well on the way finally

[johnty]

Hi to all
its been a long time since i last posted ,kinda got out of the habit after the site got hijacked.well done to taffy for getting it back up so quickly .
wasn't to sure where to pop this update .
anyway way back in october i jacked my job in and started my own buisness,the idear being to give me more time to finish the refurb of our house,and give me more flexibility.
well it been mental busy should have done it well before october.
now people are starting to say are you still planning to go to NZ with the work going well.the short answer is "o yes"
i had the interview with nzis and got the letter back offering us the work/student visa's and defered residence.
So now its all about timing and getting a good job(still a sparky,if theres anyone looking in )
got some good contacts now so hopfull of employment in the Canterbury/Chch area.one i am realy hopefull of is in Kaiapoi north of Chch , that kinda distance from the Chch would be good.(are Rakia and Rangiora about 30 to 40 mins outif anyone knows that would be a great help).
things seem to be comming along that put back our departure i.e my sister is now getting married at the end of august and i will have to give her away as dads not with us .(she's been with her partner 6 years surely another couple wouldnt matter)Then Ally sister is getting married at the end of may(shes only been with him since october 06,me thinks theres a plot to stop us)
So i WILL BE GOING in september now,and Ally and our children will follow on when the house is sold ,and i have got a job and somwhere to live.
was only manageing to prise to comp off the kids when i was invoiceing and pricing,but now i have got my own laptop now im a buisnessman and all.
Its weird that when im talking to some people i get this feeling to talk about our plans of moving.and more often than not theres a reason like they know somone there .Got a good contact just like that the other day.
I was working in a village nearby(Fingringhoe) and i mentioned the great views over the river being like part of NZ and the lady laugthed a knowing Laugth and said it reminded her of NZ to as she had lived there from 15 until 24 (now in her late 60's)well to cut a long but interesting story short she gave me a Email adress of her Nephew and Neice that run a B&b in Ohoka right near Kaiapoi.
hes a kiwi with a lot of contacts .
Well im starting to ramble now ,so hope you are all well
And i off to sleep
Johnty

[MotherBear]

I've moved this up here Johnty as it deserves to be more in public view. Not everyone ventures down to Taffy's Cafe as they may feel there's only a load of trivia in there and they miss out on some interesting posts.

Great to catch up on all your news and to know that things are moving forwards for you. Have you spotted the link to New Life New Zealand on the Home Page Urgent job vacancies ? Click on the blue NLNZ link near the bottom. There's jobs going there for sparkies. Worth a try. Good luck with the job hunting, anyway and keep us posted.

[Taffy]

Great to hear things are getting on track for you Johnty. Nice to see the determination in your words there... i WILL be going!

[johnty]

Yes spotted the link to that site ,if i get desperate for a job i would consider the ?1000 fee,they are good if you need the job for the points so you can get in but that sort of money would get me out there for a couple of weeks job hunting.but we were going to go down that path when we first started out, and dare i say it it would have probaly been quicker.
Johnty

[LilAmy]

Congrats Johnty!

Well done you. Bet you cant wait for the ball to start rolling after all these family weddings

[Dawn]

Thanks for the update, was wondering where you were. Nice to have you along again and congrats on the business going so well

[moggy]

Hi there
my advice would be to avoid rangiora - it is full of brits - about 20-25% I believe, so it like little Britain abroad.
Kaipoi is lovely.

However in general I wouldn't recommend commuting from the North Side of Christchurch - the traffic is dreadful and although the distance makes it look commutable, timewise, it would be worse than a British commute.

Coming in from the south or west is a lot quicker and you will find property prices a lot cheaper as well.

[johnty]

Cheers for the advice moggy.
how much of a drive is Rakia to the south moggy ,it looks to be about as far ,as you would want to drive each day.I have spoken to a guy that drives to and from Ashburton and says its about 50 mins but being a kiwi he would be driving a tad faster than me.
if im lucky i might end up with a job just outside the big smoke.
once again moggy any advice is great for me
Thank you
Johnty

[moggy]

the road in from Ashburton(and Rakaia) is straight and fast. You should know that kiwis don't drive fast and the vast majority round here stick pretty well to the speed limit most of the time, so 50 mins from Ashburton is realistic (equivalent to 60mph).
I can't remember how long it takes to get to Rakaia as we cut accross country from where we are to get there, but less than Ashburton.
The area around Lincoln and Dunsandel are pretty nice and you can feel in the middle of nowhere, but only 20 mins from Christchurch. You also aren't too far from Rivers, and Lake Elesmere.
We commute in on the Akaroa State highway, it take between 40 mins to an hour for me to get to work on the opposite side of the CBD, depending on the traffic in chch. You will probably find that what slows you up is chch traffic rather than the road you drive to get to chch

[johnty]

once again,thanks for that moggy
gives us good idears for possible locations,

mayby it was just us then but in 7 weeks had 2 near misses on the roads has to be said that they were both on the north island but both times cars flying round blind bends on our side of the road.