Milliemoo
12th May 2007, 03:00 PM
Well I honestly can’t believe where the time has gone. It still feels like we’ve only been away for a few weeks. There have, and will continue to be, moments that remind you how far you are away from your friends and family. Even if it’s just because you’re bored and you fancy a natter with your mum or your sister on a Saturday afternoon, but can’t because of the time difference. Then there are the times when you really want to be back, whether it’s because someone is unwell or you’re missing your best friend’s wedding. There are even silly moments of weakness when you can be walking round the supermarket when you first arrive and get all tearful because you realise you don’t know anyone and you’re not going to bump into a friend and go for a coffee. This is all par of the course when you emigrate 12,000 miles and the positives, at least for us, by far out weigh the negatives.
We moved from Edinburgh in November 2006 and left behind some fantastic friends and family. We owned a 2 bedroom flat in a good area, but it was on a busy main road and we really wanted a detached property. Unfortunately we didn’t have the spare £300k+ needed to buy a bungalow in Corstorphine, so we started to look a bit further out of town………Auckland.
We sold the flat without any great problems and Crown came to pack up all our belongings and pack them into a 20-foot container. Despite having to make a claim with the insurance I would still recommend Crown to people because they are the only company that can offer a ‘door to door’ service where you are dealing with the same company in New Zealand as you are in the UK. We paid a lot of money for the insurance policy because we weren’t prepared to take the risk of scrimping on cover, and I’m very glad we did. That said, it’s always worth negotiating with these companies and we saved hundreds of pounds by doing just that. I’d been on a bit of a shopping frenzy before the packers came and the container was full of silly house hold items and food that I’d either got great deals on (mainly from working in Boots) or stocked up on from the cash and carry. This may sound silly, but it’s great not having to worry about finding a new brand of make-up in your first few weeks, or finding your favourite tea bags because you have a 6 month supply in the container.
We’d been looking at rentals and property for months and months before the move, but nothing really prepares you for the state of rental properties and the work you need to budget for when you find your dream home. I still think it’s very odd that real estate agents charge you for booking a rental through them, typically 2 weeks rent. Why doesn’t the owner of the property pay the agents fees? A good way to avoid paying this fee is to find a rental which is listed privately, and the best way to do that is look on trademe.co.nz. The problem with most rentals is that they are not well maintained and often not modernised with even basic facilities. We were shown one home and in the space where the kitchen should be there was a single sink unit and a freestanding cooker. No cupboards, worktops and no units. I think they were asking about $600 per week for that place! Most places we looked at were damp and to be honest, you’ve got to expect some damp issues with villas in this climate, the problem being that the landlords don’t do anything to address the problems so they just get worse and worse over time. Thankfully we managed to find a modern apartment on the waterfront in Devonport. It was 99% luck that we managed to get this place and I dread to think what would have happened if we hadn’t found it. It’s certainly made our first few months in a new country a lot easier.
We’ve been looking to buy a home since we arrived in Devonport and we’re still looking. The property prices in Devonport have risen by about 25% since we first started the ball rolling with the emigration process. That coupled with the exchange rate being so low has made the whole process that little more difficult. Thankfully we made a bit of money on our property in Edinburgh, which we can use as a 50% deposit, but we’ll still need a similar sized mortgage to what we had in Edinburgh. Of course it’s entirely our choice to be in Devonport and we could be mortgage free if we weren’t that bothered about where we lived, but one of our main reasons for moving was for a better lifestyle and Devonport offers us our dream. When we go to look at properties we always have a figure of about $100k that we budget for insulation, new kitchen & bathroom, decoration etc. There have only been a couple of properties that we’ve seen (in our budget) that wouldn’t have needed at least this amount spending on them.
Not everyone likes Auckland and some people really don’t like Auckland, but we love it. Everyone’s different and people move to New Zealand for different reasons and with different dreams. Devonport is a small seaside village with a wonderful community feel, yet it’s only a 12 minute ferry ride into the CBD. It does take a lot longer if you drive, but why drive when you can catch the ferry. There are parks, reserves, beaches, cycle paths, scenic walks, cafes, restaurants, shops and pretty much everything you need or want right on your doorstep. People smile and say “hello” and there’s just a really good ‘feel’ about the place. The houses in Devonport are mainly old villas, which you either love or you hate. I love them and can’t wait to find one we can afford and renovate just the way we want to.
Neither of us drive, so Devonport is great for us because we have everything we need on a day to day basis in the village, but we can hop on a ferry and be in the CBD in minutes. We use the buses and trains a lot, and on the whole, we really don’t find the system that bad. Auckland is such a huge area with a small population in relation to the landmass, so you’ll never have a public transport system that you can compare to other cities like London. It would be great if they invested in new train lines because they are so much quicker than the buses competing with all the other traffic. I do think it takes a while to get used to the different fare systems and different services, but I find it easier and better value to buy travel passes. You can buy ‘multi trip’ passes for the ferry, buses and trains but you can also buy good value day passes. For $9 you can buy a bus ticket for the day. For $11 you can use the ferry as well as the buses, and for $14 you can use the bus, ferry and train.
cont ..........
