scottishstacey

Hey chch guys hows it going??

Got a bit of a shock this morning, woke up and had a email from the company i had thought went AWOL. It was a email with the job details and contract for us to have a look at.

Wasnt expecting it, just assumed they werent interested so got it in my head that we werent moving and gave up on the research. Heads a bit muddled now (as usual!) need a cup of tea. Cant even ring Dave to tell him cos stupid Orange signal is down!

The starting wage is $24 and the minimum amount of hours paid each week is 35 so i assume this is what another member mentioned to me about weather etc. So similar to daves work at the moment, if they are rained or snowed off then they get paid a certain amount of hours as long as they have actually turned up for work.

Need to have a good think about it all and then make a decision about wether to go for it

NZGrl

Sounds exciting.... Keep us posted. My husband flies down on the 1st of may for a talk to a guy who is the gm of a company down there. Awesome deals on flights with jet star at the moment from Auckland!

scottishstacey

Will do. Need to wait till hes back home next weekend untill he can have a proper look at everything. Our gut instinct tells us to give it a go but still going to have a long think and a chat when he comes back.

Ooh exciting are yous going over for a holiday or is he just going to come back after the interview? best of luck!

Jan n Neil

rental problems in ChCh

scottishstacey

Do you think it will improve anytime soon? I know thats maybe a silly question. We are happy to live outside the city if we move but theres no way im moving if i have no chance of a half decent house/flat. I think we would consider a house share for a while but maybe they are in shortage too, im still looking into that.

Jan n Neil

Frankly no. The situation is still really settling down after insurance companies and the EQC makes up its mind - then change it again. The bottom line is that there are probably close on more people in ChCh than houses right now, and new houses/subdivisions take a while to build.

If you extend your search for accomodation to about 30-50km out (not a huge distance) you would have more success I think. ChCh people don't like commuting


Jan

scottishstacey

we dont mind a commute although i dont drive at the moment, still doing my lessons so unless i was driving in with dave then id need public transport. Wish id continued with my driving lessons when i started years ago instead of giving up! grrr. I noticed in a thread theres public transport from a few of the outside places, im still very new with all the suburbs and outside towns! im on trademe at the moment having a look

Jan n Neil

You really really really need to drive to live on the South Island. There are a few buses between townships, and no transport whatsoever outside these.

Jan

shirl

Why don't you try one of those intensive week long courses to pass your driving test before you get here. Life will be pretty miserable here if you don't drive as not very good public transport in the south island.

scottishstacey

yeah definitely. i keep meaning to start my lessons again and i did loads of them when i was 18 but gave them up cos i moved down to dumfries to college. Wish i hadnt now! Its a nightmare here not being able to drive even with half decent transport so i can imagine it would be a lot worse over there unless living right in the city (which obviously the rental shortage stops!) So need to pass it asap!

Stormer999

Stacey,
Housing is the biggest issue you will need to book time to hunt down every property going, two weeks free time will let you get the feel of where to concentrate your searches. Having said that there are only two of us and we managed to rent a bungalow within the first week of arrival....no pets no kids and responsible helps. Don't worry too much about the driving around Chch the roads are plenty wide even the city rush hour is pleasant to drive in again wide lanes and no road rage, ideal to take your lessons and test in. Roads dry very quickly here so the locals are not used to driving on wet tarmac and do not allow for changed stopping distances. We have been here 3 weeks now and are beginning to get a feel for the city and it is nice, despite what it has suffered.

Theade

Hello!

Just signed-up to the forum. I'm arriving in ChCh from Blighty in two weeks. Been there three times pre-quake, loved it, now kinda worried what I'm gonna find...

The rent problem sounds rubbish. Im fixed for the first three months, but will need something permanent after that. Realestate.co.nz looks like there's tons of stuff. Guess it all gets snapped up?

Anyway, bit more pressing for me, are there any decent pubs near town that show time-shifted live footie? And if so, anyone up for Liverpool v Chelsea on May 5th? I'm going to need some normality to transition me in, beer and footie should do it...

Bit further out, anyone head up to the hills for ski/boarding at the weekend once the seasons starts? That's half the reason I'm coming...

Theade

scottishstacey

The space sounds good, it's really the speed that i drive at though lol theres old grannys that drive faster than me! I'll soon incite road rage lol

Im glad your liking it, was there anything in particular you did that you would say helped you secure a rental? bigger deposit etc.

No kids for us either and we wouldnt be taking our furbaby, not at the moment anyway. We may consider bringing her at a later date, we're still not sure if she would cope plus it would make the rental situation a 100times worse I would imagine.

scottishstacey

Hey theade,

welcome to the forum. Chippy, stormer, jan and neil and dusty are the Chch experts on here so they should be able to answer all your questions.

I know what you mean, there seems to be a fair amount of them on trademe but i still dont know which areas are good and maybe most of them are taken but still advertised at the moment

shirl

No kids for us either and we wouldnt be taking our furbaby, not at the moment anyway. We may consider bringing her at a later date, we're still not sure if she would cope plus it would make the rental situation a 100times worse I would imagine.

You are right about that, our daughter and family had to rent a horrid place cause they have a dog, the house has shaky piles and rattles around in aftershocks. That house is now up for sale by the landlords and they are going to have to make a real quick choice as to whether to buy here or move to another country cause every rental they go after says NO DOGS NO EXCEPTIONS well the nice stable homes anyway. That is if the landlord gets a buyer, surely no one in their right mind will buy it unless they plan to knock it down and start again but there are some weird people out there who buy crappy homes!