kira

hi everyone,
my family and i are thinking of emmergration over at the bay of plenty proberbly the tauranga area, but not too sure just yet,
my hubby is a joiner/carpenter so we are wanting an area that has work for his trade. chatting to immagration companies (before we submit our visa application) they have said napier and the bay of plenty does have lots of work for tradesmen and are booming towns to live in.
what are the wages like for a carpenter (he has an HNC with 20 years experiance) we also have 2 girls 12 and 9 so im also wondering if they would settle well in this area. myself i have a diploma in psychology (finished this year) but no experiance, i am hoping i can find work term time but if not im wondering what child care would cost?
could anyone help and give me an idea about the living and environment.
many thanks
kira

howden40

Hi there
we moved over at new year and are living in papamoa 200 meters from the sea. the weather has been great apart from this weekend when it has been very windy and wet We have found that we are lucky that we have been able to buy without a mortgage. It would be difficult to live on $50,000 and pay for a mortgage. There are 4 of us over here pauline my wife and 2 boys David 23 and James 19. David has started work in a supermarket James is still looking. pauline has been busy sorting family life out, a lot of work!
We are lucky in that pauline used to live in N.Z. in the seventies and still has relatives out here which has been a great help.
We have only moved enough money to buy the house as the exchange rate is very poor at the moment. The house is an ex rental and needs doing up / extending perhaps your husband can help!
Lots of jobs out here for carpenters as lots of building going on and it's all timber frame. Not sure how much chippies earn, my brother in law went to oz many years ago because the money is better.
The locals are friendly and its certainly warmer than the uk, i am still in shorts and t shirt although it's almost november.
the tauranga area is one of the most expensive area to live in N.Z. renting can be expensive especially in Mt Maunganui over the xmas/ new year period as it's a very popular holiday spot.
Beautiful views and country side and after working for 32 years on a saturday as a dispensing optician I am in the land of luxury having the weekends off!

Hokey-pokey

The building boom in Tauranga is at an end. Many builders are having trouble finding work. I think you will find the same thing happening throughout the country. Sorry.

kira

hi howden,
sounds a great place, we were talking to an agency that says bay of plenty and napier are very good for joiners ect. we are hoping to move out next year, the plan is we are hoping to sell the house if not remorgage it and put tenants in it i suppose this all depends on weather houses pick up selling again, either way hopefully we can buy a house so we have no morgage which makes living a little easier for us. the only thing im struggling with at the moment is trying to get experiance to go with my diploma so im searching for voluntary work over here so that i have experiance when applying for work over there. my hubby will most likely find work quicker than myself so i will be able to sort my girls out with school ect before starting work. i must admit i still do have some doubts and moving but i suppose if we dont take the risk we will kick ourselves later in life and giving the girls a better life is way on top of my list for moving. as for your extension im sure my hubby could help lol, if your still needing it next year, thanks alot for the information its great to get some background information before starting off the process from real people who have done it.

kira

hi hokey pokey
thanks for the feedback its good to read positive and negative feedbacks

helinuk

Hi kira
we moved here (Omokoroa) last October and love it here. We've been lucky with the weather this summer which has helped.

kira

hi hilinuk
i must admit the weather seems a bonus when thinking of moving over to New Zealand. anything is better than rain rain and more rain lol

wimpy

If this doesn't tempt HappyNZ back into the fold nothing will

j19fmm

helinuk

Hi Kira
I've sent you a PM - just so not to bore everyone

truditjh

Not wishing to put a dampner on things, but in order to make NZ the beautiful lush green place it is its gotta rain.... and it does get cold, and when you factor in things like lack of central heating/double glazing/cavity wall insulation ..... I'm not saying every house is without these things but many are.... just food for thought.

howden40

Hi, Pauline, Tony's wife, from my point of view, it's beautiful here, yes it will take some time to establish yourself, but it would if you moved to another area in the UK. The kids will settle better than you will, kids adapt well and with school will make friends easilly. The expats we've spoken to have made friend through their children making friends at school. We don't have that luxury so I joined Scouts as a leader to make friends, I love scouts but the bonus of making friends is great. The salaries are relative, you cannot go on UK earnings as you would not be in the UK. Interest rates on home loans are much higher than the UK as is renting, but as in the UK their are areas in which housing is cheaper, move out of the main area by as much as 20 minutes drive and the prices drop dramatically as does the population etc which is a great bonus as you can live in the quiet, yet join the throng when you want too. Happy to be a friendly face if you do decide to move. The biggest problem I found was having no-one to moan with when things went wrong, the age old addage of a problem shared is a problem halfved is right.

kira

i must admit i know that my hubby and girls will settle before i do, but im going to go with a laid back approach and take each day as it comes. hopefully i wont be a billy no mates
but the hubby has assured me that with my chsatty personality i should make friends ok, i must remember to tone down my sense of humour tho until people get to know me .