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Hi just registered. Please help !

Hi just registered. Please help !

Old Feb 4th 2007, 9:31 pm
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Wink Hi just registered. Please help !

Hi just registered. Please help !

We have been looking into moving from Essex in England to New Zealand.
There are 5 of us My husband jimmy, me (natalie) and our 3 children 16, 14& 10 years old. We have looked at the requirerments for a visa and my husband has enough points as a bricklayer with the relevent qualifications to apply for residency. But he wants to know more before he parts with any money.
Can any one please tell us what the average weekly wage is for a bricklayer/builder and are there many vacancies. Also how much tax/national insurance do you have to pay on your wages, ?????

There are lots more questions i have to ask:

Whats the best cheapest air line to fly with?
What is the cost of living like?
Do you have extreme weatherconditions?
What side of the road doyou drive on (is it the same on both islands)?
Is it as safe as its made out to be?

We have lots more questions and will be very gratefully for any help.
THANK YOU natalie & jimmy
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Old Feb 4th 2007, 9:44 pm
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Default Re: Hi just registered. Please help !

Originally Posted by sunny jim
Hi just registered. Please help !

We have been looking into moving from Essex in England to New Zealand.
There are 5 of us My husband jimmy, me (natalie) and our 3 children 16, 14& 10 years old. We have looked at the requirerments for a visa and my husband has enough points as a bricklayer with the relevent qualifications to apply for residency. But he wants to know more before he parts with any money.
Can any one please tell us what the average weekly wage is for a bricklayer/builder and are there many vacancies. Also how much tax/national insurance do you have to pay on your wages, ?????

There are lots more questions i have to ask:

Whats the best cheapest air line to fly with?
What is the cost of living like?
Do you have extreme weatherconditions?
What side of the road doyou drive on (is it the same on both islands)?
Is it as safe as its made out to be?

We have lots more questions and will be very gratefully for any help.
THANK YOU natalie & jimmy
[/I][/I]
Hi there, and welcome to the forum! Hopefully you'll get the help out here that you need to get out to sunny (att eh moment here in Christchurch) NZ!

Some answers for you:
Hourly rate for a bricky working for an agency here is between $16/hr to $23/hr. Based on a 9hr day, and taking the middle of these 2 figures that's $19 x 9hrs x 5 days x 48 weeks = $41,040 before tax - a decent wage here in Christchurch. There is LOADS of building work here, and your husband would be working immediately I'm sure, and probably for alot more than the money I've just mentioned. For tax and NI, try: http://www.ird.govt.nz/calculators/keyword/incometax/

Cheapest airline? Don't know - it's best to shop around and book as far in advance as possible.

Cost of living? It's not too bad at all. Search this forum for threads on this that will help with this.

Drive on the left, just like the UK. Cars are cheap as chips.

Extreme Weather? not so far! Pretty similar to the UK at present. Quite windy as a rule though. Again, search for 'weather' threads and these should help.

Seems pretty safe so far. News paper's don't have murders in them on a daily basis. Haven't been here long enough (3 weeks in) to make a judgement in general. It certainly 'feels' safer to me.

Just blaze away with the questions on here - there's usually someone around to help you up.

Good luck!

Wiz
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Old Feb 4th 2007, 10:06 pm
  #3  
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Wink Re: Hi just registered. Please help !

hi wiz thanks for all the info. CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR MOVE.
My son would like to know what are most of the houses built of please?
What made you go to christchuch?? and is it like uk where you get thereally run down areas? Where would be a good area to visit when we 1st come over? Is english the main spoke language?
thanks for all your help, all the best natalie (sunny)
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Old Feb 4th 2007, 10:45 pm
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Default Re: Hi just registered. Please help !

Originally Posted by sunny jim
hi wiz thanks for all the info. CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR MOVE.
My son would like to know what are most of the houses built of please?
What made you go to christchuch?? and is it like uk where you get thereally run down areas? Where would be a good area to visit when we 1st come over? Is english the main spoke language?
thanks for all your help, all the best natalie (sunny)
Most of the new residentail houses here are timber frame, single story, with a breeze block outside wall covered in a brick 'cladding'. A typical 'Kiwi' home is 4 bedrooms, 1 with en-suite, double garage, large kitchen/ dining area with a seperate lounge. A google for 'house building in New Zealand' should show your son the type of thing that is standard fare out here.

