Rotorua here we come
 

Hi,
After a year saving and then several months waiting to apply for a teaching job, last night i was succesful and got the offer of a full time permanant job in Rotorua so we are on our way....quite scary now even though we have lived in NZ before. There seems so much to do and sort out, where to sort.

Would love to hear from anyone who lives there about schools that are good for a 6 and 9 year old, for areas to avoid when we are looking at rentals etc, any advice about living in the area as we keep being told how maori it.

off to be excited and to do some research
Helen

Re: Rotorua here we come
 

Great news, congrats on the job offer, and I hope you enjoy living in Rotorua as much as we do :thumbsup:
Just give me a shout if there's anything I can do to help.

Re: Rotorua here we come
 

Hi

I'm in Rotorua, only arrived in August so pretty new to the area too. When are you looking at heading over?

Cant help with the schools question as I dont have kids but theres a couple of Rotorua folks on here that I'm sure could help you out with that.

I posted a thread on where to live before I came over so that might help you out a bit...
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=671779

Be aware if your looking on TradeMe for rentals that a lot of the properties on there will have already been rented out, some several weeks ago. I trailed round the rental agents when I first arrived with my list of possible TradeMe properties and I'd say 75% of them had gone weeks before as they often only update the TradeMe listings every 4-6 weeks (so the rental agents here told me)

If there's anything I can do to help just ask.

Re: Rotorua here we come
 

Just found the link for Rotorua Settlement Support, thought I'd put it on the forum instead of PM because it may be of interest to any others looking at Rotorua as a possible destination.
http://www.rotorua-business.com/settlement/default.asp

Re: Rotorua here we come
 

Thanks for the help so far. We are hoping to arrive in the first week in January so we will have 4 weeks before school starts to sort everything out, just looking for flights now as i want to get them booked asap.

What are the facilities like there, supermarkets? swimming pools? libraries? does it have all the big stores like mitre 10 etc? I'm imagining it will have as its twice the size of wanganui where i used to live.

So many questions....does anyone know if there are cubs and beavers for my boys, a swimming club, a nice junior rugby club? I could go on, lots of research to do over the next few weeks.

Thanks for any info offered though its really appreciated
Helen

Re: Rotorua here we come
 

Hi again, first week in Jan isn't far away, your going to be busy over christmas then!

Rotorua has all the expected supermarkets, a couple of Countdowns, Pak 'n Save and a New World. Also seems to have most if not all of the bigger name stores if not actually the largest versions of the shops themselves.

The public library seems very good, lots of resources and good wi-fi for $3/day as well as its own coin operated PC's and there's a good aquatic centre thats should have all you need both indoor and outdoors http://www.rdc-aquatic.co.nz/aboutus.html

Couldn't say for certain but there seems to be a lot going on for kid. The girls at work are always moaning about having to ferry their kids from one activity to another so I think they'll be plenty to keep yours amused too :D

Hows the rental search going? I'd recommend sending Pauline at Century 21 an email, she was fab with me when I was looking for my rental property and I'm pretty sure she's helped others on here out too. I'm sure you can contact her directly through the Century 21 website but if not I'm sure I've got her email address around here somewhere and would be happy to pass it on if you want it.