WHERE'S BEST TO LIVE IN NZ AND WHAT DO WE NEED TO KNOW: PART 5!

[AngryBeaver]

Look at us Chatty Cathy's!
Justa oh nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
(I'm not sure )

Sounds lovely! We are having a barbie in the gsrden. Dh will have to go towork at 2 but nevermind, at least Mum is here.
I don't know what to do on the bnq that is "special" though. Mum wanted the traditional roast turkey meal (not on the barbie obvs!) but has changed her mind now the temperature has upped!
I'm thinking turkey and bacon kebabs, cubed garlic potatoes...but what else?
This for "afters" wss www.taste.com.au/recipes/26426/strawberries+n+cream+trifle

Hey,

Good article justa the issue definitely needed highlighting. Still any believe they thought they could get away with it. When do you see it?

Christmas: well ours is going to be a bit of a free for all. Invites have been sent to all the people at dp's work that will be on their own for Christmas. One definite and he's really great with the boys, as in they cling to her when she comes round so I get a break.

Will do the morning as usual, stockings on bed, breakfast then the dc main/joint presents which will be set up in the playroom. Christmas lunch of a BBQ, just because it's easy to add extra if extra people turn up, and pool (did think about the beach but dp would like to have a few drinks, will go to the beach on Boxing Day) then the dc can open rest of presents in the afternoon sometime. Not sure what we'll have on the BBQ yet, bit of everything I suppose. Home made Baileys cheesecakes for desert though. Yum.

We go to the beach so up early for present, then 'Santa' comes round on a firetruck will lollies for the kids drinking beer and squirting everybody with water (very kiwi as it's only about 8.30 am!)

Lunch - smoked salmon, light salad and other seafood.

Early dinner (too hot to eat at lunchtime) Chicken, duck, stuffing, yorkshires, roast pots, veggies - whatever the weather. Dessert as yet undecided boys will choose but definitely cheese and fruit, and after eight mints!!! Yum.....We'll just eat it out on the deck under the sun umbrella with views of the sea, river and sand dunes instead of inside with the heating on full

During the day we'll swim, boogie board, play tennis and hopefully catch up with friends.

That sounds really lovely everyone.
bobby how nice of you to include people on their own, so kind of you

I could have sworn I replied earlier, but obviously the Internet ate it. (On a side note: ggrrr Telecom)

We're crazily doing the full turkey dinner.

So Santa presents in the morning, rest of the presents after breakfast (I need some creative ideas for a nice light breakfast). Then possibly a wander by the beach. Dinner at about 4, followed by collapsing on the deck in a heap. And then around 10, turkey sandwiches, tea & Christmas cake during a highly competitive friendly game of scrabble.

There will be turkey, ham, random veg, Brussels sprouts if I can find them (DD1 made me promise), bread sauce, cranberry sauce, mince pies, pavlova and trifle. We will be unable to eat for at least a week after

Ok back to usual name.

Thanks AB I just couldn't imagine being completely on my own at Christmas and the guys at dp's work are all lovely, so what's a few more people. It'll be a party. And we'll still get our little family alone time in the morning.

That Sounds lovely vvv Drooling just reading it.

Glad you enjoyed the show justa. Suppose it makes up for all the crap over ticket prices.

Found a Kindy for ds1. He'll start in the new term now. 31st Jan. he's very excited.

Oaktree, Browns Bay? Ds1 was well away as soon as we walked in

Ahhhh that sounds lovely. And a good drive you have for it too.

ditto Mary Poppins being brilliant being brilliant. We went Tuesday. Boys didn't like it, not helped by the fact we'd bought the family tickets and were up in the Gods, but I absolutely loved it.

Argggg, can anyone help?

Ds2 asked grandparents for a baby and pram for Christmas. They have sent the money over and I'm supposed to buy and wrap the presents for them.

Can I find a cheap dolls stroller that isn't bloody pink? Noooo. All the red/blue ones are $$$ and I just want a big standard $15/$20 stroller like I've seen in warehouse and K Mart, just not pink. Anyone have any ideas?

