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

Hi everyone

I really really need help with my washing problem

Don't know why but nothing is coming clean I washed 2 loads today darks are fine but TBH I expect it's because it's less easy to see the stains until things are dry I've certainly noticed marks when I put them on in the past IYSWIM

My lights look like they havn't been washed, I have paint on the sleeve, tomato sauce (spag bol not ketchup) on a top, general misc stains (usually food) on necklines (still feeding babies here) marks on socks, it's driving me mad, I'm beginning to dread taking my lo to kindy because clothes are only fit for the bin at the end of the day, so many things look ruined and I've had 2 go through this in the UK with nothing like this. Forget about biro or felt tip when I see those it makes me want to cry and it didn't back home.

We have a Fisher and Paykel top loader, it looks newish and certainly costs around $1,500 (came with flat) I fill it aroung 3/4 full today we used surf and nearly a full scoop of Frend oxypower, have tried cold power in the past but it was less than useless.

Where am I going wrong? is it the top loader? is it my powder? do I need to override the tem and do it all on hot?

Should I resign myself to binning all my clothes/sending them back to the Uk for my Mum to wash

While we're at it I have my daughters most beautiful dress ruined with a big felt tip mark on the front any special advice for that? dh is still in the dog house over that one.

It white felt tip is grey.

Please please help

oh I was going to say Highlander has your thought about Dunedin?

and to angry I've been thinking and meaning to post for a while the other reason why things seem expensive of course is that it's about $2 to the £ so even though you half everything your (my) mind still thinks in pounds so when something is $10 even though my brian knows it's approx £5 it still thinks '10 for that you're kidding' or similar

sorry that's your dh

We've had numerous washing machines and dishwashers during our adventures in rentals/serviced apartment. Have to say I loath F&P stuff. We haven't had a decent dishwasher yet. Those drawer ones look cool but I just don't think they work. I'm also not a fan of top loaders- mainly cos of their water use which is huge compared to front loaders.

NotNot- do you know that launderettes so a service wash very cheap? You drop it off one day and get it back all folded based on weight I think. OH is convinced the machines here ruin his shirts and he is going through them quickly.

Sorry to hear there is so much waiting going on. It's a theme of moving I'm afraid. Waiting for job offers, waiting for medicals....

Highlander- Sorry about Nelson. I've always thought moving to Auckland and using it to suss out other areas is a good plan though.

F + P do regularly come near the bottom of the list in Consumer mag surverys (for dishwashers, not sure about washing machines). We have F+P for both though (clearly bought before we read any consuner surveys )

I would suggest hot wash for the whites - the hot wash in our machine isn't that hot, I put coloured stuff on it fine. Maybe soak in a bucket with some Napisan for a few hours first? Or you can get that stain stuff you spray directly onto the stain first? Haven't tried them but I think the Frend one is meant to be quite good (their carpet stain stuff is great - got a massive red wine stain out of a cream carpet at a bach we stayed at last weekend. Stupid dh for leaving his wine glass right next to my foot )

Don't know about felt tip, may get hints if you google?

I think some baby stuff just does get stained eventually - some of my cheaper kids stuff (e.g. Tesco stuff) will just be binned once dd2 grows out of it.

Oh, apparently Miele, Bosch and Asko are the best for washing/kitchen appliances, if you're buying at any time. Can be more expensive but worth it. I have a Miele vacuum cleaner and it is a million times better than the previous 3 hoovers we had that cost half the price but all crapped out after a year or so.

Agree, F+P isn't that great, and top loaders don't do the job as well as front loaders on the whole, IME. I use Napisan and buy cheap boys clothes from Warehouse (or shipped from the UK) for my son. All the kids here seem to wear their stained and rough clothes at playcentre/kindy tho, so I've also learnt to let him out in scruffy things, rather than dressing him smartly like I might have in the UK.

I have a Bosch dishwasher and it is amazing. It can get anything clean.

I brought my front loader from the UK thank goodness. Bought it 2 years ago so hope it's got a fair few years life left in it yet. Had a F & P top loader when we were house sitting for 2 months - flipping odd machine, kept stopping mid cycle and problems with wash temperature. I found out it needed a hot water supply as well as cold (unlike UK front loaders) Might be a good idea to check the water going in thorugh the hot water pipe is actually hot as I found the temperature setting on the machine did nothing more than regualted how much hot water went it IYKWIM

Gosh, I'd forgotten shelscrape, that with frontloaders you can actually specify the temperature of the wash!

