Birthday In New Zealand

It's my birthday today and although I haven't been updating this blog for a a while, I thought I would let everyone know that I'm still very much alive and kicking and still loving every moment I'm here in NZ!

So, what have I been up to? Well, I've got not just one, but two jobs now! Not just one child, but two (well actually the 2nd one will be arriving in about 3 weeks!) So everything is just about bloody fantastic! If you've come to my blog hoping to hear some bad things about the place, then think again. I've not met one Kiwi that's seem me as a negative for their country! I've EVEN been volunteering for the New Zealand Red Cross as a Disaster Welfare & Support Team Member. It's great knowing your training to help out in the event of a disaster. Well, I'm going to turn in for the night, busy day of birthday celebrations ahead.

Fishing How To

Having never really tried fishing before, I've been very keen since my arrival in New Zealand to try my hand at fishing. However, it really was a Fishing how to?

We set off from Hamilton at 5am, yes a very early start so I was up at 4am! Ouch! My Father-in-Law has a lovely boat called Ankame and we hooked her up to the ute and drove West to a place called Raglan where we launched on what appeared to look like a perfect summers day.

However, once we'd launched, we soon released that the water was very choppy to say the least! I was holding on for dear life and was extremely grateful that the Lord gave me good knees to adsorb some of the bigger swells. After we'd traveled out roughly 20 odd nautical miles, to a depth of around 45 meters, we dropped anchor and set about our days fishing. 

My Father-In-Law commented that lately they've been catching their quoter pretty early on and have sometimes been back on dry land by noon! Therefore although I was a complete novice, I had a hint that they knew what they were doing and felt quietly confident that I'd come up trumps and at least catch a fish. In fact at that stage, I'd have been happy to catch a little one, because then I'd have at least saved face! 

My Brother-in-Law who also attended gifted me a rod! I was stoked with excitement by this time and couldn't wait to get stuck into whatever was thrown at me.

We baited up and dropped the line in. No sooner had I cast my very first cast, I'd got a bite! It was a Snapper! Sure, it wasn't going to win any prizes for size, but I was over the moon! I'd broken my duck (Cricket term) and felt sure I'd now be able to catch more. As the morning progressed, I became more and more confident with the different techniques that both of them taught me. I wouldn't fishing was a hard task to learn, however I would say that it's a hard sport to master! By now I was cutting off my own bait, trying to remember to cut flesh side up, towards the skin. Snapper also love Squid so I even tried some of that too.  You hold the bait in your left hand, assuming you're right handed, and push the hook through, twist, then come back through. So the bait's firmly on the hook. We were using two hooks on the fishing line. So once you'd baited both hooks, you just dangled the line into the Ocean, released the reel, remembering to keep your right thumb over the spool. So as not to get the line all tangled! Of course, I messed that up a couple of times, being a true to form rookie! However, it wasn't such a big deal, as I'd realised my error and caught it before it caused too much of an issue. 

After about an hours fishing, I surpassed all my own personal expectations and scored what I'd call a double hat-trick! Whereby I'd managed to pull out six fish, a mixture of Snapper and some rather beautiful looking fish called a Gurnet or Gurnard (pictured below), in only three casts!

A Gurnet or Gurnard Fish.

Things did go a little quite after that, so we decided to move a bit further out to a depth of 50 meters. In hope we'd catch a few more. My Brother-in-law wanted to have enough not only for normal eating, but also to try out his new smoker!

It was a good call, we anchored now with a small group of other boats. A mixture of small boats and some more larger charter boats. Although the Garmin technology Sonar didn't pick up any specific hits on a shoal of fish, we hit more and more with every single cast. I think all in all, I only lost a couple of the bites I had all day. By now my reeling in action was being timed to perfection and I was pulling up about halfway, then winding the reel on the downward motion and was feeling more and more confident of my own abilities. 

The highlight of the day has to be the sighting of a couple of Sharks! My Brother-in-Law sighted a Blue Shark before we moved to the new 50 meter depth, then about an hour after we'd arrived at the 50 meter mark, a Mako Shark started to hound the boat! It was dead exciting! Just knowing that we were the focus of his attention was amazing. He was clearly attracted to the tiny bits of fish bait we were using, that were being wiped off the deck. So then each time we had a bite, we'd have to frantically reel in because it he'd seen/smelt the fish we were landing, it would have been history! In all the excitement I managed to catch it on a 3 minute video (See below). 

After all that excitement, we decided we'd got enough catch (well within the 10 fish each, plus gurnet, as they don't count towards your quoter), So we headed back to Raglan Bay and took a lovely shot of the sun overlooking the bay.

We then headed back to my Brother-in-Laws house to count up the catch, gut and skin the fish and clean the boat, rods and tackle.

