Our first 6 months in NZ

Well, first things first - I CANNOT believe we've been here 6 months already! Time has just flown by, but in a strange way, it also feels like we've lived here forever. Everything is so familiar now, and we've made some good friends, settled into our jobs and feel really at home.

Thought I'd give yo uall an update to our time here so here goes - I'll try and keep it short but I'm not very good at that so we'll see! :icon_razz:

We moved into our rental here in Wellington at the end of August, just in time for the worst storm to hit Wellington in 40 years! :icon_eek: icon_exclaim.gif What a welcome that was! I swear I felt our house lift of the ground and the roof flap around at times with huge gale force winds. I had visions of doing the Dorothy thing in the wizard of oz, and waking up to find our house planted in the middle of Auckland or something! :icon_lol: But we survived that, and we survived the coldest winter in years too :icon_rolleyes: , but luckily our house is insulated so we managed with just one oil filled radiator to heat the room that we were in, and by the beginning of October we were only really using it for an hour or 2 in the evening so not too bad. (Although we did have about 3 jumpers on every evening but hey! :icon_wink: ) One tip though to everyone - make sure your rental is North facing. I didn't realise how much the sun actually heats the house (cos in the UK you just flick on the heating in the winter and are toasty all day!), but it makes SOOOO much difference. So North facing all the way!

I got a job with a web design company after a few weeks in Welly and started work in September. The company made big promises at my interview and during the first few weeks ("the company will be moving out of our home office, taking on lots of staff, moving into new offices in the city, opening a branch in Auckland in Jan and I'd be running the Wellington branch...." - sounded good!), but in theory, this hasn't happened. We're still working at their home office, yes they took on extra staff but laid most of them off in December due to lack of work (but they kept me on luckily!), and the Auckland branch hasn't materialised, surprisingly :icon_confused: , but I am enjoying my work and there are a few contracts that the 2 directors are out chasing at the moment so maybe we'll be moving into those offices soon! Either way I am enjoying what I'm doing so I suppose that's important.

Daz is contracting at the mo for a government dept doing some programming for them until March, but he's also looking for permanent work, although everything went really quiet before Xmas so not much luck. There's been a few things in the paper and on seek in the last week or so though so hopefully he'll find something soon.

We had a good Xmas and New Year, and had some great celebrations in the bars of the city on New Year's Eve. We had a bbq in the afternoon (yay!) and then hit the bars around 9pm, and it was packed! There was such a nice atmosphere and everyone was so friendly. We ended up staggering home about 4am :icon_eek: icon_exclaim.gif and even then we felt as though we were going home early cos everywhere was still jumping! There were buskers on the street, everyone was outside drinking and just a real happy feel to the place. We loved it!

Now I know there's been a bit of talk about young uns like us (apparantly!) not being suited to NZ cos it's too quiet. Well, coming from Bristol, and moving to Bournemouth for uni, I've never lived in London etc(and never wanted to - neither of us like the place personally), but the nightlife in Welly is on a par at least, maybe even a step up from Bournemouth. OK there aren't the clubs that there are there, but I often prefer to just go round the bars anyway (must be getting old!) and there's music and dancing if you wanna 'bust some moves on the dancefloor' :icon_lol: :icon_wink: , so for us it's ideal. Plus, there's so many places to eat out and that's another of our favourite hobbies! ::): Apparantly Wellington has got more bars and restaurants per capita than New York, and I can vouch for that! (Although I haven't tried all of them yet - might take me a few years.....)

The harbour and waterfront area of Wellington is gorgeous and it's great to wander along Orielntal Parade on a nice day with an ice cream and gaze out over the harbour and across to the hills/mountains in the distance. I'm still mesmerised by the water - it's a different colour every time you look at it - from dark green, turquoise, bright blue and dark navy, it's spectacular.

