hippychick

Hi,

As the title suggests I am new to this forum, so please forgive me if I ask questions that have been asked a thousand times before!

I am curious as to how you decided on the area of NZ in which to live. Was it a case of where there was work or did you choose an area and then apply for jobs?

Did any of you attand emigration fairs? or that kind of thing in the UK? If so where did you find out about them?

Sorry for all the questions - I have millions but will stop there for now!!!!

Look forward to reading your replies,

Hippychick x

bookemjano

Hi hippychick - ask anything you want, we've all been there, or know people who have.

We chose Christchurch because we wanted a city feel for work and a rural feel for living, I know Christchurch isn't the most cosmopolitan city, but Auckland seems too busy for us and Wellington just didn't appeal. We liked the englishness of Christchurch as well, and we know a few people from there who rate it. We're not too bothered about weather, so we weren't too concerned about the cold winters. Also, it was the place we could afford to buy a house, so all in all we think we've made the right choice.

Glad to see new faces, I can stop feeling like a newbie myself soon! Just shout for anything you need, someone on here will have the answer and everyone is more than happy to help. Welcome karma on its way to you. Jan.

the turner family

Hi Hippychick,

We are currently in the process of packing up and will be arriving in Auckland the first week of August, all being well. The whole process took around 6 months and will have cost in excess of 6k - so you need to be certain that it's what you want. It takes much perseverance and courage to make the move to NZ! I'm sure others on the forum will back me up on that one.....

We are going to Auckland as my husband has a job waiting there, and we are going to NZ on the Skilled Migrant Residency route. We don't know yet if we will like Auckland, but it seems to be where most of the jobs are so we may not have much choice in the matter.

Good luck with everything and my advice is to do as much research as you can, even go for a visit first if you can afford it. A very useful book I could recommend is 'Living and Working in New Zealand' by Mark Hempshell, ISBN 1-901130-76-2. You should be able to get it easily in Smiths, Waterstones, etc.

Andrea

80s Chick

Welcome hippychick. When I saw your username I had a strange feeling of deja vu. Am I right? Anyway welcome welcome, I'm sending you some welcome karma. We're generally a friendly bunch on here (don't look at the sacked immigration officer thread :scared: ) and very helpful. It's worth trawling through previous threads as some of your questions may have been answered already. Ali and I have attended an emigration fair and found it very useful even though we won't be going for ages. It's really worthwhile because you can talk to experts face to face instead of typing furiously, and you can pick up lots of brochures too. We're hoping to end up in the Bay of Plenty, but Ali's a teacher so we could end up anywhere. We're currently in NW London so I imagine anywhere will seem quieter but we quite like the feel of a small town (my sister-in-law lives in Somerset and it's lovely there I could certainly live with a piece of that). We're looking at Tauranga or Rotorua, Ali's trying to talk me around to Waihi because there's a fair amount of leisure flying activity but I think it might be too remote. Any more questions ask away, and as you get to know people you can always pm them if you feel that they could answer a specific query. Most people respond quite well to that.

Phyl

Pinkie Pie

Hi Hippychick

Welcome to the forum...and feel free to fire away with questions - someone on here is bound to know the answers to most of them!!!

We went to the emigrate show in York which was really good and we are hoping to head over to the New Zealand Expo in Manchester which is being held in October (they are holding one in London too) This is the link if you want to have a look for yourself... http://www.smallworldmedia.co.nz/?PH...16af2cdabd8303

And this is a fairly good site for getting info on shows etc...http://www.outboundpublishing.com/cg...howitem=000001 - the next emigrate show is at Sandown Park Racecourse on 7th - 9th October and the NZIS usually have a stand at these shows so if you have any questions you can talk to one of their staff in person and they are really helpful and friendly....

Anyway, like everyone else has said, fire away and don't be shy - we're all in the same boat!!

Dave and Lyns

Hi Hippychick

As Pinkie says don't be shy and ask away if you have any questions. Even if it's been asked before it doesn't matter as people will try and let you know where that link was before.

We're also thinking of going to the expo in Manchester in October to see who is there and hopefully is should be OK.

Anyway, welcome to the forum!

Dave and Lyns
PS If you need to PM us anytime then please do.

hippychick

Hi again,

Just to say thanks for all your quick and friendly replies. I'll trawl through all the previous threads and check out the web sites suggested.

Watch this space for many more questions....

Thanks again,

Hippychick x