WHERE'S BEST TO LIVE IN NZ AND WHAT DO WE NEED TO KNOW: PART4!!!

[AngryBeaver]

Arrgh,had to start a new thread!


Yes,you can get more land in Tauranga. Well,somewhere like Omokoroa or somewhere.Wouldn't want to live much closer than that. And I woulkdn't want to live at he Mount. Lovely as it is. Too touristy,imo.
We would like enough land for a pool (eventually) maybe a sleepout and still enough for a veggie patch and garden for kids. Don't neeed acres +. Wouldn't say no though,if we could afford it! Be nice to have a few sheep or something/

I think Mum would have to fly to Tauranga. So that would be
Manchester-London,London-Singapore, Singapore-Aukland,Aukland- Tauranga
Bad.

justa howws the back? Hope physio was a help,we may have driven past you!
Your house sounds great.
My mums friend lives in Silverdale.She has about an acre with some sheep etc
Wasn't overly impressed at but didn't give it a proper look I suppose,just stopped to buy flowers for Mums friend! Always worth another look

[AngryBeaver]

...sorry what was that?!.. just kidding, that sounds really interesting. I wanted to take Theology A level but dropped it as the teacher was a B-iatch! Hope your hand improved enough to let you concentrate on it for a while. How's the other break-ee in the house?

ps
the post has just arrived, thank you everyone, very kind gesture

[AngryBeaver]

Fingers crossed...'scuse the pun!

[AngryBeaver]

lolly How long did it take you to get from Aukland to Tauranga?
We went again today and dh is leaning more toward there,than Aukland. But I really worry about the extra travel from the airport,for mum. I fit were more than 2 hours she'd prob have to get aolane..that woulod be 4 planes! How many years could she keep doing that?
Hows the arm justa?
Hope everyone is having a nice weekend.
I did a shop at pak n save yesterday x

[lollystix]

AB - we went to waihi not T but our friends live in T. It's nice but they feel it's too quiet and sedentary. They have 2 yo and are looking to move out. What will DH do there?

[WhatSheSaid]

Auckland airport to Tauranga is about 2.5 hours I think. Would one of you be able to drive up to Auckland to pick her up from flights? I guess another factor is if you get more for your money house-wise in Tauranga. Don't know what house prices are like there.

[AngryBeaver]

wss
www.trademe.co.nz/property/residential/for-sale/auction-477934517.htm

We could almost afford this!!
Apparantly that is a really nice area with lowest crime rate in the bay of plenty. Schools decile 9/10 etc...sounds nice

lolly Sedentary suits me,I am quite dull
The job will be an issue. Could be ayear before one comes up that would be suitable...and then there's the issue of actually getting the fecker!

[thelittlestkiwi]

Crikey, I've been away for a week and so much has happened!

Justabout- hope the pain gets better and you get to study to your hearts content.

AB- I can't believe your landlady is being such a cow. I have other words for her but am trying to improve my language these days as DD is picking up some terrible words when I'm driving :-) I've ranted on here a few times about kiwi landlords so won't do it again. I guess you have a couple of months before you can do anything so all I can suggest it putting it out of your mind as much as possible. How do you feel about Cambridge other than DH's job? We went past Hillsborough on the way home and I thought it looked nice. You can buy there for under 700:

www.trademe.co.nz/property/residential/for-sale/auction-491778841.htm

Anyone know anything about it?

Lolly- I think it is normal to struggle for the 1st year. It's a combination of setting up home, finding the cheap places to buy stuff and adjusting your tastes. That said, we still get down to a couple of hundred $ each fortnight. I'm determined to try and save a cushion this year.

[WhatSheSaid]

I know Hillsborough and the suburbs next to it (Lynfield, Blockhouse Bay) pretty well, they are all nice, especially the bits close to the sea. We go to lots of little parks and beaches round there. They are on the Manukau Harbour so beaches are quite small, with black sand/rocks, they are fab for exploring little rockpools etc. Blockhouse Bay has a nice yellow-sand beach (the sand was imported to it, same as Pt Chev and various other city beaches).

AB have you started looking for another rental yet?

[kiwidreamer]

((pssst littlestkiwi I'm pretty sure AB's land-lady is Spanish))

AB, as someone who's family was based in Tauranga all my life it was pretty much a given that you would pick up your rellies from AKL airport however last year we arrived in at midnight which is a very anti-social time and my parents went straight to the airport hotel, a very nice Ibis I understand, they arranged for a shuttle bus to pick tem up at 10am the next day and it took them right to the door step of their friends who live in rural Rotorua and it was a very reasonable cost. Pretty civilised I thought! Do you think your Mum would be ok with that?? Google airport transfers, the company wasn't affiliated with the airport.

[thelittlestkiwi]

You've raised an interesting point kiwidreamer. When does one become a kiwi? We used to tell people we were from the UK but live in New Zealand. Now we say we are from New Zealand.

What about the rest of you? Are you British or kiwi (or something else?). Which rugby team did you support?

