[smileyfreckles]

Hello to everyone,:) I'm Becky and toghether with husband Richard and our 3 girls, 4, 7 & 9, are planning a move to Christchurch area later this year. We have lots of questions and clarifications to make so expect to see my name a lot! :D

Bye for now Becky

[Kerry and David]

Hello and welcome to the Forum it's nice to see someone from the Sunny South Coast on the Forum! We are just down the road from you!
Good luck with your plans
Kerry

[wilson182]

Hi Becky

We are originally from Portsmouth and have been living in Christchurch/North Canterbury for approx three and a half years now. We lived in Copnor for about eight years.

How is the old city?, I'm reliably informed that it has changed a lot since I was last there.

[benandclare]

Welcome to the forum guys....... fire away with the questions :nice1

[Mickstim]

Welcome to the forum guys! Hope you plans all go well.

[Den]

Welcome to the forum, it is most certainly the place to find useful info and answers to questions

[JayBee]

Hello - you've come to the right place for answers! Good luck with the plans

[smileyfreckles]

Hi and thanks to all the warm welcomes we received from everyone.

Hi Kerry and David, are you still in the Uk or have you already made the move?If you're still here how are your plans going and when do you intend to go out?
As for "sunny south coast" it certainly hasn't been!:( .

In answer to your question about Copnor, you wouldn't believe it. Every spare piece of land has been built on, they are currently building approx 800 homes on the empty site opposite St Mary's hospital.So the question is where are all these new people going to go to school, GP, etc as there is no new infrastructure. Overcrowded is not an exaggeration! current population of Portsmouth has hit the 2million mark.:wah We have friends in Kaipoi who went over about 3 years ago, they also came from Copnor.
Can I just ask which shipping company you used and any little nuggets of info you wish you'd known before?

Again thanks to all the warm welcomes,
bye for now Becky

[Kerry and David]

Hi Becky,

Still here and the weather has certainly not been sunny - will the rain ever go away!

We are hoping to be in NZ Sep/Oct this year. Hubbie and I are flying out on a reccie end of March and hopefully David will have some interviews lined up. We would like to get a job offer to support our application.

Its a big move as there are a few of us - Hubbie, Myself, 5 boys, cat and dog!

When are you hoping to move?

Kerry x

[wilson182]

Just out of interest Becky, your friends from Copnor didn't start off in Auckland before they moved to Kaiapoi did they?




Hi and thanks to all the warm welcomes we received from everyone.

Hi Kerry and David, are you still in the Uk or have you already made the move?If you're still here how are your plans going and when do you intend to go out?
As for "sunny south coast" it certainly hasn't been!:( .

In answer to your question about Copnor, you wouldn't believe it. Every spare piece of land has been built on, they are currently building approx 800 homes on the empty site opposite St Mary's hospital.So the question is where are all these new people going to go to school, GP, etc as there is no new infrastructure. Overcrowded is not an exaggeration! current population of Portsmouth has hit the 2million mark.:wah We have friends in Kaipoi who went over about 3 years ago, they also came from Copnor.
Can I just ask which shipping company you used and any little nuggets of info you wish you'd known before?

Again thanks to all the warm welcomes,
bye for now Becky

[smileyfreckles]

Hi Kerry & David, we are waiting on a business sale to complete here in the UK at the end of Feb, and the plan is that Richard comes out on his own to secure a job, luckily we have freinds he can stay with. Once he has employment offer he'll transfer his visitor visa for work permit and then I can sort eveything this end and join him. If (big word I know) everything goes to plan we should all be there by July/August.

Where are thinking of going?

[smileyfreckles]

Hi Debs, yes our friends did start in Auckland. They have two girls and he works as a photocopier engineer! Does this ring bells with you?

Be a small world if it is them you know!

[flowerlady]

hello from Havant where i work and used to live and Emsworth where i live now.
Hope to be in nz by june, oh had an interview, so just need to sell house now.
Welcome to the forum i find it a god send, even if i dont have any questions, it just keeps you going.

[smileyfreckles]

Hi Flowerlady,hope you manage to sell soon. Where in NZ are you planning on moving to. Also, as you're further down the moving road, and you're local to us, do you mind me asking which shipping firm you're using?
You're quite right about this site being god send, only thing is after a stint on here I seem to end up with more little issues I hadn't thought of!
Good luck with your move, Becky.

[flowerlady]

hi smileyfreckles
we have just had a quote from john masons who seem to know ther stuff , but will get more quotes when we have a better idea on dates etc.we hope to be in either hamilton or paeroa north island weather seems better there, south island too much like uk...... no thanks , especially as i look out the window today at the rain and cold. lisa

[wilson182]

Hi Debs, yes our friends did start in Auckland. They have two girls and he works as a photocopier engineer! Does this ring bells with you?

Be a small world if it is them you know!


OMG, I know exactly who they are!! I met them when our girls (their two and my one) where having swimming lesson on the same night. Then we all changed nights and I have lost their telephone number.

I used to work for Condor logistics in pompey so I arranged my own shipping with a freight firm called Imperial Logistics. I'm not even sure if they are still around now.

Portsmouth was claustrophobic three years ago when we left, I can't imagine what its like now. Is the site opposite St Mary's the one where the old blood test hospital used to be?

Debs

[smileyfreckles]

Hi Debs, Wow what a small world, next time I speak to them I'll let them know and get them to get in touch! Yes you're right, it is where the blood labs used to be. I didn't realise the piece of land went all the back to the Eastern road, it's a huge site! The houses going up are sooo small, I don't see how they expect families to fit in them? The one thing I'm really looking forward to when we get to NZ is not being connected to anyone elses house, just last night our neighbours decided to have a party after coming home from nightclub, I finally called police in at 5am to break it up! I'm not normally a party pooper but it was a Tuesday night!
I'll look that moving company up, its another to add to my expanding list. I cant wait to start to tick things off my list.
Speak again soon Becky.

[smileyfreckles]

Hi Lisa, thanks for that, another name to add to my list. We're hoping to go to Christchurch, I know it seems like home from home but it had a really good feel to it when we did our tour of NZ last year.
Keep in touch Becky

[mikewalkerfrom]

Hi smileyfreckles
Welcome and good luck. We're off to Christchurch in April (all going well). The house in Basingstoke is sold and as long as nothing goes pear shaped in the next couple of months we're on track.
We've got quotes for shippers coming in this week from John Masons, GB Liners (£3850), Pickfords and White and Co. There's a really big thread about with loads of info on moving companies. I'll update that when we decided on who to use. This forum has saved me a lot of time!
Mike

[smileyfreckles]

Hi Mike, good luck with your move, hope all goes well for your move. Where in Christchurch are you heading? Thanks for these names, and keep in touch, Becky.

[Asli&Mark]

Hi Becky and the family,

Firstly welcome to the forum.
We used to live in Brighton. Have been in Chch since March 07.
Good luck with your application and move.

Asli - Mark