[skibumwa]

I am a Software Engineer and yes I was last working at Micro$oft. No teasing ok because I use an APPLE. Anyway, I have been dreaming of living in NZ. Namely Wellington.

In April I took a 3 week trip there and landed a great job. Currently, I am now waiting for my medical papers to be assessed for my final approval for my 30 month+ visa. After arriving, I will immediately apply for PR via the EOI form.

I like snow skiing, fly fishing, kayaking (sea), travel, tramping, photography, kiteboarding (amateur) and always enjoy meeting new people.

I cannot wait to play in Wellington's winds! Nice to meet everyone!!

:)

John

[Ana&Steve]

Hello there from San Diego! We love Seattle and Whidbey, thought about the area before the NZ bug got us.:) Welcome to the forum!
Ana

[skibumwa]

Thanks for the welcome!

Seattle is nice - I think it's the nicest area (large city) in the USA in terms of outdoor opportunities and weather, but then again I like it cool. :) In April this year I went to Welly, NZ and fell for it. I have been thinking about it since then...

In the meantime, come on up and visit if you like. I have plenty of time to show you around as I am not working now.. hehe... How about some coffee? hehe (that's so Seattle!) :cheers

Hello there from San Diego! We love Seattle and Whidbey, thought about the area before the NZ bug got us.:) Welcome to the forum!
Ana

[srivett]

Welcome to the forums! I'm glad to hear the process has been so smooth for you :)

[EngiNurse]

Welcome! Both of my brothers live in Seattle, and that's probably where we'll end up in the end. But first to NZ for a bit!

Good luck with the PR!

[jess]

welcome to the forum! :D

[skibumwa]

Thanks! This is a great forum indeed! :nice1

Hey Seattle is alot like Wellington with regards to weather and scenery, but the differences lie in them are that Welly is much smaller and the people are much more true friendly & far more personable. I do need to warn you, traffic everywhere here is a mess/horrible beyond all comprehensions. The highway system here is clogged far past capacity. Its so bad that it starts to ruin your lifestyle.... and life. Sooo just be very sure you want to deal with that and far from nice people here.

The housing market here is way over-inflated. Realtors and sellers seem to think everyone here makes $200,000k+/year at Microsoft which is far from the case. You need a lot of $$$ and/or a large 6 figure income to afford a house here- even a very small house. All the local taxes here are running high & rampant too..

Seattle is to my opinion by far the prettiest major US city aside to maybe San Francisco. We have snow-capped peaks to the East and West of us. We have Lake Washington and Puget Sound around us and beautiful Vancouver BC 3 hours North & world class skiing in Whistler BC 5 hours North of us. It's hard choice for me to leave here, but I do want a better life for myself...

I hope you choose the best choice for you with regards to moving here. I just wanted to let you know what things were like here if you did not already know from your brothers telling you. :yes

John



Welcome! Both of my brothers live in Seattle, and that's probably where we'll end up in the end. But first to NZ for a bit!

Good luck with the PR!

[EngiNurse]

Thanks! This is a great forum indeed! :nice1

Hey Seattle is alot like Wellington with regards to weather and scenery, but the differences lie in them are that Welly is much smaller and the people are much more true friendly & far more personable. I do need to warn you, traffic everywhere here is a mess/horrible beyond all comprehensions. The highway system here is clogged far past capacity. Its so bad that it starts to ruin your lifestyle.... and life. Sooo just be very sure you want to deal with that and far from nice people here.

The housing market here is way over-inflated. Realtors and sellers seem to think everyone here makes $200,000k+/year at Microsoft which is far from the case. You need a lot of $$$ and/or a large 6 figure income to afford a house here- even a very small house. All the local taxes here are running high & rampant too..

Seattle is to my opinion by far the prettiest major US city aside to maybe San Francisco. We have snow-capped peaks to the East and West of us. We have Lake Washington and Puget Sound around us and beautiful Vancouver BC 3 hours North & world class skiing in Whistler BC 5 hours North of us. It's hard choice for me to leave here, but I do want a better life for myself...

I hope you choose the best choice for you with regards to moving here. I just wanted to let you know what things were like here if you did not already know from your brothers telling you. :yes
We both lived in Los Angeles for a decade, so Seattle seems like paradise compared to that. And to tell the truth, we both kind of miss the city. Plus, we've decided from now on to find a place close enough to work to take public transport or bike/walk.

It's a gorgeous city, and being close to family once we have kids will be nice.

[MB]

Welcome, skibumwa! Boy, did you ever make a big mistake in giving me an excuse to drone on about Seattle again! Other forumites are probably shaking their heads and snarling "Nice one, skibumwa" out of the corners of their mouths. Do a search and you'll find my old eulogies about the Emerald City and its environs.

Okay, I'll spare you all the worst. But I will say that my partner is from there, I spent about a decade there and got my citizenship in the city, and it is almost certainly my very favorite city. Golly, do I love it. College Inn, Randy's, the Burke-Gilman Trail, PAWS and also the City Shelter, Richmond Beach, Magnuson Park, Bartell's, Northlake, Obsidian Stout (yeah, I know that's from Oregon, but man is it the best beer).

