[Justine+Ben]

Hello everyone,

Happy New Year! My husband and I are also brits researching the possibility of moving to NZ permanently. This forum seems to provide invaluable advice so I thought I’d join too and introduce us!

We are both in our late twenties, no kids but two fat cats! I’m from the S.W. of England and my husband, Ben, is from the midlands. We sent off our EOI last week and are eagerly awaiting the results. He has an offer of employment in Auckland for next July/August so if we are successful with the residency applications we only have 6 months to sort everything out. We are currently living in Canada and have been away from the UK for four years now so neither of us are really worried about missing England as such, but there are lots of other things to consider……

· Can anyone recommend a nice area to live in Auckland? We are both keen to use public transport/cycle/walk into work so it would be good to be walking distance from the centre (up to a 45 min walk) or at least near a bus/cycle route into town. My husband’s job is in central Auckland (Grafton). It would also be lovely to live near the sea/beach. We will definitely be renting in the beginning.

· Has anyone out there ever moved their cat/dog from their home country to New Zealand? Although we are British, the cats are moving from Canada (that’s where we live now), so I’m actually looking for any advice from someone who has shipped their pets from Canada. Can anyone recommend a pet shipping company? (I can’t seem to find any that ship from Quebec).:confused:

· I am a primary school teacher and so I will probably be looking for supply teaching/substituting work when I first arrive in Auckland. Has anyone ever used the NZ agency Oasis? How does teaching in New Zealand compare to England? (my teaching experience so far has been in London and the US). Does supply work pay quite well by New Zealand standards?

· Is anyone out there a university student in New Zealand? If you are a permanent resident of New Zealand do you have to pay international fees? (I am considering returning to uni at some point).

Any other advice anyone has to offer us would be greatly appreciated! There is so much to do……:uhoh

Good luck to those of you in a similar situation!

Best wishes,

Justine and Ben

[kanatakiwi]

Hello everyone,
Has anyone out there ever moved their cat/dog from their home country to New Zealand? Although we are British, the cats are moving from Canada (that’s where we live now), so I’m actually looking for any advice from someone who has shipped their pets from Canada. Can anyone recommend a pet shipping company? (I can’t seem to find any that ship from Quebec).:confused:


Best wishes,

Justine and Ben

Welcome to the forum , you will find lots of answers here to your questions, use the search engine to find previous posts on these topics. If not there will be many ehre who can help you out.

there have been people who have shipped their dogs from Canada and the US. I believe most of the shipppers are on the west coast so you need to get your animals to Vancouver or LA. Klipa has just recently shipped her dogs from Vancouver and Howie flew her dog from the east coast to LA and then shipped him to Auckland. The animals will need to be quarantined for a month, there are two places that do that near Auckland, Qualified Pet Service and Pethaven. I have been to both and liked Pethaven the best but do a search for these two companies on the net and see what ou think.

Lots of beaches near Auckland, Mission Bay, Okahu Bay, Kohimarama and St. Heliers on the east side, all pretty close to town, (about 3 kms from Okahu to Grafton) however rents not cheap. Point Chev has a nice beach , also could bike from there, but in the midst of a lot of traffic. Ponsonby is a great area to live and probably bikeable, again you will find rents here a lot higher than Canada.
Good luck with your queries
Gloria

[Justine+Ben]

Hi Gloria,

Thanks for the advice about shipping pets from Canada. We were planning on a stop-over in L.A. Does that mean I have to fly the cats to L.A. first with us and then hand them over to a pet shipping company there? It sounds very complicated. When we moved from UK to Canada it was so easy, I just had to get them checked by a vet and then buy them air tickets (in cargo).

About the rent prices in Auckland, I have heard that the cost of living is higher than in Canada, does that translate to buying food and eating out too?
How do salaries compare?

Justine

[kanatakiwi]

Hi Gloria,

Thanks for the advice about shipping pets from Canada. We were planning on a stop-over in L.A. Does that mean I have to fly the cats to L.A. first with us and then hand them over to a pet shipping company there? It sounds very complicated. When we moved from UK to Canada it was so easy, I just had to get them checked by a vet and then buy them air tickets (in cargo).

About the rent prices in Auckland, I have heard that the cost of living is higher than in Canada, does that translate to buying food and eating out too?
How do salaries compare?

Justine]
Hi Jutine
re the pets, I think there are a couple of other threads on the go right now in this forum that address that question so have a look there. check with Howie. I am not sure how that LA thing works, but I think your shipper will ship your dog to LA and then on to Auckland.

A word of warning, I would be very involved in your animals'stopover in LA, its a massive place and my friend's two cats got left behind on the tarmac and had to stay in their crate for an extra 48 hours while they located them (the owner freaked when they didn't turn up in Auckland as scheduled) and sent them on. Being cats they adjusted and survived, but that would probably have been a serious setback for a dog.

as to food and eating out , Yes sorry to say definitely more expensive. and eating out especially. you will gag at the prices, If you order a bit of bread before the meal, something you usually get for free in North America, you will be charged about $9!! and the starters (appies) usually cost about as much as you will be paying for your main course in Canada. shocking! And service and quality is not worth all that extra charge!

If you check out other threads here you will find lots about ways to save money on buying food. I go to Pak n Save (which is kind of like a Costco or Canadian Superstore bulk food place) for my staples, and go to New World for veggies, fruit, organic stuff and good quality meats. although recently I discovered that lamb chops at Pak n Save were better quality with less fat, than New World the "upscale" store.
G

[Justine+Ben]

Gloria,

Thanks for the word of advice about the shopping!

How did you find moving from Canada to NZ? I see you moved from Victoria, Vancouver Island, how does it compare to that? We visited Vancouver and Victoria last summer and loved it there (particularly Vancouver and also the little town Tofino, on Vancouver Island). What motivated you to leave Canada? For us, it is for my husband's job, but we also like the idea of exploring somewhere new (plus the winters here in Canada are freezing).

About LAX, I think I'll try and avoid it I can! I am investigating shipping them via Vancouver with a Montreal-based company...but we'll see how much their quote is!

Justine

[marshanite]

Hubby has recently accepted a job through Oasis (teaching ICT at secondary), having only contacted them in nov/dec 07. They have been good so far, however I would advise that you check the finer details of the move on this site as the members here have more in depth knowledge/experience, as I'm sure you have already realised.

Good luck, Fi.

[Howie]

Hi, I shipped my dog myself from NYC to LAX. Then used IPTLAX for the paper work and arranging the LAX to AKL lag. They were great. I had about 24 hours with him in LA and that was nice. Now with the direct flight from Vancouver, that may be a better option.
Yes the cost of living is high here. I think my salary here is about the same as I would make in Canada (if you don't convert) but the cost of EVERYTHING is much higher. You slowly become desensitized. I don't even blink when my coffee and muffin comes to $10 and I was excited that my dog food was on sale for $99. The other thing that's quite expensive is traveling outside of NZ as everything is so far away. And of course traveling to the UK would be much more expensive than from Montreal. `
Financially I'm not better off here, but I still like it here. It's different, it's fun and it really is a cool place. I do imagine that I'll find myself back in Canada eventually though.

PS. Gloria I'm going to Victoria (and Calgary) Jan 25-Feb 6th, let me know if you want me to bring anything back for you. I am planning on doing some serious shopping.