# The good and bad things about living in New Zealand. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 22, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-and-bad-things-about-living-in-new-zealand/486954 "2009-02-22T16:30:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-and-bad-things-about-living-in-new-zealand/486954/41 "2009-02-25T02:19:32Z")
> [@BigNik](#): > > On the other hand, he told me that there was an unusually high number of farmers who were butch dykes. Case in point: [The Topp Twins](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topp_Twins). ---
**Author:** ![BigNik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/73ab20/32.png) [@BigNik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigNik)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-and-bad-things-about-living-in-new-zealand/486954/42 "2009-02-25T02:22:08Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Case in point: [The Topp Twins](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topp_Twins). Hold on - aren’t they somewhat successful entertainers and therefore, by definition, Australian? ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-and-bad-things-about-living-in-new-zealand/486954/43 "2009-02-25T02:29:32Z")
> [@BigNik](#): > > Hold on - aren’t they somewhat successful entertainers and therefore, by definition, Australian? Like Lemon & Paeroa, they’re World Famous In New Zealand and the only people here who have ever heard of them are Kiwi ex-pats. 😉 The Topp Twins occasionally appear at RSLs and Leagues Clubs and things like that here doing shows, but AFAIK their audience is mainly Kiwi ex-pats and members of the LGBT community. ---
**Author:** ![BigNik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/73ab20/32.png) [@BigNik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigNik)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-and-bad-things-about-living-in-new-zealand/486954/44 "2009-02-25T02:30:52Z")
Their TV show was on SBS for a while, a number of years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-and-bad-things-about-living-in-new-zealand/486954/45 "2009-02-25T02:37:44Z")
> [@BigNik](#): > > Their TV show was on SBS for a while, a number of years ago. Exactly my point. Ex-pats and the LGBT community. 😉 For our Non-Antipodean Readers; SBS is an Australia TV channel that specialises in World News, Soccer, Subtitled Arthouse films that would be considered porn if they were in English, Soccer, some excellent documentaries, and more than a few shows of interest to the LGBT community and other social/ethnic minorities. It’s actually not a bad channel, although people here like to give it a hard time in a good natured way.They also have South Park and Drawn Together, which makes up for all the News in Lithuanian and Depressing Albanian Arthouse films they show ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-and-bad-things-about-living-in-new-zealand/486954/46 "2009-02-25T02:59:17Z")
> [@Scissorjack](#): > > Seconded. It’s this weirdly bipolar student town, oscillating wildly betweem boofhead smalltown rugby fans whose idea of a good time is setting sofas on fire in the street, and pale, skinny shoegazers whose idea of a good time is starting a band called the Jean-Paul Sartre Experience. Dunedin is the murder-suicide capital of New Zealand; Christchurch, for - or perhaps because of - its pretensions to a faux-English gentility - is the prostitute strangling capital of New Zealand; and Auckland just wants to be Sydney when it grows up. > > That’s another thing to bear in mind about New Zealand: it is very small and very new. The whole country is the size of a average city abroad, our oldest building is mid 19th Century, and our Pavlovian salivation at the words “The Lord of the Rings” aside, there is little besides sports to hold the attention. Those who can leave as soon as they can, partially for the money but mostly because of the feeling that nothing of value or worth happens here, and that if you want to see anything beyond a bunch of blokes chucking a roundish bit of leather about, you’re going to have to go and see it in London, Tokyo, or to a lesser extent Melbourne. > > We come back as soon as we mate and spawn, of course, because the truism about New Zealand is that “it’s a great place to bring up kids”: barring an odd national penchant for putting toddlers into tumble driers, this is largely true, since like many things which are great for children, there are no sharp edges, no harmful toxins, and no bits to break off and swallow. We are a Play-Doh nation. Wow man, just wow…what a fun person you must be to have around. New Zealand has tonnes going for it - great food, fantastic beers, great wine producing regions, skiing, golf (if I recall we have more golf courses per capita than any other country), Christchurch has “The Court” (theatre) which I remember being very well regarded internationally. Sure we mya not have the “culture” of something like Sydney or London, but some people are interested in more than just that. Money aside, I would be back n New Zealand in a flash, it is still my favourite place to be - but then I like the quiet life, beer and a game of pool down at the pub on a Friday night, weekend at the beach, that sort of thing - I am not a “city” person. ---
