Ian & Sharon

With the greatest respect, yes I am going to Oz. But I don't see why that will cloud my opinion

However with 3 years experience and having lived in both Akl and ChCh I am giving an honest opinion. There is no point in telling someone who is due to move here that everything will be great as we both know that NZ is not a cheap place to live.
I'm going to Oz to join the 600,000 kiwis that leave NZ each year, now why do they go ?

poppets

so is that not a negative comment then? you're down on the place
i agree people should know the whole story though, we did loads of research before we came & its not been as bad as we expected, its horses for courses & doesn't suit every one
good luck with the move to Oz

Am Loolah

Methinks you may have your figures wrong, it would only take 7 years for NZ to be empty if that was the case!. Even if you believe you are right; 98% of Kiwi's who leave have every intention of returning to live in their homeland. Are you a New Zealander?

PS: Hello Poppets!! Made friends with that pesky giraffe yet?!

poppets

bloody thing sneezed on me, wait till i get my mum there then he'll be sorry

Stevie1963

Hi there, Thank you for your honest comments. I appreciate that it may not be the cheapest place to live but somewhere I have always dreamed of living. I don't want to appear greedy or expect too much but just want us to have a good quality of life and not scrimp and scrape along like we seem to here in the UK with the ever increasing cost of living and to be honest, the motorcycle trade is dying slowly here in the UK compared to what it was 10 years ago. Also I have done the work all hours thing and want to be able to enjoy my free time. 47 hours a week seems to invade on that quality time quite a bit. Maybe I am expecting too much

Am Loolah

Could have been worse, could have rained on your parade .. oh, howdy Ian, Sharon .. how goes it?!

poppets

hubby leaves house at 6.30am in NZ & is home at 5.30pm (drives)
UK left at 7am home 7pm onwards (train & tube)

the main thing we find is more time at weekends, we went for a walk the other evening & noticed lots of folk in gardens playing with kids , much more than UK
stress levels are less for us here too
best of luck

Am Loolah

Yeah, ditto, good luck in Oz!!

BEVS

Hi there Steve 1963.

$45 K per annum, as a starting wage, is about average for someone employed within trades. You may be offered $50K around Xchurch or Auckland. You might be offered less outside of some of the bigger towns.

edit within post.... [ oops. I've just realised it is Auckland - in which case I would suggest that $45K is a bit too low. Ask your employer to up this offer ]

Depending on where your job offer is , it could be possible to manage on this one wage if you have no , or little mortgage. Otherwise your wife will most likely need to find part-time work to supplement the income.

I will just say something with regard to Ian as it does seem that some members have pre-conceived notions about him from someone or somewhere and therefore have a bit of a 'down' on his posts , which is a shame.

You can be very assured of receiving open, truthful, honest views and opinions from him. He does know about many aspects of NZ life , having lived here for three years. He is very knowledgeable & can give factual answers to topics such as transport , driving work etc.
He is certainly able to post about NZ income v cost of living.

He does NOT have a 'down' on NZ or dislike all things NZ. It is wrong for anyone to suggest this. He is not the first and will not be the last person to have to consider and make the move to Oz to give his family what , he feels, will be a better life.
Good on him really isn't it . This family have real guts .

I'm sure there are several other Brit Expat members who would in the majority post to the Australian forum but who have also come onto the NZ forum to make posts. Seem a natural progression to me and If they have genuine experience of aspects of NZ life , then what's wrong with that. Everyones viewpoints & experiences are valid.

sorry to have butted in Ian, I know you can hold yer own, but it does seem that there has been something of an instant unfavourable judgement call here - and an incorrect one to boot.

poppets

i didn't mean to sound so down on Ian, i was just pointing out that he said AL was very postive & i thought he was a bit negative thats all. As i said NZ doesn't suit everyone , & yes people should get to hear about aspects of life here. I wish him & his family well in NZ, but aren't all people that emigrate looking for a better life & have guts , he just has more guts to do it for again, as do the folks who choose to return home
i aplogise for 'having a go' i did not mean to upset anyone

Stevie1963

Hi Bevs. Thanks for your reply. Don't worry, I didn't think badly of Ian. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion and as you say if he has lived there for 3 years then he will know more about the place than someone who hasn't. My place of employment will be Helensville. I am waiting on a reply from my future employers to see if the salary will increase after my initial probationary period has passed. I will keep you posted on how it pans out.
Speak soon and thanks again

danny.f

We both going to be on about $45,000, and we will adjust our lives accordingly. A lot of our wages here in UK are spent trying to get on holiday once or twice a year-to destress,get away from it all,etc.
What we're hoping is that any free time we get,we'll want to stay within the boundaries of what will be our new country,and if that happens,great.
If not,then we'll consider somewhere else,like Oz. Thing is,we've all been brave enough (or are going to be brave enough) to take a major step to improve our lives-and if the first step,isn't enough-there's plenty of options!
Waffling-and it's not even halfway through.
I think my point echo's most others here. It's standard of living,standards of the people,that is the attraction-thus making financial status/requirements not as important. Don't care about rich-but do about happiness.

Genesis

Hello Stevie, from what i can glean $45k will not go far in Auck. We live in Palmy but I have heard soooo much about the high costs of Auck (we also know people that live there). However if you have no mortgage you would manage on that okay. I wanted to go to Auckland so much but for some reason Kate put her foot down and we ended up in Palmerston North..we are soooooooooooooo happy here and extremely glad we did not go to Auckland. Point one our house in a similarly nice area would be more than double up there, we have little crime, no traffic, only 70000 to share the almost endless space with and a location that is close for soooooooo much.

Bills per month (excluding petrol, debt, food and mortgage)..ie rates, utilities, insurances, car tax and MOTs are about $650 per month. Rent/mortgage can be from $1500 - skys the limit...food will be say another $1000, petrol between $100-150. $48k will leave you with about $3120 per month, which is slightly less than what your estimated outgoings would be.

sky

Maybe ask for a little more money with it being up in Auckland, you can always change jobs once your here if you don't like it or think you can earn better.
Just be careful though to not open up too much to your work mates about what your thoughts are about the company/country etc for a while ... in the skilled trades industry it's dog eat dog and if they think they have something on you they will use it!
Will you have a mortgage? if you don't it will be easier .. if you do you will def be scraping by on a daily basis.

Bevs grow up!
Hands up anyone who has received a pm or email from me lately cos I think she is implying I've been saying negative things about folk.

poppets

i thought they were having a go at me cos of my comments earlier on in this thread, oh well Sky , we'll stand united shall we
hows the house going?