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

Thanks, WhatSheSaid,no one has said that to me in rl. I will show dh the link tomorrow.
I think it just seems like it's one thing after the other. We were living modestly anyway,then we lost our tax credits and dh lost a contract at work that gave us a few hundred a month..so I can't see how we'd be much worse off in nz.
Dh did say earlier that he was going to ring his boss and ask for a transfer to Sydney.I hope a job offer comes up in NZ before that happens

Oh angry - many congratulations on your pregnancy - I really feel for you as I think if we track down the thread I wrote your post about 12 weeks ago now. My dh was furious and called it off - it was basically terminate and we can emigrate or keep the baby and agree to move next door to his mum. It was SO stressful but when we realised I was 15 weeks he knew termination not an option (not that it ever was for me). He just needs time...took dh at least 3-4 weeks to come back to possibility of emigration. To be honest a clincher for us was actually childcare costs as they are so much cheaper in Nz and were just financially crippled with them here. Our best position would be for dh to be SAHD an

Half my post disappeared - sorry - off to bed but post tomorrow to update us on state of play. Were still no further forward. Nz boss now asked for reference but no job as yet. Still on the hamster wheel at work working harder but getting poorer..... Good old David and George

Many congrats AB!

I don't think being pregnant means that moving is off the cards. But you may need to tweek the timing a little. I was pregnant very soon after we arrived on a work permit which did not entitle us to medical care. We took out private insurance but it didn't cover maternity.

If you have the baby in NZ:

So as far as I understand it (and please check!), on a work permit of over 2 years you are entitled to free medical care for you and the baby. Same with PR. But you may not get a work permit if you are pregnant. I would call NZ immigration and ask. I applied for PR while pregnant in Nz and it was granted with no questions.

On a work permit under 2 years you are in a difficult position. Technically you are covered for the birth under the UK-NZ reciprocal agreement. But you are not covered for ante natal or postnatal care. The baby would be covered for emergency medical things but not routine things. We were extremely concerned in case something went wrong and the baby needed some medical care as the hospital would have charged us. We even considered going home at about 6 months but luckily our PR came through very quickly. And we have our very own little kiwi.

I know people who have moved here with 6 week old babies. It can be done!

We couldn't get a straight answer out of immigration re having the baby in Nz. Their online health guide was useless and I paid for some premium rate call centre they operate at £1 a minute to tell me they weren't sure and we should just apply and see if I could get in pregs. Cos we had planned a sept move and baby due October we decided easier to have baby here - simple things like who would look after the others when I was in labour just seemed complicated. So our dates have gone back and were hoping (job obviously pending) to move with a newborn. Should make for a fun flight - 4 little boys 5 and under (are we mad??!!).

News from me is now stepdad secured job back in masterton mid September so he's definitely going back. My mum will no doubt follow once she's rented her house her, organised for the cat to move (again) and my brother and I have both popped our respective sprogs in the autumn.

There have been a few high profile cases of people being rejected due to being pregnant. But other people like myself haven't had a problem. I suspect (or hope!) that they are applying discretion and rejecting people they think are just going to NZ for free medical care.

We did the flight with a 4 month old and it was fine. So I suspect it may be the older ones who are the problem. That age was good as I was breastfeeding and she hadn't started solids yet so they were one less thing to worry about. You could suggest to your OH that he deals with the older kids and you look after the baby ;-)

Hi everyone, It's been a loooong time since I have posted on this thread, although I have lurked occasionally! Well we are still in the UK...

After returning our application three times for more medical information, the medical assessor turned down my DS. We therefore had one further opprtunity to resubmit with new info which we did, the new info being a letter from our consultant saying more or less what had been said before in a slightly more obvious way. I expected that he would be turned down and we would have to apply for an exception to the rules. But I have just heard he has finally been accepted.

If I had heard this a month ago I would have been so happy, but we have just found out that my DM has got cancer, and we just don't know what to do. We are going to wait until she gets her formal diagnosis/outlook next week and then decide, but I don't know how we are going to make the choice. I still want to go, but if the news is very bad we just can't. If it isn't I will feel terrible leaving my family at such a difficult time. Anyone any experience of this kind of situation?

AngryBeaver congratulations on your pregnancy. I hope DH comes around and you can carry on with the NZ plans.

lolly having been through the medical mill I can only advise that you get a letter from your cons specifically addressed to INZ saying that it is his opinion that you will not be affected in the future. I have found out the long hard way that the MAs do not deduce info from the paperwork you provide, it has to be very black and white.

Throwp- my mum said same re medical stuff as she had issues with pancreatitis caused by Gaul stone op but Nz kept thinking it was alcoholism. She also had cancer scare for her mum when she was about to go but it turned out to benign but it was really stressful . Good luck with it all - when do u find out more

Throwp - so sorry to here your mum is sick. Try not to stress out too much over the what if's at this stage but wait and see what happens when she gets more info next week. Some sorts of cancer have very high survival rates these days and you can't make any decisions till you know what the exact situation is. You have quite a long time to take up your PR and can always fly out to activate it then go back to the UK for a while.