My toploader here is the same as the one you describe - one pipe to the cold water tap, another to the hot water tap and a choice of three washes - cold, hot or medium.

PS. If I can be forgiven for going against the flow for a minute - 5 weeks tomorrow and DS and I will be on a plane home to the UK for a month. I'm so excited I have our bags packed already! Love it here but I miss my family and friends sooooooo much.

I just remembered what a dishwasher engineer said about the F and P drawer dishwasher in our first rental. He said it was 'sensitive' and we need to rinse the dishes before we put them in there and not to use tablets only powder.

I left my lovely SMEG dishwasher for my tenants. Sigh.

we used top loaders in Canada and they are shit. Mangled clothes

don't know whether it was the machine or the crap powder, but DS1's baby stuff was always horribly stained, yet even the old stains came out first time when we were back in the UK.

I'm not going to farkin Dunedin - I want WARMTH !!!!!

I've got 15yo F&P dishdrawers. Used everyday, one drawer broke once (the other one kept working) and was quickly fixed. You can use tablets but you have to put them in the cutlery basket, because the powder dispenser is too small. This is because a drawer uses about half the amount of powder as a traditional dishwasher.

Stop dissing the dishdrawers, they're great machines .

And kids are supposed to wear grubby paintstained clothes to kindy, that's the whole point!

Most NZ households have top loading washing machines, many of them are F&P.

Seriously, our clothes are fine. Clean, non-ragged, fine.

Maybe Canada doesn't know how to build a decent washing machine. (Or decent clothes?)

Have no advice on the washing apart from get some vanish oxy sent over?Tis brilliant
Some ripples our end. Dh had an intrerveiw last night and the guy really liked him.The money wasn't right for this job but there is something coming up in october. Here's the catch; the guy would want assurance that dh would def be there for the launch otherwise he couldn't offer him the job....we need the job offer to get the remaining few measly points to be accepted!
We had decided that we defo wanted to go for a RV rather than working visa as we have to know if we move our life over there and put dd in school,that we can stay.
However.dh thinks maybe he can get a temp working visa to secure the job whilst simultaneously applying for the Residency visa....does that sound do-able?

Also,I wonder if any of you can answer this re the teen culture in nz. I have heard about the hooning etc..but what about the binge drink/sex culture there is here? Obv i know all teenagers have their moments,but is it a culture like it is here?
I read on a thread yesterday a dad had found out his 13 year old dd was doing all kinds of things and that in her school/peer group it was "cool" to be a "slag"..and it was championed on facebook etc.I was just wondering if it was similar there,or if as people say NZ is more like Uk in the 50's,if it hasn't happened there.
Are they all obsessed/competitive with mobiles and ipads.ie as materialistic as UK kids seem to be?

Sorry,this is really badly written but I'm trying to get the baby down as well as stuff in my lunch and do housework before picking dd up!

ps scroobious yaay! you're excitament is palpable!you do know tripping over a suitcase for 5 weeks is going to piss you off soon though don't you?

so I need to wash my clothes in the dishwasher then?

scroob please can I send a couple of loads to you to take back to the UK? you don't have to iron them or anything I've given my opinion on the way the kids here dress on the previous page I daren't repeat it (I restrained myself then!)

Zach as I said I wont revisit that whole convo but seriously if your clothes are clean what machine do you have? and what powder do you use? what temp? how much powder? maybe it's the water whereabouts are you?

I'm really struggling my light load today looked unwashed at the end of it and one of my sons t-shirts was absolutley minging (there is a chance that it didn't get washed I suppose and just made it's way back in the drawer

lets face it there's little chance I'll get any sun on them for about 6 months!

Highlanders right I remember from years ago top-loaders mangling everything and not washing any marks out. Agree washing them in the UK and they're sparkling. Bizarrely I have no recollection whatsoever as to how I washed my clothes in Canada I must have done so isn't that strange?

