Two Americans emigrate to New Zealand from Colorado,
USA.
We share our Kiwi immigration story and talk about
our new life in Nelson, New Zealand
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We've briefed you all on health care in this country and touched on the dental care. I thought, given with my recent visit for dental work to my local dude, that I'd update you and help fill in some blanks.
There is no public dental care in New Zealand. Any care you receive is paid for out of your own pocket. You can obtain add-on coverage through an existing medical insurance plan if you have one, but it is extremely expensive and, to us, not worth it at all. We looked at it carefully and thought it was pretty much at the level of a scam! But we haven't required major dental care either.
We both had dental coverage in the States, not great coverage, but then I never heard of any coverage for dental care that is great. We had annual deductibles and copays. Other than standard care such as xrays and cleanings, everything else was a pay service where the insurance would pay a percent and we'd pay the balance percent. I can't recall for sure, but Don seems to recall that it was an 80/20 percent split. We had a mandatory $50/pp/per year deductible.
I went through a spell a few years ago where I needed several fillings, and it was not cheap even with that coverage. Don and I spent hundreds out of pocket just paying our part. I went for cleanings twice yearly (that was covered) and Don went about yearly.
In New Zealand, dental care seems to be as high tech as it was in the States. I haven't noticed any difference in the level of quality or service. HOW they care for people is a bit different. When you make an appointment for a regular visit, it is to see the dentist. S/he looks at your teeth, takes xrays, and determines what other care you might need. You don't make an appointment with a hygenist and then hope the dentist can pop in to poke around in your mouth. For a 20-minute check with xrays and a check of my gums, I pay NZ$95.
Until last week, that was all the care both Don and I needed. It occurred to me to ask my dentist on my recent visit, my second in the 2 yeard I've been here, why he didn't tell me to go for any cleanings. I haven't had a cleaning since the one I had at my last dentist in Colorado! I reminded him of this and he didn't say anything, stuck his fingers and a few instruments in my mouth, and said, "hmmm." Then he told me that he wouldn't recommend it because it looks like I'm doing a pretty good job all on my own: no plaque, just a spot of tartar that he scraped, no big deal. Wow, that's pretty cool, no mandatory cleaning whether you need it or not! Don was advised during his last visit--also his second in 2 years--that he should see the hygenist, some people naturally see more plaque build up. But he managed to skate by for 2 years .... and a visit to the hygenist costs $100.
Even though I didn't need a cleaning, I did have a filling that was showing decay beneath it so I had to have the filling drilled out so it could be re-done after removing the remaining decay underneath (presumably my old Colorado dentist missed something!). The filling was done on one of my front-ish teeth and it was a white filling. I asked him for a replacement white filling and he said, "of course." As if that's all they do here or something! I dunno, but I always had to pay extra for the white before. Here, I didn't. One filling and about 30 mins in the chair with the best novacaine I've ever had (numbed me up fast and good without needing a second shot) for $180. Not too bad ... I'll repeat that my fillings in the States cost me hundreds out of pocket JUST FOR MY 20 PERCENT part of the insurance coverage.
Conclusion? Costs here are more in line with reality on dental care as they are with medical care. Nobody is overcharging in a crazy, insurance driven business oriented model. It's just dental care. Now I admit I've been only these few times, but I think most people only see the dentist for these few services. I also noted that I wasn't forced to fill out one of those cards that are sent as reminders to me to make an appointment in six months. In fact, as I said, the dentist himself recommended AGAINST my seeing a hygenist -- I didn't NEED it!! I found this fascinating, as I'd always been told in America that I needed to see the hygenist, but now of course I think it was all a scam to make me pay money and be on the dental money making machine year after year. After all, somebody had to make money. I continue to be grateful to having my eyes opened to the differences of living in a foreign country!
Well, I hinted a few blogs ago to the fact that we're moving. It's the life of a renter, and we've committed to that and understand what is involved. We had hoped, however, to stay put in our current house for at least 2 or 3 years. We were led to believe that would be the case, but about two months ago we tried to negotiate with our owners for a 2 year extension on our 1 year lease. They came back (through our property manager) and said they'd be willing to extend us only through November this year.
Hmmm... that means one of two things. Either they want to come back for the summer and use the house or they want to sell it. Either way, we would be moving. Friends told us that the better time of year to find a good rental is winter versus summer, so we planned to start looking to find a new place after Joe and Deanna's visit ended in early June.
