chauxfleur

Hi,

I have a great job offer in Christchurch which would mean moving in mid November... All very exciting and nerve racking!

I'm not at all sure about where to live. I've had a look online but it's difficult to know what somewhere is like without having a good museum around. Ideally I would like to live near the beach, but I don't know what the drive into Christchurch is like? I'm moving out on my own, so somewhere with other young professionals and a few bars / shops etc would be nice? I have been looking at rental properties in New Brighton and Sumner - am I barking up the wrong tree?

I'm not planning on bringing any of my furniture with me... Just packing a crate with my car and shoes... I guess there's an IKEA type place to get a few essentials from? I know that fully furnished houses are few and far between.

Also, is there an issue with heating / insulation in houses? Most websites I've been on seem slightly obsessed but I haven't seen a radiator on a single house picture.

Finally, did anyone else move out on their own? Has it been easy to settle in and make new friends?

Thanks!

Rebekah

chippy64

Hi Rebekah,

My husband and oldest son moved to ChCh in October. They have lived in St Martins, Redcliffs and Parklands. Of the three areas, they prefer Parklands.
Redcliffs was beautiful but after the February event, they felt isolated. Also, living on a cliff made them feel rather uneasy!
In Parklands, they live opposite the Waimairi Golf Club, which is just off the beach. There is a bus service at the end of the road, which my youngest son uses to get to work at Riccarton Mall. It takes him around an hour, mainly because of speed limits after the road damage. There is a small mall in Parklands and it's a short distance from New Brighton, with it's wider selection of bars etc.
If you would like any other info, I can ask him for you.



ps every morning my son texts his Dad to say he can see the snow covered mountains on his bus journey

Charismatic

The place is a pile of bricks, you want a house that is built to modern seismic standards away from liquefaction prone areas (low-lying swamp areas) .

At this rate it'll look like piles of bricks and empty sections for a while. There is still a lot of work to do in the city centre, they've not even begun to take down the damaged multi stories (Even the leaning tower of Christchurch is still standing fully intact! ).

They did say October but I have doubts.

chauxfleur

The pile of bricks is the reason I'm coming so that's not too much of a worry... Aftershocks shocks sound scary though

sandra arnott

Hi there i would go for Riccarton if you want pubs and shops got a few there and people lol

Debbie2NZ

New Brighton is great. Nice bars and cafes. Try Salt on The Pier for a drink or a meal. The Running Bull in Riccarton is a great restaurant too. I lived in Linwood with my kiwi husband for 3 months after arriving from the UK in Feb/March of this year. It's about 20 minutes drive back to the city centre cordon from New Brighton. The buses are good and regular. A return ticket costs $3.20 but expires after 2 hours, it does not last all day like return tickets in UK do. We never did figure that one out ! Yeah the aftershocks are scary. It's like a heavy lorry or freight train passing by and rumbling and rocking your house. Sometimes you can hear the rumble underground a split second before the shaking starts. Please hide under a table or in a doorway. Better still, get the hell out of your house in case it collapses. How you are supposed to do this in the middle of the night when you are asleep defeated me because by the time you had been woken by the noise of it, your roof would probably be on the lawn. We were there for the 13 June double whammy. It's defeating having to put things back on shelves, check for damage etc time and time again. We are now living on the North Island as my husband accepted a job there and our nerves were shot after 3 months of it. Yeah, I accept there are people many times worse off than us, but we thought we'd take the hint (from mother nature) and leave. What looks like yellow or pink grafitti on buildings and on pavements is actually the work of the USAR when they were there looking for bodies/casualites in February i.e. NSW TF1 Clear (New South Wales Task Force 1, building clear) sorry, it just looks creepy.

There is no IKEA or equivalent in New Zealand but there's a shop called The Warehouse that is like Woolworths was mixed with Robert Dyas for cheap get you by things. You could look up the following shops on the internet for furniture & electricals etc: Noel Leeming, Smiths City, Briscoes, Dick Smith, Bond & Bond. Petrol is just over £1 per litre. However groceries are more expensive i.e. £2.00 for a loaf of bread that cost £1.35 in Britain. Bacon is £5.00 per packet that would have been £3.50 in Britain. I have found the quality of the food both supermarket and restaurant to be faultless though.

New Zealand can be a bit 1972 regarding central heating and double glazing as in they don't have it. A heat pump is a wall heater. Our house in Linwood did not have one, nor a door at the foot of the stairs. I slept with a woolly had on one night I was so cold. Like I was camping. The NZ attitude is, 'rug up' which just means put a jumper etc on. What, indoors ? Yup ! Kiwi's heat their whole house from one source i.e. a heat pump or wood burner. This explains why they take their internal doors off the hinges and throw them away. I'm not kidding. Damp and condensation is a huge problem too. Dehumidifiers are sold like normal heaters as dry air is easier to heat. There are also plastic tubs of 'stuff' you can buy to put on the windowsill to collect the condensation in the tub then throw the condensated water down the sink when it has collected a period of time later. Hello is it 2011 yet ? If I see radiators in pictures of NZ houses I have the same, 'cor look at that' response as a bloke seeing a sports car etc !

