[Red Devil]

Wow, wow and more wow... we've decided we're moving over!!!

Morning all, just thought I'd put a few words together having returned back from our 3 week 'recce' trip. It's been a week since we arrived back at Manchester airport and already we're missing New Zealand. We had a fantastic time touring the North & South Island and stayed in some great hotels and motels (can definitely recommend www.tripadvisor.com for accurate reports). Our 5 year old son coped wonderfully with the travelling and staying in a different hotel each night (apart from Auckland, Wellington, Queenstown & Christchurch) was a novelty to him. We were impressed with how many good quality parks there are in the town and cities and there wasn't one restaurant we went in where they didn't make a fuss of our little one... childs portion meals not a problem.

Stop-over locations were:

Auckland, Rotorua, Taupo, Napier, Wellington, Nelson, Greymouth, Haast, Queenstown, Te Anau, Invercargill, Dunedin, Timaru & Christchurch.

Keeping things simple... Auckland is a great city, Rotorua & Taupo had plenty to offer (especially enjoyed the Huka Falls jet boat ride), wished we'd had longer in Napier and Nelson, Wellington a good city for strolling around (especially Te Papa museum) West Coast was superb (especially the Fox Glacier helicopter landing) Queenstown was amazing, Milford Sound was stunning, Dunedin also good, along with the nearby Otago peninsula, Timaru impressed and to top things off Christchurch was great.

Well having had a week to re-adjust we've both decided that Christchurch is our favourite place to initially settle, as it has a little of everything that's on our criteria... good job opportunities for us both, quality of life, beaches, nearby mountains and much more. Nelson comes a close second, but the chance of OH landing a renal position there is quite remote, so initially Christchurch it is then.

Whilst in Auckland OH had a meeting with her contact at Tonix Health recruitment which was very helpful indeed. A renal unit visit was arranged at Rotorua Hospital just for the purpose of seeing how things are done and my OH was very impressed with how organised and clean everywhere was.

So that's just about it, OH will be submitting her NZ Nursing Council paperwork immediately then it's EOI and ITA time and spend, spend, spend.

... with a bit of luck it's Christchurch here we come!!!

[Alan]

Great news, sounds fantastic. I am heading out for ten days in the middle of next month mainly to try and arrange employment but hope to really get a feel for the place, I will be going to Auckland mainly.

Did you drive around all those places or fly as well?

[StevieD]

Sounds like you had a great time - good luck with your plans.

[Red Devil]

Hi Alan

We hired a Subaru Legacy (through Omega Car Rentals) and drove everywhere... our little one is used to traveling and loved stopping off at new and different places en-route. Each day on average we'd be driving for 2 hours then stopping off to take in an attraction or sightsee for 3 hours or so, then another 2 hour drive to our stop-over location... it worked out a treat :)

Petrol... 75p per litre :D

... so wish we were back there now :roll

[JandM]

Glad you had a good time, and the best of luck now for everything going smoothly.:nice1

[lockstock]

I'm just going off to lie down now -You've worn me out with that itinerary!

Good luck with the move:clap

[Red Devil]

Thanks all for the best wishes... to be honest we were concerned how tired we might be once we got into the second or third week, but with a trip like this you're on such a high and with a good nights sleep we were ready for the next days journey and activities.

I've made the mistake of downloading our photos onto my work PC... keep going off into dreamland and reminiscing :)

[benandclare]

Nice one Red Devil :nice1

Looking forward to welcoming you all to Christchurch, hopefully once our boys have secured the double :clap

[Red Devil]

Hi Ben & Clare... I was going to email you this evening based on your kind offer of meeting up whilst in Christchurch (unfortunately time was tight). I'll send you a PM to discuss a few things.

Yep, made sure I kept up-to-date with the footy results whilst traveling around. Just hope they can turn things around tomorrow night against Barca :eek:

Speak to you later :nice1

Cheers

[nippa&pippa]

Looking forward to meet you next year in christchurch :nice1

[Red Devil]

Thanks again folks... just realised that I left off Tauranga. We visited the area after Auckland and liked what it had to offer. We also went to nearby Mount Maunganui and especially liked the beach and seafront cafes... ahhh, bliss :D

Apologies to those living in Tauranga if I've offended you, didn't mean to miss the place off... I'm still in cloud cuckoo land ;)

[Moorf]

Great choice :D ;)

[dusk]

glad you had such a good trip :)

[Red Devil]

