Sarah said:
I'd personally pass on Otago, as that is a BIG TIME collage town, they are called scaffies, and they totally own Otago. Although the cost of living there is very low.
The lower cost of living is very attractive to us. We currently live in an area in the US that has a lower cost of living and THAT is responsible for us having the financial position to even think about moving to Kiwi land.
Anyway, Dunedin is known as a party town, eh?
North Island has just as much outdoors stuff as the south, just on a different scale (ie; weekend hiking where as in the south island you can go into the wilderness and never be seen again). We also have better fishing spots.
This is good to know. Realistically, we know that we could end up anywhere, so I'm glad there is a comparison. Also, as a geology guy, the active volcanoes, active faults, and hydrothermal stuff would be particularly interesting. I would have a blast teaching students about that stuff and then actually taking them there to see what I'm talking about.
OTOH, we are also a big fan of the wopwops. I guide people into our local wilderness area here in the US, so the "never to be seen again" is attractive. I think this is one of the reasons why we are, at this moment, preferring the south island.
The reason why there are less people in the south is because it is mostly farm country and protected bushes.
Again, we kind of like this. When my wife and I first considered moving far away, we considered Alaska. Our dream was to move to the Bush and teach in an Inuit school for a few years and then move to a bigger city. Things changed, however, we had children, I got a good job, etc.
Now, with the prospect of budget cuts in our district and the possibility of having to move, all options are on the table again and we are dusting off all of those old dreams we put away for a while.
One of the things that New Zealand has going for it is that it isn't as big, by a long shot, as Alaska. This makes actually visiting the different places more possible.
As for the teaching, im not really sure, could be because Kiwi's are big on going overseas, we have shortages on qualified people in general as people get degrees and take off on there OE's.
Interesting. I guess the same mentality exists all over. When we moved to Duluth, we found that most of the younger, more local, and educated, population was rather incredulous. The current trend here has been to move away and see something new.
Christchurch is a really nice city, it has a very english influence, whereas Dunedin is a Scottish settlement. Billy Connelly once said the Scotts settled in Dunedin because it was overcast and miserable so reminded them of home.
I've heard that ChCh is often described as Boston only smaller and more compact. That sounds really nice to me. My profession is a people profession, so that means that I need to move where people are.
Dunedin sounds alot like Duluth, btw. We are located on the shores of Lake Superior, so our weather is always cloudy,
cold (you guys say cold and I have to suppress a little laughter. The average temp in Duluth in January is about -10 C - good for skiing and ice fishing) and rather miserable. Summers are nice here, though.
I have been around the south island once when I was a teenager, the funny thing is more North Islanders have travelled to Aussie than to the south Island...the cost of travel down there is stupid, it is cheaper to get a plane ticket to Sydney than to Christchurch.
That is unfortunate. I suppose this really causes a cultural separation between the south and the north islands?
Good luck with your research.
Thanks. And thank you, Sarah, for your help. My wife and I have been reading everything we can get our hands on, which makes the opinions of people who actually live there even more important.
I've spent all my time on the North Island.
The only problem is going hot during cold and cold during hot at home.
