luvwelly

I think on the housing Genesis has it spot on - if you are going to buy a cheaper property to make the figures add up - remember to add in the essential extra costs of dehumidifers and free-standing heaters or you will be extremely cold, damp and uncomfortable especially in winter. Better yet budget to put in insulation, double glazing and proper heating...these things do not come cheap however. In most places houses which do not get the sun are to be avoided because they are colder and damper and therefore are likely to be cheaper.

Just as there are some horrendous 'cheap rentals out there, there are probably also horrendous cheaper properties to buy as well. If you are using state schools, you usually need to rent or buy in the zone of the school you want which will also limit choice if your budget is tight.

Genesis

We over came our housing discomfort via 6 dehumidifiers, a wood burner, euro central heating with 16 rads and total double glazing......115 windows!!!!!!

We will NEVER see any of the money back but we did this long term and over a 25 year period the huge amount we spent does not seem so bad!!!!!!! The house is more comfortable now but we miss brick walls!!! We have a house made mainly of glass, MDF, plywood, polystyrene, the odd steel beam (which is nice) and old shopping bags!!!! Weird build spec. over here man!!!!!!

sonandbill

hi, thought you may need a bit of help, I am a primary school teacher 6 years experience and apart from a term and a half work not worked for over two years. I do relieving here and believe that i dont get jobs as I am too old 49 an not nz trained. It was a different story in Uk . They wanted teachers but the reality is different here. We are going home in dec for good. We have tried nearly 3 years but fresh air dosent pay for food! Lovely country and people but no work and expensive to live. Stay where you are ! Any more help email me <snipped>

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Patrick2007

Did i read that thread correctly then on what Genesis said "very good NHS system here" tell me where this is in N.Z. I lived in Auckland for 7 yrs and can never remember any such thing. Or has this changed? You get cheaper health ONLY if the family qualifys for a Community Services Card. To be able to obtain one of these u have to vbe Unemployed or on a low income. Can someone clarily this please?

love30stm

Well we are lucky our house is so warm, a 1970s house been fully renovated with one gas energy heater that warms the whole house....big windows to let he sun into.. personally I find central heating bad for your health and too stuffy.

and it does not get too cold here in Wanganui I expect if your in the south island it would be a killer.

All I would say is dont buy a Villa they look and are very beautiful and full of character, but they are usually freezing....and need lots of upkeep

Margaret Parkinson

I have not seen anyone mention solar power heating. Do they have it in NZ because they seem to get plenty of sun even in the winter with the temperatures dropping at night.

June

Black Sheep

Until now, just as everywhere else in the world but even more so here, high cost of installing solar heating would have been a major deterrant. NZers are pretty poor in comparison to their Western cousins. It's only recently anyway that NZers have even considered that their homes are poorly heated. Logburners have up until now been the main source of heating for NZ homes as a) a large number of NZers have access to free firewood, so they're either not used to paying ANYTHING for heating costs, or at worst very little, and b) because NZ homes were (and are) not well insulated, if insulated at all, they needed higher KW output of heat from whatever heat source used, and logburners have higher output of heat than any other heat source. Replace logburner with any other source of heat and you have to spend extra on measures like insulation for it to be effective.

The 'free heat' part of solar heating would definitely appeal to NZers but the installation cost hurdle is way too great for anyone to make the jump. Unless Kiwis themselves start manufacturing solar heating systems, the cost will always be more prohibitive here than elsewhere in the world because of costs to import and now with the NZ dollar getting weaker again. Solar water heating however is becoming very popular, more so here than where I came from abroad. Interestingly many NZers do seem willing to pay out the relatively high bucks for these systems. So yes, it would appear that cost considerations aside, the climate here/number of sunshine hours is apparently enough to make solar viable as witnessed by popularity of solar water heating.

Problem is, NZers are STILL building houses inadequately designed for their climate. A lot of attention in new builds/renovations is paid to fancy modern kitchens and bathrooms, while the heating side of things is barely considered (many people here believe that if a house has insulation and double-glazing, it won't need to be heated most of the time - WRONG!!) I'd be willing to bet that the majority of new homes built even in the past year in NZ have no heating of any kind built in to the bedroom areas - NZers have never had heated bedrooms before, so the thinking seems to go 'why would we need them now?'... At least things have improved from just a few years back when I saw some houses for sale that had NO heating source anywhere in the house at all!! Some of them were recently renovated or very expensive older family homes too! It wasn't considered a big deal apparently that you'd have to install your own heating system - it certainly didn't seem to affect in any way the high asking prices of these houses!

Genesis

In Palmerston North..one major emergency, 2 kiddie ops and a whole gammut of other stuff. Well impressed!!! I know its not like that all over and we have to pay to see the doc and have to pay for a couple of scans but we are very happy with the service. We do not have the community card but the stuff we have to pay for is in now way onerous ..and we are not rich..we live on a nurse's wage and a very small income from me.

Ian & Sharon

You missed the one about recycling all your clothes as well

FFS why move to the other side of the World if thats what you face

luvwelly

Couldn't agree more Ian and Sharon and where's the next episode by the way or did I miss it while I was in Oz on holiday...?

davit

Honestly: You cant make the numbers work because they dont!. Ive lived here 14 years and back then u could, but today its all changed high house prices new bills well in Auckland anyway local rates and regional rates .....low salaries. I couldnt make the the move today.... and there is no NHS as such I dunno what the guy is talking about...in an emegency the public hospitails will look after you but you would be mad not to have private insurance here....and yes it is beautiful but scenery wears thin if you are skint

Genesis

We have had two ops since we came here in 2005 for 2 of our 3 kids..also one severe life threatening emergency for one of the kids too. Loads of out patients at the hospital and we do not have medic ins. Last time I looked I was not mad. Guess the quality of your health service depends where you live. In Palmerston North it exceeds ALL expectations. Thank you.

love30stm

Wow thats good to hear then as im only up the road from you in Wanganui

luvwelly

My understanding of it is that for most things there is an NHS type equivalent for hospital surgery but that the waiting lists can be so long in some instances that charities have been taking up the slack (Christchurch news article about a year ago). This obviously wouldn't apply for everything and I don't know how the waiting lists work here...clinical need or whether things like being in the workforce or being a child is taken into account (i.e. both of these given greater priority maybe???.)
Waiting lists can be a problem in UK as well but most people would be seen eventually...it wouldn't be a case of there being no chance of ever coming to the top of the public list as this Christchurch situation suggested (it caused some consternation on here at the time).

I think lack of staff is the main problem with all the Kiwi docs and nurses going off to see the world . In Wellington there was a lot of publicity recently about the difficulty in getting child cancer specialists and kids were having to go to Auckland for care. I'm guessing the salaries on offer are not internationally competitive.

Although you pay to see a GP, it does seem that if you get sent for a blood test by your GP that that comes free...so it certainly has elements of an NHS system in the mix.

My own experience of A&E for one of my kids was good - and I didn't have to invoke my private cover to get the care. So I'd have to agree with Genesis with the waiting list proviso.