[upnorthkyosa]

Hi Everyone

My wife and I are planning to come over to NZ in August of 2007. We want to use this trip to resolve many of the issues surrounding our impending move in 2008 and we want to put in some footwork time in the places we want to live. My parents have agreed to watch our children for 2 weeks, so we've got about 11 full days to see and do what we can do.

Right now, our #1 choice of places to live is Christchurch. Both my wife and I are teachers (I teach science and she teaches special education), so we think we can get jobs there, but we also try and be realistic about what we are expecting. The fact is that all of NZ really is open for debate.

So, here is our dillemma. As we plan this, we want to take into account that we could end up on the North Island, but we both are really drawn to the South Island. (My wife and I and both of my children are big-time outdoor enthusiasts with camping, tramping, hunting, fishing, and skiing at the top of our lists as things to do) With that being said, it just makes sense to spend alot more time looking around the South Island.

I can't help but feel that we aren't giving the North Island a proper chance though. What would you do if you were in my boat?

Our time is limited and we just want to use it wisely...

[Ana&Steve]

I think that no matter what you do, you will feel like you've only scratched the surface. There is just too much to see! If you are flying into Auckland, I would say hire a car and pick a windy route to Wellington to see a bit of NI. Then ferry over to SI and fly home from ChCh.
It's hard to suggest things to do on the NI as it sounds like the loin's share of your visti will be on SI, but here are a few things we did on our 2 week NI trip: Auckland~met up with/made friends, A&P show, pubs, ferry to Devonport, lunches/dinners out. Otorohanga~Waitomo Caves. Matamata~Hobbiton:o . Rotorua~stayed at the Cozy Cottage, sat in mineral baths, nice breakfast at The Inferno Cafe, went to Te Puia Park. Taupo~met up with/made friends, spent a lot of time at Attiyq Raz Cafe(couldn't find the font for the "y", but it looks like a pitchfork), Huka Falls, Craters of the Moon, Opepe bush walk. Napier~sightseeing. Wellington~TePapa museum, shopping, cafes, book stores, music stores(check out Cuba St) Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, Pubs, restaurants.
You will have a great time whatever do do, don't stress if you have to make changes, we found it easy to find something fun to do everywhere we went!:D Ana

[dbonnett]

We are in a similar boat - we take off for our reccie trip three months from today :clap and have 26 nights in NZ - at this point all we have locked down is our flights in and out of Auckland. As Ana sez, there is no prayer of seeing everything/visiting all parts, so we are focusing on the places we think we would want to live (in no particular order): Wellington, Christchurch, Nelson, Wanaka. Since all except Wellie are SI, we expect to do most of our time there.

I have seen others here warn not to underestimate the travel times; since you are coming from the US like us, the roads aren't like driving the Interstates and you can't make up time between towns by "putting the hammer down." We have had to decide to not try to see the East Cape, BoP, Northland, etc on this trip; there will be time when we are living there.

We are very much outdoors people as well and my OH has stipulated that there must be mountains close by, so the SI is the natural place for us.

[nippa&pippa]

We flew to chch, spent a week there for job interview before got campervan and did two weeks tour around SI and NI before back to auckland. Stayed at sister's for two day before flew back from auckland. Why not try go to AKL then leave at CHCH or visa versa? and use campervan to tour from one airport to another airport?

[Andy-Dee]

Upnorthkuosa
We are starting our recce on the 24th March,:yes our itinerary is as follows:
Christchurch
Kaikoura
Blenheim
Wellington
Hastings
Picton
Punakaiki
Frans Josef
Arthurs Pass
Christchurch

We will be spending approximately 2 days in each. There is so much we want to see and so much we will have to miss out - but feel this will give us a snapshot of NZ and whether its for us or not - and if it is - whereabouts would suit us best.:o

We've booked a variety of accommodation too - from Top Ten sites, to home stays, to self catering flatlet, to gorgeous hotel.:clap
Happy to report back on our return.

[Juniper]

dbonnet, sounds like we will be on "reccie" at the same time :-) I imagine we might bump into each other, hehe

upnorthkyosa, since you have only 11 days, perhaps you should consider flying around rather than driving around. Perhaps get a taste of Auckland, fly to Wellington, then either ferry or fly over to the South Island. Then you could drive between your main towns of interest in the South. However, if you are considering mainly urban areas, cutting out the long drives may be wise. 11 days will absolutely fly by, maybe you should too!

Right now AirNZ is offering two free domestic flights as part of your international ticket. It's a fantastic deal, $866 USD from LA or SF:
http://www.airnewzealand.com/airfares_offers/web_specials_flights/flights/multi_city_nzl_usd866_28feb07.htm

They have a little itinerary-building tool, so you buy all the flights at once. Bonus: they let you carry extra baggage on the domestic flights, the same allowance as you normally get for international flights. Very important, since you wouldn't want to get hit with extra bag charges!

[dbonnett]

dbonnet, sounds like we will be on "reccie" at the same time :-) I imagine we might bump into each other, hehe


We should conspire to meet! I had just seen your posts about your dates and was thinking the same thing.. I will PM you more details about our trip itinerary..
-db-

[UpNorthMum]

Juniper~ I'm upnorthkyosa's (John) wife. :) I checked out the site but didn't see where it said the domestic flights are free. I may have totally missed it. I've been out shoveling and sledding all day and am a little tired!

