We arrived back in New Zealand on November 5th. It was a bit of an experience dealing with US Airways regarding our extra bag. Although I had spent nearly an hour on the phone with Air New Zealand and US Air and been guaranteed we had it all sorted out and knew the extra charge, they wanted to re-litigate the entire situation at the check-in counter. They know they have you over a barrel, what are you going to do throw your extra bag in the trash? The flying public really is being horribly treated and abused by the airline industry. That all being said, the flights were remarkably uneventful and all the baggage arrived promptly and without damage.
As most of you know, we had left Beech Mountain after the snows of Sandy
and a resultant power outage that lasted more than a day, ending just hours before we were to leave for the airport in Charlotte.
Although some of the sights were absolutely spectacular...
arriving
back in New Zealand with all of the spring flowers and trees in full
bloom, was a welcome visual change. If you look closely in the center of the pictures below, you can see one of the two red/yellow/green parrots that have decided to adopt our bottle brush tree at least for the spring.
Before leaving, many folks asked us to explain the process for living and relocating to New Zealand. For those of us over 55, living in New Zealand on a permanent basis can be a simple process if you have a lot of money to invest as the government here wishes; think $2.5M to $10M. If that is not the course you wish to take, you can buy a business and prove to the immigration folks that it is good for the country. Lastly, if you have relatives who have been permanent residents/citizens here for at least 3 years, they can sponsor you. Short of this, you can live here as we do on a part-time basis. We are here 6 months a year, which means we must be out of the country for at least an equivalent amount of time. Unlike the US, if you overstay your visa, they will come find you and deport you. There is no clamoring for amnesty for illegals here. These requirements can all be found at the Immigration New Zealand website, http://www.immigration.govt.nz/.
We find the country very easy to live in. No language barriers, friendly people, additive free food, sound economy, and a stable democracy. It is much like living in the US 40 years ago. Oh, one more thing, everyone pays taxes here. If you earn a dollar, you pay something in taxes. The more you make, the higher the rate you pay. There is no 47% who don't pay taxes here, everybody has skin in the game. Very different to what we have come to in the US.
Bec and Ken have played golf a couple times since we got back. Both courses were over on the northwest side near the Tasman Sea. I am looking forward to getting back in the swing of things this coming week. I had spent several days locating and selecting a car. This took some time and kept me from the links for awhile. Good quality used cars are plentiful here. They are used Japanese imports, which come in great shape and with low kilometers. Ours is a Toyota Camry with about 85000 km or 50000 miles and priced at $9800 NZD or about $8000 USD.
We are going to do the traditional Thanksgiving meal this year. You might wonder why I bring that up, but when a 12 lb turkey cost $80 NZD, it's not something you do lightly. We have a small grocery here called Martha's Backyard, which imports US items, at premium prices. We were actually able to find some Petridge Farms stuffing there. Cost be damned!
Well that's about it for this post. I'll get the editor to review and make any necessary changes and then she will post it.
Cheers!
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