I'm sure there is something I'm missing

we're stuck with the F&P (rented) I did rent a bizarre place in London once shitty basement flat, damp, dark bizarre kind of camping cooker but a brand new miele washing machine (incidentally aren't they about $3,000 here?) oh how I loved doing my washing, I washed for pleasure, I washed everything. Kids school uniform (white shirts) 3 yrs old was looking a bit grubby thought I was going to need to replace 1 spin in the miele and it sparkled in the sunlight

they say once you've had one no other washing machine is quite good enough, however at $3,000 I'll have to learn to cope!

whatshesaid I will try a hot wash, and google (maybe I'll google getting clothes clean in NZ)!! I'm frending everything took 3 overnight soaks just to get some basic stain or other out I shall peruse the cleaning products again in New World

lol at the 'sensitive' dishdrawer my SIL washes everything before she puts it in the dishwasher now I know why and Zach thanks for the tips we've got one (or two) in our next place I shall remember that about the cutlery baskets

hmm highlander if it's heat you're after is Tauranga or Napier big enough?

believe you me beaver I've been thinking about it!!!!!
I was seriously going to ask my Mum to send me some felt tip remover stuff I'm seriously pissed off about the felt tip.

My sil handed down 2 dresses and both of them had felt tip stains on dh is such a numpty why would you ever believe the 'they're washable' when a) your daughter is wearing her best white dress (just get her changed) and b) the owner of the 'washable' felt tips has just given you 2 felt tip stained dresses

sorry I can't advise on visas can you explain it to the guy and get him to do the paperwork for the Rv straight off

binge drinking is an issue there was a police programme on the TV last night about all the resources used in Auckland (they always make me laugh because about 50% of the police you actually hear have obviously very British accents) featuring the usual range of pissed 15 yr olds apparently it has got much worse since the drinking age was lowered (?10yrs ago) but there again apparently Oslo has a heroin problem (never imagined that) and Perth have 'riot squad like equipped' police on duty so....

not sure about teenagers and sex sorry

I'm guessing NZ is nore like UK in 50s in other areas but I wasn't there so I'm not very sure, I've not heard that said for years though.

less materialistic to some degree I'm astounded by the 9 yr olds with mobiles (thread on here recently) but the yearning/talk amongst little boys for electronic gadgets is as strong if not stronger and lots own playstations etc but certainly less around for kids (don't want to rehash old convos but remember the cost of these things)

OK have been reading this and havn't wanted to wade in but washing machines here are crp. Don't know why, we have a front loader at our house and a top loader at the bach and neither seem to get the washing 'clean' although the front loader does a better job. There I said it.... Having said that maybe I'm remembering through rose tinted glasses at how well my UK machine washed clothes. Soon to find out as ScroobiousPip* I too am of to UK but 4 weeks today. Boys UK passports have arrived. Now need to book transit hotel and start to get excited etc......

Re: teen behaviour - ds1 is only 11 so a few years to go before it really sets in but I think drinking is an issue (but only with some kids), sex is an issue (NZ has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in a developed country - but this is in many cases Maori and Pacific Island teenagers where it is more accepted), gadgets - my boys are healthily interested but not competitively obsessed. DS1 has a basic mobile for my peace of mind as he catches the school bus and we are semi-rural. They are not fussed about clothes, shoes and 'labeled' goods. IMO (and I may be proven wrong over the next few years) there are teenagers from deprived backgrounds who will turn out good and those from affluent backgrounds who will turn out bad - my game plan is to keep them occupied, have kids here so hopefully when they are older they will keep hanging out here, keep and eye on them from a distance etc....On the whole many kids here have a more rounded and 'outdoorsy' lifestyle that I'm hoping keeps them occupied through their teenage years. As an outsider I don't think it's as bad as the UK?????

I agree about paint-stained clothes being fine for kindy etc. None of the kids turn up at dd's kindy looking pristine. They're meant to get messy etc.

I find our top loader fine - doesn't mangle clothes - doesn't always get all stains out first time - but it doesn't really bother me.

No idea about teens, it's a long way off for me yet (thank God).

I don't have a teenager but have a few pals with them. Mostly Uk expats to be fair. But I've found them polite, considerate and a pleasure to be around. If I see school kids getting on/off buses they usually wait or help me with DD.

