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??

Need a pointer as to mumsnet etiquette here. This is nickiw's thread and I don't want to but in. However I would like to continue chatting with you kiwis. Should I start a new thread or is it ok to stay here?

Please stay Kate, this is the only conversation I get!!

Just got broadband connected in house today I feel as if I have the use of my fingers back!!

The weather has been fab here, cold at night but lovely during the day. I know Christchurch is beautiful but I hear it is warmer up here if that helps Kate!

Ghosty I would love to meet up.

Robert is being soo brave going to school, bit wobbly this morning but it doesnt help when your mum is in tears!! The school is lovely and everyone knew our names and details, didn't feel like a stranger. Charlie had a kindy visit yesterday so I got to talk to some mums which was nice, but kept welling up with tears!! I really will struggle when Charlie goes, but have decided to try and find a job come October.

Kate, I am reading the North Shores Times today and there are 6 ads for early years teachers, so I think you will be fine. I don't know if anyone has mention the traffic in Auckland, when you hubby gets a job this may determine where you live (if it is Auckland).

Big thanks to everyone for all help and support, will be upping Mumsnet contributions

Auckland is warmer than Christchurch, but also has far far more rain. The sun is much more intense and so even a technically cold day can be T shirt weather in the sun.

In Christchurch you can live anywhere you like and work anywhere and get there in about 20 minutes. House prices are much cheaper and yet salaries are almost the same.

It's worth having a look at some job sites to see if what you can do is advertised anywhere else than Auckland.

Don't get me wrong I love Auckland - however our quality of life there would only be a little better than the UK, whereas in Christchurch we live in a big house in a nice area and dh is home from work at 5.15pm.

bobbybob is right in some ways ... but I do feel that our quality of life is heaps better here in Auckland than in the UK (rather than only a bit). Although house prices are higher in Auckland than in Christchurch you still get more for your money than in England ... especially if you are bringing pounds with you to start with. Once you are entrenched in NZ$ and wages then you will find that Auckland is expensive to live in.

nickiw ... get in touch via Contact A Talker and I will email you back

I agree, we are on a budget now, not as cheap as we thought, although big salary drop was taken - still shock to the system, costs seem almost the same as UK!

Morning everyone. Lovely to find you all here. Nickiw-you have done so much in such a short time it's not surprising you feel a bit tearful sending your boys off to school. Hope they settle in quickly. Are you finding the weather,housing, lifestyle etc better than the UK?
I am being more sold on Christchurch all the while but dh thinks it will be like English weather! DH is in a v.bad mood just now as new job is horrible. He is leaving at 7am driving over an hour and not getting home till 7.30pm. I have never had him home at 5.15. Tbh it is our main reason for wanting to leave the UK-he says he'll be dead at 40 from stress. Also we have little family time and are both permanently shattered, him from work and me from 3 young kids. Would be interested to know what you feel is better in terms of quality of life in contrast to UK.

I do feel the quality of life is better here. Richard works from 8 - and is home by 5.15. There is an awful lot to do here and with the better weather I'm guessing we won't be hibernating but actually getting out there and doing stuff. We have been to the beach every day since arrival. The only kids actually in the sea, we must look like new arrivals!! Everyone has been so friendly, a lady in an estate agents took us home, we were so tired, she just offered a lift! I know we haven't been here long but the pace of life seems slower and more enjoyed by people. Costs, not a lot cheaper than UK, houses not as big as I thought either. Another comfort factor is everything is so similar to home. Sometimes you have to be brave, we do have a back out fund and will go home if it goes wrong, but at least we tried.

Where in the UK do you live, so I can compare weather for you.

We are in South Bedfordshire, not far from Milton Keynes. Today weather is absolutely gorgeous which is nice as it's last week of school holidays but it's been indifferent for most of the summer. English summers are fine for me it's just the winters I hate. All that cold, wet and dark just gets me down.

Wet - Christchurch is one of the driest places, we have maybe had a week or 2 of English rain since I got here (that's in total in 6 years)

Cold - The dry air means everything feels warmer - that along with the intense sun. Temperature rarely goes into minus figures during the day - but it can at night.

