where's best to live in nz,and what do we need to know?

[AngryBeaver]

My dh has been on at me for a year to move from the uk.He wanted Quebec,which looked gorgeous and romantic,but i wasn't sold on the winters and coudn't leave my mum.
He recentley said he wanted to move to NZ and i thought ,yeah if it's warm and a better life than here,let's do it.
So we've got fuck all money and 3 kids under 4.5 ...but we want to do it.
I don't know what's changed in me for me to agree ,but I hear th schools and hospitals are fab,and just want the best life for my lovely children.
I'm worrying though because I've read the houses are crap and cold.
We want sun,space and not too expensive (don't we all!)
We thought Tauranga,but that seems quite busy and we've read about boy racers.
We don't want Wellington as we've heard it's windy and weather not great.
Does anyone know about Nelson?Heard it's nice weather,but what's the reality?
We are going to put the house on the market this week,I am shitting myself,but I feel it's now or never.
Any help or advice,gratefully recieved

at TheCoalition. I don't think we'll be sending her to live in Bulls.

It is a bit nippy here today, meant to get nicer again at the weekend, hope so as we have booked a last-minute bach for the Easter weekend.

Fingers crossed it does warm up. There's a howling southerly here. Sat at the computer in a goosedown and scarf with a duvet wrapped round my feet because there doesn't seem any point switching the heating on again when I'm heading to bed shortly!

another tip for your OH is to try food alley (albert street maybe?) for food- it's an asian food court so he can get dinner for $10/12. also i like the queensferry arms on vulcan lane for a beer/fish and chips. not that he should be having fun when you are home alone with a sick baby! that's no fun. i hate it when my DH is away.

Dh says yesterday was funny weather,lashing it down,then boiling,then walk round a corner and get a blast of arctic wind,then boiling again!

It sounds nippy in Welly,scroobious

Thanks for the food info kiwi,thats dead handy to know.i think he's barely eaten since he's arrived..when I asled if he'd been down for brekkie he said (imagine irish accent )"$6 for a bowl of cereal?!jaysus i'm not payin that!!"
he found pizza hut and got a big pizza for $10 which he found agreeable!
Yes,tis no fun looking after all the kids alone,especially when the baby is so poorly..but fear not,am laying it on thick for dh and i shall be rewarded on his return!!

Have you given him a shopping list of Kiwi treats to bring back for you?

Pineapple Lumps
Buzz Bars
Moro Bars
Whittakers chocolate (peanut slabs mmmmmm)
Hokey Pokey Ice cream (might melt in the carry-on)
Jet Planes
Spearmint Leaves

The weather sounds like a pretty typical Auckland day.

Welcome to Auckland spring and autumn weather. Layers is the key - one minute you can be bathing in the sun, the next dodging the rain, etc...they say we get 4 seasons in one day and that's definitely true. Tip - don't bother bringing washing in, by the time you've got wet running out to get it all in, it's stopped and the sun's back out. Having said that, yesterday was pretty spectacular, winter is definitely on its way - I was working from home as it's the school hols and kept putting layers on, determined not to light a fire which signals the arrival of winter proper.

ZacharyQuack - I think kiwis are genetically programmed to like your list of goodies, dh certainly dies - me - I'm sent supplies from England or stop at the England shop for the occasional extortionate treat

that was does of course! proof read before post...........

Zachary it was evil of you to post that list. I'm now drooling hopelessly. Hopelessly because apart from a small jar of real proper marmite coming my way on friday, I'll not be getting any of that for a long long long time . You did forget to list Cookie Time cookies though.

I may get one of the things off the list zachary,as i mentioned,dh is a tight wad careful with money

Is the weather better the further North you go then?

Have heard tell of the Enlish shop..a box of shreddies,$11?? I think not!!

OK, he did the stunt plane and managed not to ralph. I am astounded
His meetings are going really well, one guy said he really wanted to give him a job,but it could be tricky with no visa and the need to prove a kiwi couldn't do the job.
He's going to Tauranga today,it will take him around 3hours to get there.
It will be funny if anything comes of that because that's kind of where I'd warmed to originally. I like the look of Omokoroa school,and Tauranga City looked great.
He was telling me there is no watershed on kiwi telly so they can swear whenever? Also that there was a big problem with child abuse? (violent rather than sexual)
we know nowhere is perfect,and there's a pretty big problem with child abuse here imo..it could be proporionate to the populations for all i know

may I butt in?

I'm sitting here shitting myself, because in exactly 2 hours I'm being interviewed via Skype for a job in Auckland (Uni).

