marbles

Hi,
Just a quick post.....what is christchurch like to live in? I've lived in NZ before and we are looking to move back at christmas but are struggling to decide where best to head for. We lived in Wanganui for 5 years but felt it was too quiet and so worry about going back there and feeling the same although my mum does live there so we would have family support and its quite cheap to rent and buy...or do we head for somewhere new like Tauranga or Christchurch? Christchurch has come up as my old headteacher (for whom i worked with for 5 years) now is head at Burnside high school so he might give me a job and without a job we can't move. We have everything else in place just waiting on a job. So what is christchurch like? Is it really expensive, what areas are good or bad around Burnside? I'd love to hear from anyone who lives there so that i can come to some sort of decision
Helen

nelsonpom

No

Jan n Neil

I will try and be more informative than Mr Pom,
We live on the outskirts so it is really quiet but when we do go into town i wouldnt say that was busy either dont get me wrong there is things to do but it dosn,t seem to take long to do them all
On the plus side i can do the 39 K into work in half hour there is no real traffic here. Houses are still cheap here compared to the UK $400,000 gets a nice 4 bed in a good area but as everywhere u can go lower or higher

Neil

Jan n Neil

If your friend is head of Burnside he has some serious clout in a town that is networked to the hilt. Go for it

We saw that Christchurch was described as a "boutique" city recently, I would agree. Nuggets of excellence exist, if you look closely.

Jan

Yotty

NP ... far too an elaborate answer in my view !. I lived in CHC for about a year. I lived in Heath St in Burnside for a while. Beware of cold social housing! I ended up in a much more modern house in Halswell. I really enjoyed my year in CHC. People are friendly and "what you see is what you get". I never ran out of ideas of where to go or what to see. Shopping was a wee bit limited compared with many major population centres in the UK, but I survived! Burnside is an excellent school by all accounts. Having a job to go to already is a massive plus! If you live the outdoors there's a lot to do there, sailing canoeing swimming cycling paragliding etc. Some excellent walking and scenic stuff etc etc. If I had a reasonable job to go to I'd probably be back there tomorrow .. but my chances of employment ended with the world recession ..

shirl

Christchurch is fine just be careful what you buy and where. My granddaughter goes to Burnside High and gets of famously with the Dean as he gets her sense of humour as he is English!! My grand-daughter lives out of the zone but got in anyway, they are however considering a move nearer to the school but there is not much affordable stuff that is decent near by at the moment. They did consider the new Gainsborough Estate in West Melton as that is only 20 mins by car to Burnside but it is quite a new estate and not well established yet though there are lots of sections for sale.

nelsonpom

I'm just teasing, we recently had a very nice couple of days in Christchurch. Wife went to the ballet and I watched England (winning !) went shopping and generally had a good time. I still wouldn't live there but I can see plenty of reasons why people would. Good luck in whatever you choose to do

saoghalbeag

Is this true in all industries?? I just got a very depressing email informing me that I haven't even made it to interview for entry level positions in my field where I have experience and extra quals - and there were about 8 positions too so feeling rather sick in the stomache at the moment as didn't expect to 'walk into a job' when I got here but really thought I had half a chance - but to get cut out before they even interview!!!!!

Even more depressing I've visited the place of business regularly (customer service related) and the current staff leave a lot to be desired...>sigh<

Jan n Neil

All industy that i have seen in ChCh if you dont know somebody u are bolloxed, i,m the same as you my CV should get me at least to interview but there has been jobs that could have been written for me but not even a sniff

Luckily we "knew" somebody where i am now

Neil

marbles

Thanks everyone for your views, its a massive decision as to what to do for the best of my family. I think because our heart is not into christchurch at the moment we might have to make it a last resort place, i've got till the end of october to resign over here so there is still about 10 weeks to go so it not panick stations yet but we would hate to miss that date and have to wait till july 2011!!! Today i've seen a job in Te Puke near Tauranga that is to start in november but i'm going to apply anyway and see if they would be interested in me enough to wait for me till january, if i don't try i will never know.

Lynne sinclair

We move to CHCH in October...cant wait, weve spent a lot of time there over the years as thats my husbands home town and where his family live, although weve lived in Scotland for the past 11 yrs (my home). We decided to bite the bullet and move back permanently before our daughters get any older (8&11yrs), theyve been accepted into Westburn school and we plan to buy in the Burnside zone as were advised its one of the best state schools! So I'd keep in touch with the Head if I were you...good contact!!!

saoghalbeag

oh bother!!! I "know" someone at Burnside too but only through mutual friends so they don't actually know me...lol well not yet anyway but they are about to become my new best mate by the sound of things!!!

I had a great response from someone the other day telling me I should get out there and volunteer to gain more experience - nearly choked as it was really a "school leaver" position & I've actually got PAID experience at a much higher level, as well as already having the voluntary experience they were asking me for...garr, don't think they even LOOKED at my CV!!

off to take out an ad in The Press...

Browner_

Im afraid that is the experience all to often of immigrants to NZ. Their previous work experience counts for nothing and they have to start at the bottom.
Many have fallen foul of that problem. Beware.

I wouldnt go to live in Christchurch if u paid me, and I certainly wouldnt recommend going if its "the last resort" as someone said.

Yotty

One mans meat is another one's poison I suppose ..

Woodlea

Christchurch and it's environs is a fantastic place to live in my opinion as long as you avoid the dodgy areas as with anywhere else. If you do choose to make it your home I hope you really enjoy living there as much as my family and I do. Best of luck!