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Hello there everyone, nice to have found this site.

We're hopefully heading off to New Z sometime this summer, but on an australian visa - big back door apparently. Although our agency's been pretty shoddy so far so we're hoping they haven't got that wrong!

Anyway, i had a wee question to ask all of you...

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The question was...

Have you all found websites that have been useful to you in your decision/planning etc to go to NZ?

I'm constructing a website called NZHoldall.com (not yet up and running) and needed to do some background research on it (it's for an assignment). I'm aiming to give outline information and answers to FAQ as well as a page of useful links, amongst other things. But all in teh same place! So far I've found sites on emigration, tourism, etc, but all separately contained, not all on one site.

Wondered what your views were?

Jaffadutch

Ive yet to find a site that i think covers all stations etc.

the best so far ive found are :-

1 www.britishexpats.com (this one)
2 www.angelfire.com/hi5/neuralnetwriter/
3 www.newzealandnz.co.nz
4 www.*****.co.uk
5 www.britishexpat.com

hope these help you?

regards Glen

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Hiya Jaffa, that is really helpful, yes - thankyou very much!!

Hopefully my site will aim to cover all areas, although it's still in elementary stages just now. It's very helpful and revealing that you say that you can't find a site which covers all stations....

Cheers!!!!

Don

The backdoor to NZ through Aus PR is real enough so you can trust your agency on that. Just get aware about the rules on NZ PR and RRVs.

Jaffadutch

Claire,

The main thing i think people would like to see on a site is :-

Hard facts...most just seem to say "move to New Zealand its great" hardly any mention any problems.
Alot of people on here tell you its hard to get buy as a family (ie husband wife and two kids) on a wage less than $60k.
Others tell you, you can if you dont want the luxuries your use to at home (but no one tells you what they are) so people are still none the wiser.

Others say it depends on what and how you spend money (again obvious, but you know over here that as a family you would be comfortable on a joint income of around £45k in most areas)

Nobody seems to be able to tell you that x ammount for a family would suffice given that they lead the standard life....i.e. save a little, dont buy all top of the range...dress within their budget...eat good food... go out for meals when they can afford to... drive a medium quality car.. enjoy their life.

It would be nice to know a little before people take the plunge and possibly find out the hard way.
Like my own situation we intend/hope to move to the Christchurch/Canterbury area.
We are a family of 2 adult 2 children.... im an Maintenance Electrician who can expect a wage in the region of $45k. My wife would like to work and is a PA, we dont know what sort of wage she might get..cant find that info as yet...but we guess around the $20 - $25k mark??
We have twin 4 yrs olds (5 in Aug) so they would go to school.
We would be taking approx £100k ($256K) from house sale.
So out of the capital we would like to buy a couple of cheapish cars and pay a deposit on a nice average sized house in a good area pref 4 bed but not bothered.

Even with all this information we still dont know?? And i cant find this answer any place.
All i know is looking at the council website were know we would be earning above the NZ average for the area were looking at..so that says to me we should be ok ??????

A few people who love it there say a open mind is the main thing to take...leave brit standards at home.

If your site can answer the above or at least point to a yes or no ill join asap.

Now that was one hell of a comment lol

Imagine how long that had taken me to type with my right index finger..poor thing is worn out.

Anyway good luck with your site

Regards

Glen

Roger

A good site for links is www.benz1.com

I think you can have a good quality of life here. However if you want to live in the best areas of main cities, or the fancy areas of rural provinces you will need to bring alot of money with you to have a very small mortgage, and buy the cars outright. Probabaly earn over $60K combined too.

However, I am told, rural NZ has a lot to offer. Quieter lifestyle, country pastimes (fishing, riding, shooting, tramping), safety, good cheap housing ($150K for a three bedroom in Central Hawkes Bay).

Also if you can't achieve the prices in the Cities (honestly who can afford to live in London nowadays), try cities such as Palmerston North, Hamilton, Whangarei, Hastings, Invercargill.

Horses for courses, but need to get a job wherever.
Roger

southerner

Don't try to be all things for all people...it won't work. Most people who use these sites shop around lots and use several others.

As for hard facts - I'm not sure what people mean by this. If somebody is looking to immigrate only they know their own expectations and requirements. All that other people can provide is opinions. Some posters dress up their opinions as facts, and then some readers cry out for the facts they want to here. Such is life on the internet. You have to look at all the opinions, probably throw away the extrem outlier views and use your judgement to form your own opinions to base decisions on.

NZ is a very internet savvy country, so there is a huge amount of info that can be easily accessed already. Some of the general links type websites mentioned in this thread already are a good starting point.

As I said, work out your particular market place, and develop your product to meet that. Don't be too ambitious.

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Hello there

Thanks all for your replies, very useful and insightful.

Southerner - I agree that being all things to all people is a little ambitious, and not really doable unless it's a full-time project. However, useful to know bits and pieces from those in the know that have been through it.

Don - thanks for the info on the Australian back door, phew! I thought it would be fine, but like I say, our agency's not been too good on the whole, not keeping us up to date, not replying to queries, etc. Frustrating!!!

Jaffa - thanks for all that info, indeed a long comment! But useful, thanks. Finding out more information about wages and quality of life is something we'll be doing soon. Hubby is a software developer and from what we've heard that's a useful skill for NZ. For my part I'm just completing a postgraduate masters in publishing, so hopefully I can make headway into the publishing market in Wellington. As for PA salaries, I've been looking at those too, and there are some quite well-paid positions, to executives and directors and so on, around the $40k mark, which in addition to your estimated earnings will make a nice salary!

Right, off to do some more work on the site! Not sure it'll have too much in it at the end of the day, depends on other workloads on the course - but it's certainly good to have all your feedback for my research!

Thanks again

Jaffadutch

claire good luck with the site i hope its all you imagine it to be. also good luck if/when you make the move.

Like i said in my ramble......most people in my experience would like to know how much money they would need to survive....obviously this has to be the main point for most people on the move...

Maybe your site could offer section where people can put in there own money/wage structure and typical life style under anonymity. This would with hope give others an idea of what they could afford to live on???
just a thought!

Anyway good luck with all

regards

Glen