**Author:** ![BigNik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/73ab20/32.png) [@BigNik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigNik)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-and-bad-things-about-living-in-new-zealand/486954/47 "2009-02-25T03:02:46Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > Sure we mya not have the “culture” of something like Sydney or London, …or, say, a snack pack of chocolate Yogo… I think you’re agreeing with **Scissorjack** there that New Zealand’s the national equivalent of a sleepy country town - it’s just that you like that sort of thing and he doesn’t, yeah? ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-and-bad-things-about-living-in-new-zealand/486954/48 "2009-02-25T03:20:03Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > Wow man, just wow…what a fun person you must be to have around. New Zealand has tonnes going for it - great food, fantastic beers, great wine producing regions, skiing, golf (if I recall we have more golf courses per capita than any other country), Christchurch has “The Court” (theatre) which I remember being very well regarded internationally. Sure we mya not have the “culture” of something like Sydney or London, but some people are interested in more than just that. Most of those things are available outside New Zealand- NZ Wines are readily available at reasonable prices here in Australia and even in the US and UK. NZ Beer isn’t _that_ great- I rather like Export Gold (which is available in Australia) and you can get Steinlager all over the world too. Lots of bottle shops here have Monteith’s beer, too. NZ Food isn’t particularly special, IMHO, and I say that as someone was born there and grew up there. I can get exactly the same “Cosmpolitan Cuisine” in Brisbane or even Airlie Beach as I can in Auckland or Christchurch. I’m not really a golf player, and whilst I enjoy an afternoon on the Green, the reason NZ is full of Golf Courses is to appeal to the Japanese, AIUI. The Court Theatre is very good, though. > [@](#): > > Money aside, I would be back n New Zealand in a flash, it is still my favourite place to be - but then I like the quiet life, beer and a game of pool down at the pub on a Friday night, weekend at the beach, that sort of thing - I am not a “city” person. All that stuff is available in most places, you know. If I’m going to live in a Sleepy Country Town I’d rather it be in an interesting country that has options outside that town, than anywhere in New Zealand. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-and-bad-things-about-living-in-new-zealand/486954/49 "2009-02-25T07:32:27Z")
> [@BigNik](#): > > On the other hand, he told me that there was an unusually high number of farmers who were butch dykes. If you are a single woman and capable of running a farm, then you must be a butch dyke :rolleyes: It’s a pretty prevalent attitude in NZ (held about many women in leadership positions), but my experience is that the reality is somewhat different. As for the Otago students _Toga party_, last year it was the _Undie 500_ run. Next year it will be a _sofa party_. It always happens, and always will. Si ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-and-bad-things-about-living-in-new-zealand/486954/50 "2009-02-25T07:52:34Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Case in point: [The Topp Twins](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topp_Twins). I was wandering through Wellington one day, down by the Library, and I happened to see the Topp Twins stop by. This in itself wouldn’t be anything special, except they were riding a tandem, and dressed as Camp Leader and Camp Mother. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-and-bad-things-about-living-in-new-zealand/486954/51 "2009-02-25T08:28:04Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > I knew quite a few bisexual women when I lived in NZ, but it was bisexual in the “Sex with women is fun too!” way and not as part of some over-arching Sexual Identity thing. (and FTR, yes, they were generally pretty attractive IMHO.) That’s called being a cocktease. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-and-bad-things-about-living-in-new-zealand/486954/52 "2009-02-25T09:15:41Z")
> [@BigNik](#): > > …or, say, a snack pack of chocolate Yogo… > > I think you’re agreeing with **Scissorjack** there that New Zealand’s the national equivalent of a sleepy country town - it’s just that you like that sort of thing and he doesn’t, yeah? Not exactly, New Zealand punches way above its weight on many many fronts, from sports, to science, to “politics”(free trade, nuclear non-proliferation, suffrage, indigenous rights). New Zealanders were instrumental in a lot of world firsts - there is plenty of “culture” there if you want to go find it. There is plenty of intllectual discourse. Yes, we do suffer from a brain drain because of better salaries else where. I just find scissorjacks attitude a little poseurish in that he (she?) seems to believe that unless it is a big city