New Zealand

that's not negative enough. You've been here too long.

auckland for me only had 2 good things. 1 Monsoon Poon and 2. Highway 1 down to Rotorua & taupo bike parks :)

Nah Dunedin is significantly more arse-end than Newcastle.

It's more like comparing London to Aberdeen, except Aberdeen is fancier.

Reccommended phone carrier in NZ? 2 degrees have a cheap PAYG option that looks ok

2degrees is good but suffers from poor coverage in regional areas... Vodafone may be better (says a 2degrees payg user)

Thanks. Will see what the difference in price is in the morning

Maybe one for @lae...

What are the best resources/books etc. for hikes and tramps? We've been picking off a few bits and pieces as we've skirted down the north island but either run into bad luck (Pinnacles closed after the flooding in Coromandel) or some poor choices (3-4h bush walks with no discernable features to a view point facing inland towards the road you drove in on as opposed to the stunning coastline the other way).

We enjoyed the gorge walks in Karangahake and did the Paekakariki escarpment track both ways the other day, enjoyed both of those, that could have been due to the opportunity to recreate scenes from Indiana Jones films (Temple of Doom, soz...) but probably due to being able to see stuff that wasn't just trees. I enjoyed Tongariro and we're going to head back to tick off the two summits as the weather was pretty poor, but that's a post and photos for the hiking thread...

We're moving to Auckland in June....any tips on friendly bike clubs or forums??

If you do Facebook, join the bike gang page. If not, hit me up when you arrive.

Cool...will do... Where are you? Not sure where're we'll be yet... family to start with till we find somewhere to rent...

Good old NZ...
i moved out there in 2007 having never been before (i'd watched Whale Rider, Once Were Warriors and the World's fastest Indian) .
Got my permanent residency visa before i went (due to applying to the skills shortage route) and bought myself a 1 way ticket. Got sunburnt on my 2 nd day after falling asleep on an Auckland beach after having a jet lag beer (it was cloudy too) - got laughed at in the local chemist when i went to buy some aloe vera soothing cream and they were right - i was "fresh off the boat"
Lived and worked in Auckland (Grey Lynn) for 4 years, got my Indefinite returning visa (can always go back whenever i want to live etc).
Within 3 months of rocking up in Auckland met my now wife (not a kiwi) and in 2010 our daughter was born (she's now the lucky owner of an NZ and british passport that gives her residency etc rights in Australia too. Might be very handy when she does a bit of travelling or for options down the line.
We moved back to the UK in 2011 (sold a house in Auckland that has doubled in value over the last few years so we couldn't afford to move back at the moment (not Auckland anyway).
I enjoyed my time there - felt a bit isolated form the rest of the world but it opened up the rest of my life so to speak..
Pros and cons of both places to be honest - Auckland is now rammed i believe
riding a bike on the roads there is scary indeed (no compulsory car insurance so some people just don't care) - great coffee, food and soace but for me i just felt disconnected there and didn't fit / couldn't / would'nt gel with Kiwi culture,
It's definately a move that i don't regret in anyway - sty there long enough and get your visas sorted and you always go back and live when it all goes t**s up in europe (maybe it already has)

we're planning to take our daughter back fro a long trip at some point to show her where she's from..

Kia ora by the way :)

oh yeah - Tim white's bike shop was cool (near K road) and i used to go to CYCO on Ponsonby road - lawrence was a cool guy there

So we're here....arrived Thursday.... Still getting over the jetlag, but managed to buy a car and start looking at places to live.....next to find a job!

Following this thread with a lot of interest...

This thread is a bit like NZ in some respects..
not a lot happens then all of a sudden .. something happens ;)

....apart from buying a house and wife/daughter , my experience was exactly the same as yours. - especially the nuts attitude to road cyclists - back in the uk now...

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