The Hodges
11th June 2007, 09:05 PM
We have been in Auckland just over 3 months (well just over) and things are going very well. We have settled in fairly quickly. We thought we would share with you a few of our experiences over the past three months.
First of all, these views are based on OUR experiences and you may not agree with them, but please bear that in mind when reading our comments below:
OUR JOBS
Our jobs are going okay, although they are a lot more laid back and relaxed compared to our jobs in the UK. This is not a bad thing, but we do wish sometimes that they were a bit busier.
SHIPPING
Our furniture arrived a couple of weeks later than we were originally quoted, but this was fine. We brought a couple of foldaway chairs and an inflatable mattress to use until we had received everything. It was fun! We would strongly recommend taking out the shipping insurance. We had three large items of furniture, which were extremely damaged. All of our breakable items were in tact except for a turkey dish, which we didn’t really mind about. Your starts up costs are high enough without having to think about replacing furniture and if you want decent furniture you can pay an arm and a leg for it over here. (Looking forward to Ikea arriving in NZ). So hopefully we can get it replaced by our insurance company. Also we found that the MAF were not as strict has they are made out to be. They did not search many of the boxes that they said they would inspect. If we had known this we would have brought way more things. Also if you receive an invoice off you removal company for the MAF fees, do query it. We did, although the person on the other end of the phone did shout at me, we weren’t going to be bullied into accepting it. We finally got the invoice reduced by half!
BARGAIN HUNTING
We also found the saying ‘if you don’t ask you don’t get’ very true. We still needed to buy a number of things for the house, so if we were buying more than one item of furniture or an expensive item of furniture we would ask them if they would do a discount for cash and most of them said yes. We got a large discount off our television. Bargain! Shop around you can find a big difference in prices.
Also, just because it’s an English speaking country, it does not mean it’s going to be like back home. Some things are no-where near has advanced as in the UK and because of the lack of choice things can be very expensive. The lack of choice is the main thing we find quite hard to get used to but we have traded all these things for the beautiful places we can visit and the out-door things we can do.
FOOD SHOPPING
We also tried out more than one of Supermarkets, Foodtown (beware they round the final total up to the nearest 5 cents), Pak N Save, and Countdown and kept the receipts from all of them to compare the prices of the same items of food and again there can be such a difference. So just find one that you like to shop at and is value for money. I buy my meat from a butcher and fruit and vegetables from a green grocers and the rest of our food from a supermarket. (I remember doing this 20 years ago in the UK with my mum) This works out far better value than buying everything from the supermarket. We have found that we eat far more fruit and vegetables over here; the flavour is so much better and fresher. We find the flavour of food in general far better, although we have noticed that the prices of all produce vary depending on what’s available.
INSURANCE AND FORMS
Make sure you read through any forms for e.g.: insurance, bank, mortgage etc. You can find a lot of mistakes on things or find the excess on insurance or starts dates are different to what you were originally told. I am still sorting out my car insurance certificate. I have phoned 3 times to inform them they have spelt my name wrong and they still keep sending through with the wrong spelling. It not like our surname is hard to spell. After talking to a number of people that have moved here and had similar experiences we recommend just reading and checking forms thoroughly.
MEETING PEOPLE
Also, make an effort to meet people; it can make a real difference when helping you settle in. I have found that the men tend to settle fairly quickly and for the ladies it seems to take just a little bit longer. There will be moments when you feel completely home sick and ask yourself a thousand times if you have done the right thing. I think I have been ready quite a few times just to pack everything up and go home. But then I get excited about being here and look forward to the adventure ahead. It’s a really strange yo-yo affect of feelings. I am just wondering if it will ever stop. One thing is for sure this forum has been fantastic for meeting people and we are looking forward to the summer when we can have more outdoor meets.
HOUSING STOCK
Houses without central heating! It gets very cold. I don’t think we will ever get used to this. We have been totally spoiled with central heating in the UK. At night I have to put my husband’s padded shirt on and sit with a blanket and a water bottle, but luckily it does not get too cold here in Auckland (although it isn’t winter just yet!)
Speaking to a kiwi, his response was, why heat a room if you’re not in it? Okay, but if you’re going to use a heater, why not use it to heat the whole house and not just one room. And when the kiwis decide to install insulation and double-glazing, then the better off everyone will be.
Some of the housing stock is pretty terrible and the whole leaky building situation is shocking and the OH has seen the effect it has on peoples’ lives. This is due to a number of problems, but made worse by the fact that, relatively to the salary, building products are expensive and so there is a make-do attitude (not sure of this can-do attitude yet) and this just leads to all sorts of problems down the track.
SUMMARY
The last time that we were here was three and a half years ago on our honeymoon. Has it lived up to our expectations? Yes and no. The great benefit was being able to get a balanced view before we arrived from this forum and speaking to kiwis that we know in the UK.
So are we better or worse off than in the UK? About the same, we would say overall, but we can positively say we are so glad we have done this move and we would have regretted not doing it. The places you can see and go to are just amazing and make us realise every time that this is the reason we are here and the reason we are here to stay for now.