We literally filled up a whole chilly bin full of fish! 

My Father -in-Law with a lovely Snapper!

Some of the lovely Snapper!

The day's catch!

We rounded off the rather knackering day buy stopping off at the local fish and chip shop, where they provide a battering and frying service! What a perfect way to try the fish that I'd caught, literally a couple of hours earlier! I really can't wait for the Christmas holidays now as we're taking the boat to the beach house at Hahei, for many more fishing adventures!

All the family enjoying the day's catch! Straight from the newspaper (as it should be!)

New Zealand Lonely Planet Review

Although we are currently living in Hamilton on the North island, by far the best scenery can be found on the South island. the guidebook starts by profiling New Zealand's history, culture, indigenous people, and environment. Written by quite a diverse bunch authors, including American Tony Horwitz who writes about Captain James Cook, this section provides an extensive introduction to life in New Zealand.

The rest of the book, written by three seasoned Lonely Planet writers, is location specific and focuses on all the South Island has to offer. Well, almost. For some reason, known only to the team at Lonely Planet, the location-specific section starts in Wellington, yes that's right I'm scratching my head too! This does seem a tad bizarre. If this guidebook is all about New Zealand's South Island, why in the world does its opening chapters focus in great detail on the capital city of Wellington, which, as far as I know, is still in the North Island?

Whatever the reason, it means except for a dozen pages discussing 'Active South Island' in the profile section, you will be a third of the way through the book before they've even reach the South Island. But believe you me, it's worth the wait (or read) because the rest of the book is absolutely jam-packed full of South Island goodness, ranging from where to find the cheapest crayfish in Kaikoura to how to bike your way around the wineries of Marlborough, from bone carving in Hokitika to glacier climbing the Franz Joseph and anything and everything in between.

This is an essential read for any would be traveller to New Zealand's South Island!

Immigration To

According to UN statistics, a stagering 200 million people globally lived outside of their native country of birth in 2005. Approximately one-third of these international immigrants resided in Europe. When talking of European migrants, approximately 254,000 immigrated to Africa. 8,730,000 immigrated to the Americas. 6,830,000 immigrated to Asia. 35,395,000 decided to immigrate within Europe. 2,813,000 immigrated to the Oceania region. Finally around 2,149,000 chose to immigrate to Southern hemisphere countries that are still developing.

Taking a closer look on how exactly this translates to the regions of Europe:

Northern Europe - 1,868,000 resided in the Americas. 309,000 resided in Asia. 3,406,000 resided in Europe. 1,605,000 resided in Oceania and 60,000 in the developing South.

Eastern Europe - 2,275,000 resided in the Americas. 5,620 resided in Asia. 18,609,000 resided in Europe. 183,000 resided in Oceania and 1,806,000 in the developing South.

Western Europe - 109,000 resided in Africa. 1,704,000 resided in the Americas. 726,000 resided in Asia. 4,659,000 resided in Europe. 368,000 resided in Oceania and 109,000 in the developing South.

Southern Europe - 100,000 resided in Africa. 2,883,000 resided in the Americas. 183,000 resided in Asia. 8,723,000 resided in Europe. 656,000 resided in Oceania and 173,000 in the developing South.

Source: Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011.

By far the biggest immigration to, has been a shift from the Eastern Europeans to other areas of Europe. Clearly for someone like myself who's only just immigrated from London to New Zealand, It's all too clear to see that the influx of Eastern Europeans has been the most noticeable. It's also interesting to see that in relative terms, African countries still only account for a minuscule amount of European immigration. Also I've noticed a few surprises in respect of Western Europe immigration to the Americas. Figures from a decade or two show an actual decline in those that immigrate to the Americas. Also a levelling out of migrants that immigrate to Oceania countries.

So, where are you thinking of immigrating to? Could it be that you're an Eastern European that's tired of inferior earnings and you want to try your luck over in Western Europe? Maybe your a European that will immigrate to Asia and take advantage of the Chinese market and quite possibly reap the rewards of totally fresh emerging countries like Burma. Perhaps you intend to migrate from Southern Europe and potentially escape the austerity measures countries like Spain and Portugal have to implement and therefore immigrate to Western Europe.

However, you could always do what I decided to do and try your luck in Oceania! Clearly anyone with a trade under their belt will always find decent work options open to them. I'm lucky in the respect that my own personal immigration to New Zealand was allowed under a Partner Visa. Whatever you decide to do, make sure you really think it through.

When Admiral Wellington decided if he should choose that particular time to strike his foes, he'd always write a list of pro's and con's. He'd then add up the list and go with the column that had the shorter list. You could start off making your own list. Get your family and friends to help you decide what should go on the list. After all, what could be important to them, could be immaterial to you, and vice-verca. Absorb as much information about the region you want to immigrate to. Think about your needs today, but also think about the future too.

