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??

Chuffed, you are a mine of info, thanks so much, can I pick your brains about cars? How much is petrol over there and what could we expect to pay for a family car, couple of yrs old mid size? Just trying to make sure we have the cash to get set up once we arrive. I've been on an internet food shopping site and the prices don't seem a lot different from the UK would you agree?

i think we spent a bit more on food in NZ than we did here. Not sure how much gas is I think it was about $1.20 a litre.
For car prices try www.trade-exchange.co.nz and www.autotrader.co.nz

We've been doing a lot of this sort of costing as well as we are moving back next year.

OK ... some living costs:

First, don't let anyone tell you that what you can buy for a pound you can buy for a dollar ... People seem to think that but it isn't true.

However, if you have pounds to spend things are generally cheaper than in the UK ... I bought a lovely lampshade in the shape of an aeroplane for DS' room for $50 thinking it was good value at 15 quid (good quality item etc). Now I have been here for 3 years $50 seems REALLY pricey for a child's lightshade!

I was speaking to a friend the other day who rents out properties and she said that $500 a week should get you a reasonable place in nice areas ... but not the top spots near the city.

Takapuna is a very nice part of Auckland ... gorgeous beaches etc. Like Chuffed says there are excellent schools there.

Children tend to start school ON their 5th birthday ... so if you are NZ by the time your DS turns 5 he will start school on his birthday of just after. If your DS birthday is the 20th September then that is the last week of Term 3. He could have a couple of days visiting then start properly at the beginning of Term 4 on the 10th October. This is a great time to start school as he will have a Term as a New Entrant and then the whole following year in Year 1.

Living costs: We spend between $200 and $300 a week on food ... about the same as we did in the UK BUT we eat much better ... that includes meat and wine every day In the UK we didn't eat that much meat as it was too expensive and we only drank wine at weekends! Fish is very expensive here as is organic food (I try to buy organic when I can).
Petrol is $1.24 a litre at the moment ... it was 95c a litre when we arrived 3 years ago so it has gone up considerably.
You can get a family car for maybe around $15,000+?? I think?? Of course, you can get cheaper. My friend is selling her 10 year old Land Rover for $10,000. Most cars are automatic. Japanese makes are the best value. European cars are expensive to fix.

Health ... if your DH's company offers health insurance take it. There is a health service but you still have to pay extra. Adults pay $40-$50 to see the GP ... children under 6 are free but if you end up in A&E it costs $20 for a child.
We have health insurance that covers hospital costs. We don't mind paying the GP as we don't go that often but it is good to have insurance in case you need an op to avoid waiting lists etc.
You won't feel like a square peg in a round hole. NZ is the most 'English' of places to emigrate to ... I never feel like I am in a foreign country. Auckland is a very multicultural city ... full of South Africans, Brits, Asian (Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian as well as Indian) I love the richness of the culture here. The Pacific Island culture and Maori culture are fantastic (although sadly, many white Kiwis might disagree).

I have gone on long enough ... but ask some more questions and I will come back to you!

Average value of a car in NZ is $10K. But that includes a lot of terrible cars, so I would go with Ghosty's $15K. Nobody here drives a family car that's only a couple of years old. We have much lower standards. A five year old car would still be regarded as recent.

Singapore airlines are apparently fantastic, coming from my mother (who is fussy and flies here 3 times a year).

Get health insurance. When you are not used to paying to see the GP you tend to put it off, and that's not good. Put the children on it too. I know it seems tempting not to because they are free under 6, but we have found that several times they are not really free, like when you need a doctor in the middle of the night, or for some podiatry, or for some medicines that aren't fully subsidised by the Government.

I spend about $160-$200 per week on groceries, but I do live around the corner from a market garden where I get very cheap veggies, and I use reuseable nappies. Steak can be bought for $8.99 on special per kilo. Nappies are $9 on special for a packet of 18-28 (depending on age of baby). You will soon get the feel for the real price of things, and you will shop in season more than you have to in the UK. For instance lamb and beef have a season here, it's not just fruit and veggies.

