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Living in Auckland for all of 2017

Living in Auckland for all of 2017

Old Nov 23rd 2016, 4:20 pm
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Default Living in Auckland for all of 2017

Good morning all,

Just wanted to say hello and to say that I will shortly be moving to Auckland for around 12 months in January 2017.

Usually on forums I'm more of a lurker, and this forum has been so useful already with all shades of people's experiences in NZ to read about.

Here's my journey so far if anyone is at all interested!

I'm a daughter of the forces and used to being shifted about all over the place. I spent most of my life in Norfolk near the beach and although I love Sheffield, I really miss the sea. I have a degree in geology and have for the past ~6 years worked as a geotechnical and geo-environmental engineer for a consulting engineering firm. I have lived abroad for a short time in the Philippines before.
Mr. Cornflakes Box-to-be is the one with the job offer from Auckland Health Board. He's a manager in the NHS here and this job is another step up for him and not something we could really say no to. He's been born and bred in Sheffield and lived nowhere else.

We both felt unhappy and like we were stagnating in our careers so are hoping that spending 2017 in NZ will give us a fresh perspective and perhaps a push in the right direction.

So far the visas are being processed (our medicals came back all fine, despite a lot of things I've read about high BMI being a problem, ours will have definitely been high but they didn't seem concerned at all), we have potentially found homes for all 3 of our precious pussycats, meeting someone to have the house put on the rentals market on Friday, we've already sold a lot of stuff, and I need to sort out a NZ style CV and update my LinkedIn to hopefully get some work when we go out there. Oh yes and we get married on the 2nd of December!!

So that's where we are...I'd be interested to know if anyone else is planning to come out the same sort of time or is around in Auckland? We have two friends who have been out there for 18 months, also working for the Health Board, and now going for permanent residency, so I do already have a contact. Next steps I would imagine are sorting bank accounts, and trying to scope out good areas to live? We're travelling very light as it's just for a year, I'm hoping you can get a furnished place fairly easily? Anyone else working for the Health Board or in construction/engineering/environment? Will be nice to hear from you guys
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Old Nov 23rd 2016, 5:19 pm
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Default Re: Living in Auckland for all of 2017

Sounds good. Auckland's a nice place to spend the year. Arriving in January you'll see the best of it - decent weather through to April May, some events and festivals etc at the end of summer. Lions Tour should be fun in the winter too.
I think you can get furnished places to stay - you just looking at a one bed apartment?
For somewhere to live - a suburb with a beach and easy access to the city you could look at any number of places - Mission Bay, Devonport, even Piha if your job was in West Auckland.. Or somewhere near the water but not really beachy like Hobsonville?
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Old Nov 23rd 2016, 7:57 pm
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Default Re: Living in Auckland for all of 2017

That sounds great, and thanks so much for the info! Just a one bed place will be fine certainly as we won't have a lot of stuff.
Hubby-to-be's job is at the hospital and another clinic, it looks like the areas are called Grafton, Newmarket, Greenlane? Our friend who works at the hospital lives in Kelston. Will certainly look at all those places, thanks a bunch!
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Old Nov 24th 2016, 12:50 am
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Default Re: Living in Auckland for all of 2017

Those places are central. Grafton is City centre - that would be the main Auckland Hospital and Starship, the Children's Hospital (a seriously awesome place BTW). Newmarket is a central suburb, known as a nice shopping desitination. Greenlane would be the other hospital - more specialised care I think, opposite the main Exhibition Centre Grounds
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Old Nov 24th 2016, 9:44 am
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Default Re: Living in Auckland for all of 2017

Originally Posted by cornflakes_everywhere
I need to sort out a NZ style CV and update my LinkedIn to hopefully get some work when we go out there.
I think the traditional old NZ style CV is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. It seems that international standards have finally caught on and most that we are seeing now are short and to the point. I would suggest you stick with the format that you might ordinarily expect but do use your cover letter to sell yourself and the state the reasons why you think you are the ideal candidate or what motivated you to apply for that particular job.

