WHERE'S BEST TO LIVE IN NZ ETC PART 7 !!

[frikonastick]

Come oooonnnnnn MNHQ, where's our medal

Vvv - sorry about application too. I have a few friends who are applying at the moment, one was told this week they had had 2,000 applicants for a job, she had not been shortlisted as she was overqualified. Another was told by an agency that the company had been inundated with direct applications from seek that they were not going to consider anybody from the agencies seek advert - crazy !!!

in case anybody is interested Debenhams on line have a sale on until Sunday with a pop-up box for an additional 10% off in case anybody needs anything (also free UK shipping). I have just ordered birthday presents for the family in the UK (3 due in next month) and had them sent to my parents to be handed out. Cheaper than buying here and shipping!

Hi girls...vvv, hope your birthday went well despite the obstacles! Justa - loving your blogs and looking fwd to the next one...how is the SSRI trial going then? Everyone else hello hello, hope everyone is well.

So, DH has had a good initial talk a few days ago with his latest prospective employers in Auckland. I'm feeling slightly cold of feet now, having again got a nasty shock when I looked at house rental prices just now! I love the look of St Helier's penguin (who wouldn't ) but am I right in thinking we wouldn't get anything decent under $900/week?! That would double our monthly housing expenditure overnight, EEK!

And...does anyone know what St Helier's primary is like, for DS (soon to turn 10) and what the secondary options would be from there for DD (12) - mind you she might be at 'intermediate' school, don't quite a few schools separate off years 7 and 8 as a transitional phase? Or have I got myself confused with Oz

Just thinking ahead - might come to nothing. We'll see

Plus I know there are lots of other suburbs to look at, just thought I would start there. May have to revise my ambitions downwards though

Also slightly horrified at prospect of entertaining kids/sacrificing work for two lots of long summer holidays (North hem/South hem) separated by one measly term of school attendance, if we came out towards the end of the year but I guess one has to take the longer view...

Great news Justa. Fingers crossed for continued pain relief.

Meerkate - much better to do two summers in a row than two winters! We were rained on for three months on arrival and wondered if we had made a terrible mistake.

Rental prices have eased off a little but I'd say 800-900 would be realistic for a 3/4 bed that is nice inside. Housing has suddenly become a huge issue in central Auckland with prices jumping massively in the last 2 years. When we were looking a million $ would have bought a good forever home and a nice bit of land. Now that looks like a minimum for a family home. Add in the truly shocking exchange rate and it's a lot harder than the days when people cashed in a Uk property and brought a big deposit at $3.8 to the pound.

I'd also say it is sensible to rent where you can afford to buy. Cos you will fall in love with the beach and your kids will get settled in school and it is hard to shift again.

As an aside, I've realised in the last few weeks that we live in the wrong part of town culturally. I think I belong in Grey Lynn. Auckland is very tribal with areas having distinct characters and St Heliers is just not me. I belong with the lentil weavers out west. OH however has fallen in love with the beach and we can never afford to move anyway.

Schools wise, St Heliers has a reasonable to good reputation - lolly is the one to help there. But there are 4/5 primaries in this area and the zones quite small so also have a look at Glendowie, St Thomas' and Kohimarama. There is no intermediate here but Glendowie College (High school) has a good reputation.

Grey Lynn/Ponsonby are my fave bits of Auckland. Pt Chev is good too as it has a beach and a bit of the Grey Lynn feel about it and is only 5 mins away. Not a busy beachfront with loads of cafes,restaurants etc like Mission Bay etc but a nice beach and Coyle Park is great next to it. but predictably prices have risen a lot in Pt Chev too recently.

meerkate as everyone says, prices have gone crazy in Aucks in the last few years, especially the inner suburbs. If we know where work will be we may be able to advise on alternate suburbs. Bucklands Beach/Howick are a bit further out east but are near the sea and Macleans College (high school) is meant to be great, one of the best in Auckland.

I agree hours of work and location are huge deciding factors. Luckily I can work from home alot as they have gone literally mad with roadworks lately. It took me 1.5 hours to get to work last week and another hour to get home. Can do the trip in 40 mins usually. Worked from home for the rest of the week!

DH could only work on the North Shore by leaving at 5.30 and by 4pm to get home otherwise it was a nightmare.

When we moved here 10-11 years ago Auckland traffic was much less! If you have flexible hours - great, if not I would live within acceptable traveling distance, no point having the beach on your doorstep if you never get to see it.

www.trademe.co.nz/property/residential-property-for-sale/auction-495727543.htm

For some reason my iPad has decided to not let me post. I see if this works

Hmm, that's weird, wrote large post earlier and it disappeared.
We might buy this house!
Justa very glad meds seem to be working, whoop whoop!

Oh yes ladies, please keep speaking to meerkate and I of Auckland, because if DH doesn't get a job here in the next 2 months, we will be joining you all in Auckland!

