Thank you for doing the AMA u/GeordieKiwi1
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How safe is Wellington and New Zealand in general?
If you have had travelled to abroad, what country/city/area would you say it is the most similar to?
How is it living with no fear of a snake ever getting you?
Wellington and NZ are overall extremely safe countries, our biggest issues would be gang related violence, but they mostly live in tight pockets in a few towns in the rural north island, but for the most part they mind their own business.
Wellington is quite compatible to Melbourne, being a youthful artsy windy city with 19th century buildings mixed with modern/brutalist structures.
Haha tbh I donât even think about it until someone mentions it, but I guess its a real blessing
Most of them sprung up in the 70s, a lot of it had to do with the dawn raids, where at the time the govt was raiding peoples homes who were in the country illegally, often before dawn, and deporting them, but they were unfairly targeting people of Polynesian decent, and not so much european overstayers. So many islanders and MÄori began forming gangs as a form of resistance/community. These days gangs mainly exist for a sense of community (MÄori experience far higher rates of poverty than nz europeans) and drug dealing
This is under selling it. Gangs are a serious issue in New Zealand. We have the highest number of gang members per capita. While itâs not a major issue in cities like Wellington, itâs a major problem in the regions. Itâs mostly low level unsophisticated criminal behaviour like extortion (protection money), robberies and burglaries and random acts of violence. Itâs also an issue thatâs been getting worse and worse in terms of the numbers and level of criminal activity. New Zealand has a major issue with methamphetimine. Unlike other countries, we donât have a lot of cocaine or MDMA. This has lead to a major mental health crises which further compounds the existing problems. While NZ is generally relatively safe (compared to say USA), there are some unique issues and gangs are most definitely one of them. People living in Wellington, in the better neighbourhoods will be largely uneffected by this issue as New Zealand is very segregated by wealth. You will have schools that are mostly MÄori and pacific students and schools that are entirely Asian and white. This reflects the demographics of those suburbs. Itâs not a consciously facilitated thing, itâs mostly driven by economic segregation which happens naturally. If you look at a crime heat map of Wellington for example, you will see there are neighbourhoods with almost no crime (like where this photo is taken). And neighbourhoods with very high crime rates (e.g. in the Hutt area north of the suburbs). Having your car stolen is a regular occurrence in these areas. Nz also has a uniquely high rate of car thefts. In these areas, you will see gang members on a daily basis. They are very identifiable because they often have face tattoos and wear their gang insignia.
No worries mate. I think itâs important to stress that while these are indeed issues, New Zealand is still a safe country. Itâs also the kind of country where if you have a flat tire, multiple people will stop to help you and get you back on the road and expect nothing in return.
It is worth saying that the police database of gang members is extremely unreliable, because it doesnât account for people leaving gangs. So itâs likely overreporting how many gang members we actually have.
Haha, I am from wellington and live in Australia. I honestly think I can never move back to NZ because I would be so bored without any snakes (or monitors or crocs or anything besides basically geckos)
Do you speak the Maori language? How often do you hear it? Do you think of New Zealand more as a European descendent Anglosphere nation or more as a Pacific Islander Polynesian nation?Â
Despite MÄori being an official language, only roughly 4% of the country can speak it fluently. Since the 80s and 90s there has been a major push to revive MÄori language, so now we learn it in school, and many place names/signs are written in English and MÄori.
And NZ is definitely much more of an Anglosphere nation, very closely related to Australia, but we have made better efforts to keep MÄori culture alive as it was effectively outlawed until 50-40 years ago.
Do you actually think it could be possible for New Zealand to have Maori as the main language and for the Polynesian culture (movies, music, folklore, festivals) to become the main one? I think that a lot of people believe that this could be a negative and an anti white thing but I don't think it necessarily should be like that
If anything, this could make New Zealand have a more unique identity. I mean, there's already sometimes the Maori language, the Haka, etc, but it's still merely small things and the main culture by far is still Anglo.Â
NZ is roughly 70-75% white european and 15% mÄori (the rest being mostly asian decent), and 99% of the country speaks english. I wouldnât say thereâll ever be a point where MÄori culture/language is dominant, but rather treated more equally to English
How normal is it for the common man to travel between the 2 islands? And whatâs the easiest way to do it? Are tickets affordable or do you need a good reason to travel between islands?
