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

I have ordered DS's shoes from our old local shoe shop in the UK .... very good service, they even e-mailed me a foot measuring guide to make sure DS got the right size shoes. M&S shoes are pretty good too. You will have huge difficultlies finding a shoe shop that measures children's feet properly like they do in the UK.

Visa companies - they cost a bomb! Unless you have an employer who is paying for you to use the visa people, just do it yourself. NZ Immigration are more than willing to answer any daft questions you have. I did all our Immigration paperwork and applications, the forms are long winded and tedious, but not difficult

Shelscrape - I know of several shoe shops in Wellington that measure children's feet.

Thanks Zachary, but I live in Northland :( I'm aware of 2 shops in Auckland, but nearly 2 1/2 hours driving each way and toll road costs, car parking etc. actually make it more cost effective to order from UK!

Hi shelscrape,how are you getting on over there?Have been wondering about you
The thing with the visa company guy was that he made out like he could get us in and the missing points wouldn't be a problem ie he could find a loophole we couldn't.Likely?

The Visa companies are there to assist you in filling in the forms correctly so that you can claim the max number of points with the information you have.

The EOI is perfectly simple.

If he's claiming to get you points when you can't legally claim for them, then he's breaking the law.

I agree, points cannot be manufactured. the EOI form is really simple, just long winded. NZI deals with eveything on the points basis, using a visa agent doesn't put you any closer to the top of the pile, everyone is treated equally. Just make sure you read all the NZI guidance to ensure you claim all the points you can claim.

All going well in Northland, no regrets at all about the move :)

We did use an agency, but regretted it, only because we did all the work anyway, filled out the forms and the agency added nothing new. We did all the groundwork and got all the details required. The agent would ring for "friendly chats" to guide us, direct us, suggest recruitment cos etc., but most of the time it was just chit chat passing the time with a friend type of call - "how's it going, have you decided where to live?" types of calls - then we got the bill - for every chat we were charged hourly rates so the fees were huge.

There was nothing the agency did that we couldnt have done ourselves and were several thousand pounds lighter.

nittygritty! That's pretty bad.
We have already done the EOI and we're in the pool.I was just wondering if they could help bump us.
Glad you're enjoying it Shelscrape
Anyone know the answer to the sats question?Do you have them in nz?

What was your sats question? they dont do sats here. The schools do a variety of tests, and last year the Government introduced National Standards which means all schools are now benchmarked to show results at equal levels. There is a lot of negativity though because they dont reflect if an under achieving child is still actually achieving from where they were to where they are at now. Thre is a lot of worry that they will go the same way as the UK and start producing league tables which doesnt help anyone.

Education does vary a lot around the country and the hardest thing is you mustnt compare with the UK, and not to worry because they are not pressurised in the same way.

that was it really,nitty. I think sats are ridiculous,so am really glad they don't have to do them in NZ.pressurising primary school kids like that,ffs.I come from a very academic family,so obviously education is really important to me...but the uk system is very flawed,imo.
sorry for bad typing,babe in arms!

came back to yak about costs!!

from your table rent seems a bit cheap, do you need health insurance?, car insurance seems a bit cheap but I'm not sure how much we pay (remember if you have 4 kids you will need a big car), petrol 100 too cheap (I have never used a car as much as I do here and I am in a city with supposedly excellent public transport-oh talking of which when I did get on the bus with a tiny maclaren volo I had real trouble fitting it down the isle and the bus driver nearly through me and the kids off), food too cheap (although it might depend on your ratio of boys to girls) clothes?, school (too cheap for 4 kids)

you have nothing for holidays and problems (like your wm collapsing etc)
your other costs seem about right

if you bring whitewear might be handy to get hold of a few plug adaptors in advance

I'm going to sound like a real grump now I've never been to Waiheke but I would love too but IMHE what seems like a romantic dream turns miserable when your quick commute with a latte (that's why it was $150!! ) turns into a 3 hours a day crawl through traffic and working 9-5, 8-6 even maybe 10-4 day in day out soon seems miserable when you are surrounded by everyone having essentially the same sort of lifestyle but financed by the tax payer. (Although I've never particularly heard of Waiheke and the dole more Waiheke and designer vineyards- but it's not my neck of the woods)

I wouldn't worry too much about deciles it reflects the economics of the area more than the educational standards/abilities etc can still have lousy schools in affluent areas and vice versa.

oh and I just don't get the obsession with pumpkin patch I've seen stuff go for silly money on trade me that I would pretty much throw away (hand down within the family) it is so tatty (and I literally mean torn/worn through).

It's as good /bad as everything some is lovely (in a girly way) but just as often the colours are odd and there is an obsession with silly trims like fussy belts on dresses for 12 month olds

The clothes thing sounds bizarre.Why don't they just order straight from pumpkin patch? they deliver to nz.I do get bits from there,I think it's mid-range price,really?
I'll show dh your thoughts on his price chart,thanks for that.
re waiheke,who knows!Maybe it would be a romantic dream,I understand what you're saying.Although you lost me a bit with the 3 hour commute? From my understanding waiheke is a 35 min ferry trip over to aukland and then walking distance to the CBD?
I.m not disillusioned enough to believe that day to day life is like a fairytale over there,but it's got to be a better standard of living- on the whole- than here.But,no,I won't go over with rose tinted specs. (Have to actually bloody get there first mind!!)

No one needs to get Pumpkin Patch delivered from the UK. It is a New Zealand company. There are shops everywhere.

