All about New Zealand

[lalla]

Re: All about New Zealand

so am i out of luck being 56?

i had heard it was hard to get in so i didn't try . damn is it now too late?

lalla

[Sharky]

Re: All about New Zealand

Thanks..good morning! I grew up in Santa Cruz so am very familiar with the climate. Are there any marinas for sailboats nearby? How are the water temps? In SC the water is freezing!!

Nelson has a very nice marina, with close to 500 berths. Kiwis seem to love the water -- lots of sail boats, and even a sailing school for kids.

Water temps vary from cool to as warm as bath water, depending on which beach, time of year, state of the tide, etc. It's never as cold as Santa Cruz (at least in summer, which is when I've been in). The water at Tahunanui Beach in Nelson is very shallow, so it can get quite warm in the summer. Kite surfing is very popular here, too. Kite surfers usually wear shorties, but most people who go for a dip don't bother (I should add that Kiwis are fairly hardy compared to most Americans I know; the men routinely wear short pants outside, even in the depths of winter, and they usually couldn't care less about getting soaked when it starts to rain, etc).

[Sharky]

Re: All about New Zealand

so am i out of luck being 56?

i had heard it was hard to get in so i didn't try . damn is it now too late?

Yes, too late for Skilled Migrant. You might still be eligible for the Investor or Entrepreneur programs:

See http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/live/

You can also come as a tourist, and just stay 6 months out of every 12. You just need a tourist visa; no lengthy applications or hard-to-get permits are required.

[swannmex]

Re: All about New Zealand

"white conservative American like me who believes in the free market, self-reliance, the right to self-defense, a strong military, and a small government. "

In case you missed it the US has been run for the last 8 years by white conservatives who professed to believe in free markets, self-reliance, the right to self-defense ( and to start "preemptive" wars ), a strong military and a small government. They ran up 5 Trillion dollars in debt and destroyed our country and our economy and they made Obama inevitable. Reality is troubling but there it is. You don't get a do over.

Good luck to all of us.

[Sharky]

Re: All about New Zealand

In case you're curious, Google Maps has high-resolution satellite imagery for New Zealand, including Nelson. They also recently added street-view imagery.

Here's an embedded example, with the center of town in the middle, the port and marina at the top. Drag to the right a little to see Tahunanui Beach at the bottom left.


View Larger Map

[Digidiver]

Re: All about New Zealand

How about a retirement visa?
So far that has been the appeal of Thailand for me. At 50 you can get a retirement visa if you can prove adequate means of support.

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: All about New Zealand

In case you missed it the US has been run for the last 8 years by white conservatives who professed ...

I first began to notice that the "other" party, the one I vehemently disagreed with, seemed to be spouting nothing but b.s. - propaganda for their masses.

But recently I've begun to suspect that "my" party is doing little better.

It seems that what either side professes, and what they actually do, are getting seriously out of whack. The high minded objectives espoused by our political leaders are only a reflection of what they figure their voters want to hear. "My" preferred leaders still match my preferred style and biases; the "other" sides leaders still disgust me. But that is all very cosmetic, like which character in a Hollywood movie one roots for.

The corruption runs deep ... very deep.

In particular there is no way to determine how our affairs should be run by comparing [a] what works or what fails with [b] what some politician said of such acts. This is so because [b] is unrelated to the actual reasons for or causes of any official act.

It is all very, very confusing. I presume this is deliberately so.

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: All about New Zealand

How about a retirement visa?
So far that has been the appeal of Thailand for me. At 50 you can get a retirement visa if you can prove adequate means of support.

Very, very interesting. I have found memories of the year I spent in Thailand, a long time ago.

[Thailandnotes]

Re: All about New Zealand

Currently, in Thailand, a retirement visa is quite easy to get. Over 50 years old with 800,000 baht (20,000 U.S. dollars) in the bank for 3 months or proof of a retirement income, but if I was young or rich, I would take NZ any day.