I've never done that before. I hate Skype. Which is a bit awkward

You may butt in highlander.
I don't blame you for having squeaky pants.Interviews are terrifying at the best of times. Skype does has it's benefits though. They won't smell the booze on your breath if you have a snifter to take the edge off!
Also,if they ask you a tricky question you can always feign technical difficulties and 'loose them' only to get them back when you've sorted out a good answer ?
Dh actually yhinks it's better on skype,you have the benifit of being in your own home so not entirely out of your comfort zone. After the initial terror,he got into the stride of it. I was impressed
Deep breaths,you'll do great. The Best of Scottish luck to you

Good luck Highlander. I was interviewed on Skype for my teaching job. It was a bit weird to start with but I soon got used to it. The entire Board of Trustees came along to interview me as it was such a novelty. We had to turn the pictures off after a while as the connection got too slow.

Let us know how is goes.

I got the job, hope you do too if you want it.

Good luck highlander.

Angry, er, yes there is a watershed for swearing on TV, I think it's 9pm. They may say stuff like "bloody" earlier though - I don't think bloody is considered a swear word here really. In fact there's an anti-drink driving advert with the tagline "If you drink then drive, you're a bloody idiot!"

There is a lot of child abuse, mostly within families (as it is everywhere I think). NZ is quite high up in the dv stats, it does seem to be within families though - not a problem of random people bashing random kids. Not that that makes it any better of course.

Sorry for typos,was really rushing. Hope it went well highlander..don't leave us hangin'!

Dh said they said shitty. He also said he heard some discussion on tv, i think it was a sports thing where they'd referred to a black/asian guy as a "darkie" ..i was like no! are you kidding???but he was not

Wonder why there is a lot of child abuse. Is it that they beat their kids and think thats ok? or is it neglect? I think there was a kiwi sociaal worker on this thread somewhere that eluded to his, I think she said it was predominately the maori community..but I could be totally mis-remembering that and totally maligning a whole race there hope not.Am just interested

I think the child abuse problem is a tricky one that of course doesn't have a one size fits all answer but in general Maori are over represented in the dv and child abuse statistics. They are however, also over represented in the unemployed, social deprivation, teenage pregnancy, morbidity and mortality statistics. NZ I believe has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in the developed world (if not the highest). It is not uncommon for these issues to go hand in hand. You also have cultural issues that when thrown into the pot mean that some children end up being physically abused. The government is also currently looking at the practice of placing at risk children with extended family. While the concept is fantastic the reality is that children are often still being abused by extended family who have been bought up similarly to the parents (learned behaviour) and maintain some degree of exposure to the abuser.

I think the solution is difficult, culturally sensitive, not simple but overdue.

However, there are many good Maori families and as always it is the minority who give the majority a 'bad name'.

BTW good luck Highlander let us know how it went!

Thanks for that sibble I had no idea there was a high level of teenage pregnancy over there. I wonder,why does it become endemic in some areas/countries. Is it poverty, education, culture or a mixture of circumstances.

PMSL at your 'pre-interview snifter', Beaver!!

Boy, it was a bit wierd. The video went (as it always does when I Skype Auckalnd), which helped! Once we got chatting about lab stuff (I'm a research scientist) it was fine. I'm the top candidate, with another Kiwi being interviewed today.

Will find out 1st week in May.

Well, fingers crossed for you.I hope you get it

I think people in NZ seem to have their kids earlier so I wonder if that feeds into the teenage pregnancy rates. They are also surprisingly anti abortion - I've seen signs out by the roads in Waikato about abortion, something I've only ever seen in the States before.

Highlander- I've heard that scientists here can feel a bit isolated and it's important to try and negotiate a package which includes at least one European conference trip a year. Good luck.

I got my indefinite PR today. :-)

Hi Highlander, you don't have to tell me but where are you applying? I'm based at the Uni of Auckland. Clinical Research, not lab based at the moment but have friends who are Post Grads in Fertility.

Good luck also to thelittlestkiwi.

thelittlestkiwi - I think it partly is cultural - I know somebody who is recently widowed as she married somebody 15 years her senior - she is 35 and now a single mum of 10. My boys play league in south Auckland so we have quite a diverse network which I think is good for them.

Congrats on the indefinite PR thelittlestkiwi. Nice feeling to have that final stamp in the passport...

Hi Sibble - it's in Biological Sciences with the Phillips/Hickey group. Anthony Phillips is a surgeon with an interest in mitochondria.

An old colleague of mine has just started in Obs/Gynae (Lynsay Cree).