Some good tips here:

Five things stand out as most annoying from over 40,000 CVs | Stuff.co.nz

I loved this comment ''Also, change your surname to one of the names of the managing directors, and begin your cover with "Dear Uncle..."
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Old Jan 2nd 2017, 10:24 pm
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Default Re: Living in Auckland for all of 2017

Thank you bearskin for helping with the districts.

Originally Posted by Bo-Jangles

Some good tips here:

Five things stand out as most annoying from over 40,000 CVs | Stuff.co.nz

I loved this comment ''Also, change your surname to one of the names of the managing directors, and begin your cover with "Dear Uncle..."
Oh my gosh, that made me laugh!! Thank you for that, it'll be really handy.

So we are flying out to Auckland on 8th January and will get there on the 10th, via Singapore. Things have been very hectic, we got married on December 2nd, and have been dealing with family drama, more weddings, Christmas, New Year, etc... I managed to sell my car on Friday, but was then stuck with all the bank holidays unable to hire a car until tomorrow with a house still full of stuff needing to go into storage, charity or tip. We've been allowed only 30kg of luggage and are really struggling to fit everything we need in our one bag each.

It has been very difficult clearing our home, it is our first house and we have lived here for 2 years. That said we do have a lot of clutter so in a way it is good, but it will be hard just living with the bare essentials and having to give away/chuck things like our kitchen stuff. We are renting it furnished through a letting agency so it won't be empty.

Yesterday we said goodbye to two of our cat friends. One has gone to my father in law's cattery and smallholding in Norfolk, where he will be looking for a new home on his own, but we are fairly confident he will manage to end up on FIL's settee instead. As his future is a little uncertain I was absolutely devastated yesterday and many many tears were shed.
Another has gone to two friends in Bradford who wanted a cat matching his exact description and I am confident he will live an absolutely charmed life. Much less tears shed.
The last one, our oldest one, is due to go move in with a friend nearby who should have moved into his new house by now...but because of Xmas/NY he is still waiting. Very nervous for little cat...but we have decided if it gets too close she could go to a cattery for a little while as she waits to be picked up by our friend. Mr Cornflakes will shed many many tears when we have to say goodbye and I dare say I will too.

We never ever thought we would ever do anything like emigrate to somewhere so far away, we will definitely not be entering any future pet ownership lightly. I adore cats and dogs and grew up surrounded by them so may get involved with rescue or fostering instead, depending on whether we decide to stay in New Zealand or go back to the UK.

So we still need to sort things like doctor's notes for medicines, New Zealand bank accounts, cancel all our stuff here like phone contracts, get New Zealand sim cards? At the moment we're just sorting the very final things which can be sold on eBay.

I just know I'm going to forget something!!
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Old Jan 3rd 2017, 8:13 am
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Default Re: Living in Auckland for all of 2017

Hi cornflakes,

In a similar situation to you but we are going to Wellington. We fly this evening !!!! Know what you mean about travelling with just 1 case and clearing your house. We have also only lived here 2 years and have put it up for rent. We gave our dog to our grandparents yesterday, hardest thing I've ever done. But in the same boat as you, looked in to NZ about 4 years back n didn't think I'd get a job so we left it. Got married, got a dog, bought a house then I got a job offer out of the blue in the summer which is a massive promotion. Seems a bit like fate and we have to give it a go at least whilst we're still young and have no kids. Good luck with your journey!
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Old Jan 15th 2017, 9:55 pm
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Default Re: Living in Auckland for all of 2017

Originally Posted by El_queenio
Hi cornflakes,

In a similar situation to you but we are going to Wellington. We fly this evening !!!! Know what you mean about travelling with just 1 case and clearing your house. We have also only lived here 2 years and have put it up for rent. We gave our dog to our grandparents yesterday, hardest thing I've ever done. But in the same boat as you, looked in to NZ about 4 years back n didn't think I'd get a job so we left it. Got married, got a dog, bought a house then I got a job offer out of the blue in the summer which is a massive promotion. Seems a bit like fate and we have to give it a go at least whilst we're still young and have no kids. Good luck with your journey!
Hi Queenio, oh my gosh yes that's spookily similar! Sorry I missed your post until now. How has it been going in Wellington? My husband really liked the look of Wellington rather than Auckland and is desperate to visit and check out all the bars and things. Been here in Auckland almost a week now and we haven't been able to explore as we've been busy sorting bank accounts, IRD numbers, sim cards, drivers licences, somewhere to rent - it seems the list is endless. It's his first day of work today at the hospital and my job is finding somewhere furnished to rent (seems to be much easier said than done) and also find a job for me. We've mostly got things sorted here but there's loads of niggles, payments and things we still have to take care of in the UK. It's particularly annoying when a potential tenant views your house and wants you to fix the gate from the other side of the world!

