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!!

Hmm,lolly,that does sound depressing. We must have got lucky. I remember seeing 1 that was just awful,but the 2nd (we are in now)is pretty nice.It's bathroom and toilet are really dated and I hate usung them. I keep saying to dh "Can't we just get a plain white suite from Bunnings?A really cheap one?" he is like "er,no..it is not our house?!" ...but it depresses me using them!
We ahave to sort out our UK house soon I think,or save for a deposit here

justabout = being nosy and you don't have to answer does your dh work at the University. Only asking as I work there and there's not alot more in GI apart from the brewery. I work with others who travel on public transport from the North Shore as well.

Rents have certainly gone a bit crazy in central-ish Auckland lately (as the Herald keeps telling us). 5 years ago we paid $600 a week for a brand new, warm, very nice 4 bed in Mt Eden in every good school zone you can think of (not that we had dcs then). Now I imagine that same house would rent for about $900. I know people paying more in rent than we are paying in mortgage (which I think is quite common in the UK but used to be rare here).

Even where I am - west Auckland - a decent 3 bed rental is getting up towards $500 a week. We're 13 km from the CBD but it only takes dh 25 mins to get in (he leaves early to avoid the worst of the traffic though) and we're right by the sea - I really like it .

It has a reputation as being a bit dodgy but there are nice parts . High schools are a bit of an issue - none of them are great. Though the one 2 mins drive from me which for years has been notorious for being very underperforming and underachieving is getting much better and is going to be zoned from next year - which must mean it's getting more popular and, hopefully, better.

Though rents and house prices are probably pretty much the same where you are as in west Auckland justabout.

Rent is crazy these days. But we pay quite a lot more in mortgage than we did as rent. Plus our rates are $2400 a year I think.

I like out west too, it's just never been a possibility for DH's work.

Lolly- hope today's viewing goes okay. Try not to rush into a place- we did and it was freezing and so miserable. I never thought I would miss heating that much.

Yep lolly try to look for north-facing, lots of sun, look for mould on curtains, in bathrooms etc. Heat pumps/wood burner are a big plus.

Lots of houses are quite dated in their kitchens/bathrooms especially - people don't replace them that often here. Our kitchen has it's original 1950's cupboards (which are actually much nicer than the nasty MDF cupboards also in there)

We have a bath too. It looks like it was put in there in about 1972 but a bath's a bath

Well the one today was in a lovely street and surprisingly DH was quite up for it (and he'll only commit to something when totally up against a wall) BUT it was just too wee. I'm not fussy but 2 of the beds were smallish doubles and the other was a single. I honestly couldn't see how we'd get our furniture in- if the rooms had been a couple of feet bigger we would have taken it. No bath either but I'm overlooking that.

Another really old one in town too - scary as in a chop you up and store you in the basement in a chest freezer way. I had to get out fast.

Another one tomorrow in the eastern bays.

Ok - I need biscuit help. I've tried these griffin cookies and the pink hundreds and thousand ones. They were crap. So I chose the Afghans cos the name made me smile but they're very disappointing. Can anyone point me in the right direction....

Chocolate hobnobs or macvites digestives :-)

Hello all - just thought i would join in this thread if that is ok. I am in Wellington (been here 6 years after moving over from Swansea). Got a 3 1/2 year old and an alomst one. Going back to work full time in a couple of weeks - tried to find part time but impossible to get anything that covers day care cost for two.

Re biscuits - get Shewsburys (spelling?) for DDs. Nowhere near as good as jammie dodgers though. You can get hobnobs in Countdown. It has taken me a while but i have come round to toffee pops. Still can't abide TimTams though.

All my Aussie mates (ok - all 3 of them) rave about Tim Tams but I've never understood why ... They taste like penguins which are nothing special. We have the Jammy dodger ones in the cupboard - it was the only way we could get ds3 round pak n save. Can't beat a party ring though.

Hi Bobbish - another Wellie MNetter here too! What part of Wellington are you in?

Hello Buzzy- I am in Tawa. Where are you?

In Ngaio so not that far away! My daughter goes to childcare in Johnsonville so I go through there twice a day. I have a 10 yo and a 4 yo.

Pak n save sell penguins which ds1 has, dh likes tim tams and ds1 chocolate fingers. Apart from that have to agree biscuits not good and we bake our own but then I rarely eat biscuits (I am a cake person - banana, carrot, chocololate - not fussy!)

Which Pak n Save, Sibble? No penguins in Porirua. Waiting fir New World to start doing proper British stock again. Crisps are the big thing I miss! Particularly square crisps, discos and tomato snaps.

Are you in Tawa too anniemac?

how could you not love Toffee Pops??!! Cookie Time are delish heated in the microwave for a little bit, but yeah homemade is nicer if you get the right recipe. Homemade afghans are way nicer than shop ones - Edmonds cookbook is a kiwi must have :). Squiggle Tops are a bit sickly for me but the kids will like them... mmmmmm mellowpuffs nom nom. The thing is treats that you grew up with have so many more associations than just how they taste, I bet even the Aussies think their chocolate is the best (blergh!!!!!). Mint Creams (I think that's what they are called) by arnotts are yum, DHs favourite is Kingstons, kinda like hobnob chocolate creams??

Bobbish the Auckland Botany branch. I think they are cheaper than getting them at the English Shop. DH1 has food allergies and can't eat most prepacked NZ stuff as it 'may contain nuts' but the UK versions don't hence the bulk buying when they are in stock.

I must admit I have succumbed to Tim Tams lately but Toffee Pops - uergh you can keep those. Griffin mint biscuits, yep have been known to polish off a packet when premenstrual and luckily nobody else likes them so all the more for me....

Talking of the English Shop I bought some lemon bonbons the other week - yum. Told the boys - they're toffee you won't like them and hid them from dh made them last 2 weeks - yum....

It's definitely association as DH raves about Whittaker peanut slabs and takes a suitcase back to the UK to distribute to kiwis there when we go back - me - I wouldn't eat one if it was the last and only chocolate bar in the world eurgh