First of all, these views are based on OUR experiences and you may not agree with them, but please bear that in mind when reading our comments below:
OUR JOBS
Our jobs are going okay, although they are a lot more laid back and relaxed compared to our jobs in the UK. This is not a bad thing, but we do wish sometimes that they were a bit busier.
SHIPPING
Our furniture arrived a couple of weeks later than we were originally quoted, but this was fine. We brought a couple of foldaway chairs and an inflatable mattress to use until we had received everything. It was fun! We would strongly recommend taking out the shipping insurance. We had three large items of furniture, which were extremely damaged. All of our breakable items were in tact except for a turkey dish, which we didn’t really mind about. Your starts up costs are high enough without having to think about replacing furniture and if you want decent furniture you can pay an arm and a leg for it over here. (Looking forward to Ikea arriving in NZ). So hopefully we can get it replaced by our insurance company. Also we found that the MAF were not as strict has they are made out to be. They did not search many of the boxes that they said they would inspect. If we had known this we would have brought way more things. Also if you receive an invoice off you removal company for the MAF fees, do query it. We did, although the person on the other end of the phone did shout at me, we weren’t going to be bullied into accepting it. We finally got the invoice reduced by half!
BARGAIN HUNTING
We also found the saying ‘if you don’t ask you don’t get’ very true. We still needed to buy a number of things for the house, so if we were buying more than one item of furniture or an expensive item of furniture we would ask them if they would do a discount for cash and most of them said yes. We got a large discount off our television. Bargain! Shop around you can find a big difference in prices.
Also, just because it’s an English speaking country, it does not mean it’s going to be like back home. Some things are no-where near has advanced as in the UK and because of the lack of choice things can be very expensive. The lack of choice is the main thing we find quite hard to get used to but we have traded all these things for the beautiful places we can visit and the out-door things we can do.
FOOD SHOPPING
We also tried out more than one of Supermarkets, Foodtown (beware they round the final total up to the nearest 5 cents), Pak N Save, and Countdown and kept the receipts from all of them to compare the prices of the same items of food and again there can be such a difference. So just find one that you like to shop at and is value for money. I buy my meat from a butcher and fruit and vegetables from a green grocers and the rest of our food from a supermarket. (I remember doing this 20 years ago in the UK with my mum) This works out far better value than buying everything from the supermarket. We have found that we eat far more fruit and vegetables over here; the flavour is so much better and fresher. We find the flavour of food in general far better, although we have noticed that the prices of all produce vary depending on what’s available.
INSURANCE AND FORMS
Make sure you read through any forms for e.g.: insurance, bank, mortgage etc. You can find a lot of mistakes on things or find the excess on insurance or starts dates are different to what you were originally told. I am still sorting out my car insurance certificate. I have phoned 3 times to inform them they have spelt my name wrong and they still keep sending through with the wrong spelling. It not like our surname is hard to spell. After talking to a number of people that have moved here and had similar experiences we recommend just reading and checking forms thoroughly.
MEETING PEOPLE
Also, make an effort to meet people; it can make a real difference when helping you settle in. I have found that the men tend to settle fairly quickly and for the ladies it seems to take just a little bit longer. There will be moments when you feel completely home sick and ask yourself a thousand times if you have done the right thing. I think I have been ready quite a few times just to pack everything up and go home. But then I get excited about being here and look forward to the adventure ahead. It’s a really strange yo-yo affect of feelings. I am just wondering if it will ever stop. One thing is for sure this forum has been fantastic for meeting people and we are looking forward to the summer when we can have more outdoor meets.
HOUSING STOCK
Houses without central heating! It gets very cold. I don’t think we will ever get used to this. We have been totally spoiled with central heating in the UK. At night I have to put my husband’s padded shirt on and sit with a blanket and a water bottle, but luckily it does not get too cold here in Auckland (although it isn’t winter just yet!)
Speaking to a kiwi, his response was, why heat a room if you’re not in it? Okay, but if you’re going to use a heater, why not use it to heat the whole house and not just one room. And when the kiwis decide to install insulation and double-glazing, then the better off everyone will be.
Some of the housing stock is pretty terrible and the whole leaky building situation is shocking and the OH has seen the effect it has on peoples’ lives. This is due to a number of problems, but made worse by the fact that, relatively to the salary, building products are expensive and so there is a make-do attitude (not sure of this can-do attitude yet) and this just leads to all sorts of problems down the track.
SUMMARY
The last time that we were here was three and a half years ago on our honeymoon. Has it lived up to our expectations? Yes and no. The great benefit was being able to get a balanced view before we arrived from this forum and speaking to kiwis that we know in the UK.
So are we better or worse off than in the UK? About the same, we would say overall, but we can positively say we are so glad we have done this move and we would have regretted not doing it. The places you can see and go to are just amazing and make us realise every time that this is the reason we are here and the reason we are here to stay for now.