Bo-Jangles

Assuming you want at least four bedrooms in a reasonably nice area you'll need to go to the top end of that range: at least >$680 - $700+ depending on location.

Auckland properties for rent on Trade Me Property

bassking

Worth factoring in take home pay and living expenses NZ Vs Aus. Pretty sure income tax rates are higher in Aus

inkedneonurse

Dunno bout Oz
But here's a good site to look at lifestyle and take home pay factors in tax and kiwisaver

http://www.paye.net.nz

leandra21

Hi,may I ask what does your husband do to have such choice of location and salary? I am curious because my husband (kiwi,operations manager for a big retailer) applied for plenty of jobs both in Auckland and Australia for a year without luck. We are looking to try again in a couple of years time once he will be fully qualified as a Project Manager .

carcajou

Slightly. In OP's partner's potential tax bracket it is 37% in Aus vs 33% in NZ, however, Australia has a tax-free threshold of $18,200 which NZ doesn't. Comparing the two offers, I came up with $119,900 AUD take-home for OP's partner after tax in Melbourne, vs $93,800 NZD take-home after tax for the Auckland job (which has been offered at a lower salary). So OP is looking at roughly an extra $30,000 AUD per annum in Melbourne, after-tax, compared to Auckland, or about $2,500 AUD extra per month (not $2,000 as I guestimated earlier).

Financially, the two offers are not comparable.

OP, are the Melbourne and Auckland offers from the same company? Regardless, if you really want Auckland, make them significantly raise their offer.

As for Bay of Plenty, most of the people I know who have lived there, have really enjoyed it. What is the offer there? If it is similar to the Auckland offer, you are going to be facing the same disadvantage.

Good luck. I think you are going about your decision the right way.

Scottishedo

It's such a hard decision!

They are different companies, my husbands has been in touch with the nz companies today to ask if they would consider upping their offer so will see what happens there.

Same salary in bay of plenty, it does look lovely there!

I feel scared to make a decion!!

bearskin

Bay of Plenty vs Auckland is a game-changer I'd say. BoP is much more what you'd expect of a NZ lifestyle. Auckland is becoming a bit of a struggle for most people.

However, overall.. I'd take the Melbourne offer. One of the best cities I've visited, and the extra money will make a lot of difference.

sr71

We moved to Melbourne 8 years ago, have just relocated to Auckland at the beginning of the year. So hopefully have a good handle on both.

Depends where you live and more importantly your kids activities. We live in Epsom and can walk to all schools - primary, middle and secondary. Walking distance to shops, train station and buses too. But our eldest plays football and needs to be at practice 2-3 nights a week - just not possible without a car. But you can get reasonable cars for $5k - maybe a Honda Edix or Honda Stream/Toyota Wish - all 6/7 seaters.

The best commutable areas are the ones closest to the city, they also have the advantage of some of the best schools. Mt Eden, Epsom, Remuera, Newmarket, Parnell, Ponsonby etc. (literally walkable to the CBD). But need to check the school zones of any house you look at. Next would be suburbs like Greenlane, One Tree Hill, Royal Oak, Meadowbank, St Johns, Ellerslie - still all very commutable as they are only 10-20 mins from the city. There are very good schools way out east (Macleans) or on the North Shore, but the commutes are worse. The North Shore would give good access to beaches. Depends how far to beaches your daughter wants.

Melbourne has better public transport ,but it's a nightmare to drive around - as bad as London. Aucklanders complain about traffic but it's nothing compared to Sydney/Melbourne. And even the better public transport there doesn't negate the need for second cars if the kids have activities that need them ferrying around to.

Melbourne - state schools are a lot worse than NZ, if you want good education for your kids you will need to go private or move into very expensive zones (rent same or more as the top suburbs in Auckland) But even the top schools in Melbourne have poor facilities from what I've seen. (MacKinnon college for example has a single dry and dusty field) Many Auckland public schools are nicer than Melbourne's private schools.

