Lizaberry

OK. Not sure if I am posting this in the right place , but work could be pretty flexible for my OH in terms of where it is available. Initially we thought we wanted to only try the North but I am beginning to wonder whether the South has just as much to offer. Would love to hear from anyone that has made the 'leap' - having never visited (well not yet anyway) it would be nice to get the low down - the highs and lows of both areas. Ta very much, L

BEVS

I'll move this into the main forum LB . More folks will see it there.

We made the move to the top of the south island. My husband had several job offers to choose from around New Zealand . One of his things was to have good weather without snow on the ground in winter.

irnbru14

Hey Liza, it very much depends on what type of lifestyle you want really, do you want the benefits of being in or at least near to all a city can offer you or a bit smaller town NZ, or the rural stuck in the middle of nowhere lifestyle!?

Do you want to stay somewhere similar in size to where you are at home and have a same lifestyle or a radical change?

Depends what your OH does for work too and what you do for work or what you want to do when you get here?

Just some big questions to consider!

Lizaberry

We live in a small fishing village on the North Devon coast at the moment and live only a couple of miles away from the nearest town and about 12 miles from the main town in the area. Our life at the moment is fairly 'stress free' with the nearest city some 45 miles away. I guess many would regard us as country bumpkins. I shouldn't like to live in a city where there is too much hubbub yet I don't want to live in isolation. I wouldn't mind rural/small community such as where we live now so long as we don't have to travel too far to the amenities, etc. Where we live now we have the best of both worlds (so why are we considering a move I hear you ask?!!) in so much as we are close enough to the nearest town yet not so close that we have we live in too built up an area (if that makes sense).

Was looking at Nelson, for instance, as we noticed there was a boat yard there. My other half is a highly skilled Boat Builder though we can't even lodge an EOI at the moment cos we don't have enough points without a job offer. He has an apprenticeship but it was wholy completed in the workplace and thus is not recognised as a qualification. We don't want to move until at least next June/July so trying to secure a job seems a little premature at the moment, though necessary all the same to our progress.

Hope that helps to understand a little. Thanks for your comments, L

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Sorry, forgot to mention, I have been a SAH mum since Jan 2007 looking after our 2 year old, but I previously worked part time as a civil servant (jobcentre) and have taken a career break until Jan 2011. Have 3 other older children (11,13,14) that I used to juggle the whole work/school thing with, and plan to initially be the homemaker if we get to move until the youngest starts school.

BEVS

Think Mapua then

Small village. Community feel. 20/30 minutes to Nelson. Great lifestyle.
Good weather.

scrubbedexpat094

Hi Lizaberry,

Just had a Google of ship-builders in Gulf Harbour on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, north of Auckland. Has OH come across Brin Wilson Boat Builders? Email is [email protected] I found them by going into Gulf Harbour Marine Centre on Google. HTH :fingerscrossed

P2L

You don't want to go to Mapua

Try Marlborough particularly Picton, Waikawa or Havelock ( this area will encompass the Marlborough Sounds too )

Has your DH seen this website too? May be worthwhile making contact with some 'names' and see what they say

http://www.nzmarine.com/

HTH
Sarah

BEVS

Is it the tides you're thinking of ?

Actually, I think that's a good idea. Particularly Picton.

Harbour. Ferries. All things boating. Gateway to the Sounds. Very small town. Community feel . Easy access to larger towns and even Christchurch if need be.

irnbru14

And 3 and a bit hours in a Ferry from lovely fantastic wonderful Wellington of course

I still think that you want to be in reasonable travel distance from one of the major centres, especially when you are just getting here and need to get your life set up.

Browner_

Your right!
Im gonna ask why you wanna move.
Many people would emigrate to live where you live now.
What are you trying to improve that you would move half way round the world?????????

Genesis

Not sure I'd be moving either!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lapsed kiwi

We moved from south Devon. For me the plus points are a significantly better climate (he said as the rain hammered down) and vastly lower population density. Nothing worse than hordes of holidaymakers clogging up the roads on their way to clogging up the beaches, and unfortunately that is a fact of life in Devon

Lizaberry

I thought this question may arise. It is nice where we live, I admit that, but, we don't wish to move just for an improvement of what we have. I can tolerate the weather, mostly - I am not a sunseeker so don't crave for this in particular though a little more dry and warm weather would be good. My OH is my main drive for going. He is a Boat Builder/Shipwright by trade as many may be aware from other posts, and due to the changes in the industry it is a while since he has actually built a boat (Hope this doesn't go against us) and as such much of his work these days is as a Shipwright (boat maintenance and repair). He would so love to get back to the days of building boats and NZ (I think) holds this potential and opportunity). He is 46 (I am 40 next month) so Oz is out of the question for him anyhow as principal applicanat and for me as a SAH mum, I haven't worked for 12 of the last 24 months.

I also look around our local area. I moved away when I was 18 (though it was to follow a boyfriend at the time) and studied in South Wales for an HND. I then worked for 12 months in Oxfordshire for Midland Bank (as they were). When I returned back home, within a couple of months I fell into the job that I am currently on a career break from. Was there for 16 years up until 2007, but working only 22.5hrs per week for 12 of them. My OH had the chance to work overseas when he was younger - Australia on a working holiday for about 12mths though not working for all of that, and USA for about 18 months sailing as Ship's Carpenter on the Golden Hinde (replica). He has done other spells of working away from home since that, and I guess he has a hankering to travel again. NZ could also offer him career progression though the low wages is one thing that does worry me slightly. In today's terms, we would not want him to be faced with accepting work for less than about 30$ an hour or say 65k p.a. We haven't really seen much evidence of wages for Boat Builders cos the jobs we have seen don't really detail it. Don't want to be taking a backward step and find ourselves struggling. It is my intention to work once my youngest is in school but for the meantime we would need to cover ourselves.

We also have very little family living around us - have OH's parents a mile or so away, my sister about 5 miles away though don't see her that often as she is working, etc. My mum and her partner live in Kent so I don't see them much either. Since not working, I feel a bit cut off. Whilst I have lived where I live for the past 18 years, I don't really have a strong base of friends - more circumstantial than anything to do with me (I hope), so I don't really feel I have that many ties to sever though my children do. I know they would make new friends cos they are at that age. We also feel that NZ may offer them more opportunity to succeed with a career than where we live right now. Correct me if I am wrong.

It is lovely to have got all of these responses from everyone.

I have already sent a handful of emails to various North Island based employers nearly 4 weeks or so ago and got only a couple of responses. My OH has also applied for a job just to test the water though we have heard nothing yet. We want to show our commitment to emigrate to employers but it is hard without the job offer cos we can't start the process at all.

I am going to break there for a minute and let you guys respond before I add anymore.

Thanks again, L

BEVS

Not at all sure about that one. Others may know better, but in the South Island?

I have responded in another thread about this.