[nippa&pippa]

Just looking how many books that we brought for research on New Zealand before we start applying for PR....we end up with 8 books :exit
How many books did you buy for New Zealand's research and which books do you think got very good information that you would recommend for other poeple who is currently research now?

Mine is 'A new life in New Zealand' by Paul Goddard because it is more of 'fly-on-the-wall' type give you idea how they feel before, during and after.

[Sam B]

Yes we bought 8 too. I quite liked that Paul Goddard one, but didn't feel like we had enough in common with their situation as they were setting up a business (and struggling) and we had a job in education lined up. I found Steve Horrell's "Emigrating to New Zealand" most useful as he has the same slightly anal approach to organising thins as I do, and his advice to do a wall sized spidergram of things to do is genius!

[Juniper]

hm, I am still accumulating...

Just finished "Kiwis might Fly," which is a travel journal about a British woman motorcycling her way through NZ over a few months. It's pretty cool for getting some rudimentary insight into Kiwi character, and the sights along the way :-)

[thezorbster]

We've found the best (in our opinion) is Living and Working in new Zealand - edited by Graeme Chesters (www.survivalbooks.net). We've found this to be very factual and comprehensive, covering things like education, health, accommodation, insurance, motoring etc.

The Paul Goddard book was quite good as a simple intro but we found it quite personal to them which I think it was supposed to be- it was after all their experience.

[nippa&pippa]

Another books:
'living and working in New Zealand' by joy muirhead, very in depth info
'Going to live in New Zealand by Mary Neilson and Mathew Collins, again very in depth info. Both both can brought cheap together from amazon.co.uk :nice1

[jamie7121]

I really enjoyed this one - A Land of Two Halves: An Accidental Tour of New Zealand by Joe Bennett

[jen]

We liked 'Land of Two Halves' also - an enjoyable travelogue by a guy who's a British expat living in NZ for 15 years. Lots of colorful characters and interesting perspective on small town life especially.

If you get Graeme Chesters' Living & working in New Zealand, be sure to get the latest edition. We had the second edition & threw it out once we got here and realized how much information was out of date.

Both Buying a Home in Australia & New Zealand by that same author, or Buying a House in New Zealand by Alison Ripley are good. The latter has more overall info on New Zealand and specific info for moving from the US, which I found helpful since most books were written from a UK standpoint.

Two other books we read that you might or might not like - "Straying from the flock: travels in New Zealand" by Alexander Elder and "Slipping into Paradise" why I live in New Zealand" by Jeffery Masson. My OH liked the Masson book and I've read positive reviews of both, but to me they both were the kind of travel book which is not enough about the country and WAY too much information about the author and how wonderful HE is!

Jen

[nippa&pippa]

Buying a Home in Australia & New Zealand by that same author

Got that too. Very useful

[jamie7121]

Land of Two Halves on eBay now if anyone wants it
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/A-LAND-of-TWO-HALVES-JOE-BENNETT-TRAVEL-NEW-ZEALAND_W0QQitemZ280084102089QQihZ018QQcategoryZ91 167QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[eternalkiwi]

A Wellington based company have an online store called www.nzbooksabroad.co.nz. They can also source other books that are not listed on the site.

It has a wide range of books on many aspects of NZ which may be of interest to some people.

[Leccy-Lee]

Another one vouching for "land of 2 halves" here

Also a similar travelogue i recommend is "Kiwi Tracks" http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kiwi-Tracks-New-Zealand-Journey/dp/1741046793/sr=8-1/qid=1172326335/ref=sr_1_1/026-0045309-8549256?ie=UTF8&s=books
And for a comic but realistic read "Xenophobes guide to Kiwis" http://www.amazon.co.uk/Xenophobes-Guide-Kiwis/dp/1903096871/sr=1-1/qid=1172326458/ref=sr_1_1/026-0045309-8549256?ie=UTF8&s=books

Regards practical books on living/working in NZ i can also vouch for the joy muirhead book.