We came to ChCh (as it's abbreviated to) as we really liked the 'feel' of it. We spent a week here in '05 and really enjoyed ourselves so came here to live. We used to live in Southend! Where in Essex are you? ChCh is busy, but not TOO busy, and there's plenty to do. As soon as you get outside of the main population centres things get very rural, very quickly.

There are run-down areas, just like anywhere in the world, but they are both small, and (to be honest from what i've seen) not that run down. bear in mind that I speak from only a few weeks experience here, so others may be able to shed a little more light on the issue of 'run down areas' and the like.

Where would be good to visit? Well, firstly ask yourselves what lifestyle are you looking for. If you want a city based, suburban lifestyle then check out Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. If you are looking for loads of beaches, and a place by the sea, maybe look at Tauranga and the Bay Of Islands (look on Google). We spent 4 weeks driving the whole of NZ, and there are loads of great places to go. It really does depend on what you want. You will fly into either ChCh or Auckland, so will get to see them anyway. You can decide where to go from there. How long are you planning to come out for?

Finally, yep, english is the main language here. I'd be buggered if it wasn't!
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Old Feb 5th 2007, 9:39 pm
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Default Re: Hi just registered. Please help !

Hi Natalie,
we have just registered like you, and I am just hoping to get a reply from someone. We are sort of in same situation as you, family of 4, me, Marika, Tim, Husband, and 2 kids, 13 and 14. Tim is a heavy Goods truck driver, so we are hoping to get job offer when we come to visit in Easter then apply for Work to residence Visa. I would be intrested to hear how you are getting on with your plans.
Hi to Wiz aswell, nice that always someone there to answer questions, its a great site.
Marika
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Old Feb 5th 2007, 11:38 pm
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Default Re: Hi just registered. Please help !

Originally Posted by Marika 38
Hi Natalie,
we have just registered like you, and I am just hoping to get a reply from someone. We are sort of in same situation as you, family of 4, me, Marika, Tim, Husband, and 2 kids, 13 and 14. Tim is a heavy Goods truck driver, so we are hoping to get job offer when we come to visit in Easter then apply for Work to residence Visa. I would be intrested to hear how you are getting on with your plans.
Hi to Wiz aswell, nice that always someone there to answer questions, its a great site.
Marika
Hi there Natalie, and welcome to the site. I hope it helps in your move - it certainly assisted myself and my wife in ours.

Don't be shy to ask any questions. Ususally if someone can't answer, then you'll be pointed to a web site that might be able to help.

Good luck!
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Old Feb 6th 2007, 9:58 am
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Wink Re: Hi just registered. Please help !

Originally Posted by Marika 38
Hi Natalie,
we have just registered like you, and I am just hoping to get a reply from someone. We are sort of in same situation as you, family of 4, me, Marika, Tim, Husband, and 2 kids, 13 and 14. Tim is a heavy Goods truck driver, so we are hoping to get job offer when we come to visit in Easter then apply for Work to residence Visa. I would be intrested to hear how you are getting on with your plans.
Hi to Wiz aswell, nice that always someone there to answer questions, its a great site.
Marika
hi marika we havent booked a flight yet although we have been doing alot of research to try and find out all the nitty gritty facts and figures about as must as possible. However this has been more scary trying to do so. We were looking at getting a flight for Easter (2 weeks) but then considered the beggining of the school holidays (for 3weeks) as this was slightly cheaper, n we would have longer tol ook around and get a real feel of things. We are still looking. We were quite concerned about the crime rate when we viewed a couple of the web sites last night. The biggest part of the move is because we want a better quality of life, the same as most people on this site. The information was a bit of a worry although surly it cant be as bad as uk ??

Any way congrats on getting the hardest bid sorted out. Who are you flighing with? and what are you doing when you get there? We had considered hireing a RV to tour (still early stages for us,I dont think my husband wants to make the 1st move (always the hardest) but me n kids are so up for it) GOOD LUCK please keep intouch all the best to you natalie (sunny)
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Old Feb 6th 2007, 5:53 pm
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Default Re: Hi just registered. Please help !

