British Expats - Week 4 Update

Hi all, as I did promise a few people here is an update from us! We are a family of 3, moved to Chch on 3rd June as husband was offered a perm job here. We were very fortunate in that my OH managed to secure the role from the UK via 2/3 phone calls. His new employer has been very helpful and we were given a relocation consultant to help us settle in the first couple of weeks. Initially I was quite worried about finding rental properties, particularly having read some of the posts from others. But actually there are rentals available, you just have to be prepared to compromise on some things. We looked at quite alot of properties, we had researched extensively at home and wanted somewhere comparable to our home in the UK. The nearest small coastal area was Sumner, so that was our first choice -we felt the transition would be easier if we moved to a similar area (we were living on the North Devon/Somerset boarder)

However when we got here we realised finding a rental in Sumner would be very difficult and costly. We started looking all over Chch at various options, for us we felt Rolleston was a great option if we couldnt find Sumner. But we also quite liked Pegasus (bit further north) and also Merivale/St Albans. But we were lucky in the end we found a fantastic house in Sumner with breath taking views which reminded us of home. So we upped our budget and are now living in the hills above Sumner. If we hadnt have secured this place we would have taken a rental in Rolleston - we felt value for money was really good and it has everything you need there, plus easy access to city (but my OH works in Hornby - prob not so great if you are working in northern suburbs) You can get a huge 4 bed house for $500-600 pw there.

So house sorted, next job was find cars - we needed 2, currently we have 1 but are trying to find a second. I guess my advice on this is prepare yourself as cars are alot of money! We knew they were more expensive, but hadnt prepared ourselves for the fact that cars are much older and still cost a fortune. We considered bringing our car with us, which in hindsight would probably have been a reasonable idea, however we compromised and bought an old 4x4, now looking for a second banger as a run around for OH to drive to work.

Struggled a little finding a kindy place for our son, he is 3, this is mainly due to earthquakes - some centres had to close meaning others have more kids than normal. This morning though I managed to find a place at a private pre school so we will use our 20 hrs there.

So 4 weeks, what do we think of Chch - we absolutely love it!! We all settled quickly and felt this is the right place for us (we had spent time in NZ before but not Chch)

Pros - people amazing - very friendly but the community spirit is overwhelming, for me that is a huge constrast to the UK, I honestly cant think of a better place for my son to grow up.

Cons - is more expensive, although we think some things are cheaper so perhaps its not that far off on balance. But we dont have a month of living normally yet to compare. We originally thought I would stay home, but now realise to really settle here I need to find a job too, so the job hunt will start once we are completely settled.

So now we have the basics sorted, we need to get out and start making some more friends. My OH has a social group at work and fortunately I have made a kiwi friend who has been a fantastic help - strongly recommend finding a kiwi friend! I also went out door knocking the neighbours, who seem nice - we decided to introduce ourselves and invite them all over at the weekend - that seems to have gone down well, I have a feeling there maybe some hangovers after that...