Is NZ expensive?

Now here's something I've just realised I missed while living in Oz. Incredibly sad I know but its decent sized supermarket trolleys. The trolleys are huge here. Our youngest can stretch out across the seat while sucking on a bottle. Very handy. And even better than that the trolleys here only have the front wheels turning. Not the back. And it makes it so much easier to steer. Who was the idiot in Oz who decided all 4 wheels should turn. Going around corners on those wonderful supermarket ramps is no longer dicing with death or the risk of crushing a limb against the wall. Here in NZ you just push on one side and pull with the other. If there is any proof that Kiwi's are smarter than Ozzies then this is surely it.

The supermarkets themselves are really nice and spacious and clean but there doesn't appear to be as much of a selection, especially in the deli areas. Even crappy old Coles has a large selection of cheeses still floating in brine or different olives, dried tomatoes or any of those lovely rich things you have with crackers. For crying out loud I CAN'T FIND TWIGGY STICKS. Not good! If you do want something somewhat exotic it probably comes in a packet and is horrendously expensive.

Food prices are the biggest downer in NZ supermarkets. Because NZ is produce really is excellent then a lot of things are exported and if its in high demand the Kiwis have to pay those high prices. Consequently butter, meats and many other products which we produce in abundance here is really expensive. How's this? Watties spaghetti appears to be more expensive here than in Sydney. It's a Kiwi product! And a damn good one I might ad. Oh they also have a product here called Chicken Bacon. It's basically a bacon substitute made from chicken. Not sure how they do it but there was a lot of numbers in the ingredients. Not bad for one go but won't be buying it again.

The locals are really getting ripped off on the mobile phone bills here. Everyone texts each other and for good reason. There are none of the good contracts and deals that you get in Oz. Prior to leaving I had a $20 plan which gave me 90 minutes of calls and then I had $10 worth of data which my iphone never really got through. Currently I haven't signed up to a plan yet as I don't have a job. I'm using a 2 Degrees prepaid, which are supposed to be cheaper than the big players, but in one month I've already chewed through around $60 worth of calls and I haven't used it much at all. Data chews through a heap as well which makes using a smart phone not a very smart idea. Consequently I am very wary of making calls.

The internet is not much better. It appear you have to pay to use an internet company and THEN you have to pay for usage separately. $40 was all I paid TPG in Sydney for 20 or so gigs. Here a 20 gig download limit will be roughly $60 to $80. However I have come across Xnet here and even though you still have to pay $60 a month to belong you only pay for how many gigs you use, which is unique. So if I use 20 gigs it will cost me roughly $20 but if I use just 3 gigs I only pay $3 for the month. Pretty fair I thought. I'm also using them for my phone calls through their voip system.

Power bills here are sent out monthly and for good reason. If they were sent out quarterly as they are in Sydney you would probably have a heart attack. I monthly here costs roughly the same as a quarterly bill in Sydney.

Parking is definitely cheaper here. In fact if you don't go into the city you don't really ever need to pay for parking. You don't have to pay for parking in any of the small shopping districts we've been to so far on the North Shore. i.e. Browns Bay, Mairangi Bay or even in Albany. And today I parked in a City of Auckland parking building near Karangahape Rd (bit like Kings Cross) and it cost me $4 for 2 hours. Sooo cheap! Of course once you get right into the center near Queen Street you can find more expensive parking but its also easy to avoid.

Childcare is a dream compared to Sydney. Where you have to put your child on a waiting before they're born and once you get them into a centre, which may not be your preference, then you have to sell your kidneys to afford for them to attend. The centre we had ours in cost more than private secondary school. No kidding!

Here there are centers everywhere and really good ones. Some of the more popular ones have waiting lists but there is plenty of others to choose from which are also very good. We have 2 kids in a new eco-friendly center close to us for a lot less than the price of just one child going to the center in Sydney. They also appear to be better centers with more alternative theories on how to bring up kids. We definitely prefer the centers here. And hows this? The other day I went to pick up my son and him and a bunch of other kids were all having fun around a tap that was running water continuously into the sandpit. I don't think wasting water like that would be though highly of in Sydney.

Due to the parallel importing rules here it is cheap to buy a decent car and cheap to register it so owning a car here is certainly better on the wallet. However, if you actually want to run it.....with petrol....then you get stung. Petrol is currently a $1.80 and it's about $1.30 in Sydney presently. Bit of a difference. Kiwi's may be the first back to horse and cart when petrol starts to sky rocket.