marblep

davros1984

justcol will do a better reply tomorrow. spent the day of the super xv final in Cambridge. I fell in love with the place. I'd move there in a heartbeat, unfortunately both of us don't see it that way at this time.

BEVS

Sounds lovely and I have heard similar of the area before
Are you commuting into Auckland JustCol ?

Reason I ask is that Davros is governed somewhat by his occupation & career. I think it doubtful he would.could/is able change this for work in Corrections.

Mind you , I am not at all sure of the commute

By the way, I am so pleased to read that all is going well for you with the new relationship and career. It is lovely to read given the strife that went before.

Can you please just cut a bit of slack with those working through their own thoughts and moments right now please. I'd be obliged if you would.

marblep

And Pukekohe, Patumahoe, Tuakau, Harrisville.

westie1234

Waiuku tops the lot tho.

Justcol

I understand people have chosen careers but some people fail to understand that those same chosen career paths can in time become
the dead weight that holds you back from living the life you truly desire Personally I have never bought into that, I believe the
moment you do you become a live to work not work to live person because you are allowing what you do to earn a crust dictate
your life path. One Of the reasons I went into corrections is that I can move and live anywhere where there is a prison and not just in NZ.
I know not everyone has my outlook, if I stepped back a few years I know I had a totally different outlook but I've gone though a lot
of changes in my personal life and believe me, being penniless is a great eye opener. I dont ever feel the need to keep up with anyone,
prove myself to anyone, climb any career or social ladders. All I do now is live life and care about my freinds.
At my lowest point I heard a song by Frank Turner that had the lines
"Life is about love, last minutes and lost evenings,
About fire in our bellies and furtive little feelings,
And the aching amplitudes that set our needles all a-flickering,
And help us with remembering that the only thing that's left to do is live"
I have the last bit tattooed on my arm to remind me what my goal for every day is.
Yes I still want to live a comfortable life with things that make me happy but I will never be a slave to anybody or any thing to get it.

I transferred from Paremoremo to Waikeria a few months ago to get away from Auckland and all its stresses and negativity
particularly those that others are highlighting in this thread. I now enjoy a peaceful 30 min drive to work down empty country lanes each morning,
if I see 10 other cars on my commute I consider it a busy road day, what could be a better way to start the day than that

marblep

Love your work justcol. But - did the grammer fairy steal all your apostrophes? And full stops?

Bellasmum

Yes there is plenty of rugby here and good rugby. We love it and have been on a few tours with the AB's in the past. Hope you got to watch the test on Saturday, it was a great game (so was the red wine)

I do hope that you and your wife are able to find a house that appeals to you both in an area you both like. The reason our friends bought in the Avondale area was to get onto the home ownership ladder. Their 5 year plan is to improve it and sell to take a step up and ultimately buy a piece of land to build on.

By the way I have a nursing friend who has moved to Hamilton to live. She sold her home in Pakuranga and has bought a lovely cottage down there and has been able to invest $20,000 surplus from her sale. She is a Midwife at Middlemore Hospital and travels from Hamilton to work 4 days a week and says moving to the Waikato is her best decision ever. She does however work shift work so would be mostly travelling outside peak hour traffic.

RedDragon2008

I used to commute from Hamilton to Auckland daily (before the massive improvements to SH1). It becomes easier as you learn the route. Helps if your closer to South Auckland and not Point Chevalier.

ExKiwilass

I'm still getting over the fact people commute from Hamilton to Auckland now Wow.

trafford

Reading about the cost of living and property prices really does make me worry about our return to NZ. The price of Auckland property is truly frightening. I like city life, so Auckland is where I want to be. I couldn't wait to get out of New Plymouth when I was growing up (nothing against it - I just like cities) so moving somewhere rural doesn't really appeal. Hubby (English) is a country bumpkin, and doesn't want to be living cheek by jowl on a subdivided section - or have to "share a drive" (*horror*) He wants an awesome house on a large section with a lovely view, but all at a reasonable price. He is deluded . He looks at Trademe, and seems to "find places" - but he has no idea about suburbs etc. He keeps coming back to Rodney. To me is seems a bit too far out of the city, and I worry that it is "God's waiting room" and wont have the city life feel that I like (but he thinks he doesn't - he still needs "educating"). What is Rodney like?

Snap Shot

Rodney has an RD2 post code. My 'recently moved from Albany to Silverdale' sister in law seems to think she's 'made it' 'cause she now has a rural delivery post code. Go figure !

She still commutes from Silverdale to Auckland's town centre. Well, on the days her husband doesn't give her a lift as he's going into town that day as well. Nuff said.