populated by mulitple millions of people it is a barren wasteland of worthwhile things to do. Yes you can get New Zealand wines and beers in certain places outside of New Zealand - but doesn’t that tell you something? We not stay and enjoy it IN New Zealand. We have everything from sailing to motor-racing, to skiing, to world class live theatre, breath-taking scenery, fantastic political freedom, easy to manage slander / libel and accident laws. No church interference in politics, it is easy to find and talk to your local MP. There may well be legitimate reasons to leave - like better grant funding, more annonimity (sp?), etc - but that doesn’t mean you need to denigrate the country as the “playdoh nation” - New Zealand is much more than that and deserves much better than that. Frankly speaking my knowledge of history is not strong enough to post here dates and examples what New Zealanders have achieved, or what they are currently achieving on a world front, what I do know is that it is very impressive and deserves due recognition. Although I must admit that I didn’t / don’t like what our previous Prime Minister was doing to the country and am thankful that this has changed. Why do you think “Kiwi Ingenuity” is famed around the world, why do you think New Zealanders are reputed as such hard workers, why do you think that in previous wars New Zealand regiments were some of the most feared? Another thing - did you know that the founder of McClaren F1 team was a New Zealander? That the first chief designer for Lamborghini was a New Zealander? And these are jsut examples I can site from the top of my head - without any research. I take pride in my country and I object to Scissorjacks portrayal. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-and-bad-things-about-living-in-new-zealand/486954/53 "2009-02-25T13:04:54Z")
**bengangmo** , as an ex-pat Kiwi I think **Scissorjack** was pretty much bang on the mark with his assessment of New Zealand. It’s a small, civilised country with pretty scenery. It does have some positives, but it’s basically a small, out of the way place far from anywhere and culturally behind the times. Some people like that. **Scissorjack** and I don’t. Evidently you do, which is fine. But you can’t pretend that any criticism of NZ is automatically invalid because you happen to like it there. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-and-bad-things-about-living-in-new-zealand/486954/54 "2009-02-25T13:26:44Z")
Nah man, I do accept that it is small and out of the way, it dosn’t get some of the benefits (if that’s the right word) of population centres that are bigger - particularly when you get south of the Bombay Hills. What I do object to is references to New Zealand as a “playdoh nation” and nothing more than a good place to bring up kids. Many exciting things do happen there, from (if you will) social experiments to scientific breakthroughs. New Zealand consistently produces lots of world class “things” (scientists, sports people etc etc) and to peg it as nothing more than an inoffensive safe little town with that has been “kiddy proofed” I find quite offensive. I also get the sense that Scissorjack has fled for birghlights and loud music which IMHO is kinda shallow - but hey - to each his own, after all I have also fled the country for more money and to be with my wife. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-and-bad-things-about-living-in-new-zealand/486954/55 "2009-02-25T13:45:29Z")
I don’t consider the suggestion NZ is a Play-Doh nation to be offensive; on the contrary, I agree with it. New Zealand hasn’t done _anything_ lately for me to be proud of (and I hate sports, so don’t try and take that angle); it is an inoffensive out-of-the-way place where nothing ever happens. Maybe things are a little different in Auckland, but it’s certainly true of the rest of the country. I lived in the South Island for 18 years and realised there was something not quite right about NZ when I returned from an extended trip to the UK and felt like I’d stepped into an episode of _The Twilight Zone_. I expected Rod Serling to step out from behind a tree somewhere and provide an opening narration for the trip from the airport back to my house: _Passenger arriving from London on flight NZ2, Mr. **Martini Enfield**. Mr. Enfield has been on an extended holiday in the UK and has had a taste of the wider world, and with a taste comes a hunger for more. Mr. Enfield thinks his flight has landed in one of New Zealand’s airports, but in actuality- as he will discover- it has in fact arrived at an entirely different place, a place that is similar to the one he knows but at the same time an unfamiliar and unsettling place. Martini Enfield has just cleared Customs & Immigration for… The Twilight Zone. Cue Theme Music_ ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-and-bad-things-about-living-in-new-zealand/486954/56 "2009-02-25T14:02:49Z")
Oh well never mind - c’est la vie I beg to differ, but then all we can do is agree to disagree… be good, stay healthy and have fun 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-and-bad-things-about-living-in-new-zealand/486954.md?page=2)