Return of friends

I really do think time passes so much more quickly in NZ and can hardly believe that it has been 9 weeks since our good friends Norman and Linda left to visit the UK. They came back at the weekend and we had a good chat over coffee and lunch. I was interested to hear how they felt and what changes they had noticed. They used to live in the same area as we did, so it was interesting to hear about the changes to Durham City with new building work down by the river. It was meetings with friends that I was keen to hear about. A lot of expats I talk to say that if only they could bring their friends out here life would be perfect. I say "bollocks", if you came out here to start a new life, then that includes making new friends. Norman's experience with his friends in the UK kind of backs up my thoughts. The thing is, emigrating completely changes your life, and friends and relatives back in the UK have no grasp of the experience that you have been through, of the new cultures and the things you have seen and done. For those friends nothing has really changed in their lives, and why would it. They will tell you about their new car or how the local team is doing and for me this all seems insignificant trivia now. But what I have experienced when talking on the phone to relatives, is that they are not really interested in what we are doing or how we are living, I listen to their news and just before they hang up you might get a "so are you alright then". I think the point I am trying to make here is, do not let the thought of moving away from friends stop you from starting a great new life. Your friend's lives will carry on as usual, you may here from them for a few months after you move out here, and then you are forgotten. Don't worry about it, because there are new friends to be made and a great life to be had, if you really want it.

Museums

It is school holiday time at the moment and the kids are off for two weeks. On Tuesday Georgia had her good friend Evan with her and we all went into town for sushi and coffee and cakes as a kind of pre-birthday treat for her, Now it was pretty cold with a strong wind which reached gale force about lunchtime, this made for an uncomfortable walk around. Now NZ is big on things to do outside but when the weather is bad it is quite hard to amuse yourself if you want a day out. In the UK we would have found a museum or Stately Home or such like but round here they are few and far between. We do have a working historic village, where buildings have been collected from around the area and it is nicely done, but will not keep you amused for long. There is an art gallery that is nearly complete and a museum is planned which is causing much debate about where to put it and what to put in it. We did however try out a small aircraft museum located on the fringe of the airport and I have to say it was really rather good. It is run by restoration enthusiasts and has static and working aircraft. You could sit in the cockpit of a Korean war Sabre jet fighter or a Hawker Hunter, take the controls in a restored 1953 Dehavilland airliner or fly a Huey. There was a Spitfire, jeep, field gun, motorbikes and bi-planes. The kids loved it and it was well worth its entrance fee.

Tauranga is changing all the time, new roads are being built which no one complains about, but when it comes to things of a cultural nature there is a hardened element that sees it all as a waste of money. One letter writer to the local paper suggested that if it was costing so much money to store the local artifacts that were being planned to be displayed, then a large bonfire would be in order and then the rate payers would not be lumbered with the cost. Unfortunately he is not alone in that opinion. I am of the opinion that art and history are of great interest and I would rather have the opportunity to enjoy displays of both and if the trade off was less spending on the roading, then so be it.

Tax

It is the time for filling in Tax returns. I have had the return for ages, but keep putting off filling it in, I can honestly think of better ways of spending my time. But there does come a point where Adrenalin starts to flow as the deadline for sending it off approaches and the thought of fines plays on the mind. I probably need that rush of Adrenalin to motivate me. Fortunately it has not been too much of an ordeal as the information I needed was actually at hand this time (I am usually tearing the house apart looking for vital bits of paper at this time). I have developed a system which I heartily recommend to everyone. It involves having a cardboard box at the end of the settee, and when you get something that you think you might need at some time in the future, like an official looking letter or something that you can't be bothered to read because "Lost" is about to start on the TV, you simply toss it in the box, and when you find that you do need it, there it is. Simple and effective eh!
The bad news as far as tax is concerned, is that you pay tax on every penny you earn (even your paper round is taxed). If you earn $38,000 or below you pay 19.5% above that and it goes up to 33% with a top rate of 60%. We have to pay "provisional tax" where once we calculate what we owe, we have to add 5% divide it by 3 then pay it in 3 installments, the first being 7th July then another in November and again in March. As a new business you end up paying tax twice in the year but it evens itself out when you deduct the provisional tax you payed from the tax owed for that year. All clear and understood? good.
On a different note I understand there has been a bit of rain about in the UK for a while now, well it does rain here too. Last weekend we had all of June's rainfall , the sun then came out, the temperature has been pleasant but a storm is lashing us as I type.

Australia anyone?