School uniform can be massively expensive I believe - but maybe not at age 5. Ghosty is your woman for that.

Don't get me started on School Uniform Bobbybob!
It just so happens that the school DS goes to insists on the most expensive uniform in the country it seems!
Some schools just go for tracksuit pants and t-shirt of a particular colour .... so not too bad ...
DS's summer uniform is: grey short sleeved shirt with school logo ($52 each ... need at least 2)
grey shorts ($30 each ... need at least 2)
specific brown sandals from specific shop ($65 )
green sunhat ... we are allowed to get it from The Warehouse so only $8 ...
Winter uniform is shorts and shirt as above with bottle green jersey ($70 )
long grey socks with green band ($18 each ... need at least 2 but I need to get another pair really)
Black shoes from specific shop at $65

When DD starts school we will need a second mortgage ... the both winter and summer dresses have to be made to order as you can't buy them in a shop .... the winter pinafore is .... wait for it ..............................
$180
Not sure what the summer one is ....

This is a state school! I am thinking of joining the PTA just to take them to task about this ... ridiculous to spend that kind of money on clothes that children grow out of and make a mess of ...

Anyway, like I said, this is very expensive and not all schools go to these lengths ... I have to say, DS looks really smart but he is only 5 FGS!

Most schools have uniforms ... there will most definitely be uniform in Takapuna.

Re. other school costs. Despite being state schools ALL parents in All schools are expected to pay extra towards school. We have 'donations' ... they can't call them fees. The more affluent the area the less government funding for the school. So the parents and the PTA fundraising has to make up the shortfall. I live in an affluent area of Auckland and so our school gets $375,000 less a year than a school in the poorest area of the city.
Our yearly donation is $320 per child (450 children on roll).
We have a really well resourced school though thanks to the parent donations so no one has a problem with it. I think it is a good thing as schools in poorer areas are very well resourced too. The level of donations is based on the socio economic situation of an area that came out in the last census.
It is strange, coming from England and being expected to pay for health and education when we already pay the top level tax ... BUT you have to remember that New Zealand only has a population of 4 million (don't know what % of that are taxpayers) and so in order to keep ahead with the world we have to pay extra IYSWIM?

The price of that uniform, and those fees made my eyes water. I don't understand why they don't just get you all to buy from Postie Plus and then they would get the 10% of the sales, and could lower the "donation". I am that the shoes and sandals are a particular type - what if these don't fit properly?

I would love to know what their reasoning about uniform is.

just double checked our local primary school and no uniform - phew although there will probably be one by the time dd starts (only 14mths)
Unfortunately I think that uniform costs seem to go along with the 'socio-economic' aspect of schooling in that if there are a few kids who are in state housing that go they won't make the uniform that expensive.
Ghosty that sounds like the cost of a private school uniform not public. Do they have a second hand shop too as that could be useful for 'the third' items for just in case moments.
Where are you bobbybob?
Nicki if you find a house at the 'Hauraki' end of Takapuna there is no school uniform for primary school and it is a lovely area.

I'm in Christchurch, primary schools have uniforms, but they are very much "wear a red sweatshirt from Postie+ and some black pants." Girls seem to be more expensive because you have to buy a dress or that checked material and be handy with a sewing machine.

I just find it bizarre that when kids go to Kindy they are told to wear old clothes, so they learn that it doesn't matter about drips and rips, and then next thing you know they are doing the same thing in a $52 shirt and wondering why you are tearing your hair out.

I hope all the teachers at this school wear made to order dresses Ghosty.

