coopers
14th March 2007, 04:12 PM
I don’t log on too often these days, but knowing how much I enjoyed and found useful others comments on here when we were looking to make the move down to NZ, I thought I would give you a 6 months update! I won’t bother with anymore because I think the time of biggest change/adjustment has been and gone!
We moved from Yorkshire, near Ilkley, 6 months back to Christchurch, and I have to say it has worked out really really well.
We have two kids 11 and 13, and they were a big worry for us, but they love school.
There has been an amazing transformation from their attitude in the UK to here, they enjoy going do homework without too much moaning and generally look forward to going each day….mind you it does help when they have surfing lessons!!
We have noticed that for my daughter especially there is not the huge peer pressure to look exactly right where the right labels etc. that she encountered in the UK, and thankfully if you do well you are not ostracised as was the case in the UK for getting good grades!
The general lifestyle is great, although the kiwis have moaned about the summer, we thought it was pretty good on the whole.
We were on the beach over xmas walking the dog (Spencer park beach is great for the dog)….he loves it too….and my son turned to me and said “does life get any better than this?”…which for an 11 year old lad 12000 miles from his mates, was a pretty big statement…but sums up pretty much how we all feel.
Shopping is good and caters for pretty much all budgets, we find our food bill is much less than in the UK, petrol is I suppose not cheap when compared to wages, but there is a good bus system in place that is reliable and cheap. One of the biggest changes we have noticed is the lack of litter, and how on the whole how clean everywhere is…go to an outdoors event and most people use the oil drum bins provided. People have pride it seems in Christchurch and we are glad to feel part of that now.
We have found most people to be really helpful, polite, and genuinely nice people.
I initially found work a bit of a challenge in terms of it being more laid back than I was used to…but hey isn’t that part of coming down here…a lifestyle change for the better…and once I remembered that all was well!!
Join up with Telecom and you can talk for 2 hours to the UK for $5…which helps when the homesickness kicks in!
I honestly cannot think of any major negatives, perhaps the noisy kids in crappy cars with big exhausts and loud sound system….but then my daughter thinks they are cool…!!
The TV is not the best, but we don’t watch that much anyway…oh my wife is struggling for a job, she is looking for office admin jobs, but most want MYOB knowledge/experience and this is proving frustrating for her.
So on the whole Christchurch is fantastic, our lives have changed so much for the better….what are you waiting for….move to NZ…its billiiiaannt!!
For those of you struggling to get PR, it took us a year of strife, so battle on it is definitely worth it!:yes
We moved from Yorkshire, near Ilkley, 6 months back to Christchurch, and I have to say it has worked out really really well.
We have two kids 11 and 13, and they were a big worry for us, but they love school.
There has been an amazing transformation from their attitude in the UK to here, they enjoy going do homework without too much moaning and generally look forward to going each day….mind you it does help when they have surfing lessons!!
We have noticed that for my daughter especially there is not the huge peer pressure to look exactly right where the right labels etc. that she encountered in the UK, and thankfully if you do well you are not ostracised as was the case in the UK for getting good grades!
The general lifestyle is great, although the kiwis have moaned about the summer, we thought it was pretty good on the whole.
We were on the beach over xmas walking the dog (Spencer park beach is great for the dog)….he loves it too….and my son turned to me and said “does life get any better than this?”…which for an 11 year old lad 12000 miles from his mates, was a pretty big statement…but sums up pretty much how we all feel.
Shopping is good and caters for pretty much all budgets, we find our food bill is much less than in the UK, petrol is I suppose not cheap when compared to wages, but there is a good bus system in place that is reliable and cheap. One of the biggest changes we have noticed is the lack of litter, and how on the whole how clean everywhere is…go to an outdoors event and most people use the oil drum bins provided. People have pride it seems in Christchurch and we are glad to feel part of that now.
We have found most people to be really helpful, polite, and genuinely nice people.
I initially found work a bit of a challenge in terms of it being more laid back than I was used to…but hey isn’t that part of coming down here…a lifestyle change for the better…and once I remembered that all was well!!
Join up with Telecom and you can talk for 2 hours to the UK for $5…which helps when the homesickness kicks in!
I honestly cannot think of any major negatives, perhaps the noisy kids in crappy cars with big exhausts and loud sound system….but then my daughter thinks they are cool…!!
The TV is not the best, but we don’t watch that much anyway…oh my wife is struggling for a job, she is looking for office admin jobs, but most want MYOB knowledge/experience and this is proving frustrating for her.
So on the whole Christchurch is fantastic, our lives have changed so much for the better….what are you waiting for….move to NZ…its billiiiaannt!!
For those of you struggling to get PR, it took us a year of strife, so battle on it is definitely worth it!:yes