Perry Groves

Cost of living calculator tells us.......stay put in U.K. It just seems way too expensive in NZ for us the even survive over there, never mind have any kind of hobbies etc.

love30stm

I hate Wanganui....ok got that off my chest

welshwales

we rent.. have no deposit for mortgage.. dont want a mortgage want to leave..

jennifer45

We rent well, have no mortgage, have never had so much money in our lives!
£650,000+cash in UK! [+ $50000 in NZ] Husband of 40 years, so miserable, fed up, pi$$ed off, wants to go 'HOME"! {I think it's just stress and a feeling of lack of control.] Anyway I take him a cup of tea each morning and cocao each night!!!!!
UK-It's not my home anymore - NZ is!
I really do love being here!
I accept Things are hard- especially on a pension- but I really want to give it a go.
There are a thousand ways I know of saving money- making ends meet- eeking the pennies! Did it all when first married. Never too proud to go back down that line.
Why?- because I want to live- not just exist!
Watched Smokey Robinson tonight got up and danced to it!!
First time in 6 years- Felt great Hubby enjoyed it. We're turning the corner!



Advice to others? Moi? NON! Never!
Everyone has their own needs and their own commitments.

All I can say is - if two old wrinkles each over 65 can, on a pittance of a pension + works pension- can survive, after selling their beautiful home of 40 years to the buyers from hell { at the bottom of the crash/be forced to exchange enough to last 6 months at 2.35 exchange rate EEK!! } then watch the rate fall further , Potential loss of container!, EEK!!- end up renting for 6 months [hoping] and still come up smiling and thanking their lucky stars they got in- then GIVE IT A GOI ! Just know what you're coming into.
In a nutshell - IT IS NOT A GOOD TIME TO EMIGRATE TO NZ IF YOU HOPE TO BE QUIDS IN!

Hey- no rose coloured specks but how I love this place and it's people!

spankysparkle

Jennifer, you put a big fat smile on my dial! Your positive attitude of 'get up & grab life by the balls' is an inspiration

Perry Groves

I don't want to be quids in. just to avoid the situation the original poster describes.

mcuddy1

Hey PG

Another Arsenal fan my son can't wait to go and watch them, he eats drinks and sleeps Arsenal.

Re the cost of living here, 90% of things are expensive, I am talking food here my family of 4 spends 350-400 a week on the stuff.
We are an average family with a mixture of ready made and basic food, oh and a few beers. There are basic foodstuffs cheaper but most does not agree with mine and my kids taste buds.

Heating and electric 250 a month, average.

George has given a good run down on Sky and broadband. Which will be capped.

Mortgage rates are expensive if you need one.

Nice clothes very expensive, but I won't buy them here.

Cutting to the chase in Chc 65k without a mortgage/ 80k without one will get you a fairish standard of living, no new cars or fancy holidays mind you.

You can exist on less but will have to change the whole concept on how you shop etc. I wouldn't suggest moving to Canterbury as Chc has a fair few issues and Cantabrians are know throughout NZ as being , well er different.

Good luck with your decision think long and hard.

Oh I am not particuliarly bitter towards NZ I just point out the negatives.

There are good things, weather, quite rooads and things get done slower.

Rgds
Martin C

powderman75

what do you mean by that Martin?
just curious

TeamEmbo

We are? Hadn't heard that before!

I know Martin's not very happy and has obviously thought long and hard about what's best for his family and has concluded NZ is not for them in the long road and fair play, they given it a good go so Martin I'm not knocking you for views or personal choices.

I think we're only 10 minutes down the road from you and our experience of Cch/Canterbury is like the complete opposite! We've been here 2 1/2 years and I love living here. I love the wide open space, I find access to the countryside easy and plenty to see and do and experience mainly for free. We've get beaches just 10 minutes away, rivers, lakes and sea for fishing, plenty of places to get off road and go tramping and camping, lots of free events to attend and those that aren't are, IMO, reasonably priced for families. We've been skiing at Mt Hutt and Porters Pass, been to Hanmer to the thermal pools heaps (only 1.5 hour drive and around $40 for all day family pass) and OH and son have taken up hunting - not that they've actually shot anything yet but they've had some great fun just going off and exploring.

