The Johnsons

Hi, I am a qualified medical nurse and me and my family are interested in living in New Zealand, or Australia, could you tell me what Dunedin is like and if you think it's preferable to say Perth, or Adelaide, our other choices.

BEVS

Per my post to your Australia thread.

It would be best if you looked at your visa possibilities first.

Your OH is a plumber. Plumbers are not considered to be in shortage here in NZ at the present time. So , unless you had New Zealand residency ,any NZ employer is going to have to prove there is no NZ resident or citizen that could take up that employment.

Work in this trade is picking up but there have been several slow and hard years . My husband is a time served plumber and gasfitter. That's how we know.

Also, your OH would really need to be deemed eligible for NZ registration to work properly in the trade. Please browse and contact the PGDB
This may well mean he needs to sit an exam and have a practical assessment. This may cost quite a lot of $$$.

The good news here is that Medical Nurses are in long term shortage here in NZ. You would need to become registered. Please read HERE

davros1984

I would add the following regarding you as a nurse.

A vast majority of Kiwi's struggle to get jobs in the "regions" i.e. places outside of Auckland and secondly Wellington.

They usually have to flock to Auckland for a while, then in a few years they sometimes get lucky and are able to get a role in the provinces.

I can name at least 10 nurses who have experienced this at North Shore Hospital in Auckland.

Catchafire

http://www.kiwihealthjobs.com/#

Slightly clunky search function. But showing a number of nursing positions in our neck of the woods, Marlborough.

Most of the health care professionals we have met here are expats.

barnsleymat

I know a company that's been advertising for plumbers here in Dunedin, they're a pretty big firm, I know the owner so if you want some contact details let me know.

whitesand

As someone who's lived in both Perth and Dunedin, I'd say there's no choice - Perth wins hands down any day!

barnsleymat

Dunedin is tiny compared to Perth & Adelaide, just over 100k live here and those Aussie cities are probably 2m+ each. Dunedin is a very quiet city, nothing much happens and that's starting to eat away at me, infact living anywhere in NZ will seem pretty quiet so if that's going to be an issue pick one of those Aussie cities.

And with such a small population there's much less opportunities for jobs etc.

florabundi

We are a family of 4 who live just outside Dunedin, great schools for the kids, loads of activities for them including sports. Pretty friendly, cold in the winter (and we came from north of Scotland!) Reasonable house prices. If I was doing it again and we have only been here a year, I would choose Australia...

sr71

Whilst I'd live in Perth over Dunedin any day (it's an odd comparison, probably Hobart would be a closer equivalent) you do have to take into account the cost of living in Perth and the summer heat. If you are not in mining, or getting mining wages you could find it horrendously expensive. Real estate, eating out and entertainment wise it's the most expensive city in Australia.

And whilst the weather sounds nice, 3 months a year of close to 40C is not pleasant. You end up living indoors in aircon.

And the distances to anywhere are pretty massive. You've got Perth and then around it pretty much nothing, unless you like deserts. (Dunedin is closer to East Coast Australia)