Persephone

Hi Rebekah,
As you'll probably know the eastern side of the city so the side nearest the beach was the hardest hit during the quakes. The roads round there are improving but there are still plenty of roadworks taking place which does slow down the traffic. Having said that it does not take that long to get across Chch generally. For example it takes me 35-40 minutes to drive from the west side of the city to New Brighton during the morning rush hour.
New Brighton has always looked a bit rundown, there are lots of second hand shops and seconds stores but I walked through the shopping area last week and I would say it looks worse, lots of closed shops [not just due to EQ damage] and just scruffy and empty, a 'people sitting around with dogs on a string cos there's nothing else to do' kind of place. The high street is very reminiscent of a 60s council estate in my opinion. It is not an affluent area and is probably not somewhere you will find a lot of young professionals [though I could be wrong, it does happen occasionally!] Been out for a drink there a couple of times and it's ok for that but not sure I'd want to live there.
Sumner suffered quite a bit of damage during the quakes and I don't know what it's like at the moment.
Sandra mentioned Riccarton which is probably a better option. A lot of the nightlife seems to be concentrated round there. It is likely to be more expensive though but it does depend on what you want. Parklands is also not bad and is closer to the beach but I'm not sure that there's a lot of nightlife there.
As for an IKEA type place- forget it! They don't exist. Furniture is either expensive or not well made though it depends on what you want, if it's something cheap that doesn't need to last for years and where quality [or the appearance of quality] doesn't matter then you'll be fine. Otherwise it can get expensive.

You won't see radiators on a house photo because central heating is not very common at all, it is rare to find a house with it. Most use heat pumps, gas fires or wood/pellet fires. It is normal to heat the room you're in and not the whole house.
Hope this helps!
P

Persephone

Hope my last post didn't seem too 'snobby'! The area I live in isn't that flash! I was just quite shocked last week at how much more rundown New Brighton mall was.
When you say you're looking at somewhere with a few bars and shops, are you looking for somewhere with the basic amenities or somewhere you can do a bit of leisurely clothes and shoe shopping/viewing followed by a drink? Your mention of young professionals is what makes me think NB is not what you're looking for.
NB has the basics eg post office, supermarket, banks and does have a lot of secondhand, outlet stores and two dollar shops. Not somewhere I would go to buy some extra special shoes The shopping area is not very big.

As for furniture, if you're bringing a container then I would put as much in as possible and maybe do some IKEA shopping and bring that- if there's room then it will probably be cheaper and better quality than buying over here. Just unwrap it first so it's not new As Debbie said: the Warehouse is good for all sorts of stuff and Briscoes for kitchen stuff [never buy full price as there is always a sale on] This place does need an IKEA or similar!

Debbie, wearing a hat to bed when the temp is still above zero, you'll get told to harden up!! I miss central heating and radiators - just thinking about how I used to get up in the cold winters mornings and get dressed in warm clothes that had been on the radiator overnight. You really don't appreciate the simple things in life until they're gone...

chauxfleur

Thank you so much for all the advice... It's difficult to know what to believe when you haven't seen the damage in person. Really appreciate all the help! The honest view in the aftershocks is great. I've sat through two interviews recently where they weren't mentioned at all - does make me think twice about everything else they've said.

Persephone, you were right... More social life, less post offices, I'll definitely check out Debbie's suggestion of Riccarton, even if it sounds like I might have to find some space in the freight crate thingy to pack some space heaters.

Thanks again

Charismatic

Seconded Riccarton is good...except for the road past the shopping centre at rush hour and the roundabout down at the park (Kiwi drivers and roundabouts don't always mix well but it's funny to watch them try ).

That part of the city is also good because just down on Blenheim road you have the big department stores and soft furnishing stores.

I go to Riccarton when I want/need to purchase things . I live in a place surprisingly well catered to in regards to motels and churches but nothing of tangible value .

Persephone

Where And are the churches still standing

I think if I were to come here alone I would choose Riccarton, it's fairly central and there are a lot of shops and bars. It feels lively.
I like where I am but it would be nice to have a pub within walking/staggering distance

Rebekah, don't worry about the aftershocks too much. How strong they feel and how many you feel depends on where you are in the city. Most are small and are not that bad. Some are bigger and yes, they can be scary depending on the size.
I go on the alert when cars start nearby and buses go past until I know that's what it is and not an aftershock. It's become a natural reaction over the last 10 months

I am now almost acclimatised to them, it actually feels odd it I don't feel one for a few days Haven't felt one for 4-5 days....

chauxfleur

Got into the office today to discover my job offer has fallen through ... Gutted. If you know anyone looking for a QS give me a shout!

Definitely going to start investigating Riccarton... First building job in New Zealand might be building a little earthquake shelter... Will make sure there's enough room for you lot, a few woolly hats and litre of vodka

Persephone

Sorry to hear that, keep trying as there is a bit of building work around here at the moment

I'll join you in the shelter but what are the rest of you going to drink?

chauxfleur

It's a BYO deal... I'll supply nibbles and could be persuaded to run to a couple of panda pops

Just sent my CV out for a couple more vacancies... Not giving up that easily, I want off this overcrowded bankrupt rock - to come to your uncrowded shaky rock

Persephone

Spoke too soon, woken at 5.40 this morning
OK, I'll have as many packets of Grain waves and Jet Planes that you can fit in your bunker. When you get here don't try them, they're addictive. It's like when they say it's better not to start smoking than to try and stop... Not that I smoke, I just eat crap food!

Good luck with the CVs