First off, we've done a pretty good job to not accumulate very much. Whenever we feel the urge to buy a new toy or new appliance, it always enters our minds now that we'll have to move it around Nelson, so we ask ourselves if we really need it. Anything we've bought that we no longer need, we sell because there's a good second-hand mentality here. For example, we had to purchase a medium sized refrigerator for this house as the existing one is super small. We've been splitting our food between the two. But in the new house, we won't need our own fridge, so we've listed our current one for sale -- we've gotten our use and now we'll recycle it. And we're absolutely fine with this philosophy. No more "well, what if we need it down the road ... let's keep it just in case."
Next, we considered downsizing a bit because we thought we couldn't find another house with such a great view. So we were looking in the flats of Nelson or Stoke and we were a bit glum about the thought we'd have to give up our amazing views. But reality is what it is, right? We decided to look at it as an opportunity to live somewhere different, another neighbourhood we could try out. Some neighbourhoods were ruled out strictly on cycling criteria!!
About the time Joe and Deanna were scheduled to arrive, at Council we found out our deputy CEO (my boss' boss) took a job as the CEO at another council. I didn't give it another thought until my boss learned that I was looking for a house. She said, "You should rent Pat's house." Hmmm. I sent Pat an email later that day asking what his plans were. THE FUNNIEST PART is that he went first to my boss to check up on me, and to ask if I had children!! LOL, my boss told him, "No, she can't stand them!" PERFECT, it was fate from that moment.
Two days later we were walking through the house and looking around in amazement at how awesome it is. An owner we know and can trust, no property manager, nice people and the house itself is on a hill higher than ours now with a stellar view and more room. For heating now we are entirely plug-in appliances (oil columns) throughout the house. The new house has a gas fireplace, 2 heat pumps, and heated floors! Plus it's all on one level and only partly carpeted -- the list of plusses go on and on and on, but end with IT'S CHEAPER. OMG, how did we get so lucky. I dunno. Oh wait, there's MORE ... Pat's contract is for 5 years and can be renewed after that, so it's truly long term!! Except if he gets fired, so I told him NOT to get fired.
So, don't feel badly that we have to move, we are fine with it! We've got the moving down to a science. Don and I moved the entire household ourselves, furniture and heavy stuff included, last time, but this time friends are helping out, PHEW!
Pictures will be forthcoming once we're in!
Thanks in advance for your patience while we move and that we'll be slowing the blog down from mid-July to mid-August. In the spirit of full disclosure, the Tour de France starts (for us) this Sunday and will take us through the next 3 weeks too, so what can I say. It's not only the move that will keep us occupied.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For part 2 of this 2 part series I thought I would cover a few of the things we are doing to save the planet for future generations. First, as most of you already know, we aren’t having children. I thought this would be a good way to help save some natural resources as well as reduce carbon emissions. After some convincing, Angela agreed that this would be a good idea as well. The population growth is one of the leading indirect causes of climate change.
Angela's interest in all things environmental, after she got off the baby kick she was on for ages, has really grown since we moved here. She says it is because everyone else seems to be much more concerned about it. Before she got here she didn’t even know about composting and almost everyone here composts in one form or another. Personally I think she likes the convenience a bit more here – no more taking everything to the Broomfield recycling centre a couple times/ month and waiting in the car while I unloaded everything. I actually like the convenience as well.
We started with the recycling straight away when we got here but more recently have started doing even more. Once I discovered plastics 3-7 could be recycled in Richmond we started to take them whenever we are out that way.
Then the council started recycling food scraps (i.e. fruit skins, coffee grinds, onion peels, etc) in house and this made it easy for us to recycle these as well. Angela and I had considered starting a worm farm or using a Bokashi bin (see previous blog) but neither were really feasible since we don't have any place to take the end product (and worms farms are a bit limiting). With collection bins now available at work, I take an old peanut butter jar full of scraps in each day. Sometimes after a weekend where Angela’s cooked up a storm, I have to take several.
We also focus on buying products that come in containers that can be recycled or buy in bulk that doesn’t require several layers of worthless packaging. We also buy a lot of local product at the weekly market. The benefit here is threefold: we help support the local economy, we minimize the environmental impacts of transporting the goods, and these goods don’t require the needless layers of packaging. Extra benefit is that these products are better than store bought and they don’t come from China, not yet anyway. 
Due to all these changes we now only put our small rubbish bag (about the size of a 15 gallon trash bag) out for collection every 2 weeks. I did get rid of our wheelie bin but don’t like the idea that the bags we have to use for trash aren’t biodegradable.
