Auckland NZ - Anyone have tips for moving there?

[nickiw]

DH is having 3rd telephone interview tonight, they seem quite keen and may want us out there in 2 months!! Any tips for good areas to live, schools etc??

Ghosty, life is good here and the wine is cheap!!!

Nickiw ... that is great news about the Irish couple and their little boy. That is just what you need!
I hope some news comes soon re. your mum.

To echo bobbybob's statement about working from home ... The tax benefits of working from home in NZ are phenomenal ... I have heard that NZ is one of the best countries in the world to have a home based business because of the tax rebates. We get tax back on money we would be spending anyway: Mortgage payments, petrol, car repayments and repairs, power bills, phone, rates, internet access ... the list is almost endless. I have tried to persuade my accountant that I should make clothes and the hairdresser tax deductible as I need to see people and I need to look reasonable - but he just sighs patiently and says that I must take care not to 'push the envelope' too far .

I often wish I'd known about it sooner - I could have always had a couple of pupils on the go and paid off some of my bills with untaxed money!

I claim for a percentage of mortgage interest, phone, broadband, gas, electric, rates, a per km car allowance, home insurance, purchase of piano and flute music, courses. At some point I am going to stop wearing my own clothes and get some clothes logoed to wear for work. As I tend to wear the same 3 things anyway (and not wear them anywhere else) this will make sense.

I didn't even need an accountant, the nice man from the IRD filled in my return for me (whilst helping ds eat his dinner). I do keep very good accounts though, and my ingoings and expenses tend to be large amounts all at once, followed by massive periods of nothingness!

Ghosty do you know where I can get some fish oil supplements for the boys? They were on the Halib orange chewy capsules in the UK.

Yes, nickiw ... from me

I'll email you my web page ...

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Very interested to hear about working from home & all the tax benefits - I'm definitely more interested in that. And I do prefer teaching privately to teaching in schools. My dad keeps moaning at me 'work in IT, you'll earn so much' but the thing is one of the main reasons for moving to NZ is so I don't have to go back to a full time job and never see DD, and so we can afford to have another! (Currently living in flat in Twickenham, can't move as I was made redundant whilst on maternity leave so we don't have enough income, DD now crawling, no space, going CRAZY!). We could live practically mortgage free in ChCh with the profit on here. The job dilemma is what will DH do? He is supposed to be researching it but he's not...I am still looking into IT though, maybe I could cope for a couple of years...
Was also thinking of looking into baby music but maybe starting my own classes rather than teaching someone elses or buying a franchise. OOh, the thought of all that lovely wine and not being in London any more - bring it on! We just have to work out details and get on with it. Waiting on a quote for transporting 3 cats to NZ - bracing myself for an obscene amount of money.
Keep telling me how great it is!

Google Canterbury Musical Parenting for details of baby music classes, the franchise is Mainly Music - which runs in church halls.

I only do one music class a week for babies 10weeks-10 months. It fills a gap - most people do toddlers-preschool. I couldn't make it pay in a hired venue unless I had huge groups. But I don't like taking Bob to huge groups (which is why I don't like the sound of Mainly Music) so I don't want to run them myself.

KateF look at movetonewzealand.co.nz (not even going to try a link as they never work!). The weekday ones are at nz house and seem to be run by the nz govt, the weekend ones seem more employment-focussed.
Does anyone know anything about Tauranga? It looks gorgeous.
NickiW, cheap wine is sooo important! Hope this new little boy helps Robert to settle - perfect timing. Is the weather better/worse than you expected?

The weather has been great, cold at night - no heating in house and thin walls. But when the sun is out it is lovely and sunny, really looking forward to the summer. The air even feels cleaner. I would say that don't fall into the trap of thinking that NZ is cheaper than the UK, you do pay for every little thing here. Even the supermarket shopping isn't much cheaper, or Sky, or broadband connection, don't get me started on the banking, clothes. My hubby gets his first paycheck tomorrow so it will be interesting to see how much we get to live on, we are using our saving up rapidly at the moment. I'm off to bed now the cricket is boring me rigid!!

NickiW, when you say shopping etc similar price to here, you mean in absolute terms ie in spite of wages being much lower? Or do you mean relative to the wages it is similar cost? It is so hard to weigh up pros and cons of emigrating! Clean air sounds good. What made you decide?

Thanks redshoes. I looked at Tauranga during one of my millions of internet surfing sessions and thought it was fab. Dh was not convinced there would be enough work but it's definitely worth getting more info on.

Check out TSB bank if you have savings. No fees - makes a huge difference, and easy to open an account now you have a wage coming in. I think some Kiwibank accounts are similar. Some of the big banks are ridiculous in terms of fees.

I think your supermarket shopping will cost less when you stop buying like an English person (that's not a criticism). Also when you have had a few weeks to get to know what you like and can buy things when they are on special (rump steak at $8 a kilo, Heinz beans at 99c etc). Red Meat, cheese and wine (and possibly chocolate) are all cheaper than the UK. Sausages, convenience food, bacon and bread are more expensive.

any idea how long a visitors visa will take to be done?

I think you can get them over the counter at travel agents. The NZ website in the UK is very easy to use and has lots of info on. I am a bit to emotional at the moment to go bargain hunting in shops I'm afraid, it's a quick in and out and then I've forgotten the loo rolls!! I am starting to bulk buy meat when it's on offer....Then get a take away in the evening!!!

I thought you just got visitors visas on arrival.

nickiw - you have been here 5 minutes - give yourself a break - you deserve the takeaways, wine etc.

Just got 1st payslip, shocker!!! now where is that cookbook.....

Good shock or bad shock? Will there be another one in a fortnight, or do you have to wait a month?

Well it's quite strange to get money in the bank and no payslip so we are not sure how many weeks the pay is for!!! He is paid fortnightly but after half term I will start looking. Any suggestions for part time, school hours only, well paid, nice people, close to home, good prospects??

Sorry didn't answer - bad shock!!

He needs a payslip - he needs to make sure he hasn't been taxed at the emergency rate etc. You do usually have to ask for them unless something has changed - but starting would count as a change.

Hi can any of you tell me roughly how long it takes to get a visa once we send off the forms if were appoved?

I really dont think you need to send any form off, it seems to be automatic.

NickiW - most banks don't charge fees if you have a minimum of $5000 in your accounts at any one time. Also, once you have a mortgage you don't have fees. Good tip is to pay with everything using your Visa card (as no transaction fees), then pay it off at the end of the month - that way you don't get charged for using EFTPOS. Also, if you do use EFTPOS and think you will need cash at some stage, ask for cash back, then you are rolling 2 transactions into 1. There's ways around the fees, you just need to know how to work the system. Personlly, I would rather pay the fees as the service is a million times better than the banking service in the UK (talk to any Kiwi in the UK about the banking and you are guaranteed a 2 hour rant!! ). The banks in the UK don't charge fees because they make their money off you by taking 3 days or so to transfer money from one account to another, throwing it into an interest bearing account for themselves for a couple of days, whereas NZ works on real time banking, and all transactions are instant.

Also, re using the credit card - some banks have quite good airmiles schemes or similar, linked to their credit cards, so as well as avoiding bank transaction fees, you can be earning airmiles, or points towards vouchers of your choice etc. We've got our NZ accounts with Westpac at the moment, and we earn Hotpoints with our credit cards, which can be exchanged for vouchers in a range of shops (e.g. Farmers).