Familyofmonkeys
16th November 2007, 06:07 PM
Can't believe it....we've been here half a year today :)
We had never been to NZ before and although we had no plans to 'give it a year' etc, were did wonder whether NZ would live up to our expectations. I am happy to say that it has! We did our research before we came here...and we haven't had any nasty surprises at all. In fact the worst bit was leaving heathrow :exit
We were lucky as OH company paid for our first months accommodation in a serviced apartment and gave us a large hire car for the first 2 weeks. We managed to purchase a suitable car easily enough, but it got a bit more tricky when it came to finding a rental. We would have preferred for OH to be nearer work, but as we have 3 small sprogs, we found no suitable or affordable housing available at that time. Either there were too small, steep stairs, or master bedrooms on other side of house from rest of bedrooms. We looked at apartments, but none of then (not a single one) had balcony doors that were completely child safe. This worried me loads in our first month....21 floors up in an apartment, with the door catch within reach of our 2 year old and no kind of dead bolt. He managed to open doors a couple of times, but I managed to crab him before he went outside. We took the first remotely suitable rental we could find quickly in an area easy to commute. We already knew about the failings of NZ housing, so despite a whole manner of plumbing/lack of heating/no local kindy places issues over the winter, it was not unexpected and to be fair, our landlady is very nice. Anyway, now we've had more time to look, we have found a warmer dryer more modern rental...with window catches so kids can't try and escape and a school and kindy very close by that have spaces coming up!!
OH is far happier in his job over here, than he ever was in UK. No coming home ranting and raving about work problems. He works a longer week that in UK, and the occasional overtime, but there is no expectation that he should drop everything at short notice to work....good for me too. Plus in NZ he can take sick pay when I am sick, so he can look after kids. Finally...a country that recognises that stay at home mums are entitled to 'time off' when sick too:yes The only gripe about work here is that people are less productive generally, and if they were more motivated and proactive, they could get the same work done in less hours...more like UK. Another positive, they still have drinks on fridays here after work and actually take lunch and tea breaks.
We have always planned to move to Christchurch area eventually, but are in Auckland as OH got good job offer. We were planning to buy in Auckland and sell again later, but after looking at too many houses to count, we decided that we were better off building our own home. Then we looked at many, many sections (dragging poor children round) and almost bought one too. But we seemed to have gone full circle and have now purchased 2 acres outside Chrsitchurch...back to original plan. Because we are only going to be in Auckland for a couple of years, we are determined to make the best of it, see as much as we can and meet people....and every single forumite we have met so far has been lovely BTW. In fact, we have found that everywhere we go, people actually take time to talk to the childern...even when they are being a tad rowdy. When our menace of a son pulled a jar of curry sauce off the shelf in countdown and it smashed on Monday evening, we were so embarrased and not happy to be covered in curry sauce either. But the lovely staff just said, don't worry...these things happen to me when my kids were small. We were not made to feel at fault for not controlling our childern.
There are so many things to do here...for free. The only thing holding us back from doing more is a double buggy!!!! We had the same attitute in UK about getting out and about to broaden the kids experiences, but it is SO much easier here and everything is much more accessible. You can go to museums without paying a scary amount in car parking alone and you can find somewhere to park too. Everywhere has clean toilets for nappy changing. You can go to the beach for free (and what a choice too)...again no car parking charge, no tacky tourist shops ful of plastic tat from china and ice lollies full of e-numbers. The kids don't ask...as there is no temptation there. We just take a picnic. Recently we had a lovely afternoon on Takapuna beach... looking out to Rangitoto. The sun was shining and the beach was empty. The kids could run about in the surf with no worries about them walking on dog poo, going out of sight, leaving with strangers etc. When they are bigger we look forward to going on some of the many, many scenic walks around the country as well as learning to Ski and Kayak.
