Hello

[mallard12]

Hello, we are very new to this forum,
Firstly I would like to introduce myself, secondly I have question.

Firstly my name is John, I am married with an 8 month old baby girl, I'm a IT DataCentre manager for a major Insurance company in London.
My wife?s name is Dayle and has a sister and a niece and nephew in Christchurch, we?ve heard so many great things about the country.
Personally I'm tired of the rate race and missing precious time with my daughter, so I'm looking for a cleaner, safer and slower pace of life for me and my family.

Were coming to visit in March, my wife has already visited for a couple of months, couple of years ago but I need to see the country. Were probably looking to live and work in Christchurch.

So down to the question(s)
1. Can we transfer our Pensions from the UK to NZ
2. Getting a 8 month old baby to NZ is going to be a nightmare, we know we need to have a stopover to break up the trip, (make it a little easier), any suggestions where.
3. I know Auckland and Wellington are the main hubs for IT, but is their any work in Christchurch in IT

Thanks
JB and DB

[Duke]

well if going west to NZ....I think routes to WashDC or Chicago would be over 8hr flight from London...so you could stay a night or two in the states...then from there to LAX, from Chicago its 4.5 hrs and WashDC over 5.5 hr....so a night or two in HELL-A. would do justice for the next long haul..then for my suggestion on airline out of LAX, fly the 12hr with AirNewZealand (good service A-1) to Auckland then a commuter flight to ChCh, I think it was 1 hr or so...If you go on the off season to NZ, the plane should be very empty, we flew out of LAX after 9pm and there was plenty of space in the plane(less than half full), and with a baby it may be a little more relieving and the time schedule arriving in NZ is not so shocking. As for the others ??? , sorry .....Good Luck

[MotherBear]

both. A big welcome to you.

Have you had a look at the various job sites to see what the job situation is like in Christchurch? It might give you some idea of what's available. Take a peek on the NZ website list under Employment to give you a start.

With regard to travelling with your little one, I guess picking an airline that has a good stopover would help to break the journey and get you off the plane for a while. Have a look on the various travel websites to see how the timings work out. We had long stopovers of between 8 and 18 hours in Bangkok with Thai Air and Kuala Lumpur with Malaysia Airline and it did make quite a difference although we were flying from Oman. I don't know if this will be of any help but it tells you how the various airlines shape up . Choosing an airline with cabin crew who are child-friendly will go a long way to easing your worries. You can click on links for some of the airlines and it will tell you how they rate with assisting familes with children. Unfortunately some either haven't been rated yet or are in the process of being rated but if you hunt around the site you can build up a general impression of how an airline performs.

There are quite a lot of companies who will deal with pension transfers. I believe you do need to be careful and watch out for pitfalls. On one site it says:

If you transfer your funds to a NZ scheme which is not a "Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme" you may incur a tax deduction of up to 55% of the transferred funds.

We recommend extreme caution as new regulations coming into effect from April 2006 may severely disadvantage persons transferring pensions through inexperienced so-called "transfer experts". These persons may have no knowledge of the new regulations - or may choose not pass on this information because they do not have access to an approved scheme.

Before proceeding with any transfer of pension funds we suggest you request confirmation in writing from your New Zealand adviser that you will not be affected by the new penalty tax rules relating to transfers to overseas pension schemes, and the new rules concerning unauthorised payments made from overseas schemes.

The ASB has got an online brochure covering this topic. Perhaps you can glean some information from that. Posting this site is not a recommendation as I have no experience of their services, it's purely for information.

[keeweegal]

Have you thought about flying with Emirates? We went with them from Glasgow to Akl in 2006. I think they fly from London too. We had a 10 (I think) hour stopover in Dubai, but they put you up in a basic but fine hotel room (ensuite bathroom, tv etc) & give you breakfast before they take you back to the airport for your connecting flight. They fly into Akl, Wgn & Chch.

We didn't have children with us but found their service excellent & would highly recommend them, along with most of the other Asian airlines & of course Air NZ!

hth
Sal