Well why do they pay "silly money" on trademe for Pumpkin patch then ?!

People pay silly money for everything on trade me - because it is difficult to get hold of stuff. There just isnt the shops to be able to go and buy what you want where you want, unless you live in one of the major cities.

If you live in a village, and the nearest shops are two or so hours drive away, it is more cost effective to pay slightly more for something off trade me than pay for petrol and the time element to drive there.

There are a lot of villages that just have a dairy (corner shop) and maybe a hairdresser, or a butcher, and not much else. There might be a clothes shop (that sell stuff you would never dream of buying.)

Also, because when stuff arrives into NZ, it might only come in once, ie a particular range of toy, so market demand pushes the prices up. Christmas stuff arrives mid year and after that you cant get hold of a lot of things. If you really want something, trade-me is the only option

Re Not1Not 2 comments. Not sure where your costs bit is in this section - havent checked all 23 pages.

Food is very expensive. Visitors always comment that it is more expensive than the UK (and that the quality is very poor!!! (in the supermarkets). Petrol is also very expensive now - we have had huge price hikes in last 6 months or so. House insurance is forecast to increase by 50% so whatever budget you had, double it and add a bit more. Car insurance will follow because a lot of cars were also lost in the recent earthquakes, cyclones and floods.

HI ANgryBeaver. Just read your original post and wanted to comment that NZ gets very cold, just like the UK. Well maybe not as cold but still cold, and there can be very long spells of cold. There are also lots of times when the weather is warm, and probably for longer spells in the UK, but the believe (that is portrayed on lots of websites) that NZ is wall to wall sunshine is very wrong.

This is made worse because most houses dont have central heating, there is still the mentality of "put another jumper on". They heat one room with a fire but rest of house stays cold. The British have had a big impact on changing this but a lot of houses are very very cold.

costs is on page 20 or 21 I think

my point about silly money is that I have seen worn (by that I mean thin knees and tatty/torn hems-you know what I mean like they've been trodden on) pumpkin patch kids trousers go for over $10 dollars.

I pretty much would think I couldn't even give something away in that state and I doubt that a pair of trousers by another brand would sell the same same with things that are dirty worn cuffs whatever

People seem to see pumpkin patch and loose touch with reality yet it's no doubt made in the same sweat shops by the same 10 year olds for 10p a day as everything else

It's also worth noting the number of people earlier who said 'it's fine, it's manageable' I do all my shopping in outlets/the warehouse/in bulk when I fly back to the UK/it gets sent in bulk from the UK.

undoubtedly what ever you think of all the cheap shops it has made childrens clothes as cheap as chips (I'm not being really critical here I've long thought that in the UK we are not paying the true price of things ie we rely on the 10 yr old to keep clothes cheap, there is no 'enviromental' cost paid to ofset the pollution of the cotton or the transport of our cheap clothes)

the bit about the 3 hr commute is that in London my tube trip was what 20/30 minutes however I had to get to the tube, allow enough time to get a ticket/allow time for several trains to go through before I could get on (sometimes) then get from station to work unless you live and work on the wharf 35 mins becomes 65 and you have to go there and back (I had no idea the ferry was only 35 mins so OK not 3 hours but 2) you get my point

the clothes thing though is pretty personal if you care about children's clothes, if shopping is one of your regular activities then you will miss it/ them, if you just like your kids to look clean and untatty then you'll be absolutely fine.
(in fact if your kids are clean and untatty then they will be amongst the best dressed where I am )

my point about the shopping was it is fine and manageable under those circs yet if you are an average NZer living in that village then it can be a struggle

another anecdote

my 'friend' moved from rural OZ (4 kids) there she worked 3 days a week her husband didn't work, they had 2 cars (1 was a 4wheel drive) a pool 4 bed house etc etc

here she works 3.5 days a week he works 4 (was F/T got cut because of recession) they have 4 bed house no pool 1 car (4 wheel drive from OZ) her children certainly don't want for anything $50 lego sets and $30 books are bought regularly for them

her mortgage is around 350000 (wouldn't get much for that they had equity and strong Ozzie dollar) house worth 550000 (paid more it's dropped) they are overpaying through choice

she would rather be here

yet she talks continally about having no money (certainly her dh has never been back to Oz to see family and friends yet those flights are cheap).

her gross income (self-employed) is about 170k!!!

(in fact if your kids are clean and untatty then they will be amongst the best dressed where I am

My kids turned up at first day of school in new casual M&S clothes - I stocked up before I came to NZ. Talk about overdressed! That was an understatement. They were the best dressed kids in the school. Have now noticed you can spot the English kids straight away, especially when they are new to school.

The kids (near me) all wear Farmers, Warehouse and Hallenstein clothes and they all look the same. All their knees have holes in, no shoes, clothes half way up their legs and arms, all look like they could do with a good wash.

Oh I paint such a lovely picture dont I.

Changing the subject, when looking at areas, housing, etc., have you looked at Google Earth, using both aerial and street views?

This is a great way to see what the locality is like, and how far places are from major towns.

I know what you mean about the clothes NittyGritty. But I quite like it and find it quite refreshing that what you look like is not paramount. I think kids should be getting muddy and climbing trees and not worrying about their clothes. Not at primary school anyway.

Well...don't know quite what to make of all that,feel a bit deflated i think..a .whole lot of negativity goin on right there!
Coupled with that and a job rejection for dh,the days getting off to a great start!