Si and Vixs

We are looking to move to NZ, Me and my lovely wife and our 3 daughters, aged 9, and 5 year old twins. We are looking around the Wellington area, and we like the look of Upper Hutt, It looks nice, and it looks like a good place to bring up the girls....is this right ?

We are looking to have a reccie out around Upper/Lower Hutt/Wellington around July/August, any pointers ? lows and highs ?

Also - we are looking into using the services of a Migration bureau, and we met one at the recent emigration seminar in Surrey, who works for "Migration Associates." any experience of these guys ?

Any advice would be great...

thanks...

MOSO

Hi

We're in a very similar situation to you. We are also moving to Wellington with a 7 & 5 year old. We are in the same boat as even more people as we can't go till we sell the house here.....we could be waiting a while in the current dead housing market!

We had our reccie in February and I would strongly advise it - visit as many places as possible.

We liked the look of Whitby on the Internet but found it too remote when the got there without a train station and secondary school. We decided on Karori in the end. It's only a few minutes bus ride from the centre of Wellington and we are trying to escape the long commute. We emailed several schools before we got there and arranged visits. The kids have even got a place by ballot at Karori Normal School which is supposed to be one of the best in Wellington and leads onto Wellington Girls/Wellington College also with excellent reputations. It is a large school though so it depends on what you want. Everyone seems very helpful. The Deputy Head at Karori Normal was really helpful (Ali Stockwell) and has taught in the UK and in Canada so knew our system well. I'm sure she'd help with any questions you have.

We also liked the look of Upper Hutt. There are apparently areas to avoid there. Silverstream looked okay for primary schools. You certainly get more for your money out there but it depends on whether you need to commute into Wellington (45 mins).

We also had a tour of Waterloo primary school and were very impressed by the school (especially the Head teacher) but didn't like Lower Hutt as much as Karori. (check out flooding areas?) Lower Hutt Secondary school has recently received a lot of bad press concerning bullying problems but I'm not sure what it's like overall.

Have a great trip and explore as much as possible! I don't have any experience of relocation agencies - sorry.

JK1

Hi all,
we are in the same situation awaiting house sale (me, OH 7yr olsd boy and mad border collie dog Ben)
we also like Upper Hutt particuarly Riverstone and Silverstream/Pinehaven, we are also considering Belmont and Kelson in lower Hutt and staying in a bach in May when we come over for a recce. love to hear any views particuarly as we have children of a simialr age
regards
Jane

JK1

Vix's
just one note do not waste your money on an immigration consultant they can do no more than what you can and require you do do all the gathering of information etc save the money for your new life, you will find this advice throughtout all the forums
regards Jane

MOSO

Just remembered this useful website link with a list of all the schools (state and private) in the Wellington area and their decile ratings and web site addresses.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...2C_New_Zealand

One other thing you may want to factor into your visit is that most houses are sold by "open homes" which only take place on a Sunday. We had already arranged to travel onto Napier on the Sunday we were there so missed out. It also means you can have a nosy at houses even if you're not in a position to buy yet.

Si and Vixs

Thanks a bunch guys,

We will defo looking into those areas and schools.

We are going to try and book our reccies tomorrow, to come over in July/August and take your advice and drive around, and around and around !!

Thanks again for all the advice...

Jac&Adie

Hi guys,

We live at the far end of Upper Hutt, in Te Marua, we was in trentham (upper Hutt) before. We really like upper hutt. it has a great town centre, not as good as Lower hutt, but it is growing all the time now, and we rarely need to go down to lower hutt.

Yes there are bad area's but that is true for most towns. it is fairly easy to spot the dodgy streets tho.

PM me with any questions, or I can pm you a phone number for more detailed discussions.

On another note, don't waste money on a immigration consultant. Just plan long term, start the application process yourself, and take it one step at a time, try not to get bogged down with worries about what MIGHT happen, just deal with things as they come up. We are all here on this site with lots of advice, don't be afraid to ask. Remember we've all done it, so how hard can it be

Adie

And I nearly forgot, welcome to the site, one and all.

brackley

do it yourselves, you have to do all the paperwork anyway i.e collating all the info to give it to the agents.
my 11 yr old goes to karori normal school and loves it. my eldest at wellington girls collage and wishes she had gone to onslow. an all girls school is very bitchy and some are very immature.
still all very happy here arrived sept 06 and live in central karori.

Si and Vixs

Just wanted to say a big thanks for the reply, we are now in the process of getting flights and a place to call base to do our reccie thanks for all the input, and these forums are great...

For the people sending us private messages, thanks, although it says we cannot view until we have posted at least 3 messages, I am sure that we will post more in the new few weeks !

thanks again,