Good luck with the meds justa, crossing fingers for you

DH and I spent a really fun half hour building DD a fort out of our left over packing boxes, it's quite impressive! I managed to fit in it even

Oh AB, that looks very cool!

Yes! Both come and live on waiheke with me!

It is very nice. Few issues.
BUSH (I'm sooo infantile, I still struggle not to smirk when someone says bush!)
Anyway, lots of bush (hehehe...sorry last time!) it's on a big section but no useable Arden as is.
We would need to apply to council to have it cleared. They are quite precious about such things here (understandably) especially if its native.
Also, the kids would all be at the top level and we would be on the third.
This makes me anxious.
The kitchen is tiny and needs updating.
There is no garage.
BUT, it has such great potential, we could solve kitchen and garage issues over time..and probably the garden issue.
It's so warm (insulated!) and the best of all...it has STAIRS!!the kids were in their element bumping down on their little botties!
I DO like a stair!
Anyway, dh really wants it and he will talk to the bank.

In other news, I'm having investigations due to apparent onset of infertility! Dr is very lovely and patient and caring.
We are loving waiheke, it's just a fantastic place to live.
Have made some great friends, one I feel I've known forever!
And the older kids are loving school.
Great move for us
...and we might get a German Shepard pup...we might not!
The end

Silly me, we would be on bottom level.
And must have missed the big reveal, who is giant penguin?? Been meaning to ask for ages! Is it xminerva? Littlest?!

AB house looks good, more sq metres of house than some on Waiheke - there seems to be lots that are smallish (old baches, I suppose). Would you go in under asking price? There isn't quite the same rush on property on the island is there? So there might be a deal to be done, as Phil and Kirsty say :)

We're on a different floor to our kids and we still hear them as soon as they shout...

Sorry to hear about the infertility investigations - its good you can get referred for that though. When I was taking ages to get pg with dd2 my (lovely) dr told me I wasn't eligible for any publically-funded investigations as I already had a dc so wasn't infertile!

Oh and lots of houses on Waiheke have bushy (snigger) sections don't they, it's that kind of place...Titirangi is very similar.

Oh, and have you looked up the CV of that house?

Had lovely doc never heard of secondary infertility?!
Something definitely amiss after last mc, so as well as tests she referred me to recurrent mc unit.
At least we're doing something now.
Have been in denial for a while

Cv is 430, we'll go in at 480, which will be turned down.
Probably.

Yes I think she had heard of secondary infertility, her specialty is gynecological issues! But she said it wasn't publically funded...maybe a different DHB to you, that could be the reason.

AB - HOUSE ENVY HAS STRUCK - it's beautiful!! Plus, couldn't help noticing the completely reasonable PRICE - clearly another bonus of having moved to your island paradise. Am so glad you're so happy there. And have found a lovely, understanding doc too - good luck with everything

justa that's great re SSRI news - I agree it's too early to conclude anything much, but the early signs do sound positive, hurray!

littlest, oops, penguin, and everyone else thanks for all the helpful house and 'burb-related info. Forgot to say, didn't I, re job location - would be Middlemore. I would be looking at a job in a hospice beginning with a T(!) ... Totara (just googled it). So you're right, that's crucial info re settling on a suburb, innit. I am a lentil-eater too penguin ha ha - will check that place out...a colleague of R's lives in Pt Chev and I have looked at it before - looks beautiful...

Auckland house prices continue to horrify me. We have to think really seriously about this. We live in a lovely, light, modern, well-insulated, centrally-located house here, from where we can walk to school easily and it takes us both ten mins to get to work - DH on foot and me in the car. The garden is beautiful & the mortgage low. So it would be a big decision to live somewhere where prices are absurd and we would have to downgrade our housing 'quality of life' in a big way!

Back soon - breakfast time here xxx

Hmm, it's a tricky one, meerkate, your current set up sounds pretty good.

Tbh Middlemore is in the middle of some fairly uninspiring suburbs. And some that I would definitely not choose to live in. There are nicer places within a 10-15 min drive though. If working hours are going to be shifts (and you can therefore avoid the worst traffic times) that would open up the field a lot more.

Totara Hospice is about 10 mins from us. We have 3.5 acres, are close to the motorway and 20 mins from the beach. Check out Clevedon/Whitford/Brookby/Ardmore as well as Howick and surrounds for easy access to there and Middlemore unless you want to live centrally of course. We love it out here.

Thanks girls - wws I don't think either of us will be working shifts as such, though there would be a lot of oncall for DH at weekends so traffic will definitely be an issue sadly, sibble maybe that's what we should do - think laterally and live further out - as long as schools were good and beaches near I could do that I am sure - it's not like we're big city types at all, after all, we live in town of 75000 right now pretty happily I'll check out those areas, thanks so much

how about this one

www.realestate.co.nz/1938036