Beyond this we even consider the environmental impact before buying anything new. We ask ourselves if we want this to end up in a landfill eventually, if we’ll really get the value out of it, and do we want to move it (with us being renters and all) … in other words, is it really necessary?
A good example is when Angela was walking overnight in a fundraiser walk (she blogged on this), part of the fun of the event was to decorate the team tent. But Angela decided to leave this to others because it would just mean going to the $2 shop (errr China store) and buying a bunch of crap that would be used one night and end up in a landfill. I know it’s a bit of a buzz kill but there wouldn’t be anything wrong with attempting to do it in an environmentally friendly way. [Angela: I didn't buzz kill the others who wanted to participate, I just didn't do it myself and add to the pile of trash!]
Of course I’m still a bit weary of buying second hand since I can’t fix a damn thing but we have bought several pieces of pre-loved furniture. We still have several dressers and a few of the things we bought when we first got here we’ve already sold. I’m also more than happy to sell on the second hand market. As I stated in part 1 the used goods market is huge here so you can sell just about anything. Angela has been selling some of the clothing she doesn’t wear anymore and we still donate a lot of old clothing to Hospice.
Good example of how every bit makes a difference: When I had beers with the team after work, I collected the bottles and had been taking them home to recycle (took a bit of shit about this). Once they started the recycling campaign at work, including glass, I was able to simply cart them upstairs. Funny thing - the other night I couldn’t attend the Friday beer session but lo and behold I discovered someone on the team had followed my lead and recycled them on Monday morning (rather than what they used to do, trash them).
So why go through all the trouble of saving the planet? I know the sun is going to run out of fuel in 5 billion years and earth will cease to exist but I just want it to survive to that point. I really haven’t thought about it that deeply but I feel it is everyone’s responsibility to do what they can to give a little back to the planet that gives them all life. Plus it just makes me feel good.
Don and I always figured that we'd have to get our music and cultural access in one of the big 3 cities: Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch, since we live in a city of 50,000. We've been to the opera several times in Wellington now, and I'm on a list to be updated on concert tours that come to New Zealand, most of which only visit Auckland. You can imagine we don't get many big names this far down under, although it has increased somewhat with the new Vector Arena in Auckland. More often than not, radio stations have giveaway prizes sending the winners to Australia or the States to see big acts.
We've yet to make such a trip to visit Auckland for a concert, although the occasional 80s band has come through and I've tugged on Don's sleeve to see if he would venture northward: Duran Duran, Def Leppard, to name just a few aging rockers. I ferociously nixed his mention of seeing Poison in Wellington. WHAAA?? Just for kicks, not EVEN.
But for the first time in our two years here, a band I really like -- a Kiwi band -- came to NELSON, little old Nelson where the Council and the residents battle over the need for a performing arts centre because there really is no venue for ... performing artists. But the historic Nelson School of Music hosted Opshop for their New Zealand tour (which goes for about a month). I purchased the recent Opshop release, Second Hand Planet, about a year ago, my only Kiwi band purchase so far (Don has Goodnight Nurse, a good band too). The CD is really really good and I was excited to see them come here. They are playing many smaller locations in the country, so that's very cool.
My friend Kate and I went on 28 June and had a blast, they didn't toy around and make us wait until 11pm to start. There was a decent opening gig, Luke Thompson, with whom Kate fell in lust. She bought his CD and he signed it for her.
Then Opshop came on shortly after around 9pm or so, and the School of Music can sit maybe 400 people. See them to the left on stage? Sorry about the camera phone quality. Their setup was kinda funny, because it's all very makeshift in these small venues and if you've seen a big concert, this was really kinda cute and small. Just adorable! But nonetheless, the guys played awesome. We had seats in the second row and the stage was probably 6 feet away, and the boys were right up front nice and close, so we had great views and I could even smell performer sweat!!
After the concert, Kate went and bought their CD too so that the boys could sign it -- I purchased digitally and so had nothing for them to sign other than my exposed left breast that I popped out and placed in front of pen-in-hand, being sure to do my best groupie imitation (NOT!!!!!!!).
I highly recommend you check out Opshop and listen to a few of their tunes, of course you can even download some too. They are on American iTunes. The first release off the Second Hand Planet album was Maybe and that hooked me. Very contemporary. But their second was slower, One Day. They've also released Big Energy in Little Spaces and Waiting Now, I think. They recently played in London!
