baffled

I am in the early stages of applying for residency in New Zealand with my husband and two little girls. I was wondering if there was anyone else out there who has been through this process already with a young family and has lots of advice. The vast majority of postings seem to be about Oz.

Also if there is anyone who has moved to NZ and come back to the UK I would like to hear the flip side to the coin, before we make the big leap!!

Any advice would be very much appreciated
Thanks Baffled

Don

We (2 + 2) got NZ PR nearly 2 years ago but are currently weighing up options (now in Europe). Main problem with NZ is that wages are very poor compared to most other OECD countries (esp UK) and you might need to take a big drop in living standards if you are used to the good life working for a company out of the UK. Otherwise, NZ offers a helluva lot in terms of all you can think of that it's got a good reputation for.

Answer if you want the good things NZ has to offer is either to go there with plenty moolah, or find another way to make money (eg your own business).

Sandra

Your first post might get lost a bit in the masses that post on this site....but that isn't to say people are not happy to help especially about NZ. (Double -ve means a +ve

Welcome to the site and the AUS lot of us are not that uncaring just big mouths!!

Tell the site where you are thinking of going in NZ and if you do not get a reply .....put another message underneath your original question to 'bump' it back up the top

If really really unsure of ever getting a decent reply .....then check the site and private message someone for advice....honestly even the ones that know each other would all love to chat to you.

Best of.......

Stuee

hi

I have been in NZ for nearly 4 years now, in Auckland. It can be difficult here financially and I have seen alot of people come and go (and some come back again).

Auckland is quite an expensive city to live in, house prices have risen dramatically and the wife and I are lucky we came when we did (in a financial sense).

I myself am nothing special, not got a degree etc or command a huge wage, just a family man with an ambition and a will to succeed. I personally think a bit of luck is involved and the way you interact with people i.e making new friends.

For my family and I NZ has provided a better lifestyle, kids have really come out of themselves and I love the schools here (some would say education not as good as UK but I am not qualified to comment on that). It can be, if you want it and make sure you do it, be an outdoor lifestyle dream. Rafting, diving, fishing, camping or just site seeing.

Like I said above it is a battle with the finances, but thats for me, I'm not a rocket scientist. So I suppose its a case of weighing up what you want out of life. Dont know if I will stay forever, probably not actually if I think about it, wife and I get a bit tire of saying good bye to mates.

So my advice is really investigate well, finances, house prices etc and your own heart of what you want out of your life, then go with your decision. I will never regret coming here even if I end up back home, been a wonderful experience.

Stuee

westiepom

hi - just had to say, I totaly agreed with your comments about the schools. We've been in NZ for 3 years now and my now 13 yr old has blossomed. He was really shy and quiet but the schools that he's been to ( he's gone though Intermediate and is now at high school) pay a lot of attention to character building and social interaction which has really helped with his confidence so I think he's benefitted from the move.
We found the hardest thing was managing financialy ( the same as most other expats !) and we would have had more money if we'd stayed in the UK but other things make up for it and although we've discussed returning to the UK we think we would miss our lifestyle here too much.

podgypossum

Hi Westiepom..i lived in Titirangi for 2yrs. Lovely place, but didnt settle, so left for Adelaide. Do you ever go down to the Hardware Cafe?

Hi Baffled.

NZ was deffo not for me even though i married a Kiwi. It really does depend on what sort of lifestyle you prefer. Sporty outdoorsy types who prefer a quieter lifestyle may well be suited to it, but not for me.

jjj

Hi

We are hopefully heading to Adelaide and have never been to NZ but as another local Yorkie thought I would mention we have friends moved over to NZ earlier this year (7 months ago) and they love it. They are real party animals but are still having a brilliant time and have certainly not considered coming back.
Good Luck
JJJ

baffled

Thank you everyone for your replies, it is so nice to hear from people who have actually gone through the whole process and survived. Everyone sounds really friendly and helpful. We have made the decision to go, but you can never stop needing more and more information. We are hoping to be mortgage free, due to the very high property prices here, so I hope that will go some way to help reduce the financial worry. We are not going to NZ to make money, but for a change of lifestyle. No doubt though, we will end up having to start up a business again to help us.

Just one other question, how did everyone cope on the trip over with small children?

Thank you all again.

westiepom

Hi , yes we lived in Titirangi for a while and loved it but couldn't afford to buy there at the time so moved even further west, we may return there next year though. We had many a happy hour in the Hardware cafe - in fact we felt duty bound to try all the cafes in the village !

FatherChristmas

Greetings.
My number two elf has taken his family to Auckland - Hibiscus Coast. However, his wife misses the rigours of these northern climes, but mostly her mummy. If she cannot get them over there they most probably will return home which is rather sad. The trouble is they have more elves in darkest England than in NZ, and would apparently bar them from ever going.
In my opinion this rule is counter productive to the NZ government's wish to attract and keep the right kind of migrant. Relaxing the rules on parental sponsoring would naturally make this less of a problem.
Does anybody know if this is a set rule, or if it is merely a guideline, and is the three year waiting period for sponsorship always adhered to. FC.

baffled

You sound like you have got your head screwed on, and a realistic view on life, would you recommend a move to NZ now. We hope to be mortgage free, not due to vast savings but due to the equity in our house. We currently run our own (successful) landscaping and garden design business, and hope to move close to Christ church. We had hoped not to run our own business again, but judging about all the comments about the lack of jobs that may not be possible. i have just found the ***** site and have found an awful lot of people are seriously struggling to even earn a living. What would be your comment on this?
We do not expect to earn a fortune, but we would also not want to run into negative equity. Are we mad?

Don

Here's a thread I started when we were trying to live on NZD1000 a week (net) in Dunedin - and finding it tough http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...ggling+survive

Money is the big issue AFAICS.

baffled

Thanks for that link, we need to do some more very serious thinking and research. We knew it would not be easy, and we knew we would have to work very hard, but we did not expect that we might even lose all our equity.

baffled

Does anyone know what the market for garden design and landscaping is like in Canterbury?

deedee

Tiny, with a lower case t
Its a big problem for people coming from UK business to realise the whole population of South Island without tourists is just a million.The population of Christchurch is small compared to most UK cities and Kiwis are nothing like as big on garden design and landscaping.The "throw some grass seed on" she'll be right attitude is what rules here i'm afraid.