While it has only been a week I really like the place and the people we've met so far. Seems that everyone will go out of their way to help you or give you honest advice - even our bank manager drew us a map of New Zealand with all the places she thought she should visit on it. Think I will get a much better feel for it once I start working.
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Old Jan 18th 2017, 6:29 am
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Default Re: Living in Auckland for all of 2017

Welcome to Auckland

We moved from Scotland over 2 years now and love it here. We sold our house in the UK (yes so hard to get it all cleared of 15 years of stuff hehe) but I thought it would be hard to deal with renters from here, I hope you get friends in the UK to help ease that part for you.

You can drive on your UK driving licence for 1 year here in NZ so save the money and only get your NZ licence when the year is nearly up if you do intend to stay longer

I found the website realestate.co.nz the best for renting or Trade Me Property - New Zealand real estate. rentals, houses for sale & more as it is where all the agents post. Have the forms ready and filled in when you go to view as that will go in your favour if you can move fast.

https://www.airbnb.co.nz/ is another website that you might find somewhere to rent short term (a few months) I found the prices cheaper doing it this way but fortunately one of my work colleagues let me stay with them until I found a rental so I didn't need to rush into anything.

I am in the CBD every Monday so please get in touch if you want to catch up for more advice.

Good luck on your new adventure!!!
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Old Jan 19th 2017, 8:15 pm
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Default Re: Living in Auckland for all of 2017

Hi cornflakes, I hope you're finding your feet there now.

My family and I are just starting out on this process but I am looking at jobs within Auckland District Health Board too so will be keen to find out how your husband gets on there and finds it compares to the NHS! I also posted today about commutable Auckland areas to the hospitals, so will keep an eye out for how you get on with that too! Best of luck
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Old Jan 19th 2017, 10:14 pm
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Default Re: Living in Auckland for all of 2017

Hi Bramble, thank you and nice to hear from you! We have met a few British, especially Scottish people here already, it quite surprised us but it's nice to know that other people have settled. Thanks for the help on everything but the driving license got all submitted now, I suppose it'll make a nice souvenir if we decide to go back? And we managed to get accepted for a really nice flat in Mount Albert, such a relief after living in the hotel which isn't ideal, and seeing another property which was full of mould and damp, the landlord telling us there was nothing wrong with it :/ We move on Tuesday, luckily one of my friends here is a teacher who is still on school holiday so he is going to help me move on the day. We're very lucky!!

Hi Sam, my husband has almost done a full week at ADHB now and as you may expect the first week is a bit different to how a job normally is. His initial impression compared to the NHS is that things get done a LOT more slowly, which is frustrating him quite a lot. However, everyone is friendly but he says they do love sitting in meetings. My hubby is very hands on, likes to get things done so this is why he's a bit frustrated! My friend from uni who works in the ADHB also for the past 18 months agrees, but he's obviously still there and loves living in New Zealand. I suppose it's all about weighing up the pros and cons.

My friend drove me around most of the suburbs the other day when we looked at places to live. The first flat viewing was in Parnell. I loved Parnell, and that was the first time I realised that living here could be really enjoyable, the Auckland CBD, which was all we saw until then, reminds me a little of a Canadian city like Toronto - lots of faceless office blocks, but with more shops and things, but not that many interesting places you could see yourself in in the evening. Of course they are there, they just don't seem that obvious? But in Parnell it seemed like more nice bars, cafes, and shops to look at, more of a place you want to be in. Unfortunately the flat we saw there was full of mould (otherwise it would have been perfect). He also showed me Kingsland, which felt similar to Parnell, and we went out to Glen Eden as well to see what it would be like living further out but still on the train line. I really liked all those places, they are all charming and have lots to offer. We jumped at the offer of the flat in Mount Albert as it is much newer and won't be much trouble to keep clean etc, and it's really close to St Luke's which is a Westfield shopping centre as well as lots of other shops. My husband can catch a 20 minute bus to work, or we can walk 20 mins to a train station on the western line. Really all of the suburbs seem to be convenient, there is debate among the expats I've met over which ones are rough (although I didn't see anything bad). I'm glad I waited until I got here to see them for myself before choosing somewhere to live over the internet. I'm finding Auckland quite nice and green generally which is nice as Sheffield is also a leafy city with Peak District on our doorstep, there are lots of parks you can lose yourself in and it doesn't feel too urban good luck with applying to ADHB!
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Old Jan 20th 2017, 10:19 am
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Default Re: Living in Auckland for all of 2017