All our neighbours are fab. All kiwis (with anglo/scot ancestry!) but they are so helpful and everyone looks out for everyone else. Shopping wise Rangiora has everything you could need on your doorstep without needing to go to Cch but if the kids want to go to the malls there's the Palms and Northlands just a short drive away. The shopkeepers I've come across locally are friendly and helpful and will chat away till the cows come home, regardless of queue length, which I actually like.

We've been to plenty of events in Cch of an evening, takes no more than 20-30mins driving. We love the botanic gardens, picnics by the Avon, and think the Cch museum is fab - and free entry! the exhibits are regularly updated and they've heaps of interactive stuff for kids and adults. I love Cathedral square just as a place to sit and people watch and also the Busker's week in January. Then there's the arts centre, the art gallery, I love the eclectic mix of architecture in Cch to. The new sleek offices and hotels, original wooden villas and brick and carved stone. NZ is a young country but there is history to the place, if you look. It's not all WOW! stuff. It's in the small details. Further out there's the gondola and some stunning views and walks and ferrymead heritage park and Maori tour which I love. Spoilt for choice for golf courses and at around $15-$30 for a round its not bank breaking once in blue moon.

As a place to live I think North Canterbury's fab because it ticks all the boxes for our family but what we enjoy doing isn't to everyone's tastes so I can see why others might find it a bit dull. I don't think Cantabrians are odd or different. On the whole I've found them helpful, friendly, welcoming, chatty, funny, honest and direct. But like I said, that's just my humble experience and I'm very happy living here.

mcuddy1

Well

First off Cantabrians are the butt of many jokes from fellow NZer's for their quirky ways, a lot are very insular and cannot see the further than the end of their nose, mostly outside CHc though. The driving standards just exude how they behave and although the roads are quiet they are dangerous unpredictable and a lot more as well.

There are many scroats that have loud exhausts and run riot in the city most weekends. burnout marks are more common than white lines her, it is all tolerated as well parents think it's ok for their kids to drive around all night at 15 with a gang of hoons in a car.

Access to the country, I have to drive half an hour to go training, footpaths are not common. Most is private land. I pay to have access to Ashley forest only at certain times.
One thing that pisses me off, is the locals fun at driving over the ducks. some make a conscious effort to run them over. Also throwing dead animals at school fund raisers. Just blows my mind how these locals think.

When I do go running in the mountains, meeting people with guns and dogs on accessible land is unnerving to say the least. Outwardly they all look like extras from the film deliverance.

I know it's a different country but some of the ideas seem archaic.

Loads more I could go on.

There is nothing as queer as folk. LOL

Mandie likes it here though good for her fair play.


By the way if anyone is a vegetarian, be prepared to starve. You will have to make it all yourself which is hard when you have a busy life.



Rgds

Perry Groves

I go past the Emirates stadium everyday, one of the things I would miss!

There is no chance I am making $65K a year in NZ, so I have to think carefully. I reckon I would be well skint over there

bdclayton

Having read a lot of the posts on here there is such a mixed reaction.
i don't think anyone can give advise on living here its all down to personal circumstances, money, jobs, family,etc
I can only relate to my own experience out here I like living here but cant afford to ( these are my own circumstances i am speaking about)
I have applied for over 50 jobs now various types of jobs from stacking shelves on nights at the warehouse to sorting Christmas mail at the post office all came back with a no. I have tried knocking on doors until i began to think i had two heads the way people were looking at me. I have tried going through the phone book.
I don't want to start my own business or get a franchise before people suggest this. New Zealand is great place if you both have a job. We are lucky there are only the two of us here. My OH works as a Nurse so there is one wage coming in. I am starting to climb the walls with no work. I am a Waste Water Engineer by trade but no chance of that here
I have started to apply for jobs back in the UK as i don't want to end up with no money and stuck like some people seem to be even though we have only been here 9 weeks i can see where this is going.
These are my own personal circumstances i am not trying to give advice or winging .I have lived and worked in several other countries my work took me there
Greece, Spain,Bulgaria, so i am used to being away from the UK and family
but not used to having no job. We don't live a high lifestyle nor want one
like i say this is just my experience of NZ

