Joshlin

Welcome mickg - I took your questions about chch from the open home for newbies thread and opened a new thread - you'll get more views and replies this way. (hope you don't mind!!)
Vicki

Mickg asked:
Hi There,

we are seriously thinking about moving to NZ, and like the sound of Christchurch, in particular Rangiora. Can anyone help me with a few questions before we take the plunge!!!

1) Should I secure a job before I arrive, or come out on a visitor visa?
2) What are your thoughts on living in Chch, in particular Rangiora?
3) My wife runs pre-school music groups, nursery rhymes, puppets etc, do you think there would be a demand for this in NZ?

Loads of other questions, but that will do for starters?

happynz

Dive in.

I dunno. That depends on your immigration status I would think. Do you need a job to get over the points cut-off or what?
I live in St Albans, an inner suburb near central Christchurch. I like it okay, my daughter is alright with it and my wife, who is from Thailand, loves it and wants to live the rest of her life here. (Well New Zealand at least.)

Christchurch has plenty of amenities and can be a very comfortable place to live. The great outdoors is all around and recreation is here or nearby.

Traffic, erm...I don't really know as I walk or ride a bike to work and I don't have a car so I don't much notice.

However, I'm no help at all when it comes to describing Rangiora as I have never been there.
Is she certified? New Zealand employers are goo-goo-gah-gah over certification. You bloody well even have to have a cert to pull pints of beer or to even paint someone's fingernails (oh yeah, you'd need a level four certificate in the theory of nail maintanance).

Happy New Year.

sky

Rangiora is a fab town and is expanding all the time, the population is growing and there's lots of lovely shops on the beautiful townstreet.

kiwi_child

Rangiora isn't actually in Christchurch. From memory it's about a one hour drive to chch. You could always move to Woodend (halfway between the two) and a nice quiet little spot (was last time I was there anyway).

You and your wife may need to get your qualifications verified in NZ. As for demand, I'm not sure. That would take some more specific research I'd think, but chch has the population to potentially support that sort of thing. May need some kind of govt approval though.

Ian & Sharon

20 minutes to the airport
35 minutes to Sockburn Industrial area
30 minutes to the center of the City + 5-10 minutes in rush 1/2 hour

We live in Rangiora and it is a fab town, we do feel very settled here, but we are off to Oz. We are only going because of a job offer/prospects over there.

I have taken a load of pictures of Rangiora, just day to day stuff if you want me to email you them drop me a line.

Ian

Ps This new layout is good

Apple12

Be careful, Rangiora doesn't suit everyone.

I couldn't live there - bit too like a new built American suburb for me. I wouldn't want to be working in the central city and commuting in, but ok I guess if you are working on the western edge of the city. NZ doesn't work like the UK where there is a village every 2 miles and a bus service, NZ towns are more spread out, more farmland between each town.
Rangiora certainly isn't part of the city, you will need a car each to get by. I like living in the southern part of the city - bikeable to town and work, heaps of buses, recreation 5 min walk away in the Port Hills.

If you are looking for work it makes more sense to rent in a more central suburb while you figure out where you will be working.
Please post up more info on what your priorities are for a place to live and we will try and help some more.

PS - Ian and Sharon - I am not sure why you are putting proximity to Sockburn as a good thing =)

Ian & Sharon

One of the main industrial area

sky

There's a new bus service just been started in the last few months here, it's fabulous and buses run every half an hour now from Rangi to Ch.ch.

Dirk1971

What is the story with that? So frickin' annoying. when I was unemployed last year I thought to myself, I'll just get a job pulling pints for a while till things improve. Then I found out they wanted "experience" and a "certificate". Ha ha ha. Same story for making a coffee. (They call it being a barista here and take it terribly seriously). WHat about needing a CV to get a job working in subway? hahahaha

kiwi_child

This is also the case in Australia.

kiwi_child

Same in OZ. And yes you must undertake a barista course in OZ before you can work in many coffee places . Actually is very very hard for a male to get barwork in OZ. Vast majority of barstaff are female.

SarahB

I noticed that when I was looking for part time work last year. So my Diploma in Hotel and Catering Management means nothing here at all.... I needed a ruddy certificate to pull a pint. I gave up trying to get work and got pregnant instead!

kiwi_child

You probably need to have your diploma verified, same as for any overseas qualification.

Dirk1971

They offer Barista training course in the paper. An intensive course to teach you to make a coffee

"Now class, this is coffee. Spell it. C.O.F.F.E.E. good. Now, this is a coffee grinder. To operate put the beans in here...."

Apple12

They probably have something similar in Italy, which is the home of great coffee. I just couldn't get over the way that a coffee from any random train station in Italy was better than from the best cafe in London.
Most of my kiwi friends take good coffee very seriously - and the more people who know how to make a great coffee the better in my opinion