[gratto]

Hey all I just got into Wellington and wanted to say HI to all the fellow imports. Man this place ROCKS, well besides the weather the last few days atleast. If any of the other fresh arrivals wanna hang out send me a PM and we can set something up.

THanks all
Brett

[Diny]

Good news on your safe arrival Brett.

Look out for Carol popping her head up on the forum. She's been living in Wellington for the last 5 or so years. She's actually over here visiting family at the moment, I'm not sure when she's due back in NZ. She's a mine of info and always up for a gathering with a G&T supplied.

All the best for your time in Wellington.

Diny

[RoadRunner]

Hi Brett,
Glad to hear you love Wellington. Anything in particular that stands out as being great or just the whole experience?

Would love to join you but we aren't there yet! My husband and I are in the middle of planning a one week trip to Welly in February to get a feel for the place and hopefully do some job interviews. Do you already have a job? Or are you there interviewing? Do you have any suggestions of a reasonably priced hotel downtown to stay at for a short trip?

All the best and have fun.

[gratto]

Well I after being here one week I am still amazed by the mountains and senery, even thou it rained pretty much everyday so far. The rain ride in from Upper Hutt along the coast is just great, you get alot of views views from the train.

So far the first week I didn't really look for jobs yet. Just got a cell phone and a bank account going and now looking for flats in town. I got a nice one in Mt. Vic lined up and waiting to hear back from him.

I did do alittle checking on jobs today and sumbitted my CV to a few recruiters but haven't heard back from there as of yet.

Some of the top things I love about NZ/Welly is how close everything is in the city, the coffee houses, and cortney place with TONS and TONS of pubs and coffee houses. The views are great almost anywhere your at in town.

Somethings I hate: Walking up the hills. Not used to doing that and do get alittle bit winded on the bigger ones. Another is trying to figure out the bus system is kinda a pain too. The last one would have to be the cell phone charges. WOO 49 cents a minute to other cell phones and something like 79 cents to landlines. Wooo crazy charges there, but Vodaphone is great with the prepay option and just pop in the sim card and your all set.

My big plans for this week is get the flat straightened out and start looking for jobs. Wish me luck.

[shagen]

Good luck Brett!

[RoadRunner]

Gratto,
Good to hear from you and best of luck!
:cheers

[pleccy2000]

Welly is a fab city.

[Juniper]

i love news about wellington! keep the critiques flowing! :nice1

[sarahw]

Hi Brett,

Welcome to Welly - its great! Also new arrivals here (arrived 6th Jan) Will PM you shortly,

Sarah & Ian

[pleccy2000]

Hi Brett

I was wondering if you could give us an update on how you're doing? What have you been upto in Wellington?

[gratto]

Hiya all I'm back.

Sorry it took so long. Trying to get internet up at the flat is/was a pain but now its all set. I tried the telco but they charge some crazy fees for installation/rental/whatever else they feel like at the time. So I tried Saturn but after waiting a week for the installers to call me back to setup a time, I gave up and went to woosh.co.nz and signed up yesterday online. (jan20th) well this morning at like 8am I got a knock on the door and what do you know its the wireless modem install kit. Well after alittle while of playing around with the signal booster and hooking up a wireless router I'm now all set.

OK updates. I now have a flat in Mount Victoria, with a crazy view of the bay. It does get alittle windy at times but so far not all that bad and the price isn't too bad either. 120 dollars a week and I share the townhouse with 2 other people. One guy one girl and everything is going good so far. One recommendation is that if your looking to either rent a flat or do the flatmate thing is that it will take time. I looked at like 20 flats and told 10 of the that I'll take it. Turns out there was like 50 some other people looking for flats that same week too. Just while I was looking at a flat some 4 other people called in the span of like 10 minutes. So figure it will take you a week or so to finally find one that will let you move in.

Lets see what else. Oh yea the recruiters.
So far I have had talks with Niel Andrews and AbsoulteIT, they seem to be the only ones that have actually called me up and asked for a face to face meeting and that was like after a week of replying to online job posts and such. So figure that if you don't setup interviews before you get out here, it will be a week or two before you start getting calls. But then again there was the whole christmas holiday thing around that time so that played a part in it I'm sure.