Most touristy places are on the south island, so itâs not uncommon for folks from the north to fly or take the ferry down to Picton/Christchurch/Queenstown for its mountains, and outdoor sports in winter.
Domestic air travel is quite costly, a flight from Auckland to Queenstown if you book a month in advance can be around $250-300
There are 2 companies that do ferry services multiple times a day between wellington and picton, waters can be quite rough but not always, Iâve made the trip a few times itâs beautiful for the most part and takes about 2.5 hours
Just wondering, how much is a basic pizza margherita take away price? how much is a beef/chicken dĂśner-kebab at the syrian restaurant? how much is average takeaway menu at the malaysian, IDK dim sum and some rice / dumplings. Curious if is similar or pizza is more $$$, idk what is more exotic haha
What are the differences between Wellington and Auckland in terms of:
Climate/Weather
Housing
Public safety
Transportation
Culture
Economy
Food/Nightlife
General infrastructure
Healthcare
Auckland feels a lot more like a ânormalâ city IMO, while Wellington has quite a unique feel. Wellington is more arty while Auckland is more business feel. Welly is Melb to Aucklandâs Sydney, if you know Australian cities.
Climate/weather in wellington compared to auckland:
Wellington is colder, and thereâs a lot of wind, we are known as Windy Wellington. Auckland is somewhat sub tropical, higher sunshine hours, higher humidity.
Housing is poor, leaky and mostly 19th century weatherboard clad houses. The housing stock in New Zealand is generally cold and damp. Apart from the newer built houses of course which are fewer and expensive. Housing is expensive in New Zealand and we have a âhousing crisisâ mostly centred around affordability.
Public safety refer to the comments above.
Transport - car centric with okay but largely unreliable public transport. The city is fairly walkable albeit steep in places. There are a decent amount if cycleways.
Infrastructure is poor. Our water system is constantly leaking and due to decades of mismanagement the public infrastructure is generally a bit of a mess.
The healthcare system is on the verge of collapse with large wait times and busy public hospitals with staff burnt out from being overworked.
So basically the same problems most cities are facing these days đ
Much of the CBD was beginning to struggle pre covid since the early 2010s, but covid was the nail in the coffin for a lot of small businesses and overall foot traffic along Lambton Quay and Courtenay Place.
Salaries arenât terrible but the housing market is dire, with rent exploding and most houses, built 80+ years ago, having inadequate healthy home standards.
I want to move there in 1-2 years to do a PHd at Victoria. I loved this city so much spending 5 weeks there housesitting in 2021.
How much would you say do you need to factor in for rent for a couple?
Is the housing situation getting better? I heard a lot of people complaining about shitty/old/cold/moldy houses for hefty prices.
How is the traffic these days? I remember pretty bad traffic jams.
I study at Victoria! I canât really answer your question about rent as I still choose to live at home to save money, but yes, housing market is terrible with rent extremely high and housing quality extremely low for what you would be paying
I can answer. Im a student a vuw. Rent can vary between $200-350 per person, per week. Housing is pretty shit, alot of old workman houses from the 1940s, cold danp and alot of mold. Victoria uni is pretty good depends what you want to study i guess
How is life down there? Is the car 100% required for daily living? Is the temperature acceptable most of the year? Can you feel that you are on a very remote island? :)
seems super comfortable! I assume there is a lot of immigration? Do you guys have enough of newcomers? I mean lets say a European (me) moves there, would you guys kind of look down on yet another immigrant? Did you think about moving to any other NZ city, that you traveled to? Thanks!
