Aotearoa / New Zealand

Contact will match your donation to Women's Refuge: https://safenight.nz/products/gift-a-room

This recent RNZ podcast "The Detail" notes that half the people that work for Women's Refuge are volunteers. They are underfunded.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/the-detail/2025/the-hidden-epidemic-in-kiwi-homes-that-costs-the-country-billions

I enjoy taking walks and am pretty lucky that there a numerous parks nearby where I can take nice long stroll. All of them have trash bins at the parking lots which are convenient for poo bags, drink bottles, snack wrappers etc. The problem is that they are all full all the time because people use them to dump their personal garbage. I have even seen appliances and car seats and such sitting next to them. Of course the council empties them once a week but sure enough the next day they are full again.

Maybe I ought to be grateful because many people seem to just ignore the bins and throw their trash all over the park too.

I really wish they would put cameras or something to discourage this kind of thing.

/rant

A young girl was found in a suitcase in a bus luggage compartment this afternoon, and a woman has been charged with ill-treatment of a child.

Detective Inspector Simon Harrison said police were called at 12.50pm, after a passenger asked for access to the luggage compartment during a planned stop in Kaiwaka.

"The driver became concerned when he noticed the bag moving. When the driver opened the suitcase, they discovered the two-year-old girl." Harrison said the little girl was reported to be "very hot", but otherwise unharmed. She has been taken to hospital in a "minor" condition for an extensive medical assessment.

A 27-year-old woman was arrested and has been charged with ill-treatment/neglect of a child.

The quotes from the owner sound rather Sovereign Citizen to me, it seems we have a bit of that particular flavor of nuts here, unfortunately.

It sounds like a nightmare for the new owners.

Someone that I know mentioned that they haven't seen the 250g Peanut Block in the store for months now. They said it's nice to finally be free from their previous addiction to said blocks.

Anyone else notice these staples are missing from the shelves?

Hey y'all, with the increasingly fucked up direction our govt and the world is going in I'm interested in joining in and showing my support and solidarity with groups standing against it. Does anyone know where to start? I've been apolitical left leaning for so long I have no idea where to start. Any help appreciated. (Tried to post direct to !wellington but couldn't).

cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/post/1096892

For the past week I have been seeing a flock of Kākā at my property in South Waikato.

I didn't know what they were until I heard a couple flying over and calling their distinctive call early last week. That and their size caught my attention. Since then, I have seen them every day. Sometimes just a pair but more often a small flock. Difficult to count because they are so mobile, but I have counted 7 reliably and there may be as many as 10 or 15 in total. They seem to fly south in the morning and back north in the evening. They spend quite a bit of time in the trees at my place. I see them mostly in the morning and evening, but also at other times throughout the day. They particularly like the kauri and birch trees, and eating the walnuts that remain on the ground. Really beautiful birds!

They are so distinctive, it's hard to imagine they have been here all along and I have only just noticed them.

I understand they fly long distances. I wonder where they come from and go to.

Hi, apologies if this isn't allowed. I'm a US citizen looking to move to NZ. I have all the technical stuff taken care of, just waiting on my documents to be processed and approved.

Basically I am looking for groups I can reach out to to help me get build a social group, and hear what others think about different areas of the country. I am LGBTQ, so it seems like Auckland or Wellington will be my best bet. If I'm in a big city, I would prefer not to have a car.

I'm a nurse, and it looks like salaries are good but not great (between 70-90k/year is what I seem to be finding).

Is this reasonable? Is NZ easy to settle into? Any other expats that can offer advice? Am I going to be broke all the time (I also have a cat I am bringing unless I am physically unable to)?

I did some research prior to applying, but I find more and more opposing views on where the country is headed. I guess I am just looking for some folks that had a similar situation to see how it worked out for them. I had a fair bit of options in where I could go, but the culture in New Zealand just seemed like the best fit. Thanks for taking the time to read or reply.