That's bog standard. Not Big.

We got a red and yellow one from K Mart, it was part of a set that had a high chair and swing, change bag etc with it. I'm guessing they don't have that one in stock anymore - it was about a six piece set for around $40.

Aha!! This blue one is at the Early Learning Centre, they have a shop in Newmarket.

Mind you, it says it's sold out online. You may need to call them to see if they have any more.

Need to pick brains. Dh has been having a series of interviews with an Oz company. They have more or less offered him the job. They are planning on him working from home for a 6 week trial. To see if both parties are happy.
This is a big thing.
We have just moved, enroled the older kids in new school, had settling in days etc.

DO we want to move to Aukland? (tell me all the great things and reasons why we would)

Can we AFFORD to live in Aukland?

He will be on about 90k+, we could ask for more.Could we live on that up there?

They have also inferred that there might be part time work for me at some point. (Similar line of work to dh)

I do worry about loads of things around living up there.

I know we've kind of been here before, but now it's really a possibility.

Job is CBD,2 streets from Harbour.

Help!

Hmm,well I really like Auckland, it has its pluses and minuses though

Pluses :

It's a big city, wel, not in worldwide terms but in NZ tms, so there is, I think, plenty going on socially, culturally - festivals, gigs, free music in parks, free outdoor cinema, kids stuff, swimming pools, theatre, art galleries etc etc. Just look ate site like Eventfinder and compare what's on in Auckland to other cities.

Despite being big, there are loads of quieter, rural ish areas within reach of the city, regional parks, loads and loads of lovely beaches. The Waitakere ranges, west coast beaches, regional parks like Ambury, Scandrett, Mahurangi, loads more, etc etc. all within easy reach of the city.

I think it's more mixed culturally than small NZ towns, there are probably about 20 different nationalities at my dd's primary, which is great.

Weather is generally pretty mild, can rain a lot but also pretty much guaranteed a good summer (ignoring this year!)

Minuses:

Well, it's a big city! Traffic has got considerably worse since I moved here 11 years ago and it will continue to get worse. You can look at living near a train line (only 2 train lines, one goes east then south and one goes west) or look at commuting from the Shore on the dedicated bus lane - driving to the CBD is getting busier and busier all the time. Thoug would your dh be doing unusual hours as if so the commute may not be so bad. we are 20 mins off peak to CBD and it takes dh 30-40 mins if he leaves by 7.30 but could take an hour if he left later. Admittedly that doesn't sound too bad compared to some Uk commutes!

The other big minus is house prices. I'd say getting a house in a decent area for less than 500K is becoming increasingly difficult and for the nicer areas you're looking at more like 700K+. And it won't be a house with any land...it will be a decent sized house with a smallish garden (probably).

Oh bit of an essay, never mind. 90K is doable but tight, depends how much is going on a house. Would be better with another income, even if only part time.

Thanks wss, I was glad of the essay,actually. I need indepth replies.
This is a big decision. I don't want to get it wrong.

The house thing really puts me off.

We have a biggish 4 bed here with fairly big gardens front and back.

If 90k is going to be tight, there is no point I don't think.

Things are tight here, but at least we have a decent house and garden.

He has to reply by 3pm.

fuckity fuck, what do we doooooooo??

Also - although housing costs are higher here I think the other living costs are the same or less. Power, phone, Internet, rates etc should be the same or even cheaper than elsewhere (e.g. Phone/ Internet packages are sometimes cheaper in the bigger cities). Urban council rates are often less than rural rates. I have heard that becaue there is more competition here as there are more shops, prices of goods can be lower than elsewhere in the country.

Rents in Auckland have really gone up a lot in the last few years...it's a tough call.

To rent a 4 bed in Auckland - I think from about $500 per week in a "ok, not flash, not terrible" sort of area. In the really nice areas - who knows? 700? 800? I don't want to put you off because I think it can be a great place to live but I want to be realistic. A fair whack of dh's salary goes on our mortgage...mind you, I do a lot of stuff for free with the kids (thoug they may not be as happy with just the free stuff as they get older!)