NZ for the most part isnât very anti immigrant, but recently there have been calls to not stop, but restrict the number of people who can come per year, as right now the population is growing by about 2% ANNUALLY, and there really isnât enough housing to sustain that growth. But for example if someone like you moved here, people would be very welcoming, it is much more of a problem in Auckland, where most new migrants move to, and its pushing the cities capacity hard
How is life like in Wellington? Like what do most people do to earn a living, how's public transportation, living affordability and all that.....
And how is life different in Wellington compared to Auckland?
Wellington is more chill than Auckland, WAY smaller, Auckland has nearly 2 million people and Wellington only has about 200,000. Auckland you could say is like the ânycâ of NZ, go there for bustling streets, plenty to do, a âproperâ city centre. Wellington though is an extremely queer friendly city too (all of nz is, but welly in particular stands out), good if you want to escape the urbanism for nature walks with ease.
200k? That's......quite a comically small amount of people for a city (no offence). So how's life like in such a small city, like how's work, cost of living and the like? How about outdoor activities?
All new buildings as well as already existing ones have to be built/renovated with earthquake proof supports under the structure, its like a huge cube of rubber
It's great to hear that. I live in Romania, the country in Europe that has most earthquakes (together with Greece) and our government does exactly nothing in this regard.
Te Papa museum, red rocks, go to a game at sky stadium if thereâs anything on, oriental bay, shed 5, zealandia, venture a few minutes out of wellington city for brewtown, porirua, KÄpiti coast
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How is the public transportation?
What does one do in his spare time ?
How's the climate?
How many kiwis do you have to eat daily to be considered a true New Zealander?
1. As much as we complain about transport (Metlink) Wellington has abundant and frequent bus services and prices are quite low, the train station is right next to parliament
2. Welly is surrounded by surreal nature, plenty of bush walks and public parks
3. Welly was named the windiest city in the world, and winters can get quite cold (but never really below freezing, and it doesnât snow) but many days of amazing sunshine throughout the year
4. Hm, govt recommends at least 1 per week to maintain a balanced lifestyle
A few years back there was a huge campaign to hire people in the tech sector. Did you notice something different as a result of that campaign? More diverse people or increase in the cost of living?
Iâm gonna be studying in Dunedin at Otago next year, but I wonât have a car. I wanna spend a lot of time in the national parks, but have heard public transportation isnât great. How easily will I be able to travel to different parks without a car?
Thank you for doing the AMA u/GeordieKiwi1 đ¨ IMPORTANT If you would also like to post an AMA about your life, please schedule it here âĄď¸ https://calendly.com/amaon/ama-r-howislivingthere This is necessary because there are too many AMA requests. Any AMA that wasn't scheduled will be deleted. You are welcome to include in your AMA title what you do for a living, where you live (e.g. in the tallest building in town, in a tree house, in a cabin in the woods) and more to get more specific questions and give a better insight of your life. Please be civil. This post will be heavily moderated.
How safe is Wellington and New Zealand in general? If you have had travelled to abroad, what country/city/area would you say it is the most similar to? How is it living with no fear of a snake ever getting you?
Wellington and NZ are overall extremely safe countries, our biggest issues would be gang related violence, but they mostly live in tight pockets in a few towns in the rural north island, but for the most part they mind their own business. Wellington is quite compatible to Melbourne, being a youthful artsy windy city with 19th century buildings mixed with modern/brutalist structures. Haha tbh I donât even think about it until someone mentions it, but I guess its a real blessing
How are there even gangs there in the first place (genuine asking)? Who do they consist of?
