Things not to like about NZ

I seem to spend a lot of time telling friends and family how awesome New Zealand is, so this blog post is meant to be a counterpoint, where I vent my spleen about a few of the things that are bad about living in NZ. Don't get me wrong though, the list of things that are good would be way too long for a post, and moving here was one of the better life decisions I've made.

Sandstone (most important) - a nice sandstone bouldering area would be nice. God I miss sandstone.

It's a long way from anywhere - this is the biggie for me, it's a pain to get anywhere, and especially anywhere interesting. Doing the long weekend in Europe or a few weeks in the Middle East or North Africa, etc. would be really nice.

Tea - we pretty much solved this one by bringing over 500 tea bags whenever we go to the UK, but still, what is the point of Kiwi tea, you can barely taste it, more like a cup of hot water that dreams of being tea when it grows up. I tried using two or three tea bags at once, but it's still not right.

Beer - proper beer, not lager (Kiwi lager is excellent, some of the best I've tasted). Why can't you get a proper ale or bitter in this country?

The climbing walls are all crap - why? I don't know, there are some largish ones, but still they don't seem to be able to get it together properly, surely it's not that hard?

Horrific child abuse - not funny this one. Not sure if its because there's no other crime to report, but torturing your children to death seems a little too common.

Stuff is expensive - I know it's a small market and all, but if I can international mail order stuff retail and pay the postage and tax and it's still 30% cheaper than in the shops, then something is wrong.

Muesli - yet to find a brand I like.

Slow and expensive internet - and not having free wireless everywhere like in a proper country.

Public transport - it doesn't go where you want it to go, and it doesn't go there very often. Airports seem to be particularly poorly served.

The pollen - I really suffer with the hayfever, especially in Christchurch.

Pumpkin - I like pumpkin as much as the next man (probably more in fact), but it would be nice to just once find a vegetarian dish in a restaurant that ddoesn't include pumpkin.

Ozone hole - it would be nice to be able to go out in the sun without feeling like you are being x-rayed.