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What do you wish someone had told you?

What do you wish someone had told you?

Old Apr 28th 2014, 8:23 pm
  #46  
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Default Re: What do you wish someone had told you?

Originally Posted by Justcol
No it doesn't, you just get it in your new place down here.
my house has it as have my 2 previous ones. I hate heat pumps and for the cost
of two of the horrible things you can have central heating fitted right through.....toasty
Well that sounds promising! Excellent
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Old Apr 28th 2014, 9:07 pm
  #47  
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Default Re: What do you wish someone had told you?

Honestly the only two things that bug me....kiwi drivers and the cost of everything over here. Nearly a year here and I have days when I accept these, but they are few and far between.
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Old Apr 28th 2014, 9:22 pm
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Default Re: What do you wish someone had told you?

Originally Posted by Mrsbrightside7
looking forward to exploring that side of the world
I think that was the point though. Many of us looked forward to exploring this side of the world, we certainly did, but have found the costs to be prohibitive & to be fair, one would hope that Bali might be just as achievable from here as from the northern hemisphere. It isn't.

Out of curiosity I'd be interested to hear what you feel is a 'not that bad' price for a holiday offshore. Flights, accom etc. - say two weeks.
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Old Apr 28th 2014, 9:35 pm
  #49  
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Default Re: What do you wish someone had told you?

Originally Posted by BEVS
I think that was the point though. Many of us looked forward to exploring this side of the world, we certainly did, but have found the costs to be prohibitive & to be fair, one would hope that Bali might be just as achievable from here as from the northern hemisphere. It isn't.

Out of curiosity I'd be interested to hear what you feel is a 'not that bad' price for a holiday offshore. Flights, accom etc. - say two weeks.
I briefly browsed flights this afternoon from wellington to Bali and it was £439 for a return. That's cheaper than a flight would be from the uk to Bali, so not too bad. I didn't look at accommodation. I usually use tripadvisor and book hotels separate which always works out cheaper for me on that side of the world
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Old Apr 28th 2014, 10:01 pm
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Default Re: What do you wish someone had told you?

Yes. That is what I have always done too. I worked in the travel industry for ten years so have always felt comfortable DIYing.

This actually might be an interesting exercise.

If I have time, I'll do the flight search as you have. Add in all costs I can think of for us to go as a couple for a fortnight and try to come up with a $$ amount. THen relate that to how many work hours that would be etc.

None of this hostel stuff though. Done plenty of that . Proper holiday for a couple that wish to relax, see some sights, laze around a pool and perhaps not have to cook for flippin' once in a decade.
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Old Apr 28th 2014, 11:14 pm
  #51  
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Default Re: What do you wish someone had told you?

Just thought I would chime in with Air NZ's grabaseat deals. On a Tuesday they have live reverse auctions where you can bid on various different flights. If you aren't fussy with dates, times or a location then you can snap up a bargain! There were some very enticing return flights to Shanghai the other week. If I hadn't just bought a house I would have bid

http://grabaseat.co.nz/
https://grabaseat.co.nz/secure/auctions
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Old Apr 29th 2014, 12:35 am
  #52  
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Default Re: What do you wish someone had told you?

Originally Posted by Mrsbrightside7
Originally Posted by Justcol
No it doesn't, you just get it in your new place down here.
my house has it as have my 2 previous ones. I hate heat pumps and for the cost
of two of the horrible things you can have central heating fitted right through.....toasty
Well that sounds promising! Excellent
Alas it may sound promising but it isn't correct down south. I was quoted around $16k + GST (that was the cheaper of the two quotes) to get central heating installed and that didn't include changing the hot water cyclinders to run them off the central heating. Instead I got 2 awesome heat pumps installed for $7k inc GST. One was an 8kW and the other a 4kW, they do an awesome job heating a 280 sq metre house and our bill is not more than an average $250/month, and that includes the two hot water cyclinders. Central heating doesn't cool you down when it gets to 30°C in the summer either!
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Old Apr 29th 2014, 1:10 am
  #53  
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Default Re: What do you wish someone had told you?

Originally Posted by Pom_Chch
Just thought I would chime in with Air NZ's grabaseat deals. On a Tuesday they have live reverse auctions where you can bid on various different flights. If you aren't fussy with dates, times or a location then you can snap up a bargain! There were some very enticing return flights to Shanghai the other week. If I hadn't just bought a house I would have bid

http://grabaseat.co.nz/
https://grabaseat.co.nz/secure/auctions
I have a weekly diary reminder in my outlook calendar to keep an eye on the Reverse Auctions and fully intend to travel somewhere, Tokyo top of the list at the moment, off the back of one next year.