Yes, you won't be buying new BMW's or holidaying in the US every year, but it's a very comfortable salary, as always push for more. Rent will by far be the biggest chunk, you should get $8500 after tax, $3000 for rent would leave you with $5500 a month to live on. Internet is about $70 a month, Electricity/Gas about $250 a month. Internet far better than Australia and utilities cheaper.

Yes, I can't recommend the schools here enough. My kids have blossomed. As above, I think the education system is poor in Australia. In NZ the schools are very nice, very family focused. Large range of extracurricular activities also encouraged and provided by many schools. The primary school we were at in Melbourne had no playing fields, no music or drama programs yet was ranked very high. Really quite a shock when we moved to Auckland to see how good the schools are.


Not sure, our youngest was 6 when we moved so straight to school, but would be very surprised if there aren't any.

I think Auckland is wet, but the weather is definitely nicer than most of the UK, and definitely Scotland. It's an island climate so gets rain, but not really any extremes. I don't think it's cold at all really. 15 degrees in winter is the average, 25 in summer.

I also didn't mind Melbourne's climate, apart from summers which I found hot, uncomfortably so on some days. Dry, dusty and with hot winds with 42 degrees for 2-3 days are just awful. Also nobody mentions the flies, just terrible, one of the worst things about Melbourne, they stick to your face, constantly wafting them away. Cannot enjoy the outdoors like that.

Definitely more expensive than the UK, but I think similar to Australia. Need to look out for the specials and take advantage of those, even stocking up on goods to save money. We spend maybe $200 per week on a family of 4 but that is without any budgeting or planning whatsoever.

The problem is generally the only expat stories you read will tend towards being negative. The majority of people are happy and getting on with their lives and don't tell their story. Every expat I've met in NZ loves it and would never go back. There are pros and cons of each country and if you understand that and get the balance right for your family then that makes it easy.

On balance my view is that for a young family NZ is fantastic, much better than Melbourne. It is also much more British in culture and sense of humour. Also a more open and less conservative society.

Where Melbourne excels is in it's entertainment - it has good bars, great festivals, plenty of sports events (F1/Australian Open). Awesome Italian and Greek food, good markets. Also good shopping.

But everything else Auckland takes the win.

-Outdoor activities and thing to do
-Beaches
-Natural Beauty
-Ease of getting away for weekends
-No snakes or spiders - kids can enjoy the outdoors
-Better supermarkets (more selection and better produce)
-TV and Internet (Australian TV is dire, Internet badly managed and congested
-Better wines
-More positive outlook on life

What they do have in common is that both have sustained unsustainable population growth (immigration) and governments have failed to manage that or keep infrastructure up to date (same as the UK I guess)

carcajou

OP - It is a challenging decision in the best of times. It is normal to wrestle with it and go to-and-fro, particularly if on a short timeline as I imagine is the case with having to accept one of the offers.

Do keep the forum updated on which way you decide.

Scottishedo

This is fantastic thank you so much for your reply - it's very much appreciated.

Scottishedo

I can't tell you how many times I have said my mind is definitely made up it's nz/aus over the last week only to change it again! So hard!!

I will keep you all updated on what we decide, thanks again to everyone for their help and input.

Scottishedo

Once we make a decision the next massive hurdle is telling our families! Some will be supportive and some I know will call us selfish - dreading it if I'm honest!!!

Timmy Chch

Melbourne massively > Auckland in my opinion but I'd go BoP out of the 3 all things considered, good luck

Scottishedo

Well, New Zealand is our choice the offer had been changed to make it with all things considered the better option!

My husbands job is based in north Auckland, we need to decide where we want to live, baring in mind we have two school aged children so there needs to be decent schools, which commutable areas would you recommend?? Our budget is around $650-700 per week

Thanks in advance for any information

carcajou

That is excellent news, Scottishedo! I am pleased that the process worked out and you got what seemed to be your first preference all along.

Best of luck.