Most kiwi's can't afford an Ipad/Iphone so there is less pressure for kids to have that kind of thing.

Re washing machines/dishwashers: we have a front loader and it's fine, although not as good as the equivalent in the UK. But NZ recently signed a free trade agreement with China so I'm hoping there will be more choice soon. The restricted choice of brands was a bit of a shock to me when we arrived.

I don't think it is fair to say NZ is like 1950's Britain. Maybe noughties Britain.... But seriously, NZ may not be cutting edge but it has a lot of other things going for it. It's been said before, but I think there is less focus on stuff and more on doing things.

My DS is only 6 - so teenage years are far in the future- but DH teaches at the local boys high school. He thinks teenage boys here are much nicer than in the UK. He taught in various schools in the UK and got fed up with ahving to do crowd control rather than teaching. He has had no major fights in the classrooms, boys stand up when he enters the room (very 1950's!) and they do as they are told. Hr thought it was a mass wind up for his first few weeks. having said that though, he has had to split up a couple of nasty vicious fights in the school yard between maori boys who were fighting for some vague iwi mana thing.

I agree about the clothes thing. I've stopped ironing DS's school clothes as he was looking too neat and tidy and stuck out like a sore thumb. You can spot the English kids a mile off in the playground ... shoes, clean feet, clean clothes, brushed hair

Good to hear Shelscrape.Although obviously not about the fights.What is vague iwi mana? I'll have to brush up on this stuff won't I...dont know where to start though!

Iwi are Maori tribes, mana is a spiritual thing - struggling to think of the words but basically a person of great mana is someone looked up to and respected in the community. You'll pick up bits of te reo Maori really quickly once you're here, don't worry!

Great news re your DH's possible job offer, Angry! I've no idea about applying for both but - if you did take it - once you're here and working, that'll add loads of points to your PR application.

Teenagers here have all the same issues and worries as the world over but I agree that the pressure doesn't seem to be quite as intense on the whole. Noughties England seems a fair comparison thelittlestkiwi - although with much better coffee, and worse washing machines of course!

Not1not2 - would love to cart your dirty laundry halfway round the world help, if only DSs wretched toddler paraphenalia didn't take up so much bloomin room. Do you know if they sell stain devils here? I had a look in New World but couldn't see any specialist stain remover products, just the generic oxy stuff. Maybe that's a new business idea for me - importing stain removers?!

Sibble - hurray for the passports arriving - so exciting!! Where are you transiting? Are your DCs looking forward to it? DS is 2 and I think he's getting a bit fed up with 'when we go to England...'!

Btw, have any of you kiwis tried Puhoi Valley yoghurt with apricots and honey. Picked up some from New World as a treat and its seriously divine. Sort of like clotted cream with apricot sauce. Mmmm.

Puhoi Valley yoghurt is lush, especially the lemon one. Keep an eye out for Kapiti (especially Rhubarb&Champagne) and Collective Dairy yoghurts. Gorgeous, but not diet food.

Rhubarb and Champagne?? That sounds amazing! Have seen the Kapiti icecream but didn't realise they did yoghurt too. Will keep my eyes peeled!

Was only after I'd eaten half a tub of Puhoi that I realised it's 11% fat. Oops.

ScroobiousPip we're transiting in Kuala Lumpa. First time, usually go through Hong Kong or Singapore. We have 24 hours on way over (sanity break - feed boys, let them run, shower, sleep etc...) and 4 days on way back (sanity break - being in close confines with family for 3 weeks amazing how you miss them until - oh about half way between Heathrow and Essex ) Looking forward to roof top pool, exploring and some heat before we get back on a Tuesday and back to work on the Wednesday, boys back at school.

DS1 is 11 and such a good age to take to London, he has a long list of places to visit - Natural History Museum, Tower of London, Houses of Parliament, St Pauls, river trip. DS2 who is 6 wants to go to BIG zoos and theme parks, think he thinks it's going to be like the Gold Coast as it's been 3 years since he's been. He might be in for a shock, although a ride on the top of a double decker is always a winner.

Think will get excited on way to airport as usual, too much to do and organise on the run up to then. Once in car to airport as long as we have passports, tickets (do you even need them now?) and credit card we are OK

How long are you going for?