Where's Best to Live in NZ and what do we need to know: PART TWO!!!

[AngryBeaver]

Wow,have just gone to post and it wouldn't except it! So have had to start a new thread. Hope everyone finds it ok.I feel a bit like we've all been out for the night and somehow got seperated and no one has their mobile!!
Anyway,this was the question I've had to cut and paste from the old thread:...

Sorry,have had a quick look but can't see...has anyone used emirates?
I think the sky couch thing looks good,but we'd have to buy a couple and that would be pricey.
Dh reckons Emirates are fine,but I don't think he's anticipating how different it's going to be travelling that disatnce with 3 exhausted infants.
He has limited travel experience as it is and the longest he has been on a plane with them is 3 hours. He keeps saying it will be fine,they'll sleep for loads of it...somehow I'm thinking this will not happen!!

Oh the plunket folk have just emailed - 4 seats - 3 months rental for $200!!! Result. Ds2 wailing in his bed now - got to go..

If trademe ask for a postcode use 1071 which is St Heliers, Kohi and Mission Bay.

We hired a car from A to B rentals who were cheap long term as they included a lot of insurance for a longer term rental. We got our car from Eade car rentals which I think is on Great South Road. There are a load of dealers there, and Great North Road. We found buying a car a bit stressful. Partly cos we got here and panicked about the driving. Our cars are like bouncy castles inside!

I would consider getting a car seat from John Lewis with their 15 GBP delivery as it may be cheaper. But you may need to buy a car first to see if fits. Otherwise I got mine from kiwibaby in glenfield. I really recommend isofix if your car has it.

I love St Heliers. Did I mention that? We came for a year and 3.5 later are still here. I just read that 30% of Drs who come to NZ plan to emigrate. But 90% end up staying! Ray White estate agent in Kohi do rentals so it would be worth having a look at their website if you are considering the bays.

Thanks again for all the tips. Ds2 was having a nightmare about yoghurt and I now have ds4 snuffling away next to me like a truffle seeking pig.

Contact lenses - are they very expensive? DH seems to thing he should get them in the uk and his mum should post them over.

No he shouldn't need to do that. They are expensive if you buy them from the opticians but there are various online companies where you type in your prescription and they send them out to you, for about half the price they would charge in the opticians. My last order was $150 for 6 months worth of (monthly, extended-wear) lenses. No idea how much they cost in UK though!

I don't know what sort he wears but check out www.ezyvision.co.nz/ or www.clearlycontacts.co.nz/ or www.lensesonline.co.nz/Index.aspx and compare prices

When do you fly out,lolly?
Eldest kids settled in Kindy and school...loving it!
Are you all looking forward to another long weekend?Weather looks to be good,at least.
Boozy barbie with neighbours for us!
Countdown to Mum flying out for 10 weeks at end of Feb..woohooo!

so glad you are settled in ok AB.

Re contact lenses, I use contacts2go.co.nz - when they have a promo on it works out about the same cost as buying daily disposables through Specsavers in the UK. You get a better rate if you buy in bulk, eg 6 or 12 months at a time.

Flying first thing 16th March. 6 weeks I think now.

Littlestkiwi- what are the secondaries for kohi and mission bay. Is it Selwyn college?

The main secondary here is Glendowie college which has a very good reputation. People move here to get into he zone. Selwyn has a rather mixed rep and has gone through some changes recently. Lots of people in the area also send their kids to St Kentigans or Kings but the fees are 15K.

HTH. If you want to meet for a coffee when you arrive lolly I'm happy to chat about the area.

I may take you up on that offer Littlest. My friend from Auckland is from the Howick area and thinks we'd be better off around the eastern bays as opposed to the North shore what with the commute to take into account.

I'm very jealous of your weather. Its freezing and blowing a gale here. You know it's bad when the heating is on and you're still wearing your north face inside. The kids haven't been out and they're going mental - several naughty corner incidents already. The highlight of our day is going to be a trip to Tesco.

Oh, Tesco's..... I miss Tesco's.

I suspect it'll become clear quite quickly when you get here which areas work for you so I wouldn't worry too much at the moment. Just make a short list to check out in your first few days.

