hunty

Hi! We are a family of 3: Dave is an operating department practitioner and Brigitte is a Consultant in Anaesthesia and Critical Care. We work in the NHS in Liverpool, in the North West of England. Our son, Ethan is almost 3.

Like so many others, we are becoming increasingly disgruntled with life in the UK ,and in particular with the way in which the NHS seems to be declining.

We attended a NZ EXPO in Manchester in October 2007, and made a few contacts. It is our aim to come out for 3 weeks to have a holiday, travel round mainly North Island and speak to as many people as we can. We are also planning to visit Marlborough and Christchurch.

We arrive in Auckland on the Easter weekend, and will be kicking off in Hamilton.

Any suggestions for child friendly places to visit and stay?

And any tips from those of you who have made the move?

Having grown up in South Africa ( Brigitte ), we feel that the Kiwi way of life would be optimal to raise our son!

Dave and Brigitte Hunt

catt

welcome huntys.........no real answers to your questions as we havent moved yet but we did visit for the whole of November 2007 for our recci to the Bay of Plenty, Coramandel, Auckland and Northland and loved every second of it we really didnt want to come home. Hopefully we will be in the BoP by September 2008 ready for the summer.

BEVS

Haloo and welcome to the NZ forum.

You can both have some newbie karma to get you started.

Nice Guy

Hi there hunty family and welcome to the site

Can't really help you with the friendly places to stay as both my children are now fully fledged brutes...............

But I thought this may be of use to you http://www.aucklandhealthcareers.co.nz/

Good luck!

NG

j19fmm

Hi, not in New Zealand full time yet, but when we visit cousin in Hamilton the kids love to go to Hamilton Zoo, not the largest of zoos but great all the same.Also pop down to the river and feed the ducks, there's millions of them!!
Not too far from Hamilton to drive down to Rotorua and experience the smell that is Rotorua.Lots to do there. We managed to blag our way onto a helicopter tour for peanuts too.
Have a great time

hunty

Hi and thanks for the replies,our computer at home has just died on us so will try to get new one before we fly out . Have just read a thread on the site which seems to paint a pretty dark picture but am looking for honest view of life in nz. We are at the beginning of the journey and any help will be greatly accepted,hope to hear from you again Dave & Brigitte

Dezza

Check out this site if travelling with kids - I haven't had a chance to look at it myself yet but might give some useful info http://www.familystophere.com.

minky

The park has a big lake a good playground for the kids and plenty of ducks etc to feed. Also indoor swimming complex