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Thx for your reply! Housing is problematic in Auckland... half of the offered income would go to rent. About family & excitement: we have little kids, so cooki

Thx for your reply! Housing is problematic in Auckland... half of the offered income would go to rent. About family & excitement: we have little kids, so cooking at home and not going out much will be normal for us, regardless of where we live, for many years to come :-) The wage thing is correct. Moving to NZ will cut my income by quite a bit more than 50%. But I'm fascinated with the rugged "wanting it more" vibes of NZ vs my native country. Vibes which I'm either picking correctly or just imagining. Care to comment on that?

nathan_f77 8y ago
I think you're right about the "wanting it more" vibes. Maybe also related to the "number 8 wire mentality" [1], where farmers get things done with whatever they have. There are lots of amazing inventors, scientists, and explorers from New Zealand. I think New Zealanders seem to have a really high level of empathy compared to many other countries. There are lots of non-profit organizations that do amazing work, in addition to the awesome public healthcare system. St John [2] provides free first aid and ambulance rides to everyone, and they're a charity staffed by volunteers and run on donations (they're also in Australia and the UK.) Also ACC [3] is an amazing safety net that most people take for granted. If you are injured in an accident and can't work any more, they will take care of you for the rest of your life. (As well as universal healthcare, we also have universal no-fault accident insurance.) We have a family friend who suffered severe brain damage in a car accident over 20 years ago. They're unable to work, and ACC is still giving them 80% of their salary (adjusted for inflation), so they are able to stay in a nice home with qualified caregivers. So it's a pretty awesome country. It's just a bit quiet, very expensive, and the tech salaries are not very competitive. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_8_wire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_8_wire [2] https://www.stjohn.org.nz https://www.stjohn.org.nz [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accident_Compensation_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accident_Compensation_Corporat...

nathan_f77 8y ago

I think you're right about the "wanting it more" vibes. Maybe also related to the "number 8 wire mentality" [1], where farmers get things done with whatever they have. There are lots of amazing inventors, scientists, and explorers from New Zealand. I think New Zealanders seem to have a really high level of empathy compared to many other countries. There are lots of non-profit organizations that do amazing work, in addition to the awesome public healthcare system. St John [2] provides free first aid and ambulance rides to everyone, and they're a charity staffed by volunteers and run on donations (they're also in Australia and the UK.) Also ACC [3] is an amazing safety net that most people take for granted. If you are injured in an accident and can't work any more, they will take care of you for the rest of your life. (As well as universal healthcare, we also have universal no-fault accident insurance.) We have a family friend who suffered severe brain damage in a car accident over 20 years ago. They're unable to work, and ACC is still giving them 80% of their salary (adjusted for inflation), so they are able to stay in a nice home with qualified caregivers. So it's a pretty awesome country. It's just a bit quiet, very expensive, and the tech salaries are not very competitive. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_8_wire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_8_wire [2] https://www.stjohn.org.nz https://www.stjohn.org.nz [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accident_Compensation_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accident_Compensation_Corporat...