tom's mum

Hi,

Its been several weeks since I last postedon britishexpats.com. Since then we have left the UK and have been in new Zealand for six weeks. I wanted to post our experience and feelings.

We arrived after a two night stopover in Singapore feeling exhausted. We then had a drive down to Te Kuiti. We went straight to bed and awoke on the Sunday to see where we were living. What a mistake!! We were surprised to see how little there is to Te Kuiti. We spent the next two weeks looking at houses to buy. Rentals are very few and far between and there is no such thing as furnished rental accomodation. One night after we had laid awake for hours both Phil and I agreed that we couldnt stay in Te Kuiti, just far too quite for us and the children. My job is in Te Kuiti. We drove around and have found Cambridge and this is where we are now. We have bought our house and moved in today. Hopefully our furniture wont be too much longer then we will feel more settled.

Some aspects of NZ are different to our preconceived perceptions but we love it here. The boys are settling well and are looking forward to starting school. Everyone have so far been friendly and we are making friends everyday.

We cant get used to having a hot Christmas, which we spent at Mount Manganui. I have posted a photo taken on Xmas Eve.

Will keep you posted on our progress.

Helen

nell m

Hi Helen

The Pic looks great! (not very jealous - we've got wonderful grey dizzle to look at!) Glad to see you made it ok, what preconceived ideas were different for you?

We don't get many NZ posters, so please keep us up to date.

Hope your new house is everything a home should be, good luck

Eileen

JoB

Helen,

Glad you are settling. I've been to Mount Managnui. It's great I know what you mean about hot Christmasses.

I liked Cambridge when I was there property prises are good value.
We are planning to go over in 2 years husbands brother lives in Tauranga (Bethehem). Just waiting for hubby to finish his training Low and High Voltage he can only do that whilst in work as you gain points from experience. Once he is nearly complete we will then apply for PR.

I hope you settle nicely. Keep posting as Eileen said not many NZ'ers on here.

Jo

Rob&Marisa

Keep us all informed as to what life is like in Cambridge.

We only spent a couple of days there but it looked a nice place and if Marisa gets offered a job at Hamilton Hospital Cambridge will be where will start looking for a house.

How long does it take you to commute from Cambridge to Te Kuiti?

tom's mum

Hi Jo & Eileen,

Its difficult to say what our preconceived ideas where. I suppose it is our ideas of what NZ was like before we arrived. You know what its like you imagine a place. Cambridge is more like what we had imagned then Te Kuiti was. Cambridge is a lovely town but house prices in NZ have shot up recently and houses are selling very very quickly. We would enter the real estate agents and ask what property they had and could be shown only a few homes!!

The houses shown on the internet are almost all sold but they are still on. Our house is still on the internet and we are living in it!! Our furniture should arrive soon. The ship docks in Auckland today and then we wait for delivery. I cant wait to see our old familiar stuff again, the camp beds are killing me.

Must go, off to the beach again, will write again soon.

Helen

tiredwithtwins

hello toms mum!!!
glad to hear you got there in one piece - wondered where you had got to!!
have a lovely time settleing in - let us know how the school goes!! it will be interesting to hear some views of nz!!

take care

sue

jandjuk

I have to laugh a little at your experience of Te Kuiti! (in a nice way!)

'Very small town' in NZ is a whole lot smaller and more isolated than a 'very small town' in the UK, as you discovered!

There is next to nothing in Te Kuiti.... where did you get a job there?

Best of luck.... Cambridge would be a much better place to live....

cinderella

Hope this one works OK.

Pollster

yay someone in NZ posting - keep it up - these aussies are just sweeping tha board!!!

tom's mum

Hi,

How did you manage to get the photo smaller. I hadn't realised it would turn out to be so big!! Yes Te Kuiti is a small town. We were shocked when we drove through for the first time, which happened to be a Sunday. There was nothing there!! I have got a job as a Public Health Nurse. I wondered how I'd managed to secure a community post from within the UK, then we arrived and I now wonder if anyone else applied for the post because of where it is. Ah well, we are here now and so far we are enjoying everything NZ has to offer. I will definately keep everyone posted and if there are any questions please just ask.

Helen

annier

ex cambridge folks.. we left huddersfield yorshire in 1973 wnet to hastings nz for 2 years then moved to cambridge, loved the life but after 4 years we moved to the gold coast in oz. hope you settle well. the soccer club in cambridge used to be a great place to go, we helped to build the clubhouse. had many a good night there, i am new on the forum, but thought i would say hi and the best of luck for your new life in cmabridge. such a pretty place and a great place to bring up children. regards annie