This New Zealand Life

Kiwi children have no respect for UK tradition

TAKING the children to school each morning is a triumph of perseverance over distraction. You have all the usual concerns, as back in the UK, like finding shoes, recovering raincoats from the damp recesses of school bags and making sure there are enough clean pants in the toddler's rucksack to last a rainy day, but you also have those peculiarly New Zealand issues that you just don't expect.

Swine Flu reaches Wellington (unconfirmed)

AS most of the newspapers around the globe are reporting on the trail of swine flu from its Mexican origins (allegedly), so the Kiwi papers are watching the virus arrive on NZ1 (from LA to Auckland) and continue its journey through the country.

It seems that school trips are to blame. The virus arrived first in Auckland with a party of students coming home from Mexico.

Blog Roundup: Driving, food and Anzac day

FOR photographs this week, it's always worth a look on the Hamilton Daily Photo as the South African Kiwi records his life in the Waikato district, and TrekNature reminds us that New Zealand is not only incubating swine flu at the moment but is also home to microbial life of many other sorts. Many of it unique.

Elsewhere...

Four hours in one season

WINTER seems to have arrived here in Wellington having bypassed Autumn without so much as a falling leaf. Since the steep hillsides are clothed in dark-green ferns and pine trees year round, Autumn peeps out only from the sporadic patch of deciduous woodland planted here and there when the Victorians thought turning New Zealand into a suburb of Richmond was a good idea.

But take a drive along State Highway 2 to Upper Hutt and you'll discover abundant Autumn colours of sycamore, oak, cherry and ash where the first New Zealanders scalped the land and replaced the ancient forests with grid-like town planning and tree-lined driveways.

Kiwi houses exposed as health risk

ARRIVALS in New Zealand are often surprised at the poor quality of New Zealand houses, particularly if they come from the central-heated, double-glazed homes of the UK. You are left with the impression that Kiwis exist in cold and draughty prefabs stuck on the side of exposed hills with nothing but a pallet-fence and a piece of cracked glass between them and the elements.

Tightened entry requirements for lecturers proposed

IMMIGRATION New Zealand today announced a proposed a change to the entry requirements for university lecturers.

Previously all lecturers attempting entry to New Zealand under the skilled migrant category could claim bonus points for holding a masters degree or Phd. If the new rules come into force, from June 2009 those same points can only be claimed if the lecturer also has at least 12 months work experience.

See more about the proposed changes.

Professional Brits enhance Wellington city centre

THE city council today revealed in a report that 2% of Wellington inner city dwellers classed British, UK, English or Irish as their ethnic origin, and that an overwhelming 64% of classed "professional" or "manager" as their occupation.

The report summarising the key results from a survey of central city apartment dwellers undertaken by the Wellington City Council in 2008, also found that almost half (49%) of the survey respondents live in a two-person household, a quarter of respondents have lived in their apartment for more than four years, 32% have lived in their apartment less than one year, a third of respondents live in an apartment that is over 100 square metres in size.

23% of respondents said the most important reason for choosing to live in an apartment was lifestyle and city living, followed by living close to work (20%), and the most common negative aspect of apartment living was city noise and noise from neighbours (27%).

"It reflects the rapid growth of the central city as a place to live over the past few years. In the last five years, the population of Wellington City has grown by over 16,000 –- a significant proportion of this growth has been in the central city area.

"Wellington City has seen a strong growth in apartments over the last six-eight years. Building consent data over the last six years shows approximately two thirds of new housing in the city has been units or apartments," said the report.

Overall, according to Statistics New Zealand and the Office of Ethnic Affairs, roughly 3% of the New Zealand population count themselves as having a British origin.

Nuclear explosion at "Fush and Chups" shop an exaggeration

WHATEVER else you may have to give up when you arrive in New Zealand, Britain's favourite take away is not one of them.

And that doesn't mean chicken tikka massala (though you won't have to give that up either), no, Fish and Chips is every bit a Kiwi delicacy as it is back in Blighty.

Which is why it was a national disaster and an international incident when a Nelson fish and chip shop exploded earlier today.

"It was like a nuclear bomb," Miranda Radcliffe, reportedly told The Nelson Mail.

Luckily, rumours of a mushroom cloud and widespread fallout were later dismissed by fire fighters, who said the damage was caused by a gas explosion.

For the discerning Brit it's useful to know that "Fush and Chups," is the correct Kiwi pronunciation, and that ordering when you arrive at the door is the usual protocol. Fish is mostly fried to order and not pre-cooked then left to fester beneath hot lamps as it is back home.

Premium line to New Zealand immigration

IF it's not enough that you have to pay hundreds of pounds to apply for New Zealand residency, they charge you a pound a minute for calling for help.

"Tel within the UK: 0906-9100-100 (National callers please note: calls cost £1.00 per minute)."

Perhaps this wouldn't be such a drag if all the forms they asked you to fill in were self explanatory, but they are not. If you plan to stay in New Zealand on anything other than a visitor visa the likelihood is you will need to call, and then the pounds tick away like water on the Cuba Street bucket fountain.

But there is another way. Bear in mind that many new arrivals apply for residency or work permits while already in New Zealand and you'll realise you can call the country direct instead of going through the UK-tired high commission. Call Auckland on +64 9 914 4100

And the real beauty of it is that it's not a premium line so only your normal international call charges will apply. Better still, call from a VoIP phone or via Skype and it could be free or just a few pennies a minute.

Chunder landing at Wellington airport

THIS really is not what you need when you've just arrived in the country, but landing at Wellington airport, while often breathtaking for the views, can also be breathtaking for the maneuvering.

And yet as the airport's website says, "Few cities in the world can boast an airport location as convenient as that enjoyed by Wellington. It is only minutes to the centre of the capital and accessible either via a scenic coastal drive, or directly through the Mount Victoria tunnel."