Lots of advice please
 

Hey all my name is Nic i am 39 yrs old and live in Nottingham Uk and married with 3 kids. i am a carpenter by trade with 5 yrs behind me.
i was planning to migrate to Australia to be nearer my dad and sisters but time has gone against me with my age as i am 40 in a few months and lose 10 points. i have been advised by an agent i have a better chance with New Zealand and so me and the wife are going to give it ago. My only concern is i have never been there so what everyone views on it good places to live ? ect ect been to Australia loads of times but never New Zealand.What are the schools like ?
whats the work like on a building site is it different much from the UK and what type of pay would i be looking at? if anyone can answer this one i do more renovation work so i am a bit of a all rounder as a carpenter.

i know the life style will be better for me and my family so all and any advice would be great.

Re: Lots of advice please
 

sorry I cannot help answer you questions but if you contact a company called Canstaff they will be able to help and may even find you a contract.
We have had a few people come over using Canstaff

Re: Lots of advice please
 

I think you need to narrow it down a bit in terms of whereabouts in NZ you would like to live and which places you think will provide the 'better lifestyle'. NZ is not one big homogeneous place: it has as many variables as the UK in respect of weather and lifestyle and is nothing like Australia. Do you want to live in a city, near a beach or rural and if so would you prefer sunny, hot, big, small, wet, windy or cold?

If the main aim is to get to see more of your family then in some regards being in NZ will seem just as far away from your family as you are in the UK. You will need both the time and money to do that. Kiwi wages aren't the greatest and likely you will only get four weeks of annual leave.

Flights are not cheap and it's not like you can just decide to take a short trip for a weekend. Bear in mind that funding a trip to Aussie for a family ($600 to $750 per adult return to Brisbane) is a pretty big commitment and takes the best part of a day to get door-to-door from anywhere in NZ to even the nearest places in Aussie.

Re: Lots of advice please
 

What do you think will be better?

Re: Lots of advice please
 

Just trying to think outside the box, worth investigating... If you've not reached that age yet for a few months what's stopping you entering that as surely your points will be locked in when you enter?

Re: Lots of advice please
 

I live in an area, surrounded by natural beauty, Forrest's, rivers, mountains, open spaces and friendly neighbours.
I earn more than I could in the ukhave a nicer house, bigger garden and am a lot happier and less stressed
I couldn't afford to live the way I do if I was still in the uk, and let's not forget the OP is coming for same reason the rest of us did.

Re: Lots of advice please
 

There'll be less cars, less traffic, less people, less scroats, less ASBO riddled criminals and less people trying to rip you off at every turn. The weather and climate will be better. The air will be fresher and cleaner and the brighter sunlight will make you smile and make you feel good to be alive. You are never more than approx 100 km from the coast (as the crow flies). It is statistically much safer to live in NZ with much less serious crime....likely due to a much smaller population. NZ does have it's many problems - child poverty, lots of people living below the poverty line, housing standards, P or meth abuse, gangs etc etc but in all the 6 years we've been here we've not experienced any of the bad stuff which some people spout to be every day occurrences.

I'd much rather live here with f@%k all than have to struggle along in the yUK with its depressing grey dismal cold wet crap weather that's passed off as a decent summer.

You can have a better life here....we certainly do but you have to make it happen and adapt how you live.

Life is GOOD!!! :thumbsup:

Re: Lots of advice please
 

that all depends on where you live/lived, I have experienced more of that here than I ever did in the UK.
Weather is no better just more extreme from one level to the other. I certainly experience the worse winds and rain here and the sun can be so strong it can burn within 20 mins which means the good old slip slop slap is a must which comes at a monetary cost.

Re: Lots of advice please
 

Australia and New Zealand are not similar. Please don't swap in New Zealand thinking it's a kind of substitute for Australia since both countries are out this way. Nor are we particularly close . . . Auckland to Melbourne is a 4 hour flight.

If you get a positive skills assessment in Australia, would you have enough points to get drawn from the pool for PR? In Australian immigration, time freezes once your EoI gets drawn from the pool and you won't lose points once your birthday comes. So, if you can get your skills assessment done (submit it pronto) and estimate you will have enough points to get drawn, go for your original choice.

New Zealand Citizens (but not permanent residents) do have unrestricted rights to live and work in Australia, but not access benefits. It's called the Special Category Visa and it's given on arrival to NZ Citizens (some joke that the "Kiwi Dream" is to move to the Gold Coast). But that's a long way down the track for you.

Good luck.

Re: Lots of advice please
 

This

& this concern me a little.

Regardless of anything else. If you are managing to visit your family in Australia reasonably often and for several weeks maybe at a stretch then please do some very hard financial sums about New Zealand. You may well find that your trips to Oz will be far less than they are now.

Is a 4 hour flight if you are up Auckland way or perhaps Welly or ChCh.
For other places it can be a bit of a mission.

Re: Lots of advice please
 

We have direct flights from Queenstown to Melb

Just saying

Re: Lots of advice please
 

How much dosh?

No direct flights from Nelson.

Re: Lots of advice please
 

Cheep return would be around 5 hundy

Re: Lots of advice please
 

That sounds lovely.

The OP was not specific about what they expected about the 'better lifestyle' for them and their family so I thought that others might be able to point them in more helpful directions if we knew what they wanted.

Re: Lots of advice please
 

The OPs family are in Brisbane and they have three kids - depending on ages of kids there is every likelihood they would be travelling on peak times in school or public holidays. For a long weekend away without any accommodation cost; add in parking, transfers, care of animals and such like and not much change from $3.5k to $4k