[clodestar]

Have just returned from reccy and still haven't decided to make the move or not. House prices were a bit of a shock although we thought we'd done our research. The biggest issue we have is secondary schools. A lot of the areas with more reasonable housing mean you need to budget for private education. We really like areas within Upper Hutt but both schools although decile 7 have poor results. Lower Hutt good school but too urban for us. Another thing that shocked me was how close together house are and how a lot of have very little gardens.Also most houses due to the nature of Wellington are built on a slope Some are literally built in the garden behind a house where people have sold land for building. We knew before we went we didn't want to live in the centre. Although areas of Khandallah and Kaori are very nice. Tawa ticked a lot of boxes. Good school, commutable, good services but to buy a 4 bedroom property on reasonable section we're talking at least $500K.Also for me this would be swapping like for like. We live in Wokingham- suburban in 5 bedroom estate house and thats basically what we'd get there. For us the best area was Kapiti Coast. Schools great, internet good services and house prices and section size was slightly better. Although we still think we're looking at $500K. That area will give us the lifestyle change we wanted. The only problem is the commute. Does anyone do the journey regularly ? Think people and place is wonderful. It is a long way from home, friends and family. Salaries are not good for cost of living that is not that different from here and television is not good. If we do go we want to subscribe to BBC streaming website Has anyone used this ?. Even on OH salary alone we are going from $200K here to an offer of $76K. It would achieve me not working so much and a smaller mortgage. OH also thinks job and environment is great but its a hard choice. Although salary should go up within 6 months to $90K and they were already asking him if he'd be interested in management job in a year or so. Both of us have had enough of the endless grind here but its not easy to take the step completly out of our comfort zone. The other big issue for us is giving up pension. OH has worked for same company for 23 years and i'm a teacher both with great pension schemes.

[clodestar]

Not quite as tired as yesterday so hopefully a little more positive. No sleep for 48 hours is not good. We also had the trauma that 3 hours before we flew out on our reccy the doctor announced my daughter couldn't fly. She had really bad chest infection so we had to make heart-breaking decision to leave her with grandparents.Not the start we hoped for. Flights were fine. Qantas great and children not too bad. Prefered route out via Bangkok and Sydney to route home via Melbourne and Hong Kong.Wellington is a beautiful city and views coming into New Zealand breathtaking. My son loved all the fab playparks and Te Papa is amazing. Lack of people and traffic noticable. Overall city is a great place to visit. Sitting in restaurant looking at Harbour is lovely. Friends met us at the airport and took us out for dinner at Courtney Place. We did all touristy things zoo, botanic gardens, Te Papa. Then OH went into work . He loved it. People were lovely and job great. Crown Relocations took us out for two four hour trips looking at areas. Have to say with 2 young children that was a bit too much. But guide was great very knowledgable. City is great if you like city life. We looked at Hutt and liked some of areas around Pinehaven and Plateau. As previously stated school were main area for deciding aainst this area. Guide said primaries are great but having looked at Upper Hutt Secondaries and read reports felt we'd end up paying for private education for our eldest. We also considered Tawa and Whitby. Tawa has great school but we'd probably end up paying $540 for a 4 bedroom with a reasonable section. Great little town though. Whitby is a nice area but surrounding areas are not so good and secondary although improving is decile 4 so we would probably end up paying for secondary again. Another thing that we noticed is that housing is very mixed on the same road you can have huge mansion and then tiny scruffy shack. Whitby house prices would be $450-$520K.
Area that would be our first choice would be one of older communities on Kapiti coast. House would probably cost same as Whitby but section sizes are better and flatter. Climate is slightly better and your close to coast, mountains and city. Schools seem good. Only issue is whether it commutable.
As for salary level we're going to take Avalons advice and negotiate as we feel after lots of investigation $90K would be much more liveable salary for family of 5. Anyway hope thats more positive than yesterday. New Zealand seems a fabulous place to live. May add more later.

[Big Puku]

Interesting comments, sounds like you were busy!

Matt