Divine Comedy

Hi Tracy, thanks for your help, anything would be a great help! My children are 11, 6 and twins at age 4. So all at primary school.
What is the Byron? is that the hotel we get put in on our arrival? is that how long it takes before the furniture arrives , 2 weeks? Debborah.

jonesey

Hi Ann

Nice to hear from you and just reading through the thread and glad to see what we started is still going strong, we now have a great gathering of poms that have made the transition to Kiwi life and all seem to have adjusted well and go on to settle quiet easy to life so far away from what they used to call home. We too are still enjoying life here and have many flashbacks to previous lifestyles of earning the megabucks back in the UK financial CBD we were used to in London, but we are now realistic and only yearn for a simple life for our children and earning a moderate wage at the end of the day. Nothing can compensate financially for the friendship and lifestyle we now have and take for granted on a daily basis. Of course we are not wearing tinted glasses as most do when they enter a new country and new lifestyle, but just for compensating what we had once in Lincoln to what we have now, a better way of life for us as a family to watch beautiful sunrise and sunset and 10 minute rides to the East Coast Bays does it for us !!!! Even though it is still early days for most of us we have so much to see and accomplish and everything to gain for the future in such a very small population growth with so much space, these are the important issues to us, Im sure we can live with $5 milk and 99c bread at the end of the day.......Oh Ben PB if you do read this thread can you post the price of UK Petrol to me I'm very interested to know !!!!!!! Ours is hitting the $1.51 a litre

rickg37

Hi Ann

we have met up with Mick and Sherren and shared a glass of wine or two and are looking forward to meeting up with everyone else coming over this year hope your medicals go smoothly see you soon

Rick & Tracy

rockape

Hi Wayne, I have heards of at least 3-4 Rocks going and was informed that they had 1100 apllicants and only chose 250. Bad calcuation I think.

Stan (rockape)

annbee

Hey Mick, Sherren and kids

Pleased you are enjoying a cup of tea, tell me when they run out. Dean away at the minute, last one. Booked medicals for 11th May with the doctor in Oxford, hopefully should sail through that. Girls are countng the week to seeing Chloe and sophie. I am thinking that will make it a lot easier for Luce having friends out there already. Not too bothered about the money, we are coming out like you for the lifestyle and a better place for the girls to grow up in. must go and take Jaspa out now. Enjoy your Cuppa

Love
Mrs Tetley xxxx

jonesey

Hi Mrs Tetley Ha
Dont Know Wat Well Do When You Get Here For Our Tea Bags, Had A Great Time With Ryan Hes Gone Back Today But Flys Out Again At The End Of April Hes Joining The Rnzaf, Which Were Pleased About. Girls Cant Wait To You All Arrive, Dont Forget To Get Them Navy Skirts For School As There Cheaper Over There And Navy Socks Aswell. Weather Still Nice Bit Cooler In The Evening But Hey Nothing That A Bottle Of Wine Cant Cure,ha Ha
Sherrenxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:

tinytiger

Hi Everyone, We came out to NZ in Feb 07 and are based at Ohakea. We had a good flight over and were given the choice beforehand to upgrade at our own expense but chose not to. We flew with our 2 boys, 10 and 13, they were fine, 24 hours of movies !! The induction course was really informative and the quarters fine, they are not like the U.K but hey, it's a cheap and I do mean a cheap roof over your head. Most people use them as a transition stop to buying their own place and you don't get the stress of march outs as they don't have the same standard, they are realistic in knowing a family lives in it, I gave mine a good clean before we moved in and it was fine. Don't bring wardrobes, nearly all houses in NZ have built in wardrobes. We have moved to Wangauni, most people move Palmy way but our boys are in private schools, St Georges and Collegiate which is in Wanganui. The education system focuses on well rounded kids here not academic robots. We have found that the wages and cost of living here is about the same as the wages and cost of living in U.K if that makes sense, you can't live like a king on the wages and I do advise you have savings to bring over, having enough for a big deposit for a house would make a huge difference to your life here. Low wage earners can get family assistance ( like working families) if you fall into the lowest category then you qualify for rent assistance and the community card which helps with doctors charges and prescriptions. If you are bring a pension out then get all the info possible before hand, it seems to be a very grey area, I am not sure I understand it myself but it seems that you get taxed between 33% and 39% depending on your wages. There is an option of 4 years tax free on your pension which is classed as worldwide earnings.You have to weigh up the family assistance you get to how much you save with the 4 year relief.
Hope this helps you in your moving over here.
Good Luck to you all.
Lou x

Divine Comedy

Hi Lou, glad you are enjoying the start of your new life. Nice positive remarks! Good luck for the rest of it. Debborah.x.

Divine Comedy

Hi the jonesys, i can put a shed load of tetley tea in our container for you if you want!! along with all ours They are bogof at Tescos at the moment! See you in July.x I love tea.x.

