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

[frikonastick]

Come oooonnnnnn MNHQ, where's our medal

God that went back to negative again...we love it, honest!!

AB tell your dh that my friend's ds was still in night nappies at 6.5. She took him to the dr who said "Bring him back when he's 7, he's within the normal range til then" (or it may even have been 8, not sure)

Thanks Angry Beaver . I have four children (3,3,4,5 )and think school might be the deal breaker . Now 3 are in
nursery & one in Reception. I am trying to get my head round the school year and starting ages
in NZ .

Children generally start school on their fifth birthday in NZ though I think legally they don't have to start till they're six. There's no nursery year attached to primary schools but there are kindys which are usually very cheap (ours is 50 cents an hour, 20 hours a week).

4x4 I can tell you child are is cheaper in NZ for multiples and life is easy in that you can actually park near shops etc....and people have driveways and garages so you can actually park near your own house! I've been here over a year now and I still find it such a novelty

I'm going to Australia tomorrow....with work (one night away for the kids last month and I was in bits so lord knows how I will cope) but I get to sit on a plane for 3 whole hours with no one climbing on me and not a raisin in sight! And then three whole nights on my own in a bed that doesn't have a wonky Argos mattress bought 15 years ago for £99 and no one will be climbing on me at 5.30am

Enjoy the trip lolly, I'm afraid I can't offer advice on missing the kids, I rather like a forced break

Oh gosh lolly, 3 hours of peace on a plane? Sounds like heaven!

As for the school stuff. As justa said they insanely start kids on their 5th birthday (or the Monday after for DD's school)... but I think it works really well. Gentle intro for the child into a class where most of the others are well settled. Avoids the perhaps uniquely Irish faffing about sending them at 4 or 5, and the accompanying smugness that goes with each decision.

I can't get my head around the school year being the calendar year though... but then I still haven't got the seasons & months straight in my head yet either

Ok, totally random question. Do anyone know of anywhere that does those really tiny tins of corn? Like the size of the small tuna tins? We waste so much corn in this house because we never use a full tin (even the "small" tins are too big).

It's the little things you miss really, isn't it

I don't know about tiny tins of corn...I just buy the frozen stuff and use as much or as little as we need?

I went to a friend's baby shower today with dh staying at home with the dcs. He cheerily waved me off saying all would be fine. An hour later he phones me because dd2 has eaten part of an arum lily and he's had to phone the Poisons phone line to see if we need to rush her to hospital.

Luckily it's not too poisonous though it made her mouth burn a lot and she cried a fair bit. As dd1 said "when dd2 ate the plant we all had to put our hands over our ears!"

whatshesaid!!! Was your DH phoning you in a 'funny story.......' kind of way, or a 'oh my god come home NOW' kind of way?

Yes to frozen sweet corn too, the tins are huge.

Hmm, frozen sweet corn. Could require retraining of DH as he's the main consumer for lunches etc. Shall have to investigate further.

WSS glad to hear everything worked out.

Went to the gluten free & allergy show today. I ascertained that in a year they have not yet managed to get fake cheese to be edible. Coconut milk icecream on the other hand... Yum

He was phoning me in a " well she's not poisoned and you don't need to come home but she's a bit grizzly" sort of way. I didnt immediately leave but I left a bit earlier than I would have done.

She was fine when I got back, she had lips like Mick Jagger though.

wss ds2 ate arum lilies as well. Not good! And a random comment we lost 2 goats to arum lillies. You would have thought that they would have learned not to eat them after getting sick at least 3 times (think mega vet bills). Goats are dumb whereas ds2 never ate them again. This is the downside of having animals - ds2 went through a stage of eating outside whereas ds1 decided he was a cow and started to poo outside

I love you guys

Sweet corn to poisoning to pooping in the garden

Frik it's fab isn't it!

Justa unfortunately the kiwi DIY bug appears to have struck me. Instead of buying up every tub of icecream I thought "I'm sure I can figure out a way to make that myself". There's no hope for me, is there?

Is it just me or do NZ properties ever have floorplans ?
All the sites I have been on have none on the houses I clck on.
BTW - check out this for property porn
www.realestate.co.nz/2030767

New builds might have plans but not usually. Same as no price, all a cunning plan to get you there to find it's half the size you thought it was and twice the price

That house is ridiculous! Imagine a floor print of 1400 square metres...that's over quarter of an acre!

Justa, just ask him what's the worst thing that can happen? If it doesn't work out for you as a family, they can just go back to school. There are no absolutes. And there is no way to tell unless you try it, it's a low risk endeavour. Go for it!