Tell me everything I need to know about emigrating to New Zealand.

[PrincessAnnaOfArundale]

Hi, sorry if this is long and rambling but I have a lot to ask.

Basically DH and I have been talking about emigrating from uk to New Zealand for about 10 years, it's never happened although we talk about it endlessly and go round in circles!

DH has been offered a job in Auckland for $110,000. Realistically is this a decent enough wage to survive out there?

Also we have two sons, the oldest has just turned 8, youngest is soon to be 4. Is Auckland suited to family lifestyle? Is it safe? I keep researching and literally keep seeing terrible things unfolding in my head!! Are we likely to get volcano eruptions and tsunamis? (Only partly kidding with this question!)

Also our youngest Ds has hypermobility syndrome, which essentially means he's fine but has double jointed ankles and wrists. He needs insoles for his shoes and had support boots provided by NHS and has physiotherapy here. Would this sort of thing be covered in New Zealand or would we have to go private?

Are the schools good? (Broad question open to interpretation I know) but after a brief overview of your experiences please.

It really is now or never. Don't want to disrupt the boys as they get older.

We need to sell out house and it has currently just been put on market... This could be the deal breaker anyway as houses are not shifting but we've put it at a low price to get a sale.

Are we making a huge mistake considering this? Should add our families here in uk would be OK as DH has very little family and all very self contained, my family is very splintered and not close here.

I will miss my dad but manage with Skype hopefully as we don't see him often anyway so the boys wouldn't really be taken away from a great support network (we don't rely on anyone for childcare or offers to take the boys weekends at grandmas etc so none of that to worry about).

Could anyone recommend good areas to live as a family in Auckland? Need good schools in walking distance.

Sorry I'm rambling! Thank you for reading. All in out greatly appreciated!

Thank you for all the replies. I keep panicking about everything at the minute. Any other recommendations for where is affordable and nice to live with children in Auckland? We have to give the company an answer by Monday.

At the moment I just can't see it's ever going to happen but it would be a huge boost to dh's career and he is really excited about it just as a temporary trial.

Go for it !
No move needs to be permanent . Keep cash aside to make the trips back for visits and a slush fund in case it all goes tits up .
It may not be Little Britain but moving to NZ will be a damn sight easier than to a non English speaking nation .
Personally , and I was born in NZ , the geographical isolation is just too much for me but its a beautiful country and your children are the perfect ages for the adventure of living abroad .

Thanks, can I be nosey and ask where you live now alla?

This is the problem, if we sell our house then we'll have around £20,000 as a reserve to fly home. If we rent it out obviously we wouldn't have that. Scary!

I've lived in the Middle East for 7 years but was in London for 10 years ( have property there) and previously Asia.
I'd an idyllic Kiwi upbringing but would find it very hard to live there now because I love travelling and showing my own children the world . We wouldn't earn enough in New Zealand to take the trips we do and it's just so far from everywhere.

I grew up in Auckland not so long ago. I remember some 11 year old visitors from the UK who seemed very much more "grown up" than us. I remember wondering why they owned tight denim mini skirts, let alone wore them when all we wanted to do was bounce on the trampoline Obviously I don't know if that's representative, or if it was just a time/place thing.

I don't know much about SEN provision. There were some kids at my (decile 10) school with clear SN, and they had 1:1 provision. Some classes had teacher aides in addition to the teacher. But this was quite rare, and there is a bit of a "sink or swim" attitude. You can factor this in by checking up on your kids more thoroughly, if you know about it in advance!

The rugby thing is not a problem at all. Rugby is far less of a thing than football is in the UK. For example, I know that my school had a rugby team but I have no idea who was on it or whether they were any good- they were not like stars in the school or anything! Only one of my friends played rugby (a girl), the rest played basketball, soccer, water polo, netball, hockey, or nothing at all!

I loved Auckland. I consider it my home and I miss it. I would love my DD to grow up there too.

Thanks again everyone. Shcokolade, I think kids in the uk (generally) do dress older and seem in a hurry to grow up!

Well my Ds2 doesn't need support in school however I do worry about access to physiotherapy as he grows up. He's fine in school providing there aren't stairs as he falls easily (having said that he's only 3 so should find it easier as long as we keep his insoles in his shoes and keep doing his exercises). You wouldn't look at him and think there was a problem until you see him run when he just can't keep up and wobbles a bit so the sport thing even in uk school worries me. Football is huge over here and neither my DH or the boys are interested!

