Australia - it's CHOICE!

While there are so many things about Australia that I love - Aldi, warmth, non-PC television and it's hosts, the nightly weather report which 8 times out of 10 says it's going to rain and is 9 times out of 10 wrong, impressive thunderstorms, shopping malls, public toilets - I could go on all night and still not cover everything but you get the picture.  I think the two things I am most grateful for are 1. no pressure to keep up with the Joneses and 2. the freedom of having a choice.  Let me explain....
My mother and probably my mother-in-law, would say the only pressure one feels to keep up with anybody is the pressure one puts on themselves and I agree - to a point.  I happen to also believe there is a huge Us and Them culture in New Zealand and that covers a lot of things -  if you're not a National supporter then you're a Labour supporter (this usually relates also to how much money is in your pay packet each week) and one does not think much of the other,  if you're not brown then you're white (skin colour is not important in this example, if you believe you are an indigenous New Zealander and speak like an indigenous NZer then you are eh bro?  I recall a past acquaintance, daughter of two pakeha parents, saying something despicable about her mother's 'white arse', as opposed to her own non-white arse??), you drive a less than 10 year old car or you drive a 30 year old car (and I'm not talking about the vintage or muscle variety), you are in paid employment or you're on a benefit etc etc etc, in my humble opinion there aren't a lot of places to meet in the middle.   And in all cases one is better than the other, being the incredibly PC country NZ is nothing much is said out loud but a whole lot is said in the looks, the tone of voice, the whispers behind hands and the subtle jibes.   Any New Zealanders reading this will either be an Us or a Them and the Us's will loudly disagree with what I have just said and the Them's will loudly agree and add their own examples of grievances suffered.  Anyway I say all this from my experience only and to make the point that at no time while living in Australia have I ever felt any less important than anyone else, again, in my personal experience.  Here we have never felt any pressure to be anybody other than who we are, we don't have to prove to anybody that we are just as great as they are because we already know we are whether they or we drive the latest Audi or a Toyota from last century.  And, by the same token, we can look at the single, teenage-Mum, in her mini-skirt and ugg boots, hanging out at the mall and know that she's probably as happy with her life as we are with ours and that's great!   So thank you Australia for making us feel like we only need to be who we are - I love ya for it!!

Which brings me to point number two - the freedom of having a choice.  From personal experience I know there is nothing worse than the feeling of having no options, no way out of whatever hole you think you are in, nowhere else to go and no one to talk to with any answers.  Pretty much these feelings for me all come back to money, moolah, dosh, cold hard cash.  And this relates to point number one because wanting something you can't afford because your mates can, or the neighbours have one or your son's friend's third cousin got one for Christmas, and you want to be in the same league as those people, just compounds those feelings of desperation.
Here in Australia our weekly family income is more than half as much again as in New Zealand however we are low-income by Australian standards, we are still a one-income, family of four, with two school-age children (anyone with school age children will know how much a free education actually costs a family), limited money in the bank and ends to make meet.  Now to get to my point, while we were living in New Zealand the ends just didn't meet and there was nothing I could think of during many sleepless nights to get those ends within inches of each other.  There was nowhere to go for cheaper petrol, nowhere for cheaper groceries, nowhere for cheaper new clothes, no where for significantly cheaper utilities - here in Australia there is.  For example - the cost of petrol can vary by up to 10c a litre between servos (and that's without the coupon) and depending on the day of the week you buy petrol - meaning if you are low on cash you have a choice about where and when to get petrol to save some dollars.  Prices vary between the major supermarkets depending on what suburb you shop in and competition between the main players (Coles and Woollies) is fierce meaning some great deals to be had by the consumer (two litres of milk for $2 anybody? not since probably the 80s in NZ) and if Coles and Woollies still take too much out of your wallet then you can go to my favourite (and the place I couldn't wait to visit on our return) ALDI, where in my experience you can do a shop for the family for a whole week for around $100 and not be living on rice and potatoes.  I will dedicate a whole post to my love affair with ALDI at a later date.  Believe me I tried and tried to get our groceries under $200 a week in NZ and couldn't do it.  And I can go on and on about where savings can be made here.  The short of it is if you need to live on a strict budget it is possible and there are options here that won't be that hard to endure.
And it's not just about the money either, the choices living in a country of more than 20 million people gives are many and varied, not the least of which is having the choice of six wonderful and very different States and a couple of territories to live in, being able to vote not only for the people you want to run the country but also for the people you want to run the state and they don't have to be the same people!
Well I'm feeling slightly worn out from all of this love I'm giving to my other home tonight and not the least bit like a woman in the midst of a torrid affair and cheating on her long-time love with the statements I have made above and I'm sure there will be plenty who don't agree with what I have said.
Don't worry New Zealand you will always be my first love and I will be back to rave about the gorgeousness of you.

Until next time....

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!!!!!!
It doesn't matter where you are in the world the start of a New Year presents a blank page waiting to be filled.  The possibilities are endless and opportunity sits at arms length just waiting for you to reach out and grab it with both hands.
What challenges will you meet head on and what will you let pass without a second glance?

