sezzaphil

Hi there,

My OH has an interview tonight and if he is successful their will be a move to wellington with 2 young children on the cards. I traveled nz 15 years ago and remember tthinking it would be a great place to bring up kids. We are in a good position here in the uk, money, house, good pension but my OH works shifts so the lifestyles is not up to scratch. He has been given an opportunity out of the blue so we're thinking we should take it as these kind of opportunitys don't come round often!. I keep hearing about the pitfalls of NZ such as its expensive, its cold and windy, houses are awful quality. It's expensive here and snowing at the moment but I would love to hear wheather a move to NZ is worth it for the lifestyle and especially for kids ( as we're doing it for them and their future) thanks

Moses2013

It's again all relative and don't have kids. Why for example would Wellington be better for kids than a village/town/city somewhere in the UK? Lifestyle mentality is a different thing and will again depend on the individual, but I don't see why the country will make kids happier. I would look at the location, rather than the country. Although in the same country, living in Galway is completely different than living in Dublin and will offer everyone other advantages and that's only a 2 hour drive. Others might prefer Dunedin to Wellington (vice versa), while others will never ever experience the 2 cities, as they're too far apart.

MrsFychan

at the end of the day it depends on what standard of living you are coming from into.

My day to day standard of living is not as good as I had in the UK, the kids do fewer clubs as things can be so far away, husband works longer hours, it is expected.
Didn't know I had wind phobia before coming to Wellington, weather here is more extreme, as in more rain, hotter (cost of sun cream will need to be factored in, and after sun as I am finding out as mister 12 decided it was a good idea to get his arms burnt on Thursday), wind is just scary at times especially on the side of a hill with a raised house.

At the end of the day you will be doing the same crap you are in the UK just in a different location with different rules all round but you may be nearer a beach, ohh and the novelty of that wears off with the kids but if they are still young you should be able to get a good few years out of it

Justcol

I don't know if coming on a whim will make for a successful move, its a massive upheaval.

Apart from kiwisaver which is just a government backed savings account, there is no pension scheme here. At retirement you will get the old age pension but there aren't many other options. Kiwis tend to buy second homes to fund retirement plans.
You mentioned pensions in your post so just thought I'd raise this as something to consider.

KOH2

It is what you will make of it. When we first arrived in NZ I longed to be in Wellington or some other 'more civilised' place. Now the mere thought gives me shivers and I'm so happy in our little quiet provincial town where time flows really slowly. Sure I get frustrated when I can't find stuff that I need but these days you really can source things from all over the world, so you get to enjoy the benefits of life in NZ and with a little bit of forethought not have to forego the creature comforts you left behind.

BTW, people work shifts here too you know


Be prepared for the initial shock but (hopefully) once you get over it you'll learn to shop seasonally, put another jumper on, and sit together in the one room with the log burner on


Yes, well at least you've got central heating, I presume. That would be my one main gripe about our house over here as we simply can't afford to put in any kind of heating system atm. So yes, I am dreading the winter (and escaping the worst part of it to visit the family back in Europe but otherwise I'm pretty happy with our life here (16 months in). We've got space that we could never afford back in the UK, we've got supportive family and newly made friends, I'm growing my own fruit and veg which I absolutely love (each to their own and I work part time in a job that I enjoy - what more could I ask for?

carcajou

Some excellent points, above.

How will you come out, financially, compared to the UK?

Moving is expensive, and New Zealand is expensive. No use moving to New Zealand for "lifestyle" reasons (whatever that means) if you won't have the money to back that up.

bearskin

Or Rain phobia before I moved to Auckland. I'd grown up in one of the driest places in the UK, before moving to one of the wetter ones, so I thought I'd learnt about rain. Then I moved to Auckland.

Justcol

But that speaks more about your financial situation or priorities.
If you can afford a return to the UK you can certainly afford to put a heating system in a house.

bearskin

Agreed.
Choices.

Moses2013

Indeed, especially if it's your own house. I can understand the situation is different for people in the rental market, but anyone owning a house has choices and it has nothing to do with the country. Of course every country has different building standards and some people just don't know any different, but windows, insulation, heating can easily be changed.


Sure most people have the best form of insulation on their doorsteps, but don't use it. New Zealand has sheep everywhere and sheep wool is great for insulation. If you wear a jumper and it keeps you warm, why not use it in the attic?

KOH2

Not quite as we did have a quote just to put heat pumps in and that came well in excess of $10000. Didn't even enquire about wall insulation Let alone replacing the old wooden windows with double glazing

Trip back to Europe will set me back $3000 so yes, it was a toss between what I need for the soul and what I need for the body

simonsi

Heat pumps dont only come as a job lot, Im sure a single pump (which is all we have), would be closer to $3k than $10k so a bit misleading to give the impression that was the choice. From experience a heat pump benefits you a lot longer than a visit to the UK, of course YMMV.

KOH2

Yes, but I wanted to replicate the European standards (or what I grew up with in Poland) which is having the whole house warm and not just specific areas. That's why I had the quote for whole house. We've got a woodburner in the lounge + portable heating devices for other rooms, but it still does not achieve that tosty warm feeling. My sister has geothermal heating in her house in Poland and very often when we visited in winter I had to ask her to turn the heating down as it was rather tropical. With the uninsulated walls + single pane windows in NZ I'm never going to get the same effect

MrsFychan

heat pumps price depend on the size of the rooms you are trying to heat, we had one put in last year for just the living/dining and came out just over 4k. Don't forget its multi functional as is also a air conditioner during the summer

Justcol

I have achieved it, its called central heating, 9 radiators in the house running off a coal boiler
I paid for it by saving up and not having european holidays