Another suggestion if you decide to make the move is to have a plan of when you will be going back for a visit and/or an emergency fund to pay for a trip. Air NZ have a compassionate travel scheme where they refund part of your fare if you need to go back quickly due to illness.

I have fingers crossed for you.

Thank you guys you are very kind. We are expecting to know more next week, am really hoping for good news. Well as good as it can be with cancer.

That is interesting about Air NZ, I will check it out. I don't think we will be able to delay, we don't have PR but a Talent Visa for DH and his prospective employers have been more than patient already. We had planned to stay two years before a visit back but we will have a look at the budget if we go and make sure we can afford at least for me to come back at short notice.

I do wish I had a crystal ball sometimes!

Angry - are you ok? How is it going?

I'm alright-ish,Lolly
Sorry, it has been quite a stressful few days. Thanks everyone for their advice. It looks as though the move is still on,as I said,as we've worked out we have lost about £8000,so we cant be that much worse off in NZ. DH has been offered a job in OZ.But, has also been shortlisted for a job in NZ. C'mon the NZ job!
thwop So sorry to hear about your mum...everything crossed she makes a full and swift recovery x

Hi angry - that's great news about the oz job - least you're going somewhere. Does your mum know about the baby? When would you need to go to oz if the Nz job doesn't come through?

Mum knows about the baby..she assumed that would be the end of moving away,I think.DH hasn't accepted the OZ job,has we are both less than excited at the prospect of moving there. The guy has been accomodating and said to just let him know,whenever. Which is really good.
Also,the guy who we thought was ignoring us in NZ,has contacted us this am apologising profusely and said the Oct launch isn't happening,but will be first part of next year. So at least he's still communicating with dh! We were getting v.paranoid about that.
Things don't look so gloomy. But if I was scraed before about how we would cope with three small children,I am freakin' terrified now. I wish my Mum would consider moving,like yours.
I have found some AMAZING houses,with pools etc and shown her,she did go,oooh and ahhhh!But I'm probably kidding myself

Have you got brothers and sisters she'd want to stay for. Mine going to be in south of north island whilst we'd be Auckland. She said they'd apply for transfer but I'm not so sure - we cope here with no help so I'm not banking on much help practically over there but she did say she'd help us with the flight out if we ever get the job offer. I've done it with one aged 17 months and it was hard going do I'm dreading 4

I've got a brother that's just had a baby.So she says she has to stay for them.Also my Gran is still with us. She also has loads and loads of friends and a busy social life. Although she lives for my kids,I just can't see her leaving all that.
I'm hoping that if we get there and they have regular visits,then maybe buy a place and start making friends,eventually the scales may drop in our favour...high hopes!
Yep,I don't fancy the flight with 4 either! I assumed your dm and dsd would be in North shore also.. At least they'll be in the same country,though.You could pop down for a bit of skiing,and they could pop up for a bit of sun!

Crikey, Angrybeaver, life doesn't get any easier for you...... Congratulations anyway!!

I've finally been formally offered my job, still no news for DH.

Yes, highlander..I am going to sue Durex Dh is still shaking his head, very slowly... a lot.
Congrats on the formal job offer.

LOL, tell him to look on the bright side - he must have monster sperm!

I doubt that would cheer him up at the moment!

Oh dear - does he want to chat to my dh? - he's still shaking his head too and that's 13 weeks since finding out. Periodically he pipes up with 'how the f* are we going to cope with 4?' which isn't really helpful tbh given I'm 29 weeks now.

Yes, 4 does seem a lot to cope with doesn't it?But,we'll cope wont we , lolly
I was wonderiing,Kiwis...hows the weather at the mo?
Also on a trivial note..what names are really popular over there,is it similar to here? Grace,Ruby,Lily,Alfie etc

Its actually really lovely here in Christchurch, Angry. It was 18degrees yesterday. We did have snow 2 weeks ago but even that was only cold for 2 days and then it was really warm. I was hanging my washing on the line outside and there was snow under foot. It is so much warmer/ milder winter here than my last 10 winters in London. It is usually cold in the mornings (-2-0ish) then by 10 am its warm and sunny. It does cool off at 4pm ish though but the days are already getting longer.
Names here that are popular that I have noticed are Cooper and Luke for boys. Can't think of any stand outs for girls but they are slighty different to the popular names in the UK. I don't know any Rubys or Alfies here.
Congrats on the pregnancy. I am very as I want another but it must have come as a massive shock.

Gorgeous weather here in Auckland today. Down to between about 4-10 degrees at night, warm and sunny in the day today. Officially the high was about 16 degrees but it was about 24 degrees in my house from the heat from the sun.

Link to most popular baby names here

Were on holiday in the uk. Weston super mare - not destination of choice - just mum lives here for some random reason. And in the height if august were looking at 15 degrees!!! Whey hey!! Don't you just love the British summertime. Dh currently sulking as babies have been up since 5.30 (ds1 is 5 today so present opening by 6am) and we've had screaming from ds3 for the last hour cos he's now so knackered. Only one 'how will we cope with 4' so far