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....
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