Firstly I would like to apologize to anyone who has been to the website and found that some of the articles end abruptly. When I gave the site a new look, the page sizes changed, anyway I have applied first aid and it seems fine now.
Since I got back from holiday I have been asked what I thought about Australia and would I consider moving there. I thought this would be a good thread to explore, so here are my thoughts. The thing with Australia is it is a continent masquerading as a country, it is simply vast and I have seen but a small part of it. Take Western Australia for example, the whole of Europe would fit into it, and it has only one major city, Perth. But what I have seen of it I can honestly say I would rather be in New Zealand. Australia is a busy place, it is affluent and materialistic, it reminds me too much of the UK. The reason I like New Zealand is the relaxed pace of life, I have mentioned in other articles about the Pacific Island influence, of "does it really matter?" A journey on the Train from Brisbane Airport to the Goldcoast and back again, tells a story if you look for it. Graffiti everywhere, roller shutter doors on the shops, people going to work with laptops on their knees, pressing buttons on their PDA's, taking calls on their mobiles (the whole carriage now knows about one blokes latest business deal). If I stayed in Australia for too long I feel there is a subconscious pull to drag you back to the world of materialism. It is the things that you notice after having been away from them for a while, like the expensive clothes people are wearing, the abundance of goods in the shops, the smarter cars. There is also a growing campaign to try and frighten people into thinking that they are at risk from Terrorism. There is a TV ad that more or less says that if you think someone looks a bit shifty (Shifty being middle eastern) then he might be a terrorist and you had better report him, can you believe that! Australia is unfortunately becoming controlled by the same group of people who control the USA and UK. It was most convenient that Australia joined the "War on Terror" (ie the illegal occupation of a sovereign nation) just as it was negotiating a free trade agreement with the USA, and then of course the Bali bomb happened which killed 200 Australians (if you want to know the truth about the Bali Bomb, go to www.vialls.com). So I think I prefer my world. The wages are around twice that of NZ, and I was talking to a woman from Perth who was saying that the local shops were really struggling to find staff, as everyone was moving to the mining towns where the money was really good, she said cleaners were getting $45 hour. At the Goldcoast the streets are very clean and the Public Transport system is superb, there is a bus to wherever you might want to go every 10mins or so and they run 24/7, the drivers are friendly and very helpful. The food is great, especially if you go to the small family run Thai or Korean restaurants. Surfers Paradise is trying to gain a classier image, it has had a bit of a "Benidorm" reputation. Some of the older buildings are getting re-vamped, but there does not seem to be a coherent plan that I can see. I felt most relaxed out of town and in the Rain forest and I think that says a lot about where I want to be, I enjoyed mixing with large numbers of people again, but my heart is with the laid back NZ lifestyle. Strangely, when settling back into my routines, I felt more on holiday than I did when I was on holiday.

Back From Holiday

We are back from Australia and a good holiday it was. When we got to Brisbane our arrival coincided with a 300mm day of rain (much needed by Australia, but not by us), but it soon cleared to sunny skies. The temperature was a lot chillier than last time we were here but still a bit warmer than NZ at around 20C, not bad for the middle of winter I suppose. We spent a couple of days of big city life in Brisbane before moving down to Surfers Paradise. It was Queensland week while we were there, so there were quite a few events going on, including a free performance on the beach by Bjorn Again (I know, but it was free) and some impressive fireworks. We decided that because the Australian wildlife is so wonderful, we would do more in that department. The highlights were Currumbin wildlife sanctuary where the Kangaroos were true stars, closely followed by the Lorikeets. We also had a trip to the Rain forest at Reillys plateau where a walk in the forest included a tree top walk in the canopy.

The good thing about the holiday was that everything went according to plan, we booked everything via the Internet, and there were no problems at all. The interesting thing is that it is cheaper to fly to Brisbane (around 250 pounds return for the 3 of us) than it is to fly to the South Island. I still have to pinch myself sometimes, Australia or Fiji (last year) these are destinations that were once just dreams. A bit of hard work, determination and a positive attitude and here we are, and I am loving it.

The nights are well and truly drawing in now, getting dark about 5pm. It is getting pretty chilly in the mornings and of a night time, but when the sun comes up it heats the place up and it is still t-shirts and shorts weather, which is pretty good for the start of winter. Winter time means business is a lot quieter now and we take the opportunity to have a holiday. So next week we close the cafe for a week or so and head to the warmer northern climate of the Gold Coast and Brisbane. I quite like Brisbane as a City, it is full of life, bustling with people, exotic birds in the trees, large Ibis birds in the parks begging for chips (they are great to watch), lots of shops and a bit of nightlife. After a couple of days it is off down to Surfers. If you haven't been, it is a bit like the Costa's of Spain only a bit classier. We will go to a couple of the theme parks we missed last time we were there. There is a good beach there but if I wanted a beach I would just stay at the Mount, so we try to do all the things that you can't do round here. We booked everything via the Internet so lets hope it all goes according to plan. So I wont be blogging for a week or so (will you miss me).

On a sad note our pet rat died last week, he was a great friend and companion and will be missed, he died peacefully in his sleep, aged 3, RIP Ratty.

Education

I want to talk about education this week. We have real mixed feelings about how things are going at Georgia's school. It has come to a head this week because Georgia has been in contact with an old friend back in the UK who has just taken her SATS. As a matter of interest we had a look on the Internet to see if we could find some year 6 past papers, we did. Now looking at what questions were being asked and the subjects being covered we quickly realised that Georgia's education is miles behind. Now Georgia is very bright and is becoming bored at school, the work is too easy and it just does not challenge her. She gets disappointed when she does extra work which never gets looked at. Maths is a rare subject and although no one likes maths, the theory behind numbers is a must for everyday life. We keep teaching her but she gets no practise at school, and forgets. When she looked at the SATS maths papers, she panicked and thought she must be thick because she couldn't do them, a couple of lessons on how to work them out, and she has answered the advanced questions. I just wonder, should I be worried? she is as happy as can be, there is no pressure at school, does it all really matter? you try to think back to what you were learning at Junior school (but it was a long time ago) one thing is for sure, I was never as happy as Georgia.