Taming the Trolley

You might think that before coming back across the Tasman I would have a couple of things to consider - e.g snakes, spiders, sharks, extreme heat, drought, flood, hail, bad anti-Kiwi jokes etc etc, however, none of that crossed my mind this time. One thing I recall seriously asking myself whether I could live with again was having to use an Australian supermarket trolley.  This one item is, in all honesty, at the top of my list of the most frustrating things about living in this wonderful country so much so that when we are back in New Zealand, going to the supermarket and grabbing a trolley is one of the first things I do again, just for the joy of it.  Somehow the Australian trolley suppliers just haven't figured out how to make one that the average food shopping, parent-of-two, bearer of limited muscle, can steer once it reaches half capacity, let alone full to over-flowing, with one child balancing on the front, one child arguing that they can  push it to the car, while the long-suffering mother furiously digs for car keys in a bottomless handbag full of receipts, 6 months worth of shopping lists, half eaten fruit and a handful of sand from the last trip to the beach.  Either they haven't figured it out or it is their long-running joke on society.
Said children then end up half way across the car park in entirely the wrong direction screaming for help while lines of incoming cars honk and hurl abuse at said mother.
I have spent many a drive home contemplating what exactly is the difference between the superior trolley of New Zealand and its Australian counterpart, I drew a blank but my more technically minded husband points out that the front wheels on NZ trolleys are fixed making steering a breeze.  The Australian trolley , has all wheels free to do as they please, and believe me they do, meaning some degree of upper arm and stomach muscle strength is required if that harassed Supermarketeer is to achieve the desired direction.
My solution to this problem of an unsteerable and unstoppable curse on my weekly food shopping experience?  Park in the space where the carpark slopes downhill and to one side, take a deep breath, let out a Xena warrior princess holler and start running, then hang on for dear life until you come to rest with a jolt against the rear bumper of hopefully your own vehicle - God save anyone crossing your path, they're on their own.  If you can have one of the aforementioned children ready with open boot and you can hit the bumper with enough force you can save yourself the job of actually unloading as all groceries flung out on impact nestle in gracefully leaving you to slam the boot lid and vacate, laughing hysterically at the other poor unfortunate souls being dragged around the carpark by their own wayward trolley, only to return a week later and do it all again.
One more thing to note if you have the inclination to head out for groceries here, make sure you have a gold coin in your pocket in order to release the trolley from the bay it sits silently tethered in so it can not wreak havoc out their on it's own in society.
Stay tuned for my absolute all-time favourite thing about living in this wonderful country.

An Introduction.

Welcome to my rambling.  Being something of an insomniac, I have decided to use those quiet hours between 1am and 4am more productively and enter the world of blogging.  Deciding what exactly to blog about wasn't easy, I don't mind sharing my thoughts with anyone and everyone and there are so many topics that came to mind.  I am an avid crafter for one, and craft was my initial decision for topic, I can craft, and talk about craft, until the cows come home (fellow crafters will understand this all-consuming madness) and so an easy choice for me to make.  Alternatively, I am not the best at keeping in touch with friends and family overseas (though I have become a Facebook addict in an effort to improve) and so a more personal blog was my second choice.   Finally, after thinking about what I can't help but make note of during the majority of conversations I enter,  I have settled on blogging about become a Kwozzie, that is my term for a Kiwi living in Aussie.  I tend to make constant comparisons between the beautiful land I grew up in and the country I now inhabit and love.
In March 2011 my husband and I moved the family 'across the ditch' from New Zealand to Australia - for the second time.  So many New Zealanders do it and while many things are similar (we speak almost the same language after all), it has been no easier, second-time around, getting used to the differences between our two countries.
This blog is an outlet for both the things I love and dislike about Australia and the things I really miss and don't miss from New Zealand.  I also hope to offer some insight to readers thinking of taking up the opportunities such a move can provide and for those readers who have already jumped - it's always nice to meet another Kiwi.  For any true blue Aussies reading on, no doubt this blog will be another chance to give a Kiwi girl some cheek.
A little background fyi - my husband and I are both Australian citizens by birth but both had a good old Kiwi upbringing, first moving to Australia to live in 2007.  We are currently, and have only ever, lived in Queensland - not everything I note will apply to all States, similarly not everything I say will apply to all New Zealanders arriving/living here,  these posts are my own personal opinion however one that has usually been discussed and agreed with by other Kwozzies.  Everyone will have there own opinions (that is after all what makes the world such an interesting place), not everyone will agree with me, please read my posts with a light heart and the sound of laughter.  Having said that everything I say will be my honest thoughts and experiences with just a touch of poetic license.
Some things to know before you read on - I have barely got the hang of Facebook so please don't have great technical expectations of this blog.  I like clichés, I like to think I'm funny and I never know when to shut up, so I apologise in advance for any cheesy, humourless, long-winded posts :)
Stay tuned for my first topic - The Australian Supermarket Trolley - a crash course in aisle rage.