Re: Devils advocate....??
 

To the OP - best of luck, your figures look realistic and I love your attitude. We often holiday near Whangarei because it is a beautiful area with good beaches and places to sail. If you want to be out of town, have a look at Ngunguru but my concern would be your kids would feel cut off. You'd probably be better in suburbia. As Laura said, there are loads of good rentals in your price bracket - trademe has a good selection.
As long as you don't mind your winters being like a SW England mediocre summer, you'll be fine!

Re: Devils advocate....??
 

Pretty standard

Cons gov comes in spending gets capped

Re: Devils advocate....??
 

:rofl: Can you say that with a straight face?

Just as well New Zealand doesn't come under any kind of consumer guarantee or trades description Act for concealment of the truth.

Caveat emptor!

Re: Devils advocate....??
 

17 grand is a good amount, don't get me wrong we travelled with 900 quid but that was back in 97 and we were young and stupid..

The big thing is balancing the budget, earm more than you spend and its all going well, spend more than you earn then its all down hill and a very fine line between the two...

My guess after rental costs your big expenses will be food and transport.

Rental should be estimatable from trademe, food costs less yes but not a huge amount less. Transport well public transport can be terrible (however is imoroving thank god) so you will be in your car more and burning petrol.. again petrol is cheaper but income % still hurts..

Wage pressure is downwards at the moment...

So its an estimate the above be very realistic and then put a 10% factor on top.

My gut feel is some months you'll break even some months not, foriegn holidays will be a no, saving up for the unexpected and the expected, teeth / uni will be hard.

Re: Devils advocate....??
 

for Northland that's about right. Perhaps a little cooler but very mild all the same

Re: Devils advocate....??
 

Thanks again you guys...

We are not expecting it to be a breeze, far from it, but we expect that we could have a similar standard of living that we have here, difference being that both of us will work there and only one works here, that aside, we are coming for the way of life... currently the hubby works as a plant operator and works far too much overtime for either of our liking.... its not a choice either :mad: and he works every weekend too... we are hoping that with the more relaxed attitude toward work over there, he may get at least every other if not all weekends off :fingerscrossed:

Why Whangarei........?? Why not?? It looks like a beautiful place.... its only a two hour drive to Auckland if we absolutely need the big smoke for anything.... its got the gorgeous beaches, and the subtropical climate (including a very wet weatherfront at the moment I am told :eek: )... whats not to love?? Its got everything we could possibly need and more. Although we have been told by some that its quite a poor area in comparison to the rest of NZ, but then again everyone that I have spoken to who lives there, absolutely loves the place... everyone has their own ideal and Whangarei just happens to tick our boxes :thumbup:

Re: Devils advocate....??
 

Bo drop into your local district court and ask them if they have cushy govt jobs !

Or even better post something to back up your statement
:)

Re: Devils advocate....??
 

Here's a photo taken on a beach near Whangarei at ten to five in the afternoon late in May (that's the equivalent of late Nov for the UK). Not always like this though, but if you're going to be living on a budget, why not do it somewhere nice?

Re: Devils advocate....??
 

It's easy enough to find these things out for yourself, keep up with the news and facts, rather than inferring what I say is lies.

Whilst we're talking of lies, I suggest people saying the weather in Whangarei in winter is equivalent to summer in the UK should check the facts, since that it is indeed stretching the truth beyond the reasonable realms of yeah right, whatevvar, bullshit!!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/indu...s-to-lose-jobs

Re: Devils advocate....??
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whangarei#Climate

vs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol#Climate

Still a lot better in Whangarei by any measure, apart from amount of rain, but even then the rain is torrential rather than drizzle so you see a lot more blue skies which is good.

Re: Devils advocate....??
 

It's good that you'll be able to rent a three-bedroomed house in Whangarei for 200 to 300 a week. When we lived up North a few years ago we paid $150 for a two-roomed place.

Why Whangarei (or Fungaray as the folks say up there)? You're a good bit away from Auckland there and the road down is not the best of places for driving. But it has plenty of restaurants and pubs. And, the back-roads north and south are really pleasant places to drive in.

Re: Devils advocate....??
 

my word Karen you seem to have created a debate, from what i can see your gonna be a bit skint but who isnt but what a nice place to be skint in :thumbup:

beats the crap out of the UK

Neil

Re: Devils advocate....??
 

Yes, I'll admit to exaggerating to make a point. I'd say a Whangarei winter is like a Devon Spring - quite wet and unpredictable but never that cold and with some really nice days when you can get down to the beach

Re: Devils advocate....??
 

It's definitely pretty wet at times over winter, last year was shocking, but previous years have been lovely, lots of blue skies and days at the beach. Beach days for us are nicer in the winter months as all the holiday makers are gone :D
We've had about one frost and we live in a valley.
Northland is a gorgeous place to live and very under-rated by some people who have never lived here! When we told a friends uncle, a kiwi who lives in Hamilton, that we were planning to move here he was well set against it - he said why? It's run down and very poor.
Thank goodness we didn't listen to him! Turns out he'd never lived here and had only visited 15 years ago! :D

Re: Devils advocate....??
 

Bo, I think that the argument here was that govt jobs are cushy, not that they have capped the numbers.