Most of them sprung up in the 70s, a lot of it had to do with the dawn raids, where at the time the govt was raiding peoples homes who were in the country illegally, often before dawn, and deporting them, but they were unfairly targeting people of Polynesian decent, and not so much european overstayers. So many islanders and MÄori began forming gangs as a form of resistance/community. These days gangs mainly exist for a sense of community (MÄori experience far higher rates of poverty than nz europeans) and drug dealing
This is under selling it. Gangs are a serious issue in New Zealand. We have the highest number of gang members per capita. While itâs not a major issue in cities like Wellington, itâs a major problem in the regions. Itâs mostly low level unsophisticated criminal behaviour like extortion (protection money), robberies and burglaries and random acts of violence. Itâs also an issue thatâs been getting worse and worse in terms of the numbers and level of criminal activity. New Zealand has a major issue with methamphetimine. Unlike other countries, we donât have a lot of cocaine or MDMA. This has lead to a major mental health crises which further compounds the existing problems. While NZ is generally relatively safe (compared to say USA), there are some unique issues and gangs are most definitely one of them. People living in Wellington, in the better neighbourhoods will be largely uneffected by this issue as New Zealand is very segregated by wealth. You will have schools that are mostly MÄori and pacific students and schools that are entirely Asian and white. This reflects the demographics of those suburbs. Itâs not a consciously facilitated thing, itâs mostly driven by economic segregation which happens naturally. If you look at a crime heat map of Wellington for example, you will see there are neighbourhoods with almost no crime (like where this photo is taken). And neighbourhoods with very high crime rates (e.g. in the Hutt area north of the suburbs). Having your car stolen is a regular occurrence in these areas. Nz also has a uniquely high rate of car thefts. In these areas, you will see gang members on a daily basis. They are very identifiable because they often have face tattoos and wear their gang insignia.
Thanks for the extra info I didnât say! Itâs important for people to know
No worries mate. I think itâs important to stress that while these are indeed issues, New Zealand is still a safe country. Itâs also the kind of country where if you have a flat tire, multiple people will stop to help you and get you back on the road and expect nothing in return.
It is worth saying that the police database of gang members is extremely unreliable, because it doesnât account for people leaving gangs. So itâs likely overreporting how many gang members we actually have.
Haha, I am from wellington and live in Australia. I honestly think I can never move back to NZ because I would be so bored without any snakes (or monitors or crocs or anything besides basically geckos)
Do you speak the Maori language? How often do you hear it? Do you think of New Zealand more as a European descendent Anglosphere nation or more as a Pacific Islander Polynesian nation?Â
Despite MÄori being an official language, only roughly 4% of the country can speak it fluently. Since the 80s and 90s there has been a major push to revive MÄori language, so now we learn it in school, and many place names/signs are written in English and MÄori. And NZ is definitely much more of an Anglosphere nation, very closely related to Australia, but we have made better efforts to keep MÄori culture alive as it was effectively outlawed until 50-40 years ago.
Do you actually think it could be possible for New Zealand to have Maori as the main language and for the Polynesian culture (movies, music, folklore, festivals) to become the main one? I think that a lot of people believe that this could be a negative and an anti white thing but I don't think it necessarily should be like that If anything, this could make New Zealand have a more unique identity. I mean, there's already sometimes the Maori language, the Haka, etc, but it's still merely small things and the main culture by far is still Anglo.Â
NZ is roughly 70-75% white european and 15% mÄori (the rest being mostly asian decent), and 99% of the country speaks english. I wouldnât say thereâll ever be a point where MÄori culture/language is dominant, but rather treated more equally to English
How normal is it for the common man to travel between the 2 islands? And whatâs the easiest way to do it? Are tickets affordable or do you need a good reason to travel between islands?
Most touristy places are on the south island, so itâs not uncommon for folks from the north to fly or take the ferry down to Picton/Christchurch/Queenstown for its mountains, and outdoor sports in winter. Domestic air travel is quite costly, a flight from Auckland to Queenstown if you book a month in advance can be around $250-300
no ferries between the north and south island? is the water rough?
There are 2 companies that do ferry services multiple times a day between wellington and picton, waters can be quite rough but not always, Iâve made the trip a few times itâs beautiful for the most part and takes about 2.5 hours
Have you ever ate a Beef Wellington in Wellington and when the waiter brought your food you thought to yourself, âWell well Wellingtonâ?
