MOVING TO CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND

[marylou56]

My husband and are I planning to move to Christchurch in Nov and have four weeks to find a property. He will be working in the northern suburbs, near the airport. As yet, I haven't got a job to go to but hope to find some teaching work (secondary) for the new school year. We have two children (fairly grown up! - one doing a gap year and one at boarding school during term time in the UK but will be visiting us during school holidays. So two questions:
What are the nice (professional)areas should we be looking at (to rent initially for at least 6 months)?
What is the likelihood of my finding any teaching work in and around Christchurch- I teach French,Spanish and Music?

[Shells]

Bumping this for you Marylou. Don't live in Chch but I have family who do. Suburbs very near the airport are a bit ordinary, but not too far off is Fendalton which is extremely upmarket and Ilam (near University) which has some lovely bits. Also Strowan and parts of Riccarton are nice. Further into town St Albans and Merivale are upmarket, lots of cafes etc. but some bits have been quite earthquake affected I think. Very quick drive from any of those out to airport.
You need to look on www.trademe.co.nz for rentals.
Can't imagine it would be hard at all to get teaching work - but its not my field so not 100% sure.

[Rillyrillygoodlooking]

Yep if you want a nice area then fendalton, or st Albans or the poshest is Merivale. You really do have to consider which areas have been affected by the earthquakes. Maybe because I am on a bit of a downer, but chch is a difficult place to live at the mo.
Wouldn't know about finding work in schools but a number of schools are sharing buildings as some of them just won't be able to go back to their original site.
We are planning on moving back to the uk next year, it has been a very hard year and a half in chch.

[marylou56]

Hi, thanks for the replies so far. My husband is coming out to help with the rebuild of Christchurch (he's a Geotech) so he knows what to expect in terms of earthquake damage. I was moved to tears when I saw the photos of the damage-it must be so hard to cope with, particularly as it's now your winter.

[marylou56]

HI
Had heard of Trademe but never thought of looking there for rentals. Thanks for the advice. We have a little dog who is coming with us and I think it will be quite hard for us to find somewhere that will allow us to have the dog with us.

[shelscrape]

Can't give you any advice about Christchurch, but the best place to look for teaching jobs in NZ is the Education Gazette I presume you have already got registration with the NZ teaching Council? If not the Teach NZ website has all the details about how to get registered to teach in NZ. NZ schools are very amenable to interviewing over the telephone and Skype, so you could geta job before you arrive. They do teach French here as there some Polynesian isalnds where French is the mainb language.

[marylou56]

Thanks, Shelscrape. I am in the process of registering with NZ teaching council. That's good news about telephone and Skype interviews for schools. My husband was interviewed over the phone for his job but has since been to Christchurch to meet his colleagues.

[Iamseeingstars]

please dont make a decision about where you live until you get there. Many parts of Christchurch have been destroyed or damaged by the earthquakes so you need to check that basic services and insurance are available.

A lot of Kiwis love selling their homes to the Brits, they are seen as easy targets. The buying process is so quick. If you say you want to buy, you are committed and there is often no going back, unlike the UK.

Look at rentals and take your time to choose. Consider local transport, local shops, obviously schools and make sure it is right for you. Many houses have insufficient heating. Check properly. Ask what insulation is available under the house, in the roof and walls and make a point of checking. Look at boilers and appliances, look for damp patches. Be wary about homes that have heating on your visit. Look at location, how close are neighbors, access to your property etc

[JennyV]

Hi marylou, my husband is a geotechnical engineer/engineering geologist too and we're most likely coming out to help with rebuild. Just waiting on formal job offer from company before decide to get everything moving. I'm a teacher too, was teaching history before dc2 came along. I've been told some of high schools are on half days at mo (other schools using school in afternoon), but schools further out were ok. Looks like we'd be making move in Nov too - all seems very quick and bit daunting! If you don't mind me asking, which company is your husband starting with? Feel free to pm me if want. I take it's an even smaller industry than is here so I'm sure they'd come across each other! Good luck with everything!

[marylou56]

Not sure how to pm you but what a coincidence! If you let me know what I need to do to pm you, I'll certainly get in touch!

[marylou56]

Hi Jenny, just sent you a pm.