To be honest Auckland looks beautiful, so different to the grimy, grey cities in northern England where we live. Or maybe I've just seen very strategically taken photos of Auckland haha. We are thinking if we go of living in pukehoe, does anyone know areas to avoid? Where's affordable etc?

also over here DS2 gets the universal funding for 15 hours at nursery/ preschool which all over 3s get. I know they don't start school til 5 over there. Does anyone know what he'd get and where he'd be likely to go in nz, are there free places in kindergarten or nurseriesor is that something we'd pay for until he's old enough for school?

I think kids get 20 hours free kindergarten/pre-school per week if they qualify. Double check that please I may have misunderstood it.

Pukekohe is considered to be affordable these days. It was once all green fields before the demands of the urban sprawl had to be satisfied. Mostly because of the astronomic property prices in Auckland.

It's a long drive into Auckland for work, though, from Pukekohe.

South Auckland has the 'down at heel' neigbourhoods. Well, the rest of Auckland needs other districts to look down on. It's not the 'South Central L.A.' that other people think it is though. However, apparently, this is where the, 'smart money' (God how I hate that phrase) is buying presently.

West Auckland is known as the wild west, for some reason.

The north shore is where the very expensive property is, as opposed to the just expensive property elsewhere in Auckland. The inner city suburbs of Parnell, Mt Eden, Grey Lynn etc are where the 'old money' ever was, they were and still are very very expensive.

They look pretty and gentrified on the outside but the inside, even if it's done up, just has the feel of a workman's cottage.

Thank you. Well pukehoe is not too far from dh's job so not too bad. It seems nice to look at but I don't know about schools etc.

Anyway thank you so much for all the feedback and input. I appreciate it. Dh's job here is literally hanging in the balance at the minute and they've been told to look at voluntary redundancy so it's looking like we may not have a choice but to go.

I'm scared! Feel sick thinking about it now. It seems all too real and things are happening very fast. Got 3 viewings on our house this week. I love this house :/

Pukekohe would be a nice option if it's an ok commute for your DH, close to the countryside, more of a small town / village feel than a big town or city... close enough to some decent shopping malls in Auckland and all the other activities that Auckland has to offer. I have a friend who lives there, I will see if I can get any details on schools for you.

I love this house. Do you have to sell it straightaway? Couldn't you rent it out for a couple of years to keep your options open in case you want to return? I still don't know if you've ever actually been to NZ before.

I think it's very unwise to sell your house. You could end up in the trap of being desperate to come back to the UK and being unable to afford to do it. We seriously considered the move a few years ago. DH was offered about NZD 100,000 and it would not have given us a decent standard of living similar to here. I did a lot of research around cost of living and we'd picked a school (Avondale High).Having been out a few times with work, we loved the country to visit but definitely not to live in permanently.

god it sounds GRIM in New Zealand!

Not particularly Brenda, what makes you say that?

It is quite grim for many people, if you're renting a small house in Auckland.

It's one small snapshot.

Grim?! Why is that?!

Anyway, yes sadly we'd have to sell the house as our mortgage costs more than we'd get for rent.... Plus if it was empty at all we couldn't afford to risk paying mortgage here and rent out there.

I don't know still. Keep swinging wildly. At the moment I am very much in the hell no, never category but I just don't know.

Pukekohe is nice. I lived in and around the area for 25 years. Very different to when I left 11 years ago but I still feel the pull on my heart when we drive into town.

What sort of commute would be doable PrincessAnna? Depending on how far from Pukekohe your DH will be commuting and what he is used to, you could also look at Hamilton/Cambridge (Cambridge in particular is very popular with UK folk, do a google). Both places are way more affordable than Auckland and although currently a bit of a commute once the express way project is finished by 2019/20 this will cut some 15 minutes, maybe more, from the commute and it will all be express way so easy, fast travelling until he catches the tail around Drury.

Hamilton/Cambridge is more affordable than Auckland, has some very good school zones (Hamilton esp with Berkley and Hillcrest) and is very central to a lot of places. Has great coffee/cafe culture, and Hamilton has a bazillion restaurants/cafes as well, Cambridge not so many but it is only a 12-15 minute drive to Hamilton. The area is dog friendly (Cambridge especially).

