chippy64

We had a 3.5 yesterday - I heard it coming and then felt it, however my OH and son were in different rooms and felt nothing . Before we moved out here, we never knew about aftershocks - thought you had a quake and that was it! We now know different but we are still glad we moved here

Larryloo

So whereabouts did you settle? Are you both working? Is your son at school?

chippy64

We live in Parklands, Christchurch. My OH is a carpenter, so is kept very busy! I work part time at a before/after school and holiday programme. My 2 sons both work full time - 1 as a life guard and 1 as a waiter/barman.

Larryloo

Ahh, are you the lady who has brown legs finally? Have I read an article or thread by you on BE somewhere?

Do you worry about earthquakes/aftershocks and whether they will affect your home or worse? I'm concerned that family will think I'm placing my family at unnecessary risk. Do you know what I mean?

My husband thinks things will move quite quickly but I don't think we'll get there much before Sep 2013. First things first though, he needs to get a job!

chippy64

I am that lady .

Do I worry about earthquakes? - not any more, in so far as sitting thinking about them, wondering when the next one will be etc. They are still in my mind, as I find myself checking out ceilings of shops sometimes. When the aftershocks occur I don't panic although if they wake me up my heart does beat a bit faster!
My friends thought I was mad. I thought my husband was mad when he decided to stay in ChCh after the Feb event - one of my first questions, when I finally got hold of him, was 'when are you moving?'. However, since moving here and experiencing them first hand, I am still happy to be here. The whole world is a dangerous place - drunk drivers, muggers, mad gunmen, volcano eruptions, tsunamis and quakes.
It is a decision though that you have to be comfortable with and bear in mind that the whole of New Zealand is vulnerable to natural disasters.
I probably haven't helped much - sorry

BEVS

I think you've been a great help so have some BE karma.

I agree with your comment. I may not have been in a big event like the Xch quakes but I've certainly felt quakes since living here. I'm at the Top of theSouth Island. I;ve watched the alerts for the volcanoes on the North Island & there have been 1 or 2 tsunami alerts .

It's a place for that and as Chippy64 says, you have to feel you would be comfortable with living on the Pacific Rim as you can be prepared but you can't know.

GS.83

I moved here nearly a year ago now to work on the Rebuild and had job offers I could only dream of back home within a week.

Working in construction and although though rebuild is far from underway I am still involved the smaller EQ works that are going on.

I love it here, great country and opportunities, saying that there definitely are a lot of ups and downs. I find that when things go wrong here it seems 10 times worse as you don't have your close social circle around you.
Wouldn't change it for the world though to be fair.

GoingIn2011

Yes, I was sold the myth that NZ hardly had anyone living here. Living in Auckland that certainly is NOT the case. I feel just as congested as I did in the UK.

Christchurch is beautiful - even with its damage. You absolutely will love it I am sure.

NZ is a little backward when it comes to certain things (re poster's comments) but honestly that's part of its charm. If you come over here without any grand thoughts about it being utopia, you won't be disappointed. We came over here for a better life with our three kids and we certainly have that. I would say if you have a family, it's generally is a better country to bring them up than the uk. Come over here with realistic expectations. It's not paradise, but then nor is the uk...(In fact, I flipping hate the uk but that's more to do with needing to live near a big city to get work but then missing the beach. Here, I have both - my kids love the beaches - and we are three hours from the mountains. That's the life I want...)

Larryloo

Just been reading about trouble with securing contents insurance if you live in ChCh. The posts were quite old, so I'm wondering if this issue has gone away and you can now secure contents insurance? If anyone has an answer, I'd be so grateful if you could share! Thanks.

GoingIn2011

Not sure but even if you can it will be very expensive. We pay $700 per annum and that's in Auckland. That's about 5x what I was paying in the uk

scotttom

I guess that all depends on which part of the UK you come from. I moved to New Zealand and stayed for 6 years only to realize that I had travelled to the other side of the planet away from everyone I know just to end up in a place similar to the UK weather wise and countryside wise but earning a lot less and socialising a lot less.
Personally I think Devon and Cornwall has everything New Zealand has, except mountains of course.

Pom_Chch

Except we can't afford a 4 bedroom detached bungalow with an acre of land, double garage in a lovely area that is 5 mins drive to the beach and 60 mins into the mountains in Devon or Cornwall...

skends

The roads are much narrower in Devon & Cornwall
Its always foggy and misty too - well every time we went it was! lol - i guess maybe we were unlucky.
The beaches here are definitely much nicer than Devon/Cornwall. Just my little opinion though.

Assanah

My experience is similar - to me moving around the world to have excess to beautiful and beaches lush mountains is not worth giving up family and friends and a country with a a good balance of cultural, intellectual and outdoor activities.

GoingIn2011

And there is no work for me in D&C :-)