jads

.....Christchurch.

Hello everyone

We as a family of 4 (boys aged 10 & 15) have visited Auckland, BoP, Hawkes Bay, Whangarai with a view to living, we were not that impressed by any of these. We have residence Visas and are now seriously looking at Christchurch.
We have not been to Christchurch, therefore can we take the risk of moving there without visiting, dont really want to do another recci! Have roughly £110k to put down on a house, we dont want much of a mortgage, say about £30k max, would this get a house in a goodish area (with good schooling etc).

Please all be honest (about christchurch aswell)

Cheers Jads

happynz

With the numbers you quoted I think that Rangiora may fit the bill. It's maybe a half-hour drive or fifty minute bus ride into the centre city.

littleal

I really liked Chch but found it difficult to get interviews from the UK. It has a reputation of a more conservative attitude to immigrants and employers did not understand the immigration process. As you already have PR you may fare better.

Alison

Lexylou

What did you not like about the other areas you looked at? I would be slightly concerned that having looked at a chunk of NZ and not being impressed with it that you should NOT go to Christchurch without having at least looked around. Is it really going to be sooooo different to the other places you have looked at?

We had a decent house in Cashmere for $500K - it was big, if not freezing cold, but the garden was elevated (being on a hill!). It is one of the better areas. You can of course buy for a lot less in other areas and as happynz suggested you might be better of out in Rangiora.

This is a HUGE decision to make and i would never have moved to Christchurch having visited it. It was the mistake we made and a very expensive one. Have you thought of Wellington?

TeamEmbo

Yes. Go to Wellington. Don't come to Rangiora. Too many expats here already. You'd hate it. And its full.

But seriously, feel free to read up about Rangiora in our blog. Been here 7 months and just love the place. We checked out Cch, Tauranga, Rotorua, Hamilton, and a tiny bit of Auckland on our recce. Admittedly Cch wasn't what I was expecting when we first got here, but then it rained for the 2 days we were here and BoP was much warmer, tropical weather, but after we'd got home and thought about it we were really pleased to get the job offer in Cch and haven't looked back since getting here.

jads

[QUOTE=This is a HUGE decision to make and i would never have moved to Christchurch having visited it. It was the mistake we made and a very expensive one. Have you thought of Wellington?[/QUOTE]

Why did you head to christchurch without visiting beforehand? How long were you there?

Never really thought of Wellington, the english feel that CC may have has to appeal to an extent.

We dont want to pay for another recci, maybe I should go and have a look on my own, just dont fancy being a Larry Loner on such a long trip!

Jads

Lexylou

I dont think it actually has the english feel, it is the whole perception of it being like England. Everyone says it and i never really understood why! We got married in NZ, North island, I loved it and when a very rushed job offer came in for OH we jumped at it. My thinking was that Christchurch could not be THAT different to the other places I had seen and we jumped in with both feet. It did not work for us, I personally think as a city it is just odd. I know a lot of people think that. It has no real feeling about it.

Now, we met lovely people there, my daughters god father, the most wonderful animal in the world came from there (our dog - now with us here) and there are fantastic things about Christchurch. Bunny Lodge boarding kennels, fantastic place for dogs, Le Plonk bar in town, fantastic place, Hotel off the square, great place to stay and the owner is a fantastic man. The Cup, a wonderful cafe in Cashmere. Lots of really really good things. You might really really love it but it is a HUGE decision and I am concerned that having not liked other parts of NZ, do you really want to make a move over to Chch on the basis of people's opinions on the net? Get yourself over for a week or so, I can give you fantastic contacts, great people. The cost of a flight and hotel for a week is got to be less than the cost of moving your whole family to the otherside of the world and not being 100% sure.

Good luck.

jads

[QUOTE=Lexylou; Le Plonk bar in town, fantastic place, Hotel off the square, great place to stay and the owner is a fantastic man. The Cup, a wonderful cafe in Cashmere. Lots of really really good things. You might really really love it but it is a HUGE decision and I am concerned that having not liked other parts of NZ, do you really want to make a move over to Chch on the basis of people's opinions on the net? Get yourself over for a week or so, I can give you fantastic contacts, great people. The cost of a flight and hotel for a week is got to be less than the cost of moving your whole family to the otherside of the world and not being 100% sure.

Good luck.[/QUOTE]

Hi

I appreciate your comments, I agree that the cost of a flight etc is a small price to pay on the grand scale of things, just not the same on your own.
Why did you move back to Scotland (I know I'm bloody nosey)

Cheers jads

Lexylou

simple really, baby coming, did not like Christchurch, no option to move elsewhere in NZ at the time. Things changed when babe was on the way, we started thinking of the future and we just could not in our professions make enough money in New Zealand to give us all a good future, a future that we wanted. Both our jobs are high demand and salaries 3 - 4 times more in the UK than what we could earn in NZ. Mainly though, we preferred Scotland to Christchurch. Have not looked back really. We are lucky that we can head back at any time for a holiday. The other thing that made us move back is that we were sooooooooooooooooooo far away from everywhere. We love travel and having done the islands, we felt that anywhere else we wanted to go to was such an epic journey. The other thing was, having family in the UK, close family, that meant that every holiday day we had were to be saved up to travel there and any extra money saved just to get back to see them, and lets face it, who wants to holiday in the UK!!!!!!

westiepom

Hi there. Auckland, BoP, Hawkes Bay & Whangarai are all quite different to each other so I was wondering what you did not like about them that you think may be different in Christchurch ? We had 5 happy years in Auckland ( Waitakere ) & moved to ChCh a year ago with work.
Although ChCh certainly isn't horrible we both much prefer the North Island as you know you are in a different country, it has a more vibrant feel to it ( and it's warmer in the winter ! )
It may be a bit risky to put everything into a move to ChCh before you've seen it for yourself as it may not be everything you imagine.

Wessa

Jads, we are going to Chch in march for a two week reccie and for me to have some job interviews. We plan to go there for good. We will be going to Nelson and possibly wellington just out of curiosity but im sure we will like the outskirts of Chch. Give me a shout after the 2nd of april and i will be happy to give you details, you could even give me a call or something.

jads

Thanks very much, thats sounds good!
What is your skill, what stage are you at with a visa?
Good luck with the recci and interviews

Cheers Jads

Wessa

Im going to apply for a wtr visa when we get back. Ive a couple of interviews lined up, with probably more by the time march comes. Before we go we will get our police checks off and book our medicals. Provided we are all happy with what we see in chch etc then we will put the house up for sale as soon as we get home. My background is on the Roading side of things but at for the last 5 years or so ive been a Safety advisor. I can combine these skills or keep them as a seperate skill. The Roading industry is a big one in NZ also Health & Safety is starting to pick up out there too so i shouldn't have any trouble getting a job tbh.

jill1420

Hi Lexylou,

I hope you dont mind me asking.................Where abouts in Scotland are you?

Did you visit Nelson?................What was your take?

Hope you dont mind me jumping in Jads.....................you might be interested in reply re. Nelson as Ive only heard good things about it so far. Best Wishes in your plans.

Lexylou

Am in Perthshire, dont mind you asking at all. I liked Nelson actually but was not an option for us. I have heard lots of good things about it too.

Good luck with your plans. I have no plans at all just now, happy where we are!