Pros and Cons of New Zealand

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Aussie52 said:
Yes, that retreat center is Catholic. We used to have some co-operation with the Friars Minor and also the Capuchins.
I live in the Sydney suburb of Kurnell, the place where Captain Cook landed, discovering Australia.
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Ha I'm heading to Sydney in August. Fingers crossed. I've not been to Sydney before.
Do you mean nobody ever found Australia before Captain Cook? Was nobody else was living there? I find that hard to believe.

The first time I discovered Australia, I landed in Perth. One of my friend's sisters lived there. We went walkabout and I hugged a wombat.
 
Lanolin said:
Ha I'm heading to Sydney in August. Fingers crossed. I've not been to Sydney before.
Do you mean nobody ever found Australia before Captain Cook? Was nobody else was living there? I find that hard to believe.

The first time I discovered Australia, I landed in Perth. One of my friend's sisters lived there. We went walkabout and I hugged a wombat.
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The British maintained that the continent was uninhabited, terra nullis. Of course, the aborigines had been living on the continent for some time before the colonizers came on the scene. I think from memory, Dirk Hartog, a Dutch seaman was the first white man to discover Australia.
I hope you have a great time when you cross the 'ditch' and visit Sydney.
 
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Another Pro about New Zealand, it's just across the ditch from Australia
And far away from everyone else who's trying to take over the world.
 
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Abel Tasman (who was Dutch) was the first European to reach New Zealand, and named it Staten Landt but later it was changed to New Zealand after Zeeland or Sealand in the Netherlands.

The Dutch East India Company was trying out trade routes back then but back then Maori didn't have anything to trade and Abel Tasman's crew wasn't able to make friends with the Maori, who probably thought they were going to invade, so they attacked his crew and 4 men died.

Later Captain James Cook (who was British/English) used Tasman's exploration cartography to navigate around New Zealand, and the Maori who were living here got along better with him. Then that started trade until the missionaries got wind of it and tried to settle here. Maori were selling their land for ships and nails and muskets (rifles/guns). Then they had a big war over muskets.
A treaty between the Maori and the Crown (at the time, Queen Victoria) was signed in 1840 ...the Brits coming here were also a bit lawless. It was supposed to better for everyone if some law and order were established, but the Brits used that treaty as justification to annex the country and went to war with the Maori who didn't want to cede anymore land.

So yea some NZ history ...but wait there's more. Only if you interested, I'm sure it's pretty boring for most people.
 
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There are some Dutch living here but they are not the majority..although in my old church practically all the oldies lived in the Dutch retirement village near the church.

If the Dutch had come and stayed in more numbers maybe our food might have been better - the cheese, and possibly the spices.
The Brits came and bought their potatoes and peaches and other veges and cattle and pigs and chickens...just in time for the Maori who were about dying of starvation since they'd eaten all the moas and had started cannibalising each other.
Though the Brit/Europeans s also hunted all the whales nearby and slaughtered all nearly all the fur seals.

So yea. There's a whole history of food in NZ that I could tell you. It's possibly the main reason people move from one place for another. Like the Hebrews were in Egypt because there was food there and famine where they were from.

Nowadays I hear the food is actually much cheaper in Australia since they don't tax fresh produce. Unlike New Zealand where there is GST on everything (now 15%)
 
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Lanolin said:
There are some Dutch living here but they are not the majority..although in my old church practically all the oldies lived in the Dutch retirement village near the church.

If the Dutch had come and stayed in more numbers maybe our food might have been better - the cheese, and possibly the spices.
The Brits came and bought their potatoes and peaches and other veges and cattle and pigs and chickens...just in time for the Maori who were about dying of starvation since they'd eaten all the moas and had started cannibalising each other.
Though the Brit/Europeans s also hunted all the whales nearby and slaughtered all nearly all the fur seals.

So yea. There's a whole history of food in NZ that I could tell you. It's possibly the main reason people move from one place for another. Like the Hebrews were in Egypt because there was food there and famine where they were from.

Nowadays I hear the food is actually much cheaper in Australia since they don't tax fresh produce. Unlike New Zealand where there is GST on everything (now 15%)
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My Kiwi wife was born in Amsterdam along with her Dutch parents. Her Mum, who lives in Christchurch, will be 100yo in August.
 
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Aussie52 said:
My Kiwi wife was born in Amsterdam along with her Dutch parents. Her Mum, who lives in Christchurch, will be 100yo in August.
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There are some Dutch stereotypes, the housewives are very clean, and the men are stingy. Also they like pancakes, licorice, and cheese. And tulips and windmills.

Oh the fight over the windmills at the retirement village. The Dutch residents wanted those little mini ones as garden ornaments and the non-Dutch were like nooo!

