[chris halcrow]

Hi folks

My family and I (i.e. me, my partner and 3yr old daughter), are moving to Christchurch at the end of August / beginning of September, and would love to get in contact with other people beforehand! We're keen to meet Kiwis or any other fellow migrants, so that we can feel a little bit less like complete foreigners after we arrive. Some interesting facts about us:

Me

Age:
33

Occupation:
Web designer, working for National Health Service

Likes:
Outdoors in general, cycling, climbing (have just started), walking, nature and wildlife, fishing, outdoor survival, swimming, gym, film, travel, books, the occasional beer or whatever, DIY that goes right, well-behaved toddlers, ethical things like environmental stuff, fair trade

Dislikes:
Housework etc., DIY that goes wrong, ill-behaved toddlers, unethical stuff like nuclear weapons. Other stuff that I can't be bothered to think of.

Lisa

Age:
If I tell you, she might hurt me

Occupation:
Full-time mother and frustrated clothing/outdoor equipment buyer and designer (i.e. trying to get back to work!)

Likes:
Outdoors in general, walking, climbing, kayaking, moderately extreme sports, swimming, gym, gardening, film, travel, books, wine, children, when Chris does DIY that goes right, well-behaved toddlers, ethical things like environmental stuff, fair trade

Dislikes:
Chris not doing enough housework etc., ill-behaved toddlers, unethical stuff.

Adhara

Occupation:
Toddler

Likes:
Painting, books, seeing animals, running around etc.

Dislikes:
Sitting still. Listening to parents.


Maybe we sound like your sort of people. Maybe we don't, but you want to say hello anyway. Just let us know!

Chris :)

[nippa&pippa]

Hi welcome to forum :cheers . We are young family live in christchurch since oct 2006...well outskirt now as just moved into our house 30km south-west from christchurch. We got two children, a boy who will be turn 4 in two weeks and 16months old girl, also got a baby due in sept. We are happy to help you anything about christchurch with children....

[chris halcrow]

Hi Sophia

Thanks for getting in touch. You must be a childcare expert by now! The main thing we need at the moment is some advice on good childcare in Christchurch. We'd like to get our daughter settled into some daytime care soon after we arrive, as when we are both working she'll be in childcare for five days a week. Can you recommend any good day-care places that are reasonably close to the centre of Christchurch, but in good areas? Any advice is much appreciated.

Hope to hear from you soon, Chris

[nippa&pippa]

As I am SAHM (stay at home mother) so I don't use day-care, apart from use kindergarten (same as "preshool" in UK) and playcentre (bit like playgroup with difference) with other SAHMs.
Day-care you looking for in NZ is called Preschool and Nursery.... I got all mix up when i arrived here :exit
It is really where are you going to settle in christchurch, I have heard PALS preschool and ABC preschool suppose to be good, again it is depend where you going to live.
My friend take her son to Roydale preschool, in burnside. She is very pleased with this preschool.
Have you thought where about in christchurch are you planning to settle?

[Joanne100]

Welcome to the forum, i dont have toddlers anymore, way past that stage!
look fwd to meeting up with u in sept!
Joanne

[SharpBlade]

Hi Chris,
As Sophia said, finding childcare will depend on where you are going to live.
Any idea so far?
Laura

[benandclare]

Hi Guys,

Welcome to the forum

Hoping to move to ChCh same time:raebanana not got any youngsters intow as mid 40's, done that got the tee shirrt till the grand kids roll along anyway!!

Clare and I are into mainly golf and skiing but also manage to walk a lot and cycle and do a bit of indoor rock climbing, think there are 3 walls in ChCh :yes

:cheers
Ben

[chris halcrow]

Hi Sophia

Thanks for the advice - this is very useful (much better than scratching our heads looking at a list of hundreds of faceless childcare institutions!) We don't know where we'll initially settle, however we'll initially be very central (no further from the city center than, say, St Albans). When we get sorted out with rental accomodation, we'll initially be looking at St. Martins, Cashmere, St. Albans, sumner, perhaps Lyttelton, or spencerville. Any advice you have based on these locations is again greatly appreciated!

Chris

As I am SAHM (stay at home mother) so I don't use day-care, apart from use kindergarten (same as "preshool" in UK) and playcentre (bit like playgroup with difference) with other SAHMs.
Day-care you looking for in NZ is called Preschool and Nursery.... I got all mix up when i arrived here :exit
It is really where are you going to settle in christchurch, I have heard PALS preschool and ABC preschool suppose to be good, again it is depend where you going to live.
My friend take her son to Roydale preschool, in burnside. She is very pleased with this preschool.
Have you thought where about in christchurch are you planning to settle?

