MrsFychan

so have you secured a position and a visa?

maybe put in your signature where you are at so people will be able to see where along the line you are

moonie2011

Hi we came over 6 months ago and we experienced the storms and the earthquakes, they are scary but the locals have reassured me as they said that the recent ones are the biggest in their life time. If they said it was normal I wouldn't be staying.
I have had tears over leaving my double glazed centrally heated house back in the uk, but we are not in the uk anymore so I tell myself get over it. We didn't move here to live like the uk.
Of the family, it is me that has not settled but it is still early days. Hubby loves his job and kids love their school, in time I'm sure I will settle as there is nothing here that makes me cry on daily basis that I want to go home, it's more a feeling of being in limbo, not feeling grounded.
We originally said we would rent for 2 yrs but strict rental agreements with lots of can't do's I decided we will buy and so we own our own house next week

Overall we came here for a better family life and the kids upbringing. We have the same amount of family time as we did in the UK but things are so much more accessible, my oldest is sailing, a sport in the UK that is way too expensive, $300 for a course and access to the boats twice a week. Activities are far more exciting and risk taking than in the UK and that gives the kids a sense of adventure and excitement

Overall I think we will stay, there is nothing, other than missing family, that is making me want to return. And as you said constantly saying 'what if' IMHO is worse than giving it a go and saying 'oh well we tried.'

Good luck with your decision and the move xx

Pom_Chch

Hi Oceane01,

Welcome to Christchurch! My partner and I are currently living here so I will answer your questions as best I can...

Christchurch isn't a huge city, so no need to worry too much about that. I would describe it as a large town by UK standards. You can drive from one side to the other in about 30 minutes (plus a bit more depending where roadworks are). Chch has more of a town feel to it. That is my impression coming from the UK.

Can't help you with container advice as we only shipped over boxes (we didn't own enough stuff!)

Weather in Chch is temperate. It is not a tropical climate down south. Winters are cold, but not as cold as the UK. During winter if the sun is shining it is a warm day and you will find yourselves in shorts and tshirts. We had a few of those this winter that has just passed. Summers are generally awesome! Long sunny days with plenty sunshine and blue skies. November starts to warm up, Dec, Jan, Feb are classed as summer but March and April are also quite nice. June, July and August are classed as winter. I love the climate in Chch mainly because winters are not bitterly cold and summers actually happen. In fact my big fluffy coat, hat, gloves and scarf are all lying in the suitcase as I didn't need them!

Housing/renting- One thing you have to be careful of is make sure your house has a decent form of heating as central heating doesn't exist over here. Heat comes in the form of a heat pump or log burner (if lucky both!) Some of the houses in Chch are poorly insulated. At the same time rentals are in demand so you may not be able to be picky. If you do rent a house that is poorly insulated and cold be prepared to receive large power bills. However, this does balance out over summer when bills are lower.

Areas in Chch - Papanui, Merivale, St Albans, Fendalton are the nice areas. Other suburbs you could choose would be Burnside, Riccarton, Avonhead. Generally stick to the western side of town. Although as I said before you may not have much of a choice due to demand being so high. You might be better looking out a little bit at places like Halswell, Kaiapoi and possibly Rangiora. We live in a less desirable neighbourhood and it is a little trashed from the quake. Having said that it will do us fine for now and we haven't had any problems with safety etc.

Earthquakes - good question! As you said people just get on. Chch is obviously re-building from the huge quakes and it will take time. Chch also has quite a few aftershocks. Some you feel, some you don't. Personally it doesn't bother us and locals just seem to crack on with life. There are plenty of families with kids in Chch getting on just fine.

Schools - can't help I'm afraid as we have no kids.

Work - depends what visa you have. If your partner is on a work to residency visa then you will have to apply for a parter visa to allow you to work. I have found there to be plenty of work in Chch. Get in touch with VBase (catering work) as I know they are hiring in January. January is a good time to move because it is peak season so there are usually plenty of jobs. I started off with a cleaning job, then worked as a receptionist and then managed to get work in my profession. You should be fine as long as you have a visa that allows you to work. Also try The Recruitment Network for catering jobs. There are plenty of admin agencies around. I found Kelly's to be great. Adecco are also here. Check out backpackers board for temp/seasonal work. Trademe and Seek are also good for job hunting.