It would be like the Irish wanting leprechauns or gnomes and the non-Irish going what the hello Kitty?

In the end nobody got any garden ornaments.
 
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I'm Dutch and live in the Netherlands. I do like this kinda information, thanks for that @Lanolin . Really do appreciate that.
The stereotypes you talk about are indeed true stereotypes. But I have to say that the tulipfields every year look awesome.
Don't know if the housewives are very clean, maybe they look like that ;-)
 
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Tunie said:
I'm Dutch and live in the Netherlands. I do like this kinda information, thanks for that @Lanolin . Really do appreciate that.
The stereotypes you talk about are indeed true stereotypes. But I have to say that the tulipfields every year look awesome.
Don't know if the housewives are very clean, maybe they look like that ;-)
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There's also Dutch ovens, and Dutch courage.

Do you wear clogs?
I'd love to see the tulips, especially the Keukenhof gardens. Where I live it's a tad too warm for tulips. Have to put them in the fridge for 6 weeks or so before planting.

I will post some pics in garden thread. For now, here's a pic of our sacred mountain



images-3.jpg
 
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I have never been to the Keukenhof. From my place that is still a two hour drive. These are some pics I took myself form tulipfields. We were talking about stereotypes. people wDSC08422.jpgearing clogs are a bit stereotypes as well ;-)
 
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have the Dutch taken to wearing Crocs?
They're kind of like foam plastic clogs...
 
In New Zealand for some reason we wear either gumboots or jandals.

Jandals are rubber sandals or Japanese sandals. The Japanese originally wore them and they had wooden soles.
 
Quite some nurses wear crocs (the sort foam plastic clogs...). I have never tried them myself. I thought you were referring to the famous Dutch wooden shoes :D. On another Christian platform I have contact with a woman from New Zealand, never heard of what she wears.
Question: Do you have a special relationship with the Netherlands?
 
New Zealand or me personally?

I don't think NZ has any economic ties to the Netherlands though it was 'discovered' or mapped by a dutchman - Abel Tasman (who also named the Tasman Sea and the island of Tasmania which belongs to Australia.

There is a sizeable Dutch population here though, and I have a few friends with Dutch ancestry.
 
Thanks @Lanolin I meant to ask if you have a personal connection to the Netherlands. Maybe through family roots etc.
Do remember the Dutch are everywhere:cool::)
 
Tunie said:
Thanks @Lanolin I meant to ask if you have a personal connection to the Netherlands. Maybe through family roots etc.
Do remember the Dutch are everywhere:cool::)
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oh no. Not that I know of. I have a couple of friends with Dutch ancestry, and one was married to a Dutchman. I'd love to visit one day just to see all those tulips. It's amazing to me how you can reclaim land thats out on the sea. Its very clever!

My family ancestors are Chinese. But my roots are in New Zealand as I was born and raised and still live here. New Zealand was one of the very last countries to be inhabited by humans, the very last save Antarctica and our recorded history only goes back to 700AD or so. Europeans (mostly British) have only been here for less than 200 years.

It really is a new country for anyone who immigrates here. Some people literally have not heard of it, never even know such a country existed! lol But then again our population is very small its now about 5 million people.

So when I see people who are not kiwis/from New Zealand and they are mentioning my country I'm kinda interested in what they are saying about it. And if I meet a fellow NZer overseas I might even know them cos its a small world. Everyone is kind of like family here though not so close that we're all incestuous lol.

Also we call Australians out 'cuzzies' meaning our cousins though not all are literally, its figuratively speaking. (Actually I do have some cousins in Australia - they left NZ to live there)

Sometimes I have to mansplain to people not from New Zealand what life is like if they're used to a certain way of life and think 'oh because it's a former British colony' its like a little Britain of the South Seas. Well, no, not really. We're more diverse than that. And our weather isn't as miserable.
 
I found out that our former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern is now living a new life in Australia.

I haven't heard any former Aussie Prime Ministers moving over here to live, so I don't think it's an exchange. Be prepared for the Exodus?

Or as some wags call it 'the brain drain'

People like to rag on NZers being a cultural backwater country bumpkins of the world. And the funny thing is, when the Poms come here, quite a few whinge about it so much I get headaches because they do nothing but complain, complain, complain.

I always feel like saying to them, if you don't like it, you can sod off back to your own country. But I just say that in my head, not out loud.
 
Can someone please start a Pros and Cons of Australia thread? Preferably an aussie such as yourself @Aussie52 ??

As I will be heading there in a months time (Sydney) and have a few questions to ask. Also I'd love to discuss Kath & Kim!
 
New Zealanders, where are you on CC?

I can't be the only one. I feel like a very small fish in a huge pond.
 
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