[chris halcrow]

Hi Joanne

Thanks for the message. Where are you in Christchurch, and what are your interests etc? Please send full biog, including favourite vegetable (we're very choosy about the type of people we consort with, and if aubergine's are involved then we're not interested)

Seriously though, look forward to hearing from you!

Cheers, Chris :)

Welcome to the forum, i dont have toddlers anymore, way past that stage!
look fwd to meeting up with u in sept!
Joanne

[chris halcrow]

Hi Laura

Thanks for the message. We don't know where we'll initially settle, however we'll initially be very central (no further from the city center than, say, St Albans). When we get sorted out with rental accomodation, we'll initially be looking at St. Martins, Cashmere, St. Albans, sumner, perhaps Lyttelton, or spencerville. Any advice on childcare based on these locations is much appreciated!

Cheers, Chris :)

Hi Chris,
As Sophia said, finding childcare will depend on where you are going to live.
Any idea so far?
Laura

[chris halcrow]

Hi BenAndClare

Great! We've met a two headed creature already and we're not even in Christchurch. I knew New Zealand was going to be exciting!

Shouldn't be so cheeky when we've never met. If I've managed not to offend you for long enough for you to be reading this sentence, I'm keen to get together in Christchurch. Do you fancy some climbing at one of the walls? We've heard that there are five! I can belay someone up to 15 stones although I can't strictly guarantee that you'll live. What do you reckon?

Chris :)

Hi Guys,

Welcome to the forum

Hoping to move to ChCh same time:raebanana not got any youngsters intow as mid 40's, done that got the tee shirrt till the grand kids roll along anyway!!

Clare and I are into mainly golf and skiing but also manage to walk a lot and cycle and do a bit of indoor rock climbing, think there are 3 walls in ChCh :yes

:cheers
Ben

[benandclare]

Hi BenAndClare

Great! We've met a two headed creature already and we're not even in Christchurch. I knew New Zealand was going to be exciting!

Shouldn't be so cheeky when we've never met. If I've managed not to offend you for long enough for you to be reading this sentence, I'm keen to get together in Christchurch. Do you fancy some climbing at one of the walls? We've heard that there are five! I can belay someone up to 15 stones although I can't strictly guarantee that you'll live. What do you reckon?

Chris :)


Excellent, Clare manages to belay my 13 stone with the aid of a sand bag :yes :yes
5 walls, bring it on :raebanana

[benandclare]

How far down the emigartion route are you? talked to our case officer this morning and she thinks we should be ok to get our PR by Mid Aug, hope to take our ITA down in person to speed things along :clap
:cheers
Ben

[nippa&pippa]

For childcare, you better off to wait till you arrive there and find rental house first before find the local childcare as there are lots of them! Or what some parents do, find childcare/school first, by visit them then look for rental house near them but it is hard to find "prefect" rental house btw! The areas you interesting in is not my areas as i used to stay at Burnside, lovely family areas. One things missing from list is beckerham, have you thought/visited of this areas?
Let me know how you getting on and hopefully we will meet you in sept:nice1 all depend on arrival of baby due in sept!
P.s. I am currently trying get my son to join in local rock climbing as lower ages is 6 years as he want to try it....guess how old he is....4 on sunday:laugh

[stephenandjulie]

Hi Chris, Lisa and Adhara
Welcome to the forum. Ignore my question in the pm about whether you are coming for a holiday or emigrating, this thread answers the question for me.
As for Steve climbing, it's not something he does seriously but he enjoys having a go at the indoor walls.
Hopefully there will be a meet up after you get here. September is not that far away really. Good luck with everything.
Julie

[Joanne100]

Found it Chris!
Well we r in Cashmere on the hill in Huntsbury we have amazing views of the mountains which r fully covered in snow at the mo :clap
I see ur heading for the same areas, well done great choice.
My biggest past time here seems to be meeting lots of strange people on line!:laugh everyone i have met has been lovely........honest
love spending time with my family (skiing on tue) having the odd bottle opps i mean glass of wine and meeting new people and enjoying getting to know them, its hard coming over having no friends and it takes time to get to know new people, but im enjoying the process, memories and good friends take time and i have all the time in the world im not going anywhere, NZ for good, we love it here best thing we ever did.
hope ur still looking fwd to meeting us lol
Joanne