Phew I've written an essay! I wish you the best of luck. For the record we love it here. Sure it's munted from the quake but it also has some plus points like the weather, amount of time spent outdoors, jobs, wine, space, lack of traffic and friendly people. My general advice would be don't sweat the small stuff, buy fruit and veggies from a green grocer, take lots of deep breaths, get out and explore! Any more questions feel free to ask

Snap Shot

Yes, get quotes from various moving companies. Look them up in your local telephone directory. Invite them round to measure and quote. Some play the companies quotes off against each other to get a better deal. You will just have to use your own judgement regarding each one. We shipped from Surrey to Christchurch in 2011 using PSS. They were good. We used their insurance, however, others have used shipping insurance from Letton Percival as they offered a better deal. Letton Percival are insurers not movers. The you will be researching things on the internet like never before.

When listing the insurance value of your household goods, just use the insured value from your current house insurance. This didn't dawn on me until I was trying to guesstimate the replacement value of my everything down to the teaspoons from the drawer ! Yes really. That's how moving can get to you. Deep breaths.

We turned up in Christchurch in March 2011, Autumn in New Zealand. I didn't find it much different to Autumn in Surrey. Wales, I imagine would be wetter than S.E. England. We left Christchurch bound for the coast of the central North Island at the end of June 2011. The very next day -9Centigrade was recorded at Christchurch airport. The idea of living in our rented, single glazed, unheated house in Christchurch at that low temperature made me feel a bit sick. The next house we rented wasn't any better, however, the winters are milder here.

The weather on the South Island of New Zealand is similar to Scotland i.e. freezing in winter. Usually the first area to get snow, however this pleases the skiers ! When the sun comes out in NZ, it's much stronger than Britain. I have got sunburn hanging out the washing at 11.30am. Where I live the summers are no hotter than England, however the winters are milder. It gets cold, but it's rare to see frost.

We lived in Linwood, this is where east Christchurch begins. The local shopping mall, i.e. one supermarket, one shoe shop, one hardware store, one McDonalds, one hairdresser. Is called, 'The Eastgate Centre'.

.

Phew what can I tell you ? Earthquakes bring on a very primal fear which can do funny things to you. It will remind you of being a child and being scared of thunder or being afraid of the dark, like I said, primal fear. As a parent you have probably had to hide your own fear to appear cool to your children so they don't get scared. This will happen during earth quakes. Anyone who thinks the earthquakes are all finished now is deluding themselves.

Sorry, no idea, I don't have children.

.

Work ? It will just be a case of looking. TradeMe Jobs is a good hunting ground to start looking for a job. Some jobs are advertised in the local Community Link office (similar to the local job centre). Other websites to look for jobs are seek.co.nz and nz.govt.jobs website. Please look these names up on the internet as I don't think I've linked them to the website. How much the job is paying is rarely advertised. I once asked about the pay prior to being interviewed for a job in NZ. 'We don't discuss salaries at this stage' was the snotty reply. The minimum wage in NZ is about 8.00GBP per hour. Income tax is lower and there's no National Insurance to pay. Also, temps in work get bank holidays paid by the agency. That's what happened for me at Easter 2011 - result.

Whether or not you are legally entitled to work in NZ or what visa will be required to enable you to work is up to you. I'm married to a New Zealander and have a family category visa which gets me my permanent resident status.

For the record, it took me 3 weeks to find paid employment in Christchurch. I registered at an employment agency and they got me a job. I was doing admin work. The job was supposed to be for three months but ended after three weeks as they found some one who used to work for the company to do the job and therefore save on the agency fee. Yeah, that old chestnut.

It took me a year to get paid employment where we live now. That was for a few months work. I've been looking for work since January 2013. Despite applying for dozens of jobs and sometimes being interviewed I've yet to get an offer of employment.

You will need to be resilient when looking for work. You could apply for a job that would be within your skillset but otherwise beneath you and not even get interviewed.

I realise you work as a Sheltered Scheme Manager, not as a carer. However there's the wife of a poster who lives in Christchurch, who works as a carer in an aged care home and applied for job in different care home and didn't even get so much as an acknowledgement of her application. That self same vacancy was readvertised a few weeks later. Go figure !