Lastly, unlike a lot of people, we have never had any problem with emotional adjustment being here. It is not that we are not close to our families, but we have always been very independant, and have moved around the UK a fair bit as we never had the option of moving back in with relatives after Uni. On a day to day basis, we miss some of our close friends a lot as they were a great support to us, and willing babysitters. We have felt 'at home' with NZ as a country right from the start and not once have either of us ever questioned whether or not we have done the right thing by coming here. We have never been homesick either....as far as we are concerned, this is our home now. We are also slowly making friends......I hope we will eventually reach the point where we can ask people to be our emergency contacts when kids are at school.....it just takes time and it is quite hard for us to get out in the evenings to socialise. Once we have our own home built in the next couple of years, we will have the icing on the cake...yum yum :laugh
We had never been to NZ before and although we had no plans to 'give it a year' etc, were did wonder whether NZ would live up to our expectations. I am happy to say that it has! We did our research before we came here...and we haven't had any nasty surprises at all. In fact the worst bit was leaving heathrow :exit
We were lucky as OH company paid for our first months accommodation in a serviced apartment and gave us a large hire car for the first 2 weeks. We managed to purchase a suitable car easily enough, but it got a bit more tricky when it came to finding a rental. We would have preferred for OH to be nearer work, but as we have 3 small sprogs, we found no suitable or affordable housing available at that time. Either there were too small, steep stairs, or master bedrooms on other side of house from rest of bedrooms. We looked at apartments, but none of then (not a single one) had balcony doors that were completely child safe. This worried me loads in our first month....21 floors up in an apartment, with the door catch within reach of our 2 year old and no kind of dead bolt. He managed to open doors a couple of times, but I managed to crab him before he went outside. We took the first remotely suitable rental we could find quickly in an area easy to commute. We already knew about the failings of NZ housing, so despite a whole manner of plumbing/lack of heating/no local kindy places issues over the winter, it was not unexpected and to be fair, our landlady is very nice. Anyway, now we've had more time to look, we have found a warmer dryer more modern rental...with window catches so kids can't try and escape and a school and kindy very close by that have spaces coming up!!
OH is far happier in his job over here, than he ever was in UK. No coming home ranting and raving about work problems. He works a longer week that in UK, and the occasional overtime, but there is no expectation that he should drop everything at short notice to work....good for me too. Plus in NZ he can take sick pay when I am sick, so he can look after kids. Finally...a country that recognises that stay at home mums are entitled to 'time off' when sick too:yes The only gripe about work here is that people are less productive generally, and if they were more motivated and proactive, they could get the same work done in less hours...more like UK. Another positive, they still have drinks on fridays here after work and actually take lunch and tea breaks.
We have always planned to move to Christchurch area eventually, but are in Auckland as OH got good job offer. We were planning to buy in Auckland and sell again later, but after looking at too many houses to count, we decided that we were better off building our own home. Then we looked at many, many sections (dragging poor children round) and almost bought one too. But we seemed to have gone full circle and have now purchased 2 acres outside Chrsitchurch...back to original plan. Because we are only going to be in Auckland for a couple of years, we are determined to make the best of it, see as much as we can and meet people....and every single forumite we have met so far has been lovely BTW. In fact, we have found that everywhere we go, people actually take time to talk to the childern...even when they are being a tad rowdy. When our menace of a son pulled a jar of curry sauce off the shelf in countdown and it smashed on Monday evening, we were so embarrased and not happy to be covered in curry sauce either. But the lovely staff just said, don't worry...these things happen to me when my kids were small. We were not made to feel at fault for not controlling our childern.
There are so many things to do here...for free. The only thing holding us back from doing more is a double buggy!!!! We had the same attitute in UK about getting out and about to broaden the kids experiences, but it is SO much easier here and everything is much more accessible. You can go to museums without paying a scary amount in car parking alone and you can find somewhere to park too. Everywhere has clean toilets for nappy changing. You can go to the beach for free (and what a choice too)...again no car parking charge, no tacky tourist shops ful of plastic tat from china and ice lollies full of e-numbers. The kids don't ask...as there is no temptation there. We just take a picnic. Recently we had a lovely afternoon on Takapuna beach... looking out to Rangitoto. The sun was shining and the beach was empty. The kids could run about in the surf with no worries about them walking on dog poo, going out of sight, leaving with strangers etc. When they are bigger we look forward to going on some of the many, many scenic walks around the country as well as learning to Ski and Kayak.
Lastly, unlike a lot of people, we have never had any problem with emotional adjustment being here. It is not that we are not close to our families, but we have always been very independant, and have moved around the UK a fair bit as we never had the option of moving back in with relatives after Uni. On a day to day basis, we miss some of our close friends a lot as they were a great support to us, and willing babysitters. We have felt 'at home' with NZ as a country right from the start and not once have either of us ever questioned whether or not we have done the right thing by coming here. We have never been homesick either....as far as we are concerned, this is our home now. We are also slowly making friends......I hope we will eventually reach the point where we can ask people to be our emergency contacts when kids are at school.....it just takes time and it is quite hard for us to get out in the evenings to socialise. Once we have our own home built in the next couple of years, we will have the icing on the cake...yum yum :laugh