akmodi

Hi,

I am coming to Rotorua in October 2014. Will be working at the Hospital.

We are relocating from Lincoln, UK.

Can someone update me / update the old post : http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=671779

Thanks a lot

akmodi

BEVS

Hi there and welcome to BE.

Hopefully someone that knows Rotorua will be along soon.
Unfortunately , the old thread you linked to is closed. That is because all threads which remain dormant after a year automatically close.

Thanks

lisamct

I lived in Kawaha Point and liked it there, 15 mins walk into town (and the hospital where I also worked) but far enough out to avoid the smell.
But, I left almost 3 years ago after only a year so areas may have changed since then.

akmodi

Thanks lisamct.

Is anyone from Rotorua able to help with schools etc ?

Thanks

Tomsk

Hi Akmodi,
Welcome (in advance) to Rotorua
There's quite a few forum members here who live in Rotorua, & I'm sure that some of them will be along later to add their opinions. There are definitely people here who can give you info about the hospital, but unfortunately that's not me. I am a nurse but have only ever worked in the community.
Areas to live ? It's hard to give you a really good answer to that, there's a huge variation in housing quality & also in neighbourhoods even within areas. For example I'd argue that the areas of Owhata & Ngongotaha have some of the best housing in Rotorua. Also some of the worst! You really need to look at places before you think of committing to any rental agreement. Or purchase!
Generally areas to avoid are western heights, selwyn heights, Fordlands or Koutu. Generally good areas are Lynmore, Kawaha Point, Pukehangi, Springfield. Lots of other parts of town as well of course, so this is a very long way from an exhaustive list.
Schools? There's a fair selection of schools locally, primary, intermediate & high schools. I have only limited knowledge of primary & intermediate schools as my children were teenagers when we moved over here, my knowledge of high schools is better as my children attended Rotorua Lakes High School & Western Heights High School & both did well. Happy to share my experiences of those schools with you if you like.
Good luck with the emigration roller coaster ride & do please feel free to message me if you need any information about anything to do with Rotorua.

akmodi

Hi Tomsk,

Thank you for the welcoming note and the update.

Yes high schools was what I was looking at for my son -- 15 years old. Will look at the Rotorua Lakes High School & Western Heights High School as suggested.

What is the opinion on John Paul College (we are not Christians, so the catholic vs protestant is not such an issue).

Thanks

Tomsk

To the best of my knowledge John Paul College is a school with strong religious affiliations. Certainly a friend of mine whose children attend JPC had to do the whole going to church regularly thing before applying for her children to go there. It seems to be quite a big school, fairly high achieving. It is, in the main, the school to which the majority of doctors, lawyers & the like send their children. I'd recommend visiting the school, in fact all of the schools, before even thinking about enrolling your child anywhere. There's also Girls High & Boys High to consider, or, if you're thinking of living out of town a bit there's always Reporoa College. I believe Western Heights is zoned now, it's a big school in a fairly low decile area, to the west side of town, which helps a bit when it comes to the 'voluntary' contribution. Although Lakes High is also in a low decile part of town, on the east side. JPC, RGHS & RBHS are all pretty central. Lakes is a small-ish school, nice for those that find big schools intimidating, but correspondingly offers a slightly smaller range of subjects. For that reason my daughter, who did years 10 & 11 at Lakes moved to Heights for years 12 & 13 as she felt there was a better range of 6th form subject options at Heights. Heights also offers the Cambridge IGCSE option for some subjects although that didn't turn out to be the big advantage that we thought it would be.
We were happy with our school choices & overall our children did well, but a lot depends on where you end up living (for zoning considerations) and also your gut feeling about the schools when you visit them.

akmodi

Tomsk,

Thanks a ton -- that's stupendously useful.

The suggestion that I visit the school is good.

JPC closes its application process in late June 14 (to start in Jan 15) and I get there only in October 14. Wouldn't that create a problem (if I was to visit them prior to application).

How difficult is it to get admission for a student arriving in October (will they be admitted mid-term?) -- do they have to wait till Jan. Depending on this -- I may get my son with me or to get him in Jan.

Sorry, lots of questions. Happy to repay in "liquid currency" when I get there.

RobDon

Hi there we have been in Rotorua just on 5 years. We love it here and are happy to stay put for the foreseeable future.
Our 2 girls were 12 and 15 when we arrived. Both girls attended Rotorua Lakes High School and both enjoyed their time there and made lots of friends.
I work at the hospital and love it. Really enjoy the laid back pace.........that's not to say we aren't busy, we are.........it's just a "different kind of busy!"
We bought a house last year after looking at lots of different areas, like every other place on the planet there are good and bad areas. Depends what you are looking for really.

Where will you be working at the hospital?
If you prefer you can PM me and I will do my best to answer any other questions you have.

akmodi

Hi RobDon,

Thank you for the update.

I have sent a pm to you.

snaps

Hi akmodi.
We are currently living in Rotorua and it has just about everything here. The hospital is very convenient and the staff are very friendly. Not sure about the schooling but a friend sends his son to a local school and has no problems. It may be difficult to comment on here thoughts on all areas, but I believe some of the areas that you may wish to look at could be:
Springfield
Lynmore
Tihiotonga
Kawaha Point.
All these give excellent links to the hospital.
The weekend 'open house' policy is an excellent way of viewing houses. The 'open house' list is generally available.
Good luck

mwhite1962

Hi,

We live out at lake Okareka, possibly the best place to live in new Zealand!!
We are 15 minutes out of town during the rush h... was going to say hour but minutes are more like it, my OH is a maths teacher at Rotorua boys high and she loves it.
Any help I can give, get in touch!


Mick

akmodi

Hi snaps and mwhite1962,

Thanks for the update on the areas.

Mwhite1962, how are the broadband speeds at Lake Okareka, since I have a teenager. Is the ultra fast broadband coming to that area in 2016?

mwhite1962

The broadband is pretty slow compared to what we were used to in the UK, But you do adapt, we do tend to use it to Skype the uk and don't have any problems with that, but think if the kids are into gaming, that may be a problem, I really don't know?
Spookily enough it was only yesterday when I went onto the chorus website to find out about when we are getting UFB, and they reckon between june 2014 and july 2015, we have guy's pulling cables around out here now but think that for a new phone mast that we are getting, kinda nice living somewhere with no mobile coverage, but also realise with the amount of watersports going on, it would be nice to be able to get hold of the emergency services in case of accidents.

Mick

RobDon

We just subscribed to fibre via Telecom.
Not sure if it's available all over Rotorua yet though.