The city itself is split into 4 'quarters', each offering a different kind of experience. There's the Lambton quarter with the more swanky clothes shops and department stores, Cuba quarter with the funky shops and street buskers on every corner, with funky art things up the middle of the street, Willis quarter with more designery shops, and then Courtney place where you can eat and drink to your heart's content. So most options are covered if you're a bit of a shopaholic!

We experienced our first earthquake last week - eek! :icon_eek: icon_exclaim.gif It was apparantly the biggest earthquake to hit Wellington in 15 or 30 years (depending on if you believe the papers or the TV!). Do you think it's something about us - bringing the worst out of NZ? :icon_lol: It was a bit unnerving to say the least! The whole house shook and there was an almighty huge rumbling noise - I never thought it'd be so loud! Daz said he was watching the whole doorframe swaying from side to side! I'm off to get my earthquake survival kit together this week - candles, torch, water, tinned food, bottles of wine..... :icon_razz: Pretty scary, but it hasn't put us off of Wellington - it's such a beautiful city and we really love it here.

Our PR application is still going through at the mo (even though we were selected in September!!), we've been assigned a case officer as of last week, and he said he'd be in touch in 2 weeks to let us know if we'll get an ITA or not. So keep everything crossed! We feel so at home here - I've even started to say 'back in the UK' as opposed to 'back home' now, cos NZ really does feel like home to us now. Don't know what we'd do if immigration decided they wouldn't grant us residency - we'd go on the run I think! :icon_eek: icon_exclaim.gif :icon_lol:

Anyway, I said I'd keep it short and I haven't - I'm sorry! I'll sign off for now, and just say good luck to everyone in the process of getting out here. If you come out here willing to accept the country as it is and really get into the kiwi way of life, then I'm sure you'll enjoy it here as much as we do.

See you here soon!

Jod
:icon_cool:

Hi Jodie,

Great post! Glad to hear that you are not only settling down well but are enjoying yourself ... at work too!

Had a lot of laughs hearing about your experiences - hope we can bounce back as well when our time comes to experience New Zealand's downsides! ::): :icon_wink:

Mind you, we are heading for Northland where they don't have many earthquakes ... but of course we could have a volcano erupt at the bottom of the garden :icon_eek: icon_exclaim.gif :icon_wink: and whilst it does not get as cold as Welly, we may still need very good waterproofs.

Hope you get that PR soon ... they most certainly should give it - it sounds as if you are both really suited to be new kiwis. What's the saying? "Home is where the heart is!" ::):

Glenda

Hi Jodie,

Great post! :icon_biggrin:

Here's some questions to get you thinking.....

* Looking back, what (if anything) would you have don't differently in preparing for moving to NZ?

* Is there anything you wish you'd brought with you that you didn't ? (eg. 1 yrs supply of M&S knickers! :icon_razz: )

* What % of your new friends are Kiwi and how many are expats?

Milliemoo :icon_wink:

WOW man I wish I was in NZ now :icon_razz:

Hey All,

Great to hear about your first 6 months Jodie. Seems like you have no regrets...... Will be interesting to hear the answers to Milliemoo's questions!

We are 3 months into our life in NZ (well, Taffy's been here slightly longer than I have!), and, like you, have no regrets about our move. Life moves at a pretty slow pace in Tauranga, which is all well and good if you want a very relaxed lifestyle! There are some nice pubs and clubs around on the harbour front, and plenty to see and do, in and around the city. The scenery is stunning here. Taffy and I took a walk to the top of Mount Maunganui yesterday (in a moment of madness). Extremely hard work, but boy, was it worth it!!!!!

Jobs are a different matter and don't seem to be coming our way at the moment. We are considering moving down to Hamilton where there's a little more going on, job-wise and entertainment-wise! Pity, because I'm just starting to find my way around Tauranga - now I have to do it all over again in Hamilton, no mean feat for me as I have absolutely no sense of direction :icon_confused:

Fortunately, we haven't experienced any earthquakes, though I know you're in the epi-centre down there in Wellington! Don't know what I would do if one did occcur, but that survival kit sounds like a good idea - 'be prepared' and all that!.......

