The Real NZ – Things they don’t tell you in travel brochures (Part 1)

Note: The following list is NOT a complaint list. They are just some candid observations seen through the eyes of an outsider after staying here for 2 years.

No country is absolutely free from problems, so I do not expect NZ to be a paradise on earth. To be fair, NZ is far better than where I came from. But that does not mean this country is perfect. Far from it, this country has some issues that need to be addressed immediately in order to move ahead.

NZ is still a wonderful place to be for holiday goers and vacation. However making a long term stay is totally another matter that needs to be considered properly. So before you jump into the plane to fly over here to stay permanently, read the following and you judge it for yourself:-

Let's begin with some general facts:-

1. Let’s play the Catch-22 game –You can’t get A because you do not have B, you can’t have B unless you get A. Try immigration, apply for a job or applying for a driver’s license and you’ll understand what I mean
2. Tax, tax and tax – The powers-that-can-be will think of all sorts of measures to milk simoleons from your hard earn coffers and then use it to build more stadiums or increase their pay packets
   
3. Strike, strike and strike – To start with, we had airport workers, nurses, doctors, radiographers and packaging workers went on strikes. Who’s next? (Don’t they have anything better to do?)
4. Claim the benefits – SOME able, healthy and fit free loafers abuse the system and then use it to buy cigarettes, booze and drugs. Sigh! There goes the $$$ of the hardworking kiwis
5. We want compensation – Dig up your ancestors’ past histories and demand settlement from the Crown
6. The red tape is never long enough – If you join the long winded regulations together in a line, they will circle the globe several times
7. A champion of political correctness – Common senses are overruled and political correctness gone mad. (E.g. Air NZ barred adult men sitting with unaccompanied children in planes because they think all men are perverts.)
8. Freedom of speech gone haywire – You can blurt out something inappropriate and forgot what you said by lunch time (Learn from Don Brash)
9. Sweat the small stuffs – Culture of whining and complaining prevails among the populace. Heck! You can even complain about the color scheme on my blog
10. Abuse of democracy – Everyone want to have a say on everything that ranges from national level to trivial matters (even though some of these issues are not related to them). What’s more, people waste all the time arguing what needs to be done and in the end NOTHING gets done. Alright, shall we vote for a new name for the river because we hate the current pronunciation?
11. Hike the rates – So the councilors can spend the cash on luxury trips (feasibility studies as they called it) and then build more stadiums
12. Rampant wastage of resources – You can spend hundreds of thousands of $$$ and endless hours in feasibility studies and meetings, yet nothing happens. (E.g. look at the new motorway project in Wellington or the railway link to Marsden Point and you get the message)
13. Where’s the justice? – The justice system is a total joke. The criminals are sentenced lightly and the good citizens are penalized and feel vulnerable.
14. Equality is a big lie – So you are gay? Then fuck off because you do not belong here! Don’t believe me? Look at the antics of Presbyterian Church and other conservatives.
15. You can’t get from A to B – Either you stuck in a snarl or public transportation is virtually non existent
16. Primitive domestic travel – If you do not want to drive 10 hours on the road then the only way is to fly in the sky (only to selected towns and only available at certain hours during the day)

To be continued…