Originally Posted by Wiz'n'Ton
Hi there Natalie, and welcome to the site. I hope it helps in your move - it certainly assisted myself and my wife in ours.

Don't be shy to ask any questions. Ususally if someone can't answer, then you'll be pointed to a web site that might be able to help.

Good luck!
Hi Natalie, Our plans at the mo, are that we had a company very intrested in interviewing Tim, so we sent email back saying we would come in Easter, and havn't heard from them now for about a week, think we'll chase them up tonight though. Apart from that, we are still at the stage of emailing loads of companies, making contact with them, sending them Tim's CV, in the hope they will get back to us. Still putting off booking flights as we are in the hope that a phone interview would be possible, but if we can't nail that down then will book flights in about 2 weeks. Trouble is I have to go in easter as my job at school prevents taking time off outside school holiday time. Flights are expensive for that period!!! . We know a couple near CHch, so would meet with them first and spend a night or two, get our bearings, then we'll travel off in hire car, to wherever we need to go for interviews. Kids staying at home, so we can concentrate on what we need to do.Our house is on the market, as we are sure sure sure this will work out, just gotta get that job offer, from an accredited employer hopefully, as it makes visa application smoother. Go throught highs and lows thinking about it all, but its just because its in our heads 24/7. Have you managed to make much progress in contacting companies??
Keep in touch. Marika
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Old Mar 17th 2007, 11:08 am
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Smile Re: Hi just registered. Please help !

Hello all,

Our family are also looking to go to NZ. The Uk is just not the same place anymore so we want a better life for our little'uns.

Sunny jim - Are you from ET by any chance. If so then its the twins mum here, Nici. When you looking at going? Fit us in the suitcase will ya

Marika - My OH is also a truckie and we are looking at doing the same as yourselves. If you have any info re work I would be very grateful to hear from you. Anything I find I will PM you and give you the details.

Regards
Nici
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Old Mar 17th 2007, 11:17 am
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Red face Re: Hi just registered. Please help !

Hi Wiz

Hope you don't mind but would I be able to pick your brains on NZ. We don't know much at the moment.

Do you have to pay for schooling? I know in Oz you do and was just wondering if it was the same there.
OH is a truckie, do you know what sort of wages we are looking at? We are not looking to live any differently than we do here, ordinary house, ordinary car, etc just for a slower pace of life.

How did the children settle in? (If you have any that is)

Look forward to keeping in touch with you all,

Nici
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Old Mar 17th 2007, 11:47 pm
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Default Hi just registered. Please help !

Hi sunny jim and kato33

Sending you both some welcome karma
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Old Mar 18th 2007, 12:19 am
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Default Re: Hi just registered. Please help !

Originally Posted by sunny jim
Hi just registered. Please help !

We have been looking into moving from Essex in England to New Zealand.
There are 5 of us My husband jimmy, me (natalie) and our 3 children 16, 14& 10 years old. We have looked at the requirerments for a visa and my husband has enough points as a bricklayer with the relevent qualifications to apply for residency. But he wants to know more before he parts with any money.
Can any one please tell us what the average weekly wage is for a bricklayer/builder and are there many vacancies. Also how much tax/national insurance do you have to pay on your wages, ?????

There are lots more questions i have to ask:

Whats the best cheapest air line to fly with?
What is the cost of living like?
Do you have extreme weatherconditions?
What side of the road doyou drive on (is it the same on both islands)?
Is it as safe as its made out to be?

We have lots more questions and will be very gratefully for any help.
THANK YOU natalie & jimmy
[/I][/I]
We came to NZ with residency. One thing you need to think about is the cost which builds up over time, and how long the process will take. To give you an idea, You will need to pay for your initial EOI, then medicals, qualifications assessment, police checks, residency application fees, approval administration costs. I think we spent about 1,000 GBP each to get our residency status without involving any agencies. Also, if you don't have a job offer, the residency application process after your EOI has been fished out can take 6 months or more. I don't know how it would work out for a family of 5, but its worth looking into.

Having said that, two months into our life in NZ, we have no regrets.
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Old Mar 18th 2007, 12:26 am
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Default Re: Hi just registered. Please help !