You may recall that long ago now, Don and I insisted you visit up with Flight of the Conchords and listen to some of their stuff. They are a kiwi folk duo who now are bazillionaires because of their HBO show and CDs. They've made it to the big time, and you heard it here first, didn't you! I outed them to you all before they were a hit. So when I tell you something, you should listen!
Visit Opshop's MySpace page and listen to some of their tunes. One of their songs that I love is NO ORDINARY THING but it is not on this CD because it is part of the kiwi show Outrageous Fortune's soundtrack (a GREAT show).
Visit Luke Thompson's MySpace page.
Oh, and the new Coldplay is AWESOME. I'd personally welcome any good alternative or rock recommendations in the States, we just don't get everything over here.
While we are in the process of packing the house up to move to another rental, I'll keep on the topic I've had up on the blog many times now because, especially in this economy, renting is more affordable than buying a home. Don and I go farther, however, as we feel that buying a house via a mortgage is generally a poor investment for average people, and we've decided against any mortgage any time soon!
Here's another excerpt from an article in today's New Zealand Herald.
Buying house 'more than twice as dear as renting'
Buying a house is now almost two and a half times as expensive as renting, according to figures to be presented at a seminar today.
Property Investors Federation vice-president Andrew King says a 25-year mortgage for 90 per cent of the cost of the country's median-priced house, worth $345,000 last month, would currently cost a new home-buyer $745 a week, including rates (like property taxes), maintenance, insurance and an allowance for other costs. [Angela here: this doesn't factor in that most Kiwis are DIYers and spend lots of money on home projects.]
By contrast, the national median rent last month was only $305 a week.
"Right now the gap is enormous, but it's always been there because New Zealanders prefer to own their own property rather than rent, so they are always willing to pay a premium rather than renting," he said yesterday.
"At the moment a first-home buyer could save more than $20,000 a year and rent for, say, three to five years, then they'll have $60,000 to $100,000 extra to put towards a deposit. "They can probably also take advantage of KiwiSaver, so there is a real incentive at the moment to rent."
Like many pundits, Mr King predicts that average rents will rise as people realise that they are better off renting. But a Crockers Real Estate analysis of tenancy bonds lodged with the Department of Building and Housing suggests that rents are rising only slightly, particularly in Auckland where they were already well above the national average.
The average rent for a three-bedroom house in Auckland rose by 3.8 per cent from $420 a week in July last year to $436 last month, roughly in line with the general inflation rate of 4 per cent. Nationally, the three-bedroom average rose slightly faster, from $320 to $340, or 6.25 per cent. The average jumped by 8.3 per cent in Wellington, but actually fell by 6.7 per cent in Christchurch.
It’s nearing the end of the Tour de France and it has been a fantastic race so far. Stage 15 was one of the best finales in years. The course is one of the best in years and with a level playing field (for the most part) this has been a great race. It’s unreal that at the 2nd rest day we had 6 people within 1 minute of the lead. Currently we have 4 within one and a half minutes. Suffice to say, I’m loving it.
Yes, there have been a few scars over the last couple weeks – 3 riders have tested positive for drugs and one team (Saunier Duval) has left because of this. Most have taken this as a good sign that the testing is working.
Of course we always question the “outstanding/ unbelievable” performance. Stefan Schumacher’s time trial win was a bit amazing in my eyes. He beat the world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara by 33 seconds over the 29.5kms and this from a guy who rarely shows his face in the front of time trials in major events. Maybe he had a great day – it can happen but it isn’t good for sport when people start to question good performances. I'm still curious about him considering his performances the last 2 days as well - riding in the breakaway both days. There really hasn't been a focus on him by the media or the organisers so maybe it is all him.
Another example is Ricco’s performance in Stage 9 to Bagnères de Bigorre. Unreal. He took off sprinting up the mountain and not a single rider had an answer. He has done this sort of thing in other races in the past and the Tour had targeted him as a questionable rider – they tested him every day of the race. Guess they were right on as they eventually caught him.
Now I’m not a Ricco fan but I might have bought that performance if he didn’t look so good in the days that followed. A rider can have a great day but in a stage race like the Tour but the rider pays for it in the following stages. Ricco looked fine in the few stages after his big win, right up until he got caught.
I’m more naïve than most and really want to believe the outstanding performances are just that and not due to other factors beyond hard training.