Yikes! More slowly than the NHS?!? Is that possible?

Thanks for taking the time for so much detail when you must be so busy organising! Does it feel odd that you are actually staying there not just on holiday? We went to the North Island on holiday 2 years ago and but the things that you notice as a tourist are so different to what you need to know as a potential resident. So we know about food prices and vague geography, and how long it can take to drive to anywhere, but as for is the education system good for our 3 kids or what's rush hour like and good housing areas...not got a clue! I think that's definitely the right thing to do to Airbnb or hotel it for a while so be able to drive around the areas for a better idea...especially with the children, I would hate to put them in a school then move them again 6 months later as we don't like the area we randomly chose online.

Hope you both continue to settle in well, sounds like you are doing great so far! Good luck
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Old Jan 20th 2017, 7:18 pm
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Default Re: Living in Auckland for all of 2017

That's great news about Mount Albert we have a few friends that stay there and I love KMart at St Lukes typical Scottish bargain hunter. You will find all the bedding you need and more at KMart!!!

There is an amazing Farmer's Market on at Mount Albert every Saturday you should definitely give it a go the fresh vegs and fruit are amazing:

https://www.facebook.com/mtalbertmarket/

If you like nice bars, cafes and shops you should go have a look at Mission Bay and Devonport for a wee day trip the fish and chips (aka fush & chups) are amazing from The Fish Pot Cafe and you will enjoy eating them on the beach. Such a different life than in the UK. Devonport is across from CBD on a Ferry which is lovely for photos of the Harbour Bridge and the City. I found Devonport reminded me of the UK in the 1990's and before you can go on a horse and carriage, look around a craft/book shop or sit outside with a coffee and cake

Anyway......I am getting carried away with my love of NZ I hope all goes well on Tuesday with the move, and I can't wait to hear all about your adventures.
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Old Aug 25th 2017, 12:58 pm
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Default Re: Living in Auckland

Hi Guys

Appreciate this is a wee while after your thread. We are looking to move out to Auckland in a few months. I have a job with a construction company based north of the airport and my wife will be looking to work in the CBD once our 3 month old is a little older.

Could you suggest any nice areas to live with a good public transport commute? Is the traffic as bad as everyone says it is out there or will coming from London seem like a breeze at rush hour? My job will mean driving around Auckland to sites and the office so I'm keen to be close to the office but also more importantly on a good commute line for my wife.

Any advice on the lifestyle out there? We were really hoping to be in the South Island but getting a job with sponsorship is much easier in Auckland than down south so we are looking at it as a stepping stone once we get residency.

I hope you are having a great time out there & any advice, good or bad, would be amazing!

Pete
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Old Aug 27th 2017, 9:15 pm
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Default Re: Living in Auckland for all of 2017

Pete, regarding traffic in Auckland, it very much depends on the time of day. If I leave Queen Street in CBD for Papakura via the Southern Motorway, which is about 35 kms away, at say 2.45 pm, I can get there in 25 minutes. If I leave at 4 pm, it can take 2 hours. This should improve though as they are currently adding 2 more lanes each way through one of the most congested parts. Airport to city is much better now with the new tunnel. Havnt driven that lately in rush hour but takes about half hour outside peak. You will be doing 80 to 100 kms per hour most of way. In summary, 7.30 am to 9 am and 3.30 pm to 6 pm, traffic is pretty horrendous. Outside of those hours its generally free flowing.
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