Moving to Dunedin in June
Apr 29th 2011, 11:40 am
#1
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 13
Moving to Dunedin in June
Hello,
I have posted on the forum before but never introduced myself. Here it goes. Husband and I are moving to Dunedin in mid June. He is an engineer and has a new job there starting on 4th July. We have applied for our residence visa under the skilled migrant scheme and were accepted.
At the beginning I wasn't sure about the move but now yeah I want to experience New Zealand and maybe live there for good. Only time will tell. I study business with the Open University here and I am looking into transfering my credits to Otago Uni. I also work from home as a beauty and massage therapist so hopefully I will manage to get new clients there.
We have contacted a few shipping companies and we are likely to ship our stuff with Anglo Pacific. We are still deciding on wether to take our kitten or not. We have had him for 3 months now and I am really bonded wth him but the costs for taking him are too high and I am not keen on the new regulations and the 10 days quarantine that he would need to have.
I am heart broken...
I am originally from Brazil and hubby is from UK. I have lived in Brazil, Spain and UK and NZ will be another experience in my life.
I can't wait to get there now! We are stopping over in Hong Kong for a few days and Auckland too.
If anyone has any advice on places to live in Dunedin or anything to tell me about Dunedin I would be happy to hear.
Thanks, Andrew and Renata.
I have posted on the forum before but never introduced myself. Here it goes. Husband and I are moving to Dunedin in mid June. He is an engineer and has a new job there starting on 4th July. We have applied for our residence visa under the skilled migrant scheme and were accepted.
At the beginning I wasn't sure about the move but now yeah I want to experience New Zealand and maybe live there for good. Only time will tell. I study business with the Open University here and I am looking into transfering my credits to Otago Uni. I also work from home as a beauty and massage therapist so hopefully I will manage to get new clients there.
We have contacted a few shipping companies and we are likely to ship our stuff with Anglo Pacific. We are still deciding on wether to take our kitten or not. We have had him for 3 months now and I am really bonded wth him but the costs for taking him are too high and I am not keen on the new regulations and the 10 days quarantine that he would need to have.
I am heart broken...I am originally from Brazil and hubby is from UK. I have lived in Brazil, Spain and UK and NZ will be another experience in my life.
I can't wait to get there now! We are stopping over in Hong Kong for a few days and Auckland too.If anyone has any advice on places to live in Dunedin or anything to tell me about Dunedin I would be happy to hear.
Thanks, Andrew and Renata.
Apr 30th 2011, 10:15 pm
#2
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2008
Location: Dunedin
Posts: 86
Re: Moving to Dunedin in June
Sorry nobody has been along to answer some of your questions yet. Dunedin is a good place to live, that's my opinion anyway. We've been here 8 years. Dunedin is close to Central Otago and the ski fields, probably about a 2-3 hour drive. Beaches are very closeby even within walking distance depending on where you choose to live. Places to live, make sure you have a good look around at houses because there are some shockers. As you are arriving in the winter make sure you get a place with plenty of sunshine as houses can be very cold and damp due to lack of insulation and single glazed windows. Suburbs I would suggest to have a look at would be Waverley, Andersons Bay, St Clair, Wakari or you could even look a bit further along the peninsula at Macandrew Bay area. Have a look on trademe and see what's around to rent or real estate websites. To get a feel of the place you could also have an online read of the Otago Daily Times www.odt.co.nz. Hope that answers some of you questions. Good luck 
May 1st 2011, 11:44 pm
#3
Account Closed
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 0
Re: Moving to Dunedin in June
Hi Andrew & Renata, just wanted to welcome you to our NZ forum. I live north of Auckland, so can't help you with your Dunedin questions. Good luck with all your plans & happy posting
May 2nd 2011, 8:20 am
#4
Just Joined
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 4
Re: Moving to Dunedin in June
Hi Renata, We moved here in Jan & I think Dunedin's great, just the right size. Big enough to have everything you need but small enough to walk across town in no time, or drive from one side to anywhere in town from the city center in less than 10 mins.
Lots of great places to live. You really need to visit the areas to see where suits you personally. Agree with SHL that sun & insulation are a big thing. Properties for sale, & I think rent, are advertised in the Otago Daily Times as already mentioned, and the Property Press.
If you can, I'd also recommend getting in contact with Fi McKay from the Settlement Support team at Dunedin City Council (http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/services/...er-information)
The NZ gov want immigrants to settle in well & run orientation tours once a month. If you contact them ahead of arriving, you might be able to book places on a tour soon after you arrive. (We ended up waiting 3 months & would have been good to know some stuff earlier). Its really useful - tells you about using the library, buses, council services etc, gives you an overview of various NZ legal & financial matters & then they take you on a tour of the city to point out various sights, places to live, shopping venues etc. Also a chance to meet other new arrivals.
Let me know if I can be of any more help or give me a shout if you want to meet up once you arrive.
Louise
Lots of great places to live. You really need to visit the areas to see where suits you personally. Agree with SHL that sun & insulation are a big thing. Properties for sale, & I think rent, are advertised in the Otago Daily Times as already mentioned, and the Property Press.
If you can, I'd also recommend getting in contact with Fi McKay from the Settlement Support team at Dunedin City Council (http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/services/...er-information)
The NZ gov want immigrants to settle in well & run orientation tours once a month. If you contact them ahead of arriving, you might be able to book places on a tour soon after you arrive. (We ended up waiting 3 months & would have been good to know some stuff earlier). Its really useful - tells you about using the library, buses, council services etc, gives you an overview of various NZ legal & financial matters & then they take you on a tour of the city to point out various sights, places to live, shopping venues etc. Also a chance to meet other new arrivals.