It's funny, though: when I praise Seattle to the skies here, I usually add that a challenge that more than one person has found is that it can be vaguely difficult to make friends in. Web sites have been devoted to this, although to be fair I think that this reaction started partly as a backlash when everyone suddenly fell in love with Seattle/PNW 10-15 years ago.
Also, we had a few really, really good friends there.
Furthermore, I am going through one of those phases even here in NZ whereby I wonder what happened to the sort of communities whereby you could make casual 'drop in' friends that would often lead to making better pals and/or contacts a few months down the line. Whether it's Seattle or Auckland, or possibly other cities, many pleasant neighborhoods seem to be more involved with opening boutique pubs and the whole 'renovation' lifestyle. That's fine: people who work hard want nice wine and nice villas, but a bit of spontaneity and casualness seems to have been lost (or at least mislaid).
Maybe what we're after is more to be found around city pockets such as K Rd in Auckland, or Broadway in Seattle. They've certainly got a bit of an edge to them. And I'm not talking anything grungy or down at heel. I dunno: maybe my brain is trying to scamper off to some wooly, beers-before-lunch Barbary Lane milieu. :laugh

That said, of course, Seattle and Auckland are still humane, lovely cities, and plenty of folks make great friends.

Anyway, we are having our first Auckland party tonight -- just a very few people, but we are making the effort. In fact, I'd better zip off and head to Woolworth's right now. Beer aisle: I'm a comin', credit card in hand.:cheers

[skibumwa]

Welcome, skibumwa! Boy, did you ever make a big mistake in giving me an excuse to drone on about Seattle again! Other forumites are probably shaking their heads and snarling "Nice one, skibumwa" out of the corners of their mouths. Do a search and you'll find my old eulogies about the Emerald City and its environs.

Okay, I'll spare you all the worst. But I will say that my partner is from there, I spent about a decade there and got my citizenship in the city, and it is almost certainly my very favorite city. Golly, do I love it. College Inn, Randy's, the Burke-Gilman Trail, PAWS and also the City Shelter, Richmond Beach, Magnuson Park, Bartell's, Northlake, Obsidian Stout (yeah, I know that's from Oregon, but man is it the best beer).

It's funny, though: when I praise Seattle to the skies here, I usually add that a challenge that more than one person has found is that it can be vaguely difficult to make friends in. Web sites have been devoted to this, although to be fair I think that this reaction started partly as a backlash when everyone suddenly fell in love with Seattle/PNW 10-15 years ago.
Also, we had a few really, really good friends there.
Furthermore, I am going through one of those phases even here in NZ whereby I wonder what happened to the sort of communities whereby you could make casual 'drop in' friends that would often lead to making better pals and/or contacts a few months down the line. Whether it's Seattle or Auckland, or possibly other cities, many pleasant neighborhoods seem to be more involved with opening boutique pubs and the whole 'renovation' lifestyle. That's fine: people who work hard want nice wine and nice villas, but a bit of spontaneity and casualness seems to have been lost (or at least mislaid).
Maybe what we're after is more to be found around city pockets such as K Rd in Auckland, or Broadway in Seattle. They've certainly got a bit of an edge to them. And I'm not talking anything grungy or down at heel. I dunno: maybe my brain is trying to scamper off to some wooly, beers-before-lunch Barbary Lane milieu. :laugh

That said, of course, Seattle and Auckland are still humane, lovely cities, and plenty of folks make great friends.

Anyway, we are having our first Auckland party tonight -- just a very few people, but we are making the effort. In fact, I'd better zip off and head to Woolworth's right now. Beer aisle: I'm a comin', credit card in hand.:cheers


Hi Matt!

Seattle is a nice city, but I STILL find that's it is very hard to make friends here too. It's called the "Seattle Freeze (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2005/0213/cover.html)". People are generally very friendly (aka polite) on the outside, but that's where the friendliness ends. They don't let you in at all to their friendship circles. It's as simple as that.

I live in West Seattle on Beach Drive. I am on Puget Sound facing due West to the Olympic Mts. It's nice in this part of town indeed, however when I take a bike ride or go for a walk then say hello to people, they either give me the look of death or ignore me (act like I am invisible). It's the city here, people are getting cold as November rains here.

Maybe its because I have a US - accent, but I felt more at home in Wellington and made friends in my brief week there than from living over 3 years here in Seattle. How so eh? Well the people are the KEY difference. Regardless why it happened to me, it did. I am liking this. I am a people person, sure I am techhie Software I.T. guy by trade, but I prefer face to face interactions totall y and making new friends always.

All those places you mentioned are cool places. Also remember their are cool cities like Bellingham, also there are mountain towns near Mt. Baker like Glacier, WA, and the famous and awesome Vancouver BC which is only 3 hours North. 2 hours farther North of Vancouver you have the majestic Whistler, BC!!!!

Yes I like it here too. It's a shame the people here are not as nice as the scenery here. Even on a sunny day, I get odd looks of death when I say 'hi' to a stranger! Eee yuk!

Wellington here I come!!!! (hopefully soon- :roll )

John

[wanderingoregonian]

I had never heard of this seattle freeze thing... hmmm I felt the exact same thing when I moved to Chicago, a place everyone swears is super friendly. And they were, but close friends were hard to come by. Seattle really is a lovely area, but scenery isn't the same as close friends you can stop in on anytime.

I'm grew up in Portland and I do miss the snow capped mountains and driving by the mountains (as in knowing which way north is based on where the mountains are... even when hidden by clouds, I always knew where the mountains were). The PNW weather certainly helped prepare me for Welly.

Best of luck with your move. PM if you want to meet up for coffee when you get here. I'll be curious how you find things. The housing isn't exactly cheap here either, but probably not as bad as much of Seattle.