RedMonsk

Welcome to Blenheim.

Off the radar scope for expats, has the lowest unemployment in NZ, Marlborough Sounds 20 mins away, wineries, fishing, diving, a outdoors lifestyle that you can only dream of.

We moved here after struggling for two years in Auckland and it's exactly the picture of NZ we had before we came over. Great community, in the middle of a building boom - so good employment prospects for OH.

Have a look at our homepage, got lots of pics.[/QUOTE]

WOW! Just had a look at your photos and that would certainly be the life for us!

Will start looking at the area presently!

Would you mind looking at my other thread 'Applying for a Visa' - any help would be much appreciated. I have worked out the EOI is Expression of Interest! Getting there, slowly but surely.

RedMonsk

Hi, me again!!

What's Picton like, can I read between the lines on property blurbs that it is a place to retire to?

Beachcombers

Picton - Quite, beautiful (outside of town), can be mental in the summer holidays.

When we first moved to Marlborough, we rented a small house just outside of Picton, with access to the sea 100mtrs down the road. It was lovely, but to be honest I do not think we could live there permanently, we were the youngest couple on our road, by a long shot!

BEVS

Morning there RedMonsk.

Your husband will have no problemo finding a job anywhere in NZ. As you quite rightly say, Cabinet Maker and Joiner/Carpenter are on the long term shortage list.

I would be biased of course but you might like to consider the South Island.
Come to Nelson and Bays or Blenheim for med. like weather. We live just Ioutside of Nelson [husband is a plumber] and it really is a superb place to be. Wonderful year round weather. You only see snow on the mountains. National IParks and lakes nearby and our own little ski-field. Kiwis love to come to this area for their hols and I think that gives a measure of the place.
There are two new english families just come to our village. [ that's an influx to us] Both are carpenters and neither had jobs when they arrived. One already had PR, the other came on a visitors visa from what I can gather. Both found full-time work within a month of arriving and managed , by haggling, to get their rate to a reasonable $20 per hour as a starting rate.
One has just bought a property with ten acres and plans to start building his own business making furniture etc.
The other is giving it a year or two to see if it is right for them as a family.

Places I would avoid would be Queestown. Wanaka. These are extremely expensive places to settle .
Christchurch is a nice little city. A bit too busy for me . Has its own international airport , a good sports stadium and venues for shows, concerts etc.
t has winter weather Great skiing and surfing available from there.
Dunedin is also a good looking place . Many teenagers go to Dunedin because of its university. There would be job opportunities in both these cities.

As a joiner/carpenter, your husband will have the pick of where to settle in NZ.

Beachcombers

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Jo...htm?key=140527

Carpenters vacancies in Blenheim

Good luck.

RedMonsk

Thanks for that, have just submitted our EOI, wish us luck!!! (and lots of it!)

BEVS

Good luck Karma coming your way.

jennifer45

Hi Bevs
Where abouts do you live?
We're planning on looking for a place in Motueka/Mapua/Richmond.
Spent a week there (God I know- a whole week!) Loved it. Thought it would be ideal - near enough the kids in Wellie but not on top of them, if you know what I mean. Some of their friends tell us Motueka is dead in winter but as long as I can walk on the beach, get to the library, paint(pictures!) and generally potter around- fit in with community ie daily wine tasting etc- I'm not really looking for a 'lively' lifestyle. had it -done it -got the face to prove it!
Can't find any real advice on what it's like to really live there from 'official' sources.
Can you be the answer to my prayers?

Jennie

currytiffin

Thank you for sharing these pics with us, as you say - this is just to dream of! WOW!
Hey, what are the North Island equivalents - have you any suggestions? We want to be rural - but not isolated! near a town, but no cities! and our daughter [who doesn't need to be so rural] needs to be near good schools for her 4 children [aged 5-15]
Any help? We are going out to have a look-round next month, so we are really grateful for advice !

BEVS

Hi there Jennifer.

We live in Mapua and have been in Nz three years next month. Mapua is a lively little village I think.There is a good cross-section of age groups & a lot of community activities. I suppose to some, this may seem dull, but it isn't.
Like yourself , our faces probably reflect having so far lived full lives. Lively? I have a gazzillion T Shirts and enjoyed every moment of my 'livlier' years. HeHe.

I would suspect that there is a fair amount of groups and activities in both Richmond and Motueka.
It's a Kiwi life after all.
We are 20 mins drive from either Richmond or Motueka.
What do you mean by 'dead'? Less people?
The area doesn't close down out of the summer season . It's still there doing it's thing.
If you want you can go skiing up at Rainbow. You can still do a bit of tramping/walking. Beaches are still there. National Parks still about. Cafes/Restuarants /Bars are still open. Cinemas , libraries and shops still do their trade.

We have a bit of a sleep-out with our house. It was set up as a studio and I intend to use it like this again. My husband has the garage and workshops under the house. At the moment though , my sleep-out has guests - 4 ducks !

Mapua has a welcome club and a womens walking group. LOADS go on these walking groups. All ages from young mums to pension age grannies. It doesn't stop coz of Winter.
There is a bowls club. My husband plays for the local footie team. He is 47 ! That's all ages too. youngest is 18.
There are all sorts of little groups going on for all sorts of interests.
The beach is in walking distance but ,hey, this is New Zealand, so it would be. I have always been able to walk to the sea. It was my playground when I was a kid growing up in Bournemouth. I couldn't not live close to the sea , and open spaces. It's what I am used to.
We have a tavern at the top of the road which has Sky sports for big matches and often has live music where we sometimes kick up our heels and we have a nice cafe/restaurant right in the middle of the village , which also has some good music on . We can have a lively night and walk home , without blitzing the few nightclubs in Nelson City. Yis ! We still like to have the odd blast like that.
Once a year they have a 'casino' night in the village. All the village turns out. We have a firework display once a year too.
You can go to any of the open air venues around the area throughout the year.
Shakespeare in the Park, Night under the Stars - huge turn-out for this with many singing stars, opera, popular songs and a firework display. Carols by Candlelight. Any amount of recitals and small shows at the School of Music.

Welly is a half hour flight away .
Christchurch is a four hour drive. We have driven to Christchurch to see a couple of the larger productions ,pop groups and shows. That's one of the small drawbacks here. Large shows and stuff don't come here because there is no suitable venue. There is a rugby ground but you'd have to fly or drive for a note-worthy game
. In Bournemouth we were just a couple of hours from Twickers, London Irish , Wasps , Bath or from London the theatres ,museums and the like - so we miss that a bit.

It can feel a bit out on a limb for me sometimes, but you have to look at where I come from . I had everything on my doorstep. Even the ferry to France was only half-an-hour away. Bournemouth had an international airport too.

Nelson and Bays does have its own airport for internal flights which is all good and you can get onto the North Island via ferry. Its a two hour drive to Picton - which is a lovely little port - and a four hour ferry journey out of the picturesque Sounds.

If you want a fix of a variety of shops you would be best off going to one of the bigger cities. Welly, Auckland, Christchurch. Me , I'm not that interested in shops unless I need something , so that's no worries for me but I have known someone travel a couple of hours over to Blenheim just so they could shop for shoes !

Come to Mapua. There's a good mix of Kiwis and other nationalities. Good mix of age groups.
Property is a bit more expensive than Motueka but what a lovely place to live.

Bung me a PM if you like.