Oh, and they're also on tank water and no mains sewer. So, they're very proud of their new septic tank. To bad the drainage lines are on the paddock (well, big lawn anyway) she so desperately wanted thus rendering a third of the area useless for anything else ! You couldn't make it up.

Tom1983

Whilst I agree with a lot your saying, the big attractor for davros and others is that a mortgage is obtainable back in Blighty

HSBC, Lloyds, Haliworstbankintheworldeverfax, and a lot of others have 10% mortgage deposits (90% LTV)s.

Here now, it's mostly 20% and if you fail to qualify for the governments welcome home loan (like davros, myself and a few others do), it is a bit of a kick in the teeth. There are some financial services that will offer the lowest of 10% but it's not easy getting one of those.

pippalonghorn

It does depend on where in England you are wanting to live also. We come from up North. Not everyone's choice I know. I've never had any problems getting employment and neither has hubby. We are next to the Lake District and Scotland is just up the road. We have a lovely 3 bedroomed semi, double glazed, gas Central heating which is accompanied by 3/4 acre of land. All for £120,000. Our village is small but it is lovely.

davros1984

Well I am glad to see that this thread has come to life. I said I'd expand on my brief post I made last night, so here it is as well as a reply to some of you who have commented.

We went to Cambridge during the day of the Super XV final this year. Just loved it. Walked into a pub and we were greeted and people started talking to us - in truth it was a bit much as we just wanted to look at a menu. But certainly the place has a different feel to Auckland and I would quite happily move and live there. It had quite an English feel to it as well. My partner liked it as well, but she sees it as somewhere we would live in say 10 years time (when we're almost 40). So I am somewhat hamstrung by that, I will expand on this a little more in my reply to you Justcol.

Whilst prices there are more affordable there, I am not sure they seem that affordable to the local population. I earn an Auckland salary which does skew things. I would still need to save an additional 50K nzd before being able to have a deposit on a 400K house in the Waikato. I do realise that there are some cheaper options. I also know that if I wanted to buy in Cambridge, I could in time and it would be a worthwhile move.

I can relate to this completely - I do feel somewhat trapped at times with my choice of career. I think my partner is tired of me talking about doing other things.

Anyhow, I also started my own business (hence the details in my signature). I did the china import formula course in an attempt to get out of my profession and be my own boss. From November 2012 through till April this year, all of my spare time (other than the odd chiefs game) was spent working on it. Sadly, its not worked out. Whilst I've learnt a lot of business stuff, sadly I've not made any money on it all. This has made me realise that at least my current IT job pays well, enables me to save and thus give me options for the future. As I am "stuck" for a while to come, I would at least hope to get out of renting as that would save me 24K NZD a year and would be going into paying off a mortgage.

Your commute sounds like bliss, exactly my idea of how I'd like my day to be.

So as you can probably tell from my posts, I have a lot of big decisions to make.

Hi Bellasmum - yes the game vs the boks was amazing. Possibly the best AB performance in quite some time. Really left me with a warm glow after watching that game. That is what rugby is all about. Go the AB's.

Thank you for your comments and wishes, I really hope so to. I know we don't help ourselves sometimes. Hard that I would rather stay here, but move elsewhere in NZ. Whereas she would rather we moved home than elsewhere in NZ. From a financial/affordability point of view, I think that argument makes sense, especially as I can buy a nice 3-bedder for less than 150K up north and get a job in my profession earning a good wage. Once we've done that for a few years, we would then look at coming back here, hopefully with more money and the ability to live elsewhere in NZ. So at this stage, she is winning the argument.

Part of me has briefly considered going my own way, but we are a team and have been through a lot together and most importantly, I know how I feel about her. I would rather keep saving, and look at buying elsewhere in NZ, followed by a complete career change.

You said it- hence the frustration. My advice is don't do it, move to another city where its not as bad - or just don't move to NZ at this time. I was talking to my mechanic this morning, he is now looking at leaving the city and returning to CHCH due to the costs of houses here.

That is exactly it, its just not feasible for first time buyers. The UK governments HTB scheme will actually now allow you to buy with a 5% deposit. Its a very attractive scheme and as a result, they will get my vote at the next election. Its unfortunate that the NZ scheme is the complete opposite and actually makes it near impossible for first time buyers to get on the ladder.

Sounds lovely Pippa! When we move home, it will be up north. Loads of jobs there, salaries are pretty reasonable in what I do (40K+ GBP), and the cost of houses - as you say (and what I have seen) is cheap. Areas I would consider for work are Leeds, Warrington, Nottingham, York, Manchester, Chester, Sheffield.

If Leeds I would consider somewhere north or east of leeds, lots of pretty villages there cheap. Leeds is now the 2nd major IT city in the UK after London.