Life in general is everything we expected it to be and a little bit more, though I do suffer from homesickness on the odd occasion. The Kiwi's never cease to amaze me in their friendliness and attitude - so much nicer than some of the stuck-up Brits back in the UK! To sum it all up, I do feel at home in NZ, though it will be better once Taffy's landed a job and we are settled in a place we like living!

Good luck to everyone who is thinking of/in the process of moving to NZ! It will be well worth your while. We went through so much trauma to get here, and there were moments when we thought we'd never make it, but here we are, doing it and loving it! :icon_biggrin:

Welshgirl :icon_cool:

[fisheress]

Thank you to you all for your posts about settling in nz.I put my EOI in last night and was sick with excitement. Just hope we get selected. Ive got 115 and a job interview on Feb 18th in London for a teaching recruitment agency so things do sound positive. What a hassle getting all the evidence for relavant forms. My parents have just returned from nz today after staying with my brother in Auckland. Can't wait to speak to them next weekend.

Can anyone tell me how long it took for your EOI's to be selected?

Cheers Fisheress :icon_rolleyes:

[Nonie]

Hi Jodie

I joined the forum around the time you were leaving - can't believe it's six months already. The ONLY good thing about still being here is that Spring is coming and hopefully that'll mean the buyers will start to surface again. Wish you all the best for many more 6 months and look forward to hearing of your progress ::):

Norah

[Jodie]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all your replies. I sometimes wonder if I should post about how we're doing, but then I think that I would have wanted to hear similar experiences when were were thinking about coming over, so I do! Thanks for the positive responses.

Now Milliemoo, in answer to your questions...

[quote:808a97f685="Milliemoo"]Here's some questions to get you thinking.....

* Looking back, what (if anything) would you have don't differently in preparing for moving to NZ?

* Is there anything you wish you'd brought with you that you didn't ? (eg. 1 yrs supply of M&S knickers! :icon_razz: )

* What % of your new friends are Kiwi and how many are expats?

Milliemoo :icon_wink:[/quote:808a97f685]

Anything we'd have done differently? Maybe spent longer travelling round on a holiday before settling down and looking for work, but then by the same token, we wanted to get here and get looking for work asap so we could settle - bit of a catch 22! Also, not sure how well the money would have lasted if we'd have done that! :icon_wink:

I think maybe we would have saved a bit more money for living expenses for when we first got here too maybe, so we didn't have to dip into the capital from our flat sale. It's amazing how things add up when you're setting up home again - we only bought the essentials first off - bed, sofa, fridge freezer, washing machine, and 14" TV (which has now been upgraded to a 21" thank god! No more sitting 2 inches from the screen to see what's on it!!), and just things like cutlery, plates, cups, glasses, tea towels, all your cleaning stuff etc.. it all adds up, and the first supoermarket trip for everything is pretty huge! I think we still would have sold our furniture in the UK tho, cos most of it was given to us by parents when we first moved into our flat 2 years ago, and probably not worth the cost of shipping over here. Also, there's so many funky, modern, classy shops here that I've been eyeing up, I can't wait to buy a house and start kitting it all out! ::):

Things I wish we'd bought over.... hmmmm, maybe a few decent pairs of jeans and trousers cos I'm a tall un and over here the longest length trousers they do is 34", which does me if I'm wearing flats, but with heels they look a bit daft! Thank god my Mum's coming over in april - I've put my order in from Next, Warehouse, and Oasis for my long trousers! :icon_lol:

Apart from that, I can't think of much else yet - I'll let you know if I think of anything else tho!

As for our friends, I think it's probably about a 70/30 split between kiwis and Brits, with the 70% being kiwis. They've given us such a valuable 'inside scoop' on NZ life and Wellington, it's great! We know the best bars, restaurants, cheapest (nice!) furniture shops, best take aways, factory-priced clothes shops, places to visit, trustworthy mechanics, builders etc... All invaluable info for us! (Especially the bars and restaurants!) And one of our friends is a kiwi builder and he's said he'll come and look at any house we might buy to check it out for us - excellent! (Plus he's got mates who are plumbers, electricians etc - all useful when you're doing up a house!)