OK the bars here ROCK. some stay open till like 5am in the morning. But they wil cut you off if you start getting too drunk. Seems like the place to be is either on Corntey Place or Cuba St for the good places to drink. Cuba St. is a great place to just hang out and listen too all the street preformers out playing. Normally in a two block area you'll have like 5 or so different people playing for tips. Also lastnight out infront of hummingbird/establishment there some a few people doing fire dancing at 1am in the morning out on Cortney Place.

If you get bored theres also Te Papa right close to Cortney Place and you can spend hours in there just walking around looking/playing with stuff. Best part is its completly free to enter. Well minus the space exzibit(ok I can't spell that) which is 6.50 to enter.

Also if you like the beaches theres the ones right off orintal avanue which will be packed on any weekend the sun is out. Its also a nice walk around the bay too.

Ok you LOTR fans. From what I hear theres going to be a Rivindale tour next saturday or Sunday in upper hutt area.

Ok all time to write a few more emails. Will post more info as it comes in.

[pleccy2000]

Great to hear!! We should hook up sometime. Mount vic is great. Yes the ars are cool becasue they stay open so late!!!!! Out of interest - how old are you? you sound like your in your 20's?

[SoCal Gal]

Fantastic news Brett! May I ask, are you American?

[gratto]

OK 31 year old single American.

[SoCal Gal]

Hi Brett! I'm very interested in the beaches you mentioned....would you say the water is warm enough to swim in? How does it compare to beaches in the US?
Thanks and all the best!! :cool

[Juniper]

thanks for the great report! sounds like fun nightlife. i a little like santa cruz actually, tho the bars don't stay open that late. a cross between santa cruz and southern spain then, maybe hehe....do they have breakfast places open super early to accomodate the drunks?

so, what does a rivendell tour entail? i thought they took it all down.

[gratto]

I didn't attend but from what I hear they walk around where it was and a few of the contractors talk about stuff. Was thinking of going but decided to go fishing off the pier instead.

[cloudboy99]

...a little like santa cruz actually, tho the bars don't stay open that late. a cross between santa cruz and southern spain then, maybe

The area seems very similar to Santa Cruz/Monterey with the party life of "The City" (San Francisco). Most of the pics on the various Welly tourist sites remind me a lot of Monterey. Now that was a great place for scenery (even though everything closed down at 4pm...) and surfing.

[SoCal Gal]

Santa Cruz it is! Now, can anyone tell me how warm the water in the bay ever gets? The San Diego water never gets that warm either, but I am very curious about the swimming in NZ. :cool

[Juniper]

yay for santa cruziness! now if only they had big old redwoods :P i hear there's a grove they planted somewhere, but only 100 years old... the happenings sound better tho!

[Tate6]

Now, can anyone tell me how warm the water in the bay ever gets? The San Diego water never gets that warm either, but I am very curious about the swimming in NZ.

I'm with SoCal Gal--I want to know how the swimming is--my sister was in NZ last November and said the water was freezing! She was mostly on the South Island. Where is the water the warmest??
Thanks!

And Congrats on your arrival, gratto!
:cheers
Good luck with the job hunting! :nice1
Terry

[Moorf]

Desperately wanted to strip off and get in the sea here in Sumner yesterday - the water is still v. cold but after a day of 27+ degs I didn't care..

Just wish I'd had on the right undies and I'd have been STRAIGHT in with Summer :laugh

[veronica]

Notice quite a few people get in the sea in the evening about seven, from the paddling it does feel a bit warmer than in the morning. Further north you go thge warmer the sea.

[Moorf]

Anyone up in the Coromandel dipped their toes recently.. ?

A trip "up north" seems like a good idea in this heat if the waters are nice :nice1

[Jules]

[quote="Moorf"]Anyone up in the Coromandel dipped their toes recently.. ?

Hi moorf

Hopefully going up at the weekend, so I will let you know :cool

Jules

[Moorf]

You lucky thing... :nice1 Enjoy :cheers