[Diny]

upnorthkyosa, since you have only 11 days, perhaps you should consider flying around rather than driving around. Perhaps get a taste of Auckland, fly to Wellington, then either ferry or fly over to the South Island. !

This is certainly a good idea but you'd be missing out the vast majority of the NI by doing this. Without sounding too blunt, Auckland (especially) and Wellington are pretty much like any other city in the world and really wouldn't give much of a 'feel' for the real NI.

Diny

[Juniper]

Yeah, I didn't realize about the free domestic flights until I read on past the "book now" button.

"Begin by flying non-stop from San Francisco, Los Angeles or Honoulu to Auckland, which by most accounts would be more than enough to make for a magnificent trip.

Then choose up to 2 more cities like Wellington, Christchurch, Queenstown, Nelson, Dunedin or Napier at no additional cost. Don't want to stop in Auckland? Then you dont have too and chose up to three of the cities mentioned above."

My husband and I booked this fare, and paid $1850 USD for the both of us, with this itinerary:
San Francisco to Auckland
Christchurch to Queenstown
Queenstown to Auckland
Auckland to San Francisco

[Debbie P.]

Would echo other comments on here regarding need to see a bit of NI if only to confirm that Christchurch is the right choice. Before we came on our reccy, we were all for Christchurch but changed our minds and decided that we preferred NI, particularly Welly. It's just a gut instinct.

But of course, even a reccy isn't the same as living there. Don't forget that you're not obliged to stay in Christchurch forever once you get here if it doesn't work out for you!

One issue to consider is that you may need to go where the teaching jobs are. As the majority of the adverts seem to crop up in Auckland, and we realise that my OH (teacher) may have to go with whatever he can get, we are preparing ourselves for the fact that it may have to be Auckland for a couple of years - at least until we establish ourselves and can look for something in an area we prefer.

This may not be your experience at all, but I only mention it because you may want to at least take a look at the most populated parts of the NI such as Auckland and decide whether you could bear living there just in case you don't have a choice, for a while at least. That being said, I guess a fair number of jobs come in Christchurch as well.

[UpNorthMum]

Ohhhh, I get it now. :) I was thinking domestic within the United States, not within NZ. I have to remember that within other countries, it's also domestic. I'm just so used to within the USA. Silly me!

[Juniper]

hehe, yeah a free flight from wisconsin would have been handy I imagine :-)

[borea]

You folks have a much trickier problem than we had. We knew it would be either Auckland or Christchurch. We had about the same length of time, and it was a huge stretch to get just those two places in. The big difference is that we were also both interviewing at the same time. It doesn't sound like you're doing that, so that'll help a lot.

I'd echo Juniper's advice about flying. I just booked a one way ticket from Auckland to Wellington for $79 NZD. It would cost me more than that just in gas to drive, never mind the 8 hour trip.

One thing that we did when we came was that we tried to be very disciplined that "this is a recce trip and not a vacation." We would have plenty of time to visit the cool out of the way places or go on jet boat rides once we moved here. We'd spend some time in each town seeing what it felt like, then did activities and saw things that were nearby so that we could do them on a typical weekend. For example, in Christchurch we spent some time walking around town, then went to a local beach, out to the Banks Peninsula, and over to Arthur's Pass and Mt. Cook. The latter two were especially important because we're both mountain type people and wanted to see how long it would take to get to the mountains and what the mountains in the area were like. We also stopped into the local outdoors shop and chatted with the clerks about climbing in the area.

I'm not sure if you've already done so, but I'd make sure you talk to some immigrant teachers either here on the board or elsewhere. You'll want to understand some of the differences, the challenges teachers have finding jobs if they don't have kiwi experience, and why there are so many job opennings in South Auckland.

You'll have a great trip!

[Sam B]

I would definitely take some time to look at the North Island - I'm a speech and language therapist and I applied for every job going in NZ with 0-5 year olds. I got an interview (and subsequent offer) for all 8 on the NI, but the job in Christchurch I didn't even get an interview - too many applicants apparently. It could have been just bad luck, but there was only 1 job going on the whole of the SI anyway. Anyway, we're pretty outdoorsy, and the NI isn't a disappointment.

[Debbie P.]

the challenges teachers have finding jobs if they don't have kiwi experience

Can any teachers comment on this... please :confused:

Panicking at the prospect - it'll will be an expensive move there and then back if this is true.

[UpNorthMum]

Can any teachers comment on this... please :confused:

Panicking at the prospect - it'll will be an expensive move there and then back if this is true.

I'm with you on this one. Yikes! I want to hear more comments as well.

[upnorthkyosa]

Coley

I've read comments like that before and "they" said the same thing about moving where we live now. We both know how bad the nepotism is up here...and we still got in. Now, this may sound egotistical, but I don't care. We did it because we are good. Our jobs are very much in demand and we have alot of really positive experiences that really make us marketable.

I've been thinking about my CV and all of the stuff that is going to go down on that. I've done so many really cool things in regards to my professional education, in regards to science, in regards to community service and experiential education, in regards to TSD, etc...I think that it would be foolish of any principal to pass me (and you) up simply because we don't have kiwi experience.

If they do, screw them! Do you really want to work for someone who is so close minded?

The bottom line is that I don't think we need to worry about that stuff. I'll put my CV up against anyone's CV (kiwi or not) and I know that it'll be competitive.

To everyone...I think that we just need to have faith in our worth. The fact that we all are here contemplating this move means that we are all very remarkable people...

:)