DebsnJohn

Hi All

My partner has an interview at the end of the month with a recruitment agency here in Scotland for a QS job in Christchurch area NZ, if anyone has experience of this process, please share, we also are looking to rent our property here in Scotland for 30 months and go on a work to residence visa, any feedback would be great....how exciting, still early stages though.

A looking for feedback on areas to live in Canterbury as we have a 5yr old.

Thanks

DebsnJohn

Snazishaz

Hi guys and welcome

Firstly what is a Qs job? i came from scotland via a recruitment agency and the experience was really good. I am a nurse and got a job offer 6mth before i arrived, i currently work at christchurch hospital. Not to spoil your excitement but i assume you are aware of whats going on here? Think this is a very important factor to consider before the big move. There are lots of good and not so good areas like every where in canterbury and every one will have there own opinion. I will try to advice you on this if you can tell me were abouts in christchurch the job is. Good luck!

DebsnJohn

Hi Snazishaz

Thanks for giving us feedback, we are aware of situation in Christchurch and would like to know more on the reality of that.

We are unsure whereabouts in Christchurch the job is at the moment, awaiting more information from recruitment agency. How long you been in NZ? How is the cost of living and rental of accomodation? sorry for all the questions, we are realy keen to be involved in the rebuild of christchurch but would love to know more on what we would actually be going into.

Snazishaz

Hi Again

The reality here is its not good,nearly one year on and we are still living on shaky ground. Christchurch city is no more. There is nothing left. We arrived here nov 09 and fortunately we have the memories of the garden city that once was. We used to rent in the city and moved to our new dream home in Rolleston a year past in may. Thankfully its came off pretty well (minor damage) even though the big quake in sep was very close. Rolleston is 22km from city about 20-30 min drive. Its a lovely little rural town thats quite new in parts and a great place to stay, has good schools to and all we need to live, it has a nice town centre thats expanding day to day. Although its classed as the country its not the country as we know it however i do have sheep and cows in the paddock which im looking at right now.

We are apparently on stronger safer ground here as its built on an old river bed (so ive been told) There has been a new thread started about peoples experiences regarding the earthquakes have a read and you will find out more about it. At least you will get a heads up, i didnt know we were at risk here till it happened. Its also winter here and very cold, not as bad as scotland but still very cold. was -3 in parts last week. but what i love is although its cold the sky remains clear blue and the sun remains to shine.

The cost of living is costly, dont believe all you hear it is expensive to live here. I am just getting used to it now as i kept converting, something you need to learn to stop doing. House rentals are around $350 + per wk if you want something nice in a good area, i can help you with that when you now exactly were your going. One thing to remember though is rentals are now like hens teeth due to the amount of people loosing their homes most rentals have been snapped up, especially out my way. There will also be more in demand very soon when those that lived in the red zone get their government pay out. The red zone is were the land and buildings are deemed as unsafe to repair or re-build. A lot of those families 5000 + are heading to safer ground and that means heading out my way. There are many nice places to live in the canterbury area, when you now were your OH job is drop me a line or a PM. Any other queries let me know, having recently done all this its still fresh in my memory.

Debbie2NZ

Good luck with your plans. Our 2 bed rented house in Linwood, Christchurch is available to rent for $260pw. Would someone move in as soon as possible please as we are still paying rent on an empty unoccupied house as we left with the lease still outstanding until the end of September. As soon as a new tenant moves in, our obligation to pay the rent ceases. The carpets, windows and oven were all professionally cleaned. I know because we paid for this as part of our bond inspection prior to us returning the keys to First Avenue Property. Yes, Linwood is in the east of Christchurch, but the property is on Worcester Street.