Some of the Premium Economy and Business Class flights end up at pretty enticing amounts and hit reserve (remain unsold).

Just now return Premium Economy flights to Hong Kong, albeit for one person, leaving on the 13th of May and coming back a week later hit reserve at $1,908.

By way of comparison, exactly the same flights are $3,272 if you book through the regular Air NZ channels.

In fact a regular economy return fare on the same flights comes out at $1,832, so for an extra $76 you could have had Premium Economy seats ... Not bad value.



Through my own and very rough statistical analysis, it seems that flights to the UK and Australia are most likely to sell - particularly London and Perth. Followed by North America and then Asia.

Also, the 2 traveller return fares are the most popular, but by no means do they always sell. At the time of typing this there have been 17 auctions today and only one has sold - return economy to LA for 2 people.

I'd definitely recommend taking an look and seeing what it's all about, certainly if you can be flexible about dates.

Last edited by TommyLuck; Apr 29th 2014 at 1:26 am.
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Old Apr 29th 2014, 1:35 am
  #54  
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Default Re: What do you wish someone had told you?

You could have also just nabbed yourself a 50% discount on two Business Class return flights to London in May ... if you had $12k laying around ...
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Old Apr 29th 2014, 3:13 am
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Default Re: What do you wish someone had told you?

....that buying houses is easy and quick here but selling them, that's another story!!
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Old Apr 29th 2014, 3:32 am
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Default Re: What do you wish someone had told you?

Originally Posted by cappuccino
....that buying houses is easy and quick here but selling them, that's another story!!
I hope to read good news on that front soon.
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Old Apr 29th 2014, 3:54 am
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Default Re: What do you wish someone had told you?

Originally Posted by TommyLuck
....certainly if you can be flexible about dates.

Yes. Flexibility is the key with those.
No good if you need to plan in advance because of work commitments and the like. I believe the OP has a son of school age so will be limited to the peak school hol periods
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Old Apr 29th 2014, 4:30 am
  #58  
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Default Re: What do you wish someone had told you?

Originally Posted by TommyLuck
I have a weekly diary reminder in my outlook calendar to keep an eye on the Reverse Auctions and fully intend to travel somewhere, Tokyo top of the list at the moment, off the back of one next year.

Some of the Premium Economy and Business Class flights end up at pretty enticing amounts and hit reserve (remain unsold).

Just now return Premium Economy flights to Hong Kong, albeit for one person, leaving on the 13th of May and coming back a week later hit reserve at $1,908.

By way of comparison, exactly the same flights are $3,272 if you book through the regular Air NZ channels.

In fact a regular economy return fare on the same flights comes out at $1,832, so for an extra $76 you could have had Premium Economy seats ... Not bad value.



Through my own and very rough statistical analysis, it seems that flights to the UK and Australia are most likely to sell - particularly London and Perth. Followed by North America and then Asia.

Also, the 2 traveller return fares are the most popular, but by no means do they always sell. At the time of typing this there have been 17 auctions today and only one has sold - return economy to LA for 2 people.

I'd definitely recommend taking an look and seeing what it's all about, certainly if you can be flexible about dates.
I will definitely be checking this out!
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Old Apr 29th 2014, 4:35 am
  #59  
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Default Re: What do you wish someone had told you?

But yes I do have a 7 yr old, so will be limited to when I can go that opens another question though...what are the protocols for taking a child out of school for a holiday during term time over there? Over here you get fined if it's for more than 5 consecutive days.
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Old Apr 29th 2014, 4:55 am
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Default Re: What do you wish someone had told you?

Why would you want or need to ? Schooling first. Jollydays second.

NZ kids for the most part go camping with their families over the Christmas /NY shutdown . Then there are the kids camps which loads of youngsters around us thoroughly enjoy.
If families travel overseas here it is mostly to see family , perhaps Oz or UK etc.
People want to holiday offshore here ( other than because they like to travel , like I do) then they go to escape some of the winter, which would not be out of term time really. For the pacific isles winter is out of rainy season so the best time for that really.

Y'know. You're young. You'll be with your sister who can help guide you and your son* settle in and who can show you the ropes. Don't sweat the small stuff. You have the support here already to help.

* assume you have the Dad's permission if he is not coming with you.

Just keep some money in reserve if you find you don't like it here or it doesn't work out for whatever reason. I know that when you're starting out that isn't even on the horizon but believe me, I've read complete changes of heart many times around these BE boards.
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