Tescos!!!!!.....what about Waitrose - I love waitrose...shame I'm not rich enough to shop there

Justabout -I've been reading your blog..I loved the traffic warden chat. You would not get that diplomacy here. On Friday we found out we had a ticket we didn't know about when DHs company car bunch said they would be taking £72 off his salary. So it would seem some joker removed the ticket he incurred so we had no idea we had one (it would seem for having his back wheel 3 inches outwith the parking bay FFS) and therefore we missed the 14 day window for the £30 charge plunging us into the £60 charge which his work topped off with a £12 admin fee.

I've been emailing baches like mad about accomodation when we land. DHs work surpised us to say they would sort us accomodation for 4 weeks which would be serviced apartments in town (not ideal but helpful on their part and one less thing for me to do so I was glad). They then emailed on Friday to say as there were so many of us we'd need a bigger apartment and the cost was prohibitive therefore we could have 2 weeks of that accomodation of $4000 to sort ourselves out. We're going for the latter but as yet my bach requests seem to be falling on deaf ears in NZ (is it because I keep mentionning the 4 small boys I wonder?). Any recommendations of anywhere centralish (extends to North shore) for under $200 a night are welcome.

On a positive note I'm feeling very excited as I met my friend on Weds who I worked with and she grew up in Auckland (I'd never really taken much notice of this). Anyway she said she thought it was the best move we would ever make and that she had a fab childhhood. She'd be back in a shot but her DH won't entertain it and she really feels it in our winters.

I don't know what websites you know about for baches but the 3 I know of are

www.bookabach.co.nz/

and www.holidayhomes.co.nz/

and www.holidayhouses.co.nz/

This one in Browns Bay caught my eye just because it says they specialise in people who are moving to Auckland, it's only 2 bedrooms but only $150 a night and close to Browns Bay (which is very nice). Not very central but I think a better place to be with kids (in terms of stuff to do - beach etc) than the CBD.

This one is in Ponsonby which is v central - 5 mins drive to CBD. Nice area too. Photos are pretty rubbish though. I know that street and area though, nice place to be. No beaches nearby but plenty of cafes, parks etc

There is also bachcare.co.nz

We got an apartment from these people when we arrived:

www.aptsinakld.co.nz/apartments.php

I would email them and ask about specials as we got a deal. They include parking and internet which can cost 20-30$ a day in other places.

We're just back from a week on Waiheke which was wonderful. But our bach was really grotty and dirty. I would have checked out if we hadn't pre paid. For those of you already here - is this normal? We've had a couple before but not had this issue. I was slightly surprised when the owner suggested we vacuum on arrival.

You could also consider slightly further out if you are not going to be commuting in rush hour straight away. Places like Botany, Howick would only be 25 mins to the CBD outside rush hour.

Hmm, well I'd say a lot of baches are quite basic with old furniture and quite "no frills" but I would expect them to be fairly clean. My in-laws are always a bit suprised at how basic baches are here but I kind of like the relaxed-old-furniture sort of thing. But you don't want to stay somewhere dirty. Many baches ask guests to clean up when they leave so maybe the previous guests didn't clean up after themselves? Mind you if the owner was suggesting you vacuum they obviously knew it was a bit of a mess.

I think this was a build up of dirt tbh, not just one set of people not cleaning. I was too scared to look under the beds etc but generally there was dust everywhere and lots of broken stuff. There was a decayed garden bench outside which had rusty nails sticking out of it. So I had to watch DD like a hawk in case she tried to climb on it. I guess one of the issues of being in a new country is that you are less confident to complain about things like this.

No justabout - you're right you did email me- I'd just totally forgotten. I've been having a bad couple of weeks. DH has been away and working late lots so I've been very much on my own with the 4 Dc, organising all the emigration stuff and trying to keep ontop of the mess and general chaos. Ds4 has started the 4 month sleep regression so I've been up feeding every couple of hours so I'm totally on my knees.

I had a meltdown on Thursday morning and started screaming 'i want to go back to work' at him and then he started to take me seriously and said I should maybe start work earlier than planned in NZ. Anyway half term here so he's taken the week off which will be bliss-a whole week off school runs.

I've just checked my inbox though to see a lady in Devonport has got back and it's just in budget. Huge relief. Going to see if we can take that and if not I'll email your contact - I just totally forgot. I know he helped you buy your house but does he also do rentals as I could get in touch about longer term rentals.

Oh I went to Devonport a couple of weekends ago, hadn't been for ages, had forgotten how lovely it was. If you stay there take your boys up to North Head where there are old military tunnels to run through, my two loved it.