My husband was turned down after the first interview for a job that is now being readvertised. Just who do they think is going to apply for the job that hasn't already applied ? The pool of interested applicants just isn't that big in NZ. Anyway, I digress

Sorry over load i know and i have lots more so please help . Thank you so much Julie[/QUOTE]

Tom1983

If you want to bring stuff over, get onto Pickfords and other worldwide removal companies. A word of advice, even if it'll cost a bit - do it! You'll have a lot more room to play with when it comes to attempting to find a reasonable property to rent or if you're lucky and can afford to buy, buy. Don't be fooled by the Harvey Norman 60 months interest free - you won't be eligible anyway unless your a permanent resident

However as i've seen the if it doesn''t work out, you go home comment - that's a tough one. Do you want to ship all your stuff over and then have to do it again? It might be wise keeping that in mind that if you want to stay permanently, then get things shipped over. That way at least if it doesn't work out, you can go home and everything is there

Would you be coming on a work or work to residence visa? WTR would give you 2 and a half months to decide whether to stay or go. Despite what you're about to read, we have applied to stay permanently.

OK now I see you are going to be coming over to Christchurch, i'll be as gentle as I can and try not to go off on a rant when it comes to certain things.

First of all, earthquakes - if you are worried about earthquakes, stay in the UK! Seriously!!!! Earthquakes, Volcanoes, they're all here and everywhere is at risk. Auckland is built on a volcano, Wellington and Christchurch experience movements, the alpine fault is due to go any time now, and more and more faults are being found. There's a new one found at Lake Ellesmere, about 50km south of Christchurch which these expert geonet people are concerned a large one may happen. By large, the maximum power the faults here could do is reported at 7.2 - the 8s and 9s are all round Japan.
What are they like? 4's are a big felt jolt and then smallish movements, 3's can be felt but that's one push, a bit like a HGV truck passing by. The quakes also vary with noise, you might get woken by a very loud noise which could just be a small 4 pointer. Part and parcel of being here
We haven't had a 5 pointer here since May 2012 and a 6 pointer is definitely feelable, lasts anywhere between 30 seconds to 1 minute and sounds like you're attached to the engine of an RAF fighter pilot taking off at full thrust. I wasn't here for September but to give you an insight, friends of ours woke at 4:35am and the ground didn't stop shaking for about 45 minutes. Same with the one we had, a feelable quake happened every minute or 2 and varied in power.

Schools are in a bit of a situation at the moment given ************ requirements of merging plenty around the area. There's a mixture of private and public here, with some private schools costing around $12,000. It's also a mixture of single sex and joint sex schools. On Papanui Road, you've got a couple of all girls schools south of Merivale and then St Andrews which is an all mixed. Uniforms are interesting I must say. From what I hear, they do try and make education and school a fun and enjoyable environment. Luckily for this country, they don't have a Da no I'll stop there before I go green like the Hulk

Now onto areas and this will probably depend on how you are coming over and your budget for rent. Good luck entering an atrocious rip off rental market. Finding a property being offered at a reasonable rate is errr difficult. You'll be in competition with many rebuild workers coming over and also people that are having to move out of their homes so that repairs can be done.
If buying, this is also something to enquire about - repairs and insurance. The cheaper properties here tend to be uninsurable on TC3 land, therefore repairs to be done by yourselves. There's such a backlog of homes awaiting their repairs but do not panic, everything is under control according to, oh damn going off again - best stop
Where to look for? It all depends on your budget and what you want. If you want to be in areas less likely to be affected, then look west of Christchurch. Cheaper properties are east but a lot of damage was done round east Christchurch. For a family with 3 kids - well that's not going to be easy. I'd personally look around areas such as St Albans, Harewood, Burwood and Burnside. All have nice areas, family friendly, plenty of parks and good access to the city. Burwood is one of my favourite areas for some reason I cannot explain and one I want to move to. The parks round there are well worth the move, plus Windsor Golf Course would be a 5 minute drive away

Hot summers (if like this year), mild winters with the odd freezing night. Generally it tends to get very cold around the early hours of the morning during night times. Make sure you get plenty of wood for your fire, failing that - there's plenty of electric blankets and heaters, which are musical sounds and $ signs to the power companies. Oh a word, if you do come over - avoid Meridian at all costs. Less I say about them, the better and that's putting it kindly. Only EQC are above Meridian in the list of customer service companies I never want to deal with again.