Dark - Even in winter it is light by 8am and I don't shut the curtains until around 5pm. By my reckoning that's about 3 extra hours.

One thing that we don't really have are those long English summer evenings - I miss those. We do also have a hot dry wind (called a nor'wester) that gusts up every now and then and is great for drying your duvet but does make people a bit grumpy.

The weather is nothing like England in Christchurch, my mum and and dad come in winter and wear their summer clothes (but they live in North).

I recall the norwester from my uni days, oh the headaches it gave...
This thread has made me soooo homesick even missing sodding migraine inducing winds now

sob @ the Warehouse, the Warehouse where everyone gets a bargain...
I was in the studio with the chap who sang that when he did it, the late great Derek Archer...
I love Wellington BEST of all ...
Everyone else in NZ calls Auckland Dorkland

Well you are certainly selling Christchurch to me bobbybob!
Piffle-isn't Wellington rather windy? I saw a film of a plane landing there and it terrified me. Do you plan to go back to NZ?
Nickiw-hope you had a good day today. Moving can be very tough can't it? Happy to chat to you whenever if it helps.

Yes Wgtn is mighty windy, but bonus is NO pollution... I think it drove me mad when I lived there, they have wind/storm called a southerly and it is pure evil.
We were looking at Hawkes Bay/ Napier if we moved back, but that wil now be on hold unless dp faces a huge work crisis as all things good on that front atm...
I've been in the UK 8 yrs now and I am happy here despite it all

Dorkland!! I love it!! Met a really nice mum at school yesterday and I am going around for a coffee now - an adult to talk to - first time in 2wks! We are thinking hard now about whether to buy here, it seems silly to pay someone elses mortgage for the duration. I think life has been a bit too manic so we should hold off that decision for a while. Very foggy here today, but the sun is out now - no wind or strange named weather (that I know of). Off to the beach after school, I really should look at getting that job soon!!

Hi Nickiw-I should be in bed by now but glad I stayed up cos usually I don't catch you lot till the next morning! Great to hear that you've met a friendly mum. It does sound as though kiwis are very friendly. When I moved here it took about 2 years before I went round to someone's for coffee!

I got invited to heaps of places in my first year. A Millennium party, a baby shower, a vegan cafe - everyone wanted to invite me and make me feel welcome.

Dh joined a soccer team this year and I took ds to a match - nobody got into a conversation with me - and I was starting to wonder what had happened. When we got home dh told me that everyone in the team was from the UK, and so were the wives.

That explained it - they weren't being rude, they were just being normal for UK. It's just I have got so used to knowing people's dogs, cats, children and possibly their blood group after the first meeting!

Runway at Wellington is being extended. Thank goodness. I love Wellington, going in 4 weeks for a few days.

What is it you love about Wellington? It's not somewhere we had really considered.

I love the cafes, the culture, the views, the fact that the city centre is right by the sea, Te Papa, the shoe shops.

If I had loads of money and a high powered job I would live in Wellington.

Ah - it's pricey then?

Wow, I have just found the biggest Warehouse in Albany, fantastic!! Also found PacknSave - interesting, nice and warm here today so off to the beach with a picnic and bottle of wine after Richard finishes work, definitely no something we would do in UK!

Wellington is pricey KateF ... but not as bad as Auckland.
At the moment, the weather here is so fantastic .... really beautiful sunny winter days. The problem with Auckland though is that at any minute the clouds could come and it could rain for weeks.
I do love Auckland but I have to say that it is very very wet ... well, the winters are anyway ... and I truly believe it rains more here than in the UK.

Thought I would let you know that I spoke to nickiw today (she sounds lovely ) and she is coming over to my house for coffee next week.
Nickiw .. will email you later with better directions than I gave over the phone!

Ah Paknsave ... best prices ... no frills. I do much of my shopping in PnS ... or I did before I discovered Online shopping with Foodtown

I bought some sausages to cook and take to the beach. Just opened the packet and they are pork flavoured!! ingredients beef and lamb - yuk, they are the softest squidyest mass of chemical I've seen, the kids will love them!!!

We forgot to warn you about the sausages!