back at home in the UK, I felt that I'd put a lot of research into emigrating through media and the internet and I really feel like we've been led astray. I purchased many books, one of which is entitled " Where to live in Auckland'. According to My husbands wages we fall into a population profile of 'Elite Professionals' and 'Comfortable and Secure" however I feel it couldn't be further than the truth!!!
It really isn't my intention to come over as a whinging pom, I'm just really worried and concerned that things here aren't quite as we'd expected or hoped.
We have managed to do some sightseeing and NZ is without any doubt a beautiful country and the people very helpful and friendly."

Struggling To Buy 
Is anyone else struggling to find anything to buy??

We have been looking for over 6months and all the houses are overpriced cr*p!!  (looking on the hibiscus coast.)

even the ones that are reasonable are so overpriced I refuse to spend the next 25years working my **** off paying for it!!

i can't believe we have spent so much money getting here, we lost everything in the uk housing crash, have a tiny deposit, but we do have good well paid jobs but still can't find anything that i want to bring kids up in, can afford and would be happy that we all wouldnt get ill in!!

Impossible Job Market
".....11 months ago every thing changed. I was marched in to an office at work and "dis-established" as they call it here (made redundant). A shocking experience but I tried not to dwell upon it. Since then I have made every effort I could to find new work. Initially I thought I could find work quickly but I have found the IT employment market to be impossible. There is deep recession in the job market here and some very dodgy practices such as:

• false adverts (extremely common),
• people interviewing simply to gather information from me about my former employer,
• Interviewing for non-existant jobs
• Agents Interviewing for vacancies which had knowingly already stbeen filled.
• changing job descriptions as a means to exclude applicants,
• poor pay,
• pathetically short contracts
• project withdrawals,
• interviewing for projects which haven't been approved.
• withdrawing the vacancy after being told I got the job.
• Impossible sets of technical requirements. Bizarre combinations of tools which surely only a few people anywhere may have encountered.
• Being excluded from applying because I once worked for a company they did not like. (this happened this week)
  A total in-ability to act quickly and decisively about projects and people.

Answers to the question 'Why are you leaving NZ?'

• Leaving when I can (14 months!) because:Not as progressive politically and socially as I had thought it would be. Can't make enough money in my profession
  Nothing here feels like quality (I have this sense of everything being cheap and unsturdy, no matter how much I pay for something)

• Hi from Sydney. We left Wellington 2 months ago, mainly because of poor job prospects. Other frustrating points: poor ratio of income to costs, lack of variety and low quality of goods. No city-buzz (although spectacular scenery to make-up for it).

• In this current climate I wouldn't advice anyone to leave a stable job to come here, unemployment has gone from 12000 to 67000 they think it may have slowed down but more jobs could still be lost, I got made redundant in April and have been unsuccessful in finding work, have applied for over 100 jobs with no luck, it is not helping with the Kiwi first moto, although we have been here for 4yrs, intigrated into the local community, we are still immigrants..........Why do we stay????????The kids love it, but decisions have to be made, although I love NZ I would go home tomorrow.
• It was a huge financial struggle living in NZ, job was not as decribed and totally mind numbing and boring....imagine if you can running around after your manager all day asking for something to do.... went back to the UK in 07 but couldn't settle there either and considered moving back to NZ. Oct 08 landed a job in Perth, Australia....great job, great people, great climate, huge 4 bed house with a pool and the ability to save....Do miss the scenery though.
  

Time to Leave

Auckland is a desperate place to find work. I've applied for countless jobs. Some, I have 110% confidence I could do well. Others, I could turn my hand to easily. I've been told 5 times I got the job only for the employer to withdraw the vacancy or project. I work hard at finding work. I have many, versions of my CV. I've sought professional help with the CV and interviewing. I spend every day looking for work and find almost nothing to be positive about. My confidence in this job market is shattered. Even if I get a job now I cannot picture myself being happy, valued, confident and progressing here. The situation has by now, affected my personal confidence and I find the length of my unemployment an embarrassment and an issue in itself.

New Zealand is a lovely place but if you cannot earn a living, what is the point ? I feel lost and isolated here. I think I have made a huge life changing mistake coming here. I spend most days alone trying to grind out some opportunity for work. Its a miserable depressing existence. Also, we are gradually losing everything we have. Living off money we brought here for a house. Its a sickening feeling. Total financial free-fall and I have no way to reverse it except to consider leaving.

I know things are bad in the UK right now but looking at job sites there, I feel like a starving man peering through a restaurant window. I see opportunities which simply don't exist here. I see opportunity and a means to to carry on. I see friends and family I don't see here. I see potential and a better "life" than I have here in this place. I've never given up on anything in my entire life, ever. But with the annual christmas employment slump on the horizon (usually 4 months long) I am now days or weeks away from buying a ticket out of here."

'People Leaving NZ. What's The Deal?' Answers

• It's very hard to be a returning kiwi especially with experience and qualifications. It's difficult to get 'a job' let alone something in your field...even harder if you're over 30. The average wage is low (especially if you're female), cost of living high and kiwis are over taxed. The country has been mis-managed for some years (over spending, poor immigration, fraud) with very little to show for it. It's also become increasingly more violent (murder, rape, child abuse, domestic violence). I would advise anyone thinking about returning to do their homework seriously! There are not many opportunities and it can be very closed shop, insular and nepotistic so if you've been away for a while it's tough. The safe thing to do would be line up a job (if you can) before making any move.

• You may not want to hear this as an potential emigrating expat but many leave New Zealand because there are better job opportunities outside of the country. Higher Salaries and faster career prospects entice people off the island.

• I've heard that kiwis keep leaving new zealand because it is the most boring place on earth. there is nothing to do but go walking, or listen to crowded house records. there is no culture, jobs, excitement.