Originally Posted by kato33
Hi Wiz

Hope you don't mind but would I be able to pick your brains on NZ. We don't know much at the moment.

Do you have to pay for schooling? I know in Oz you do and was just wondering if it was the same there.
OH is a truckie, do you know what sort of wages we are looking at? We are not looking to live any differently than we do here, ordinary house, ordinary car, etc just for a slower pace of life.

How did the children settle in? (If you have any that is)

Look forward to keeping in touch with you all,

Nici
Hey there Nici - I'm afraid that we are kid-free at present, so I don't have the answers to your questions re schooling and the like. Maz 1 - can you offer anything on this...?

Loads of work for reliable truckies here, and if he's got Cat 5 (the heaviest truck & trailer types if my memory serves) then no worries at all as they seem to command the best wages. I'd advise you to search out the NZ driving licence people on google and see if he'd be able to drive trucks here on a UK licence, or what tests he may need to do to get him up and running. I don't know re the hourly wage, but will try to find out and give you a ball-park figure. Maybe try a quick look on seek.co.nz and search for drivers - see if there are any rates there...?

All the best with the research,

Wiz
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Old Mar 18th 2007, 3:33 am
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Default Re: Hi just registered. Please help !

This may help with the truck licence classification here .I am a Diesel Mechanic here and hold a class one LGV licence,the equivilent here is a class 5 which is truck and trailer or truck and drawbar or a "B" train you know those double articulated trailer rigs,easy to drive forward but a pig to reverse(still practicing):curse: ,
Truck drivers are not too well paid here and they drive long hours and distances,no tachograph just the log book and the mileage taken from the hubometer .$19 an hour would be a good wage.Sorry for dissappointing news but the truth is never told here by employers so better to know before you accept any employment offer.This is not meant to put you off as other things here offset the low wages that are normal.I am on a lot less than I was in the UK but own my home with views I could not afford in the UK,living is to a degree cheaper here you make it as dear as you want to or are careful .All in all I would not change it ,we are here to stay.Lots of jobs for truckers are available so think hard and go for it.
Ray
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Old Mar 18th 2007, 3:54 am
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Default Re: Hi just registered. Please help !

Originally Posted by sunny jim
Hi just registered. Please help !

We have been looking into moving from Essex in England to New Zealand.
There are 5 of us My husband jimmy, me (natalie) and our 3 children 16, 14& 10 years old. We have looked at the requirerments for a visa and my husband has enough points as a bricklayer with the relevent qualifications to apply for residency. But he wants to know more before he parts with any money.
Can any one please tell us what the average weekly wage is for a bricklayer/builder and are there many vacancies. Also how much tax/national insurance do you have to pay on your wages, ?????

There are lots more questions i have to ask:

Whats the best cheapest air line to fly with?
What is the cost of living like?
Do you have extreme weatherconditions?
What side of the road doyou drive on (is it the same on both islands)?
Is it as safe as its made out to be?

We have lots more questions and will be very gratefully for any help.
THANK YOU natalie & jimmy
[/I][/I]
Hi Natalie

Ok - A few years ago, one of the cheapest flights to get was Garuda Airlines. (Indonesian). I dont know if it still is but its worth checking out. The only thing though, is they do a heck of a lot of stops and that makes the journey incredibly long! Other than that some of the other Asian airlines seem to be a tiny bit cheaper than say Quantas or Air NZ. Emirates is a very good airline to travel on and their costs seem to be somewhere in the middle. I can recommend them as have travelled on them to the UK and they were great.

As for safety - well I have lived here for 5 years in Auckland and often travel home at night on my own from town via bus and always feel safe. Obviously, things can and do happen, nowhere you go is going to be totally crime free but comparing it to travelling home on my own at night on the tubes, well there is no comparison really. There are defintly some dodgy areas to be avoided as there is everywhere - and once you know where your likely to end up am sure people can tell you the best places to avoid in certain areas, I can only advise on Auckland really. But on the whole I feel a lot safer here than I ever did in London.

By the way where abouts in Essex are you from - I am an Essex girl myself, from Gants Hills.

Good luck
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