Badass Barrass

Hi TinyTiger,

You are the first I have seen based at Ohakea. My family and I are due there in Nov 07. We also have two sons aged 11 and 15. I am joining their Air Security Branch after 22 years with RAF Police. We are all looking forward to the move, again not for any financial gain but to offer my children a new life style and fresh challenge for me. The pension situation is quite complex, can you recommend any web pages to investigate the tax or will it be explained on induction. I have my RNZAF medical to do with my military doctor here in Cyprus. Can you tell me what to expect with this final medical. I believe I can use my blood tests from my Panel doctor. I would be grateful for any advice you can offer on what to expect at Ohakea and also any tips on what to pack prior to our move. Many thanks.

tinytiger

Hi BB
Your RNZAF medical is very basic, a push up and general health stuff, much like your immigration medical. There was a drug screen to be done which would not have ben done on your other medical but the blood tests were the ones done at the immigration medical, Steve (hubby) had his medical done at the same time as he immigration one so is not sure what was immigration and what was RNZAF so don't worry about it, if you passed the visa medical then you will have no probs with the RNZAF one. One thing I will tell you is that the fitness test when you get here is catching people out. The walk/ run is okay but the press ups are the one people fail the most on. The press up is wide armed, lay on the floor with your arms out at 90o, pull your arms back towards your shoulders and then do the press up, you have to be close to the floor, nearly nose touching it ! It really gets your shoulder blades and is a killer but practice before you get here as loads of people fail it. When you do your fitness test ask to see a press up from the PT guy counting for you and then you know what is a pass and what is a fail for that person.
Ohakea is lovely .... small ! You won't get lost !
The induction course covers everything you will need to know. If you have kids they provide a carer for them while you are on the course. Tips are : don't buy a car before you have been on the course, they cover it in the first few days, they also provide transport and a driver everyday to get you to nd from the camp, lend you a couple of vehicles for your group so you can get out and about so there is no need to rush into buying a car ... oh and you will meet my hubby on the driving brief !! he is MT and gives a U.K view on driving in NZ. Another thing is do not and I mean DO NOT go rushing into buying a house, you might look at your quarter and panic but please please don't go buying a house in desperation. We looked at so many houses before we came and then found them to be in gangland areas, bogs ( they call it wetlands) or areas which had been flooded ... thats why hey were so cheap then ! .. you need to be here, live here and talk to people, they will tell you where to avoid and where is best. If your into buying land and building then you really need to be careful and check out the land ... it might look idyllic but you could be buying a swamp in disguise ! Again this type of stuff is covered in the induction and the guys that look after you are full of great advise.
The next installment is will be about what to bring and what to leave behind, I have consulted my friends to ask them what they would have left and what they wished they had bought ... chocolate keeps coming up, to bring that is !! in fact forget your furniture and fill your container with chocolate, baked beans and giant jars of marmite and you will make a fortune !!!
Lou x

Divine Comedy

Hey Lou, i know your reply is mainly for BB, but i will be reading with great interest as to what you think we should bring and leave behind. I have heard that the chocolate tastes different over there.. good way to loose a few pounds!
Loving your positive attitude to everything!!
All the best .Debborah.x


Badassbarrass, my hubby had his medical done at the Medical centre eventually!! { good tip off from yourself!} He said it was very much like the NZ one also, apart from the drugs test. Good luck with your move to Okahea .Debborah.x.

annbee

Hey Lou, pleased to hear that you have settled in and enjoying the NZ life. We are coming out in October and reading your thread is very informative and very positive. We are going to Auckland and are in the Process of getting all paperwork together for ITA and have booked medicals for May. Have had requests for tetley tea bags, so may fill container with them!!!!

Ann

jonesey

Thanks for that the more tetley the better ha,thats the only thing we miss, we came out in oct 06 and we love it here, the kids are glad to be back havin lived here for 2 years before, our kids are 6 9 14,theres also another 3 that live back home age 17, 20, 25, weve just had a visit from the 2 younger ones and ther moving back here asap, which were glad of, as they now know this is home not england.I do more here with friends than i did in england as all i did was work full time and never spent time with my kids, here i do though, we go swimming go to the beach and much more.And at the end of the day its what you make it, see you soon need to ask anything just let me know,

Divine Comedy

WOW 6 children, i have 4 and i thought i had been busy!! I have read abit about you and your journey to NZ, as i when i first came on here it was a while before i plucked up the courage to post on here, and i have read your blog! I must have read and reread the whole thread through 100 times.
I am very glad i found this though as it has been an enormous help.
I was going to ask somone about bringing food etc over in the container, do you know what the crack is with that? i also want to bring some curry paste with us, [for those curry cravings!!!} So im not being too fussy am i Teabags and curry paste!! Will get you some teabags, they looked at me extremly strange the last time i went in as i had quite a few packets!! I just gave them a toothy tea stained grin!! {only joking by the way!!}{about the teeth i mean, not the tea!!}
All the best.x.Debborah.x