Let me know if I can be of any more help or give me a shout if you want to meet up once you arrive.
Louise
May 3rd 2011, 6:56 am
#5
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 588
Re: Moving to Dunedin in June
Just a thought, and I'm not sure about this, but you might want to check out what fees you'd have to pay if you study at uni in NZ. There is some ruling around how long you have to have had PR for before you are eligible to pay domestic fees for tertiary education - otherwise you'd be paying international fees (which for a Bachelor of Commerce at Otago Uni in 2011 is approximately NZ$20,800 for the year).
May 3rd 2011, 9:54 am
#6
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 13
Re: Moving to Dunedin in June
Sorry nobody has been along to answer some of your questions yet. Dunedin is a good place to live, that's my opinion anyway. We've been here 8 years. Dunedin is close to Central Otago and the ski fields, probably about a 2-3 hour drive. Beaches are very closeby even within walking distance depending on where you choose to live. Places to live, make sure you have a good look around at houses because there are some shockers. As you are arriving in the winter make sure you get a place with plenty of sunshine as houses can be very cold and damp due to lack of insulation and single glazed windows. Suburbs I would suggest to have a look at would be Waverley, Andersons Bay, St Clair, Wakari or you could even look a bit further along the peninsula at Macandrew Bay area. Have a look on trademe and see what's around to rent or real estate websites. To get a feel of the place you could also have an online read of the Otago Daily Times www.odt.co.nz. Hope that answers some of you questions. Good luck
Many thanks for your reply and all the useful information you provided. We will probably rent a holiday house for a week and look for a fshort term urnished house when we get there until our shipping arrives.
Cheers
May 3rd 2011, 10:06 am
#8
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 13
Re: Moving to Dunedin in June
Hi Renata, We moved here in Jan & I think Dunedin's great, just the right size. Big enough to have everything you need but small enough to walk across town in no time, or drive from one side to anywhere in town from the city center in less than 10 mins.
Lots of great places to live. You really need to visit the areas to see where suits you personally. Agree with SHL that sun & insulation are a big thing. Properties for sale, & I think rent, are advertised in the Otago Daily Times as already mentioned, and the Property Press.
If you can, I'd also recommend getting in contact with Fi McKay from the Settlement Support team at Dunedin City Council (http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/services/...er-information)
The NZ gov want immigrants to settle in well & run orientation tours once a month. If you contact them ahead of arriving, you might be able to book places on a tour soon after you arrive. (We ended up waiting 3 months & would have been good to know some stuff earlier). Its really useful - tells you about using the library, buses, council services etc, gives you an overview of various NZ legal & financial matters & then they take you on a tour of the city to point out various sights, places to live, shopping venues etc. Also a chance to meet other new arrivals.
Let me know if I can be of any more help or give me a shout if you want to meet up once you arrive.
Louise
Lots of great places to live. You really need to visit the areas to see where suits you personally. Agree with SHL that sun & insulation are a big thing. Properties for sale, & I think rent, are advertised in the Otago Daily Times as already mentioned, and the Property Press.
If you can, I'd also recommend getting in contact with Fi McKay from the Settlement Support team at Dunedin City Council (http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/services/...er-information)
The NZ gov want immigrants to settle in well & run orientation tours once a month. If you contact them ahead of arriving, you might be able to book places on a tour soon after you arrive. (We ended up waiting 3 months & would have been good to know some stuff earlier). Its really useful - tells you about using the library, buses, council services etc, gives you an overview of various NZ legal & financial matters & then they take you on a tour of the city to point out various sights, places to live, shopping venues etc. Also a chance to meet other new arrivals.
Let me know if I can be of any more help or give me a shout if you want to meet up once you arrive.
Louise
Thanks for your reply. We will definately have a good look around for the right house when we get there. I'll have a look at the Settlement Support team website and see if we arrange to meet them. I will post on the forum of our progression and when we have a date of arrival so maybe we can meet up when I'm there. I am really looking forward to our new lives in NZ.
Renata
May 3rd 2011, 10:09 am
#9
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 13
Re: Moving to Dunedin in June
Hi and welcome to the forum.
Just a thought, and I'm not sure about this, but you might want to check out what fees you'd have to pay if you study at uni in NZ. There is some ruling around how long you have to have had PR for before you are eligible to pay domestic fees for tertiary education - otherwise you'd be paying international fees (which for a Bachelor of Commerce at Otago Uni in 2011 is approximately NZ$20,800 for the year).
Just a thought, and I'm not sure about this, but you might want to check out what fees you'd have to pay if you study at uni in NZ. There is some ruling around how long you have to have had PR for before you are eligible to pay domestic fees for tertiary education - otherwise you'd be paying international fees (which for a Bachelor of Commerce at Otago Uni in 2011 is approximately NZ$20,800 for the year).
Thanks for that info. I will call Otago Uni again and ask them about this. They never mentioned it when I called to enquire about the course and tranfering my credits from OU. I hope that it isn't the case.
Many thanks, Renata.
May 3rd 2011, 10:37 pm
#10
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 588
Re: Moving to Dunedin in June
Have a look at this BR thread: http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...niversity+fees though it is mainly talking about dependants as students, but there is a link to the Immigration New Zealand website too.
Or you might find some info on the Study Link site (http://www.studylink.govt.nz/) which deals with loans and allowances for students - don't know if they have any info on whether PR has to pay international fees or not, sorry.
Or try the International section of Otago Uni's website (http://www.otago.ac.nz/international/index.html). It might be worth getting in touch with them if the main Uni info centre isn't sure.
This whole area of education fees for PRs has been revised recently, and as it didn't effect us (having become citizens by the time our eldest started uni) I've never really looked into it that closely.
HTH