Driving down the coast on a two-lane road, pulling over to let the guy coming the other way use the one-lane bridge first. You're not on some back road. It's the only road...

Walking from the center of a small beach town over the rise and seeing the pristine coastline, because no one was allowed to build on the beach.

The parks, the whales, the wine, the produce, the glaciers, the desert, the wildly different coasts, the rain forests at the top end with thirty foot ferns, the sounds in the south that no one can get to except by boat.

Don't let the speculation here about government/conservative/liberal/environmentalist/whatever sway you. Rugby games still have no commercials and many of the All Blacks are Maori. There are all kinds of people there. Took the photos below ten seconds apart.

[Sharky]

Re: All about New Zealand

How about a retirement visa?
So far that has been the appeal of Thailand for me. At 50 you can get a retirement visa if you can prove adequate means of support.

The closest NZ has to that is probably the General Investor program. It requires an investment of NZ$2.5M (US$1.6M) for 4 years into what they call an "active investment" -- basically a new business. After age 54, the dollar amount required increases to NZ$10M to age 64. After that, it's NZ$20M, with no upper age limit.

I suspect a big reason they don't have a low-cost retirement visa like Thailand is because of the heavily subsidized medical care.

[Sharky]

Re: All about New Zealand

Recent news story:

New Zealand rated most peaceful, US 83rd

Americans pining for a peaceful existence might consider moving to New Zealand, the most peaceful nation on Earth, according to the 2009 Global Peace Index released Tuesday by an Australian-based research group that counts former President Jimmy Carter, Ted Turner and the Dalai Lama among its endorsers.

The U.S. is 83rd on the roster, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace that rated the relative tranquility of 144 nations according to 23 "indicators" - including gun sales, the number of homicides, the size of the military, the potential for terrorism and the number of people in jail.

The index defined peace as "the absence of violence," and so far, things are a little dicey. Violence and instability have increased, respect for human rights has decreased. The researchers also calculated that the world's nations have collectively lost close to $8 trillion due to the complications of widespread violence.

(continues)

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...ceful-us-83rd/

[lurker]

Re: All about New Zealand

Rather than move to the other side of the world (personally I find it hard being separated from my parents and siblings by a 7 hour flight, nevermind 16+ hours) you could consider moving to a less nutty part of the US, like northern New England.

I feel that some in the US are a bit too hasty to abandon ship in the belief that the grass is greener elsewhere. It may be so, but there is such variation within the US that there are options within the borders before looking beyond.

The one thing that will make me leave the US is if the healthcare system continues to be the "rape the populace for profit" system that it is at present. I'm hoping it will change, but have contingencies.

[mickeyc21]

Re: All about New Zealand

I think you ought take a good look at Aus before you label us Xenophobic.

I lived in Australia for nine months last year. Xenophobic is being polite.

[mickeyc21]

Re: All about New Zealand

If not for everyone means "less bullshit", "self-reliance", " not being a plastic person" "less hustle and bustle" and "good family life" well, call me ecstatic.

New Zealand literally invented the welfare state. Where exactly does your idea of self reliance come from?!

I would suggest there is not less BS than the US - it is simply different BS.

NZ is another overly indebted first world country whose citizens are even more obsessed with getting rich through real estate than Americans ( hard to believe that's possible, I know).

If you don't like your life in the US you wont like your life in NZ.

[icm63]

Re: All about New Zealand

NZ is another overly indebted first world country (ME:TRUE) whose citizens are even more obsessed with getting rich through real estate than Americans (ME:TRUE) .

If you don't like your life in the US you wont like your life in NZ.(ME:TRUE)

So dont buy real Estate, sell your US assets, buy a rocky farm in the South Island and grow grapes, hell every indebted kiwi farmer is doing that !

25 yr Prediction: NZ will be the southern winter play ground for the nation rich Chinese (as it was for the Japanese during the 1980/90s). And Queensland Australia will be there summer beach play ground. So buy assets that meet this consumer expenditure (if you are under 50, as this is a LONG TERM PLAY)....