Regarding jobs, you'll be able to work wherever. Just accept that jobs you think you should definitely get an interview for, you might not. I cannot prove anything but my wife worked in hospitals as a healthcare assistant for 6 years back in Blighty, and has 1 and a bit year experience as an aide over here in a hospital. Also with her skills and qualifications in caring, she technically should get the minimumm, an interview for caring jobs. She applied for around 27 care jobs and only one came back to her with an interview, and she got the job. It's either the work visa that puts them off, her skills may be to good, or more than likely in my opinion - her nationality. I cannot prove it and it's a pretty hard statement to make, but I do wonder sometimes if she was a New Zealander or from the Phillippines, would she have got an interview. I mention Phillippines with caring because they generally accept the poor wages that are paid for this role. Oh and another point that might back it up, the manager of the place she's working at is South African, her previous job in the hospital - the ward manager too was South African.
So just be prepared that you might not get interviews for jobs and it may take tmie to get one. They don't get back to you very quickly, they do like to take their time with things, as the sailing may be on, or the bank has made yet another profit that requires a celebration. However I cannot fault the council when they actually called me and explained why I was rejected for a position. I've never had that which was good

Other things to note. Christchurch is known as 'The Orange City' or the roadwork capital of the world. There's more orange cones in the city than the population of the south island. Expect minor delays, 30kmh tailbacks and many detours to your destination. Keep an eye on that with an area to rent, some places will clog the road up that you have to park somewhere else. I had to do that for 8 weeks when my road was being repaired. There's a plan about the amount of works going on in the city, soon it'll be pointless even driving there.

There is a bus service but it all goes to the city centre apart from 3 buses I think which are The Orbiter, The Metro service between Halswell and New Brighton - and The Comet. No such thing as trains bar two services - don't even bother arguing the case for rail as the general consensus will go on about the 1970's - this is 2010's the 70's were 40 years ago. It's a great shame that there isn't more public transport here in the city but the plan is more cars, more fuel usage, more money to 8888888888 aaah *bangs head on brick wall telling to stop*

As with everywhere, there are problems here but there a lot of positives as well. It's a 2 hour drive to Kaikoura to see the whales and seals, a few hours south is Akaroa, beautiful place. There's loads of sporting activities which I love, plenty of social life and in general I feel a lot safer here. We had 5 months living in Linwood and I actually felt safe walking round there considering that is deemed the dodgiest area of Christchurch

When it's rebuilt, it'll be a great city to live in and hopefuly EQC will hopefully be long gone and never to be experienced again.

Purrball

Part of (the jaded) me thinks that 15k put aside for a lengthy family holiday of a lifetime in New Zealand and a stopover in Australia, criss-crossing and exploring the country, staying in remote and beautiful locations, seeing and doing all the things that many Kiwis never get to do, would be a lot less disruptive and a helluva lot more fun than battling draughty houses and expensive bills in Christchurch.

Just sayin'.

Tom1983

A note from our version of the local rag where your from

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/new...on-for-schools

Keep this in mind about schools when coming over.

Oh and something I must say which i'm sure you've become used to like the most of us from the UK, take anything politicians say with a pinch of salt. Especially ones that have the same initials of the last Scottish Prime Minister of the UK or the same initials as this site . Note that doesn't include middle names as I don't know either middle name of them

shocked kiwi

Just go to scotland to live - it looks really similar to the south island of nz but with better housing and you can keep earning pounds rather than nz dollars that don't go far in a global economy. It sounds like you need a good holiday, if you come here as a tourist its fab, but living here is a bit different.

jmh

I dunno - some people say the same thing about Scotland. Still I can see the draw of a grandchild.