I know Bobbybob ... it was a big shock to me when we moved here I can tell you. Where we lived before the school that DS would have gone to has a uniform of $8 t-shirt with school motto on it and navy track pants from Postie+ ... And if you want to you can get a fleece in the winter.
Chuffed, it is like private school uniform isn't it? I asked around once I got brave in the playground and apparently a few years ago the 'top dogs' in the PTA were a bunch of mums who saw our school as a prep school to the private colleges (high schools, nickiw) ... although it is a state school.
Apparently every year some parents complain about the cost of the uniform but it looks like it is here to stay.
Luckily DS shirts are good quality (you would expect that for that price) and are washable so we haven't had any nasty stains that haven't come out yet. I dread it when DD starts as the dresses are dry clean only ... One of the veteran mums told me that her older daughter got through the whole 6 years with the one winter dress as she insisted on having massive hems ... she also said that she sponges down any spills on the dress and dry cleans it in the holidays.
Did I mention the fact you have to pay for stationery too, on top of the donations? We had to buy a Yr 1 stationery pack ($40) that included a bookbag, library bag, all his exercise books for the year, pencils, felt tips, coloured pencils, rubbers and glue. You take the pack into school on the first day of the year .... having named the child's books and all the other gear is put into the teacher's stationery cupboard as her supplies for the year.
It was such a culture shock for me coming from England and being a teacher by trade!

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Don't let any of that put you off though, nickiw ... I love NZ and am really glad we moved here!

ESSBEEEEEEEEEE! Helloooooooooooooooooo! Yup .... leave NZ for old Blighty in 3 and a half weeks!!!!!!!!!!!
Still up for a voddy and lime????

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Nah, AOL

used to be on msn then it did an update new version thingy and then won't let me sign in.

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The cost of that uniform is awful!! Last interview is tomorrow at 7am, behavioural assessment, christ knows what that means! We are starting to look at the cost of shipping and flights now so I guess the descision has been made. Some Aussie friends turned up at the weekend - no contact for 7 yrs which was great and after talking to them I realise we have to stop converting sterling into dollars and just get on with life,still look for special offers and bargains. If life was so expensive in NZ nobody would be there! Good points about the healthcare, my husband hasn't had a perm job before so the payoff is less salary but benefits,, we are trying to push for some relocation assistance.

good luck for your dh nickiw.
we are looking forward to returning next year.

Ooooh, good luck nickiw ... do let us know how you get on!
Do get some kind of relocation costs if you can ... It is pricey ... we shipped all our belongings to NZ through Pickfords and it cost 4000 pounds ...
You can do it much cheaper if you pack your container yourself and do all the paperwork yourself (NZ import laws are very strict so paperwork and dotting the "i's" and crossing the "t's" can be a hassle).
Will you sell up completely and move lock stock and barrel?

re. relocation costs, DH's company paid for our flights and that was it .... but at least it was something!

.....make sure the stuff you ship over is properly and adequately insured. My SIL moved over there last year and most of her stuff was at least 3 months late arriving and badly damaged. She then found out she wasn't adequately insured.....

Good luck with your adventure!

This shipping costs do seem really high, but then I guess the cost of buying new gear is as well. I would go for the full packing service, it's going to be a nightmare anyway and one less thing to worry about! We are pushing for relocation costs and trying to arrange a start date for 3 months time. They are pushing to start ASAP but I think 3 months is okay, the kids can finish school and we would love a couple of decent stopovers on the way.

I paid about $2000 to relocate including car, but that was 6 years ago and it turned out we weren't actually insured, and all sorts of other things, so on reflection we should have sold everything and started again. All our UK furniture looks really small and silly in our big kiwi house.

I would recommend that you ship a couple of decent size boxes ahead of time (so 8 weeks before you arrive)with work clothes and shoes for your dh and the correct season clothes for here for the rest of you). Then you can do your stopovers with only holiday type luggage, rather than everything you think you will need in NZ. Then you can get your furniture delivered to suit your house move, rather than have to put it in storage just so you can get to the work stuff. wish I had done this.

Does anyone have any tips for essentials to bring from the UK that I may really miss/need? things which are v expensive or hard to get hold of?