mcuddy1

Hey PG

You might manage it on a bit less with no Sky and no broadband, that's 220$ish a month for myself. You could cut the shopping bill, some people get by on 250$
a week but that is out of the question for my family.

I don't have a mortgage as such, but we still have to be careful.

Oh and in Auckland you will need more due to high house prices or rent.

If you need detailed info you can PM me.
Some will say they exist on less, but I didn't come here to struggle and miss out on the things that make life easier.



Cheers
Martin C

bourbon-biscuit

We're a veggie family and I HATE all the hunting rah-rah-rah and the attitude that if it's a pest it's OK to run it over or whatever. I don't come across any of this in the rural schools I've been involved with in Hawkes Bay and the Waikato, although I've heard about such fundraisers in Canterbury and round Palmerston North area.

There isn't the same range of pre-made veggie stuff here, that's very true and I'm currently struggling to find tempeh, which I love, but on the whole there's absolutely no need to 'starve' here, lol! The yoghurt is usually full of gelatine so I make it using easy-yo. I gave up on vegetarian cheese because it was too pricey for our budget, but it's here. I always buy free range eggs and we sometimes buy the vegetarian sausages that are easy to find here and made from tofu so much healthier than UK quorn or LM stuff. Tofu is in abundance here as are plant milks in general. We've had no worries integrating into quite rural communities as vegetarians and nearly three years on I can't say there's anything I particularly miss other than ready made decent quiche. You can't really buy frozen pizza here but we buy the olive oil bases and pizza sauce, a tin of four bean mix, some mozarella and tasty cheese and it's really yummy and super quick.

Am Loolah

I have consciously stayed away from replying to this thread, but feel I can now it has progressed further. My reasons for not commenting early on are simply that sometimes posters mistake a Mod's views as not being those of a Posters! And believe me - at the end of the day we are posters foremost!

I live in the vicinity of the same town as the OP and also as bdclayton - but I can not relate to some of their individual points. An absolutely clear example, I would hope, of one man's meat - another man's poison?

I find some things more expensive than I had thought they would be - groceries probably being my major one. I've been here about the same time as the OP 2.5 years and have seen the weekly shop go up and up during that time. There are 6 of us and 2 big dogs and our weekly shop is around $400/week.

Orthodontal care has been expensive as compared to free in the UK - but we knew that before we came.

Likewise visiting a GP, but when we have needed to as oppossed to using a pharmacist, we've had an appointment the same day and a 15 minute + consultation - not the "We can see you in 3 days" like back in the UK.

We love the climate, we love the beaches, we have a fabulous social life and much of our entertainment with the kids is free or fairly cheap - mind you when you have 4 kids anywhere that you can take them all for under $40 as a family is a good thing! We have certainly found that due to the better climate we do alot more that is free as it is outside.

Education for our younger 2 (7 and 10) seems ok thus far. I am dubious about the 14 and 17 year old - as are they. But the 14 year old wants to go to Uni here and I am sure will, the 17 year old is undecided but is at least finishing her education next year.

Our car insurance, whilst voluntary, is way cheaper than the UK, as are rates. Utilities seem more expensive, and phones.

I suppose I'm trying to say it kind of balances itself out.

As for wages. We've always been self-employed here, so I can't really comment on that. We earn a comfortable income now, through working hours that suit us and fit around the family. We took a gamble, put some effort in, and hope to reap the rewards.

So, all in all, I would hope I have provided a fairly balanced view.

Oh, and PS: Bloody love it!