oceane01

Ok firstly 3 job offers but meetings on Monday , That is why they asked for a decision by Monday . Its a lot to take in and i have got to admit not 100% convinced and a lot will depend on the 10,000 questions i ask on Monday , Chad is not a risk taker either , we are looking for a better way of life for the kids , People who are over there but dont want to be maybe need the same reality check when thinking about coming back , The government is screwing the country up , The nhs is on ots way out , the corruption over here is incredible , My sister is a police woman and often fears for her life as police are no longer respected , Drugs are a common thing now if someone has not tried or took on a regular basis they are an exception , Schools are being merged all over the place and they take a really good school and mix it with a really bad school and hope for the best . Even the nice areas are no longer or wont be very nice for long and quite frankly we might as well put Joey Essex (Towie ) In place of the next prime minister and turn the Dingles in as the royal family , There is good and bad in every country i suppose and hey who is to say we wont have an earth quake over here , Things are definitely changing . Thank you so much for every bodies input and advice , I don't think you realise how valuable the info is especially when your coming in blind .. I am going to print this page off and go through it all with my oh tonight , Its always good to have a mix of good and bad it adds a bit more balance and reality which can dissapear after spending hours trawling the net looking for an answer to a simple question .

oceane01

I cant go to Scotland .. If i stand still long enough they may pebble dash me

luvwelly

I think you may have been reading too much Daily Mail.
Seriously NZ is no better - the electoral system is better in theory (not First Past The Post) but in practice it is an isolated country with a low population and 'who you know counts for more than what you know'. Many Kiwis hop over to Oz for better wages and never return, vast majority of young people who can finance it do an 'OE' after finishing school to see the world and often do not return for years or ever except to visit.

I agree move to Scotland - you'll get most of the benefits of NZ with hardly any of the downsides and you'd be near your daughter and granddaughter.

Very often I think those searching 'for a better lifestyle' would do well to consider nearer places than NZ - let's face it, you are only going there really because it is an English-speaking country. Often a better life is on the doorstep within the UK.

luvwelly

NZ has some of the highest illegal drug taking rates in the Western world lol.
Youth suicide and child abuse rates very high too. Watch 'Top of the Lake'. Even crime is high for the population size. You badly need an NZ reality check.

oceane01

When you went out there what was your reasons for going and leaving to come back ? If you dont mind me asking , were you under the same illusions or was there a specific reason ?

Purrball

Here's how an expat Kiwi now sees Wales upon returning back to the UK with her family.

Many expat Kiwis, including myself, often have to revisit one or more times to get a feel for the place and the people and work through our own process about reacquainting ourselves with somewhere all Kiwis think of as 'home', but often wouldn't want to live there. Sometimes you have to go back to discover how much you've changed and how things you once took for granted in New Zealand all those years ago, now seem less desirable. One person's space and natural beauty is another's dull small town which closes early in the evening and nothing of interest rarely seems to happen.

Please take this the right way, but it seems to me that your decision-making process, possibly because it's hurried and isn't as well-researched as the time allows, isn't based on as firm ground as might be ideal and that your perceptions of the UK aren't necessarily the entire picture. It also seems to me that you're trying desperately hard, casting around for reasons that might make the grass appear greener elsewhere by running the UK down. For that reason, if I were you, I'd be extremely careful about not overcommitting and spending too much money upfront so that you can set aside money for returning if it doesn't work out. I'd also set up a short list of goals or conditions, targets or things that have to be met and are right for everyone in the family and then look at that list after you've been in New Zealand for perhaps 12 months and then at 18 or 24 months. Also consider the slim but real possibility of additional stress and faultlines being added your marriage that may prove difficult to overcome. For instance, my parent's marriage fell apart through various stresses and strains, when they emigrated with the family to another country back in the 1970s and things didn't work out workwise and financially. One of them ended up leaving the other and taking the kids back with them.

I'd be the last person to unequivocally say 'don't do it', because I took a similar leap of faith in coming to the UK many years ago. It's an admirable quality to want to explore the world and test yourself. However, I was young, single and without children, so whatever the outcome, I wasn't responsible for others. The only future that hinged on my decision was my own and I didn't have many bridges to burn. It seemed a natural progression, a huge step upwards by leaving New Zealand.

I think New Zealand can be a spectacular and wonderful place to live if you're the right kind of people in the right kind of circumstances. Some come to it with considerable advantages, some take to it and things fall into place, some chafe against its very real restrictions, some just aren't suited to the kind of country and society it is... and unfortunately, some have rose-tinted spectacles before they make the leap.

I can't find it now, but one of the first threads I read on this New Zealand forum, was titled something like 'This wasn't supposed to happen, but we're now poor!'.

Something to bear in mind.