Well it's a lovely summers day in Hamilton today. I'm still a practical virgin when it comes to immigration, but this adventure has surely begun on the right footing. With family around me that care, and will make the difference when all is said and done!

Wherever and with whoever you decide to immigrate to, I wish you the very best of luck with your very own adventure. The ex-pat community will help you settle in and in no time, you might wonder why you didn't make the big move sooner.

As ever, I thank you for reading and your precious comments are always welcome.


God bless.

Alan

New Zealand, A Place To Visit? Definitely!

Okay, so many of you might be wondering why exactly it's taken so long for me to write my latest blog update! Well, we arrived as expected on the 2nd December without the expected issues at London Heathrow with regards to the Public Sector strikes. Apart from some pretty minor jet lag, we've been catching up with my in-laws and other friends and family.

We're here for the long haul and although I personally feel I'm adjusting into the New Zealand way of life better than I'd expected, clearly it's far to early to even begin to say I've adjusted. But, on first impressions, I  won't say I like New Zealand. I love New Zealand.

Complete strangers talk! For a Londoner, that's a pretty big deal! We're so used to living in such a confined space, but seldom take the time to even get to know our immediate neighbours. Of course, during the London war years, this wasn't so much of an issue. As Londoners spent many an evening hunkered down avoiding the worst that Hitler could throw at them. However, with the pace of life in London set to one speed, pretty dam fast, it's harder to get into the mindset that basic communication banter won't break the time-bank!

At first glance, the pace of life is much much slower than you'll most likely be used to. Of course for some people this might not be what 'rocks your boat', however for a mid-thirties chap like myself, it's an out right God send!

But, getting back to the people here. They do seem very welcoming to the British. Clearly we share the same values and our cultures are very intertwined because of our Commonwealth connection. I'm also aware that you can't judge a book by the cover too much, but I've learnt over the years to trust ones own judgement with new people that enter my life. It's also been said that we, as human beings 'pigeon hole' someone new within 7 seconds. Therefore I gage my initial comments on my personal Anglo-Kiwi nano conversations.

A closing thought for this post is an observation I made earlier today. It involved a simple honey bee going about it's daily business of gathering all that plant goodness, that goes into producing arguably the best honey you can buy in the world. You see, the gardens here are breathtaking! I'm not exactly the green fingered type, but the quality of the gardens, public and private are awesome. Therefore, it's not exactly hard to see why the humble honey bee finds the process of producing great tasting New Zealand honey a breeze! I'll have to get the camera out and show you next time!

As ever, thank you for reading.

God bless.

AL

Farewell To My Family And Friends.

Farewell dear friends and family...

It's really not goodbye...

You'll see us all again, when I'm not sure, but you know I'll try...

I take with me all our happy times...

And some we wished we'd forget...

But deep inside you'll be there...

Waiting for us, so be kind...

Let us go and take this adventure...

We'll build a better life...

You'll see a different person...

Although we're the other side...

Happiness and joy, are all we behold.

To give to thee more memories, and to hug and hold...

Alas we're departing now...

I wish you could come too...

We'll speak to you shortly, and I pray that you find your way too.

Cost Of Living In New Zealand

Generally, although this isn't through first had experience, as we don't fly out to New Zealand until November 30th. The cost of living in New Zealand is relatively speaking, the same as it is where we're living now in London. If, for arguments sack you're in a household of 2 people, you should be able to get by on $130 for food. However, that's not with any what I'd call luxury items like biscuits and cake or anything pre-packet.

This isn't a massive problem for us as a family because I'm quite adept at rolling my sleeves up and backing a batch of cookies for everyone every so often. So, I'll guess I'll just have to do that a little more regular once we arrive in New Zealand.

GST or goods service tax in New Zealand runs at 15% which for someone used to 17.5% VAT in England, then a whopping 20% VAT since January 2011 isn't too sad at all.

So, what exactly is taxable in New Zealand?

In essence, it's the same principle as in the UK and most other nations of the world. Good's and services are taxable. You can get a full flavour for GST on the New Zealand Inland Revenue's website and I'd highly recommend you pay it a visit here.

I point to note though. My mother in law, who lives in New Zealand has mentioned that dairy products like  milk and cheese are a little more expensive than you might have thought. Now, from a country that is famed for having arguabally the best dairy market in the world. I did find that quite hard to fathom out! I love dairy products so I might smuggle a cow into the garden if it does get too costly!

I have heard that clothing costs can be a little more expensive too, but if you're not into high fashion then that shouldn't be a problem. I'm going to conduct some research into online UK companies that deliver to New Zealand over the next couple of days, so keep checking back!

As ever, have a productive day.

God Bless

Alan