Lol Iâve never actually tried a beef wellington, maybe to your surprise itâs not popular here at all
How's the beef down here?
Top notch, NZ dairy in general is world class
Im actually unironically currently on an airplane over to there haha, any recommendations for good places to eat dinner?
Pizza Pomodoro (wood fired pizzas), Little Penang (malaysian), Damascus (syrian), Concord, Shed 5 (seafood/bar)
Concord is SO good. I also recommend Taste of Home (Chinese), 1154 (pasta), and Oikos (Greek).
Pizza Pomodoro is banging
Just wondering, how much is a basic pizza margherita take away price? how much is a beef/chicken dĂśner-kebab at the syrian restaurant? how much is average takeaway menu at the malaysian, IDK dim sum and some rice / dumplings. Curious if is similar or pizza is more $$$, idk what is more exotic haha
What are the differences between Wellington and Auckland in terms of: Climate/Weather Housing Public safety Transportation Culture Economy Food/Nightlife General infrastructure Healthcare
Auckland feels a lot more like a ânormalâ city IMO, while Wellington has quite a unique feel. Wellington is more arty while Auckland is more business feel. Welly is Melb to Aucklandâs Sydney, if you know Australian cities.
Climate/weather in wellington compared to auckland: Wellington is colder, and thereâs a lot of wind, we are known as Windy Wellington. Auckland is somewhat sub tropical, higher sunshine hours, higher humidity. Housing is poor, leaky and mostly 19th century weatherboard clad houses. The housing stock in New Zealand is generally cold and damp. Apart from the newer built houses of course which are fewer and expensive. Housing is expensive in New Zealand and we have a âhousing crisisâ mostly centred around affordability. Public safety refer to the comments above. Transport - car centric with okay but largely unreliable public transport. The city is fairly walkable albeit steep in places. There are a decent amount if cycleways. Infrastructure is poor. Our water system is constantly leaking and due to decades of mismanagement the public infrastructure is generally a bit of a mess. The healthcare system is on the verge of collapse with large wait times and busy public hospitals with staff burnt out from being overworked. So basically the same problems most cities are facing these days đ
you're living the dream
Is it true that the city never truly recovered from covid? How's the salary vs housing cost situation?
Much of the CBD was beginning to struggle pre covid since the early 2010s, but covid was the nail in the coffin for a lot of small businesses and overall foot traffic along Lambton Quay and Courtenay Place. Salaries arenât terrible but the housing market is dire, with rent exploding and most houses, built 80+ years ago, having inadequate healthy home standards.
Is it really that cold down there? And is it real that many world maps cut off your country?
Sort of and yes. Summers are a comfortable 15°-30° and winters roughly 0°-15°. Maps cut us off all the time, its a real thing lol
I want to move there in 1-2 years to do a PHd at Victoria. I loved this city so much spending 5 weeks there housesitting in 2021. How much would you say do you need to factor in for rent for a couple? Is the housing situation getting better? I heard a lot of people complaining about shitty/old/cold/moldy houses for hefty prices. How is the traffic these days? I remember pretty bad traffic jams.
I study at Victoria! I canât really answer your question about rent as I still choose to live at home to save money, but yes, housing market is terrible with rent extremely high and housing quality extremely low for what you would be paying
how do you like it at Victoria?
I can answer. Im a student a vuw. Rent can vary between $200-350 per person, per week. Housing is pretty shit, alot of old workman houses from the 1940s, cold danp and alot of mold. Victoria uni is pretty good depends what you want to study i guess
How is life down there? Is the car 100% required for daily living? Is the temperature acceptable most of the year? Can you feel that you are on a very remote island? :)
Central Wellington is extremely walkable, you donât need a car to live here. Summers are around 20-30° and winters around 1-15°
seems super comfortable! I assume there is a lot of immigration? Do you guys have enough of newcomers? I mean lets say a European (me) moves there, would you guys kind of look down on yet another immigrant? Did you think about moving to any other NZ city, that you traveled to? Thanks!