There has been an evolution in the approach to this problem and most teams are becoming much more proactive. Teams like Garmin-Chipotle, Team Columbia, and CSC are leading the battle with independent testing of their riders and the use of biological passports. Let’s just forget that CSC’s director Bjarne Riis admitted to using drugs to get his 1996 win (mostly everyone was on the juice then). Of course David Millar of Garmin is also reformed and is now one of the most vocal riders against drug use. Check out David’s recent blog on the subject: http://www.slipstreamsports.com/2008/07/17/there-are-also-heros-and-they-need-you-to-believe
Cycling does get a bit of a bad rap. This is one of the toughest sports in the world; we’re not talking standing around all day waiting for a fly ball. Historically some of the peloton has looked to take the easy way out and use drugs as a replacement for hard training. As performance enhancing drugs evolve we can only hope the testing follows suit. I want to know who the best rider in the peloton is, not who has the best doctor.
I think if athletes in every sport were tested as much as cyclist, you’d see a much wider use in other areas. Because other sports don’t have frequent testing, it just offers the opportunity for the users to get away with it. You really have to question the results of many sports over the years where drug testing wasn’t actively pursued – i.e. Olympic Games until recent times. Basically, unless there is an ongoing testing process in place you just never know.
I guess I could go on and on about it but for now I hold out hope that cycling is headed in the right direction and I’ll get ready for a great finale. Go Vande Velde!
You may be thinking I've gone on and on about this, but it's news every night here as the housing bubble bursts and the economy starts to go south following on the rest of the world. Yesterday's Nelson Mail took a micro look at the problem in Nelson, usually in the top 3 of all New Zealand cities for house prices and a city of about 50k.Try to keep in mind that Nelson is the largest city, with suburb Stoke about 7km out of the central city and Richmond about 15km from the central city. It's all really close together, but considered separately more as neighbourhoods in this article.
Renting preferred to buying (cut for brevity)
By Tracy Neal | Monday, 28 July 2008
The cost of renting a home in the Nelson region is on the rise, but it is still cheaper to rent than to buy, property investment specialists say.
A three-bedroom home in Nelson now costs, on average, $35 more a week to rent than it did a year ago. The rent for the same-sized house in Richmond is $48 more, but has not changed in Golden Bay, according to the latest figures from Auckland firm Crockers Market Research. It said the increase in rental costs was in line with what was happening in all the main centres except Christchurch, where rents have dropped.
Property Investors Federation vice-president Andrew King says it is still cheaper, on average, to rent than to own a home, with the national median rent in New Zealand now $305 a week. He based his comments on the additional costs of home ownership, including rates and insurance. Nelson Property Investors Association spokesman Glenn Morris agreed that it was cheaper to rent than to own, by about "half the cost", even though rents were increasing.
Anna and Roger Wilde, who have been renting in Nelson for four years, said that based on professional investment advice, it was currently the best option for them. "We were encouraged not to buy - we were about to a couple of months ago, but are really glad we didn't," Mrs Wilde said. The couple expect the real estate market to decline further and are prepared to wait.
Based on a current 12-month fixed interest rate of 9.4 percent, if a house costs $350,000 to buy using a loan of $250,000, repayments over 20 years would range from $1000 to $1381 [US$750 to $1250] a fortnight [every 2 weeks], depending on the level of loan principal.
Nelson financial planner and investment adviser Bill Dahlberg said that emotionally, home ownership was great, but based on a 20-year history, the return on home ownership was only 4.5 to 5.5 percent. Often, owners made real money out of a home only if they did the landscaping and maintenance themselves. Mr Morris said whether people preferred to rent was a tricky, emotive issue, but he now had several tenants who had sold their homes because they preferred to rent.
Homefind Nelson managing director Irene Steele said she had noticed that rents had steadily gone up, mainly due to property owners trying to recover costs on high mortgage interest rates. However, the lack of demand from tenants was harder to fathom. "It's very, very quiet - the quietest in 18 years, and we're not getting the same inquiries from overseas," Ms Steele said.
Mr Morris said high interest rates continued to drive the rental trend, and he did not think the recent announcement of a drop in interest rates would have much impact on the market. "The two markets (rental and home ownership) are interlinked, but right now there are a number of landlords desperate to balance the books, and doing everything they can to get maximum rent. "I have lost tenants because property owners have put up rents too high." Mr Morris said his phone was still ringing, and he was still letting properties.
"Nearly 2.8 million U.S. households will either face foreclosure, turn over their homes to their lenders or sell their houses for less than the mortgage's value by the end of next year, according to Moody's Economy.com." Boulder Camera, July 30,2008
~ Joe and Deanna