If you were to look at places just out of Pukekohe there are some to steer well clear of though (Huntly, Meremere, Pokeno are all definite no-nos). There are also some places in Pukekohe to stay away from too. I have a couple of friends who are real estate agents in Pukekohe, if you want to PM me I can put you in touch with them. Also check out www.TradeMe.co.nz - this shows the best and worst of New Zealand so don't take it all as gospel :)

Will your DH have a car as part of his salary package? If so the bank takes that into account when you go to borrow to buy a property (I think it currently counts as equiv to something like $15-18K per annum) and $110,000 would give you a pretty good standard of living in the Waikato.

I'm always surprised at the comments people make about houses here in New Zealand being drafty/cold. Certainly some of the older villa type houses would be ice boxes but new builds aren't. It may be that it's the he type of house that people like and buy. I personally love the bungalow look but would never buy one unless it was a new build look-alike.

It's not all doom and gloom over here, in fact life here is pretty good and certainly for you OP it would not be grim! :) Oh and as far as the rugby/sporting thing goes, it's not a biggie. Just nod and carry on as you were when people start talking about it haha

Also, you might not be allowed to take your holiday entitlement for the first year you work there in NZ. Google the Holidays Act 2003.

There seems to be some 'snob value' or Kudos to those who have worked there for a year or more and get their regular holidays. Especially if they have that, 'yes, I've earned mine' expression on their face as was my experience in a job interview here in NZ a couple of years ago.

Toasted most NZ employers will let employees take leave in advance during their first year of employment. Usually they can work out how much you have accrued, so that if you leave the job you won't have exceeded your holiday pay accrual. The Holidays Act is a bitch, but it's more a bitch for employers than employees.

My 2 cents worth as an Aucklander who lives in the West, works in the South and has also lived in the East... There are nice places in all areas. There are lots of semi-rural properties around Pukekohe that are lovely (and parts of South Auckland are nice - I work in what is considered the worst part of South Auckland and I still don't feel like it's actually bad).

Glenbrook is nice, which is near the steel works (massive assumption on where your husband may be working), my sister has a lifestyle block of a couple of acres with chickens, sheep, bees etc near Papakura and there are a number of very good schools in the area - being rural it's a school bus or drive to school but it's very pretty - they get to raise lambs or calves or chickens for school projects (and take them to school during the school day to bottle feed them in the early stages!!!). Schools are all rated and their reports are available on the education review website www.ero.govt.nz And ignore decile - it just means how "wealthy" an area was at the time of the last census, plus a year or two to get the figures together and affects only the funding, not the level of teaching - higher decile schools will often have higher fees as they don't get as much government funding, and will also often do a lot more fundraising.

New Zealand houses don't tend to be centrally heated or even double glazed but in Auckland it rarely gets below 6 degrees Celsius so it's not a desperately needed thing in most cases (although it is definitely what you get used to).

For reference - I rent a 2 bedroom unit with a large lawn/garden area and trees for $340/week including lawns etc., and a similar unit behind me is currently on the market for $520K. Depending on where you are situated a three bedroom house will set you back about the same amount. A quick search on www.trademe.co.nz in the Franklin district brought up anything from the beach for under $600K for 4 bedrooms at Glenbrook to a new build at Karaka for $1.5million. Karaka is very close to the motorway and is mostly new build - up until recently it was mostly horse studs and farming.

So $110K is a pretty good wage even in Auckland and should allow you to be pretty comfortable (said as a sole parent on significantly less than that).

Food in New Zealand is, as pointed out by a PP, seasonal for the most part, but most things are also available most of the year, at a cost. Eating in season is not expensive and you get good quality in my experience.

Jaffa Cakes are expensive, TimTams are not - so there's swings and roundabouts

Personally I agree with what PPs have said in that renting out your home for a year or two while you settle and make your decisions is a good idea - having said that - with the way the Auckland property market is going at the moment you only have to keep the house 5 minutes and you've practically doubled your money!

As for sport - not everyone is sporty - and some of us are definitely built for comfort not speed... and there's space for all. DD loves the outdoors but balks at team sports and that's all just fine.

Whew - massive but just my two cents worth...

Also Whittakers chocolate... just saying...

Ahhh peanut slab.

Whittaker's White chocolate ........ the best white chocolate, bar none.

Whittaker's White Chocolate and Macadamia. Worth emigrating for.