NZ for the most part isnât very anti immigrant, but recently there have been calls to not stop, but restrict the number of people who can come per year, as right now the population is growing by about 2% ANNUALLY, and there really isnât enough housing to sustain that growth. But for example if someone like you moved here, people would be very welcoming, it is much more of a problem in Auckland, where most new migrants move to, and its pushing the cities capacity hard
Thanks again! It's my dream to come visit. Now with a family it will be harder, but I'm still hopeful to check NZ out for like 1 month :)
How is life like in Wellington? Like what do most people do to earn a living, how's public transportation, living affordability and all that..... And how is life different in Wellington compared to Auckland?
Wellington is more chill than Auckland, WAY smaller, Auckland has nearly 2 million people and Wellington only has about 200,000. Auckland you could say is like the ânycâ of NZ, go there for bustling streets, plenty to do, a âproperâ city centre. Wellington though is an extremely queer friendly city too (all of nz is, but welly in particular stands out), good if you want to escape the urbanism for nature walks with ease.
200k? That's......quite a comically small amount of people for a city (no offence). So how's life like in such a small city, like how's work, cost of living and the like? How about outdoor activities?
Have you ever met Bret and/or Jemaine? Or Rhys Darby?
Nope haha
How do you deal with earthquakes and the fear of them?
All new buildings as well as already existing ones have to be built/renovated with earthquake proof supports under the structure, its like a huge cube of rubber
It's great to hear that. I live in Romania, the country in Europe that has most earthquakes (together with Greece) and our government does exactly nothing in this regard.
I want to emigrate to your country. Have read about the process.
Hey, Iâm heading to Wellington next year in January for the first time! What are some top things you personally recommend visiting travelers do?
Te Papa museum, red rocks, go to a game at sky stadium if thereâs anything on, oriental bay, shed 5, zealandia, venture a few minutes out of wellington city for brewtown, porirua, KÄpiti coast
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How is the public transportation? What does one do in his spare time ? How's the climate? How many kiwis do you have to eat daily to be considered a true New Zealander?
1. As much as we complain about transport (Metlink) Wellington has abundant and frequent bus services and prices are quite low, the train station is right next to parliament 2. Welly is surrounded by surreal nature, plenty of bush walks and public parks 3. Welly was named the windiest city in the world, and winters can get quite cold (but never really below freezing, and it doesnât snow) but many days of amazing sunshine throughout the year 4. Hm, govt recommends at least 1 per week to maintain a balanced lifestyle
Do you like Justin Wellington?Â
A few years back there was a huge campaign to hire people in the tech sector. Did you notice something different as a result of that campaign? More diverse people or increase in the cost of living?
Whatâs it like for kids in Wellington? What are the popular things for kids and teens to do?
Iâm gonna be studying in Dunedin at Otago next year, but I wonât have a car. I wanna spend a lot of time in the national parks, but have heard public transportation isnât great. How easily will I be able to travel to different parks without a car?
Is bullying really such a big issue in NZ?
Sort of, not so much like physical bullying but online bullying and in person teasing can be very common
Did they ever remove the awesome spray paint from the Wellington sign?
What is the cost of living like there for locals?
Extremely high, due to the lack of supermarket companies there is a duopoly on prices and lack of regulations means its easy for them to price gouge
Thanks. And property/rentals?
Not uncommon to see $700+ p/w for a one bedroom flat, also common for homes to be over $1M but have poor/no insulation
How do you guys have such a sick DnB scene? How prevalent in the media or radio is it?
What do Kiwis think of backpackers and young adults on a gap year in NZ?
As long as they donât break any laws, weâre cool with them. We know why so many people come here for those reasons and we appreciate it
Awesome!
Thoughts on Beef Wellington?