We moved from Edinburgh in November 2006 and left behind some fantastic friends and family. We owned a 2 bedroom flat in a good area, but it was on a busy main road and we really wanted a detached property. Unfortunately we didn’t have the spare £300k+ needed to buy a bungalow in Corstorphine, so we started to look a bit further out of town………Auckland.
We sold the flat without any great problems and Crown came to pack up all our belongings and pack them into a 20-foot container. Despite having to make a claim with the insurance I would still recommend Crown to people because they are the only company that can offer a ‘door to door’ service where you are dealing with the same company in New Zealand as you are in the UK. We paid a lot of money for the insurance policy because we weren’t prepared to take the risk of scrimping on cover, and I’m very glad we did. That said, it’s always worth negotiating with these companies and we saved hundreds of pounds by doing just that. I’d been on a bit of a shopping frenzy before the packers came and the container was full of silly house hold items and food that I’d either got great deals on (mainly from working in Boots) or stocked up on from the cash and carry. This may sound silly, but it’s great not having to worry about finding a new brand of make-up in your first few weeks, or finding your favourite tea bags because you have a 6 month supply in the container.
We’d been looking at rentals and property for months and months before the move, but nothing really prepares you for the state of rental properties and the work you need to budget for when you find your dream home. I still think it’s very odd that real estate agents charge you for booking a rental through them, typically 2 weeks rent. Why doesn’t the owner of the property pay the agents fees? A good way to avoid paying this fee is to find a rental which is listed privately, and the best way to do that is look on trademe.co.nz. The problem with most rentals is that they are not well maintained and often not modernised with even basic facilities. We were shown one home and in the space where the kitchen should be there was a single sink unit and a freestanding cooker. No cupboards, worktops and no units. I think they were asking about $600 per week for that place! Most places we looked at were damp and to be honest, you’ve got to expect some damp issues with villas in this climate, the problem being that the landlords don’t do anything to address the problems so they just get worse and worse over time. Thankfully we managed to find a modern apartment on the waterfront in Devonport. It was 99% luck that we managed to get this place and I dread to think what would have happened if we hadn’t found it. It’s certainly made our first few months in a new country a lot easier.
We’ve been looking to buy a home since we arrived in Devonport and we’re still looking. The property prices in Devonport have risen by about 25% since we first started the ball rolling with the emigration process. That coupled with the exchange rate being so low has made the whole process that little more difficult. Thankfully we made a bit of money on our property in Edinburgh, which we can use as a 50% deposit, but we’ll still need a similar sized mortgage to what we had in Edinburgh. Of course it’s entirely our choice to be in Devonport and we could be mortgage free if we weren’t that bothered about where we lived, but one of our main reasons for moving was for a better lifestyle and Devonport offers us our dream. When we go to look at properties we always have a figure of about $100k that we budget for insulation, new kitchen & bathroom, decoration etc. There have only been a couple of properties that we’ve seen (in our budget) that wouldn’t have needed at least this amount spending on them.
Not everyone likes Auckland and some people really don’t like Auckland, but we love it. Everyone’s different and people move to New Zealand for different reasons and with different dreams. Devonport is a small seaside village with a wonderful community feel, yet it’s only a 12 minute ferry ride into the CBD. It does take a lot longer if you drive, but why drive when you can catch the ferry. There are parks, reserves, beaches, cycle paths, scenic walks, cafes, restaurants, shops and pretty much everything you need or want right on your doorstep. People smile and say “hello” and there’s just a really good ‘feel’ about the place. The houses in Devonport are mainly old villas, which you either love or you hate. I love them and can’t wait to find one we can afford and renovate just the way we want to.
Neither of us drive, so Devonport is great for us because we have everything we need on a day to day basis in the village, but we can hop on a ferry and be in the CBD in minutes. We use the buses and trains a lot, and on the whole, we really don’t find the system that bad. Auckland is such a huge area with a small population in relation to the landmass, so you’ll never have a public transport system that you can compare to other cities like London. It would be great if they invested in new train lines because they are so much quicker than the buses competing with all the other traffic. I do think it takes a while to get used to the different fare systems and different services, but I find it easier and better value to buy travel passes. You can buy ‘multi trip’ passes for the ferry, buses and trains but you can also buy good value day passes. For $9 you can buy a bus ticket for the day. For $11 you can use the ferry as well as the buses, and for $14 you can use the bus, ferry and train.
cont ..........