I suspect a high proportion of people living here have an affiliation to another country.

[WhatSheSaid]

Ah now I was thinking about this when there were posts on here about following the British team at the Olympics. I didnt really have a clue how the British team were doing - I was following the Kiwis.

I'm not really bothered about rugby so started supporting NZ in that quite early on. I'm a big football fan though and I still supported England for quite a while but at the last World Cup I was so proud of the All Whites -partly cos they all seemed really passionate and were earning about $2 each whereas the England team on their zillion quid a game seemed to be hardly trying. I was much more excited about the New Zealand games than the England ones.

I suppose I'll never be fully Kiwi not having grown up here but I don't really feel British anymore either. I'm quite happy with this state of affairs though and I feel quite sort of protective of NZ.

[vvviola]

I'm not here long enough to be anything but Irish. But I often wonder how the DC will feel. DD1 has lived the longest time in Belgium, but certainly doesn't feel Belgian. I think at the moment she's not quite anything, which makes me feel a little sad.

We sorted out the rugby issue very early. When Ireland play we both support Ireland, when the All Blacks play we both support the All Blacks. When they play each other all bets are off (although DH did catch himself briefly cheering for Ireland during that very close game recently). DD1 has been sufficiently brainwashed to cheer for "the greens" for the moment

[thelittlestkiwi]

I think I will always have a connection to NZ now and be from both places. I will never be Tangata whenua, as I would have been if I was born here. I have that connection to the place I grew up but I don't have a longing for it or see it as home any more. And I'm good with that.

For me, now, this is the place.

I don't really do sport but support NZ and the Toon Army.

[Sibble]

On that note here is an interesting one ds2 is playing in a rugby league tournament next weekend. It is meant to be a Maori tournament but he is part of an Oceania team and qualifies as he was born here. DS1 does not qualify as he was born in England. Now as much as DH hopes otherwise, the chances of either qualifying for national teams when they are older are slim, but I wonder what happens when your birth dictates your eligibility and siblings are born in different countries.

[Sibble]

BTW both my boys are staunch kiwis and will never support England (to wind me up I'm sure). I swap allegiances depending on sport and the estimated odds of backing the winning team

[shelscrape]

sporting alleigance is an odd one. DS is very preoud to wear his all blacks t-shirt and black caps cricket cap, but still likes to wear his england rubgy shirt too. however, he doesn't know a single word of god save the queen yet he sings god defend new zealand in both maori and english very very loudly. We've only been in NZ for 18 months and i feel less and less english although I am nowhere near kiwi enough for my NZ mates. Kind of stuck in the middle and I suppose I always will be.

bit of a crap few days for me though, my dear old Nan died at the weekend and I can't get enough time off work to go to funeral Kind of reminds you that being on the other side of the planet can be an utter pain at times

[shelscrape]

please excuse crap typing, large glasses of wine have been had ....

[kiwidreamer]

Very interesting to hear what your thoughts are with regards to ethnicity, I've been in the UK ten yrs now and would never class myself as British, even tho my grandparents were Brits and several Uncles, Dad was first of 2 sons born in NZ in the 1950s. I struggle with the idea that my children could be called British, I guess they are but I think of all of us as the same, as Kiwi :)

Tickets home for Christmas booked yesterday, £4300 GULP but we won't have to spend anything when we get there, stay at in laws / drive spare car etc and I've checked the expiry date on the drowsy antihystimine for kids - we are all good ;)

[vvviola]

But justabout what about wanderers like me? We've lived in 3 countries since DD1 was born. She'd get very confused if we changed each time

And it's not entirely out of the bounds of possibility that there might be a 4th (or even 5th!) country in our future. (after every move I say, this is the last one... )

I suppose we need to raise the girls as joint Kiwi and Irish so at least they'll fit in in the two most likely countries for us to live

[Sibble]

BTW did you see there's a lion loose in Essex. I reckon it's a bloke in a suit, my mum reckons it's from a circus, my Nan (bless her) reckons it's the one she saw recently out her window - er no Nan, you weren't well which is why they took you to hospital for a week until the animals went away......

On that note so sorry to hear about your Nan, it truly is the hardest thing about being so far away. I'm heading back in October to see 2 new nephews and grandparents who are 97 and 89. A mixed trip. Each time I come back I think is that the last time I will see them. I also didn't get to my Gran's funeral. Thinking of you.

[AngryBeaver]

shels so sorry about your Nan, thinking of you xx
We haven't started looking for a house yet. Dh is carrying on looking for communications wrk in Tauranga area,if there is nothing oin about a mointh, we will start looking for a house here. Which even thinking of it,bums me right out.
Not that it takes much at the moment.
I will raise the kids as proud Kiwi's, but Dddy may have other ideas if Ireland are playing!
sibble i think they have decided that the "lion" is actually a large domestic cat. Which does make me chuckle as the report I read said " a guy came running toward us shouting,"It's a fucking LION!"