Does this answer your questions Milliemoo?

Glad you're enjoying it too Welshgirl. Any news on the move to Hamilton yet? We came through Tauranga on our initial 'tour' when we were looking at places to live, and although I loved the place, we just didn't find any work opps. So although Welly wasn't our first choice (it was more like our last choice because of the wind and earthquakes! :icon_eek: icon_exclaim.gif ), it was the only place we felt we could both realistically get jobs. And I have to say, the city really has grown on me and I love it here now. Especially now the sun's out too - we've had a few weeks of fantastic weather too which is great!

Oh yeah - a bit of good news - we got our ITA last week! Yay! we had our medicals on Monday, but I have to go for a neurologist's appointment at the hospital on the 17th Feb cos I've got a mild form of muscular dystrophy which they want to look into further, :icon_rolleyes: but it shouldn't affect things and we'll hopefully be able to send our ITA back pretty soon. Another step closer, eh!

Anyway, this has turned into another huge post again - sorry! And sorry for not replying sooner.

If anyone wants to know anything else, then fire away - I'll answer anything I can.

Good luck to everyone in the process - it all comes together in the end so hang in there!

Jod
:icon_cool:

[cal]

Hi Jodie,

Brill post... I was thinking of saying Hi from NZ myself when I saw your post, although we are still newbie?s, 3 weeks and counting!

We are staying in Stanmore Bay on the Hibiscus Coast about 30 mins North of Auckland; it's absolutely breath taking... sea views in practically every direction as we are on the Peninsular :icon_biggrin:

After arriving on the 17th Jan, it's been a whirlwind of experiences, from getting the business up and running to sorting out schools for the kids (all four).

Info that might be useful for prospective immigrants with school age children:

1. I had no idea how expensive school uniforms were here when we arrived, 1 school skirt for my eldest daughter cost $114 NZD - Ouch! That definitely hurts the pocket when you have four to kit out. I am however, a lot happier with the uniforms here - the kids actually look like kids. There's not much option to modify/shorten these uniforms! :icon_eek: icon_exclaim.gif

2. Things to consider: purchasing school supplies... although I did know this from watching Get a New Life, I didn't realise you had to trawl the shops for the supplies. With 4 children at 3 different schools, only the primary school had the packs all ready for collection!

2a. School donations - All non-fee paying schools request a donation from parents. $360 for 2 children at College (High School) reduced fee per additional child. $80 for the one at Primary School.

The generosity and trusting nature of the average Kiwi...

3a. We bought two cars when we first arrived, not only did the garage owner (Colin) let us take one of the cars a day early because our rental needed to go back and he didn't want us to incur further costs, but he let us go off with the second too because he couldn't process the payment in his office... he gave us directions to another garage along with two bottles of wine for purchasing two cars (although technically we hadn't purchased either at that point).

3b. The Primary School too shows overwhelming generosity to the locals; they give keys out for the school pool so that local residents can use the facilities out of school hours! It also has two adventure playgrounds on the school property that are also free for kids to use when they want. A far cry from the fenced/gated schools in the UK!

I LOVE NEW ZEALAND!!! :icon_mrgreen:

Sorry for rambling on, hope I haven't sent anyone to sleep!

Good luck Jodie with the Residency and anyone else for that matter, who may be waiting for news!

C U L8R,

Cal :icon_cool:

[Glenda]

Hi Jodie,

Glad to hear you are still enjoying life in NZ. Have long legs too but hubby is hoping I'll wear more skirts in NZ ... as if! :icon_rolleyes: Will certainly be putting the cutlery and tea towels in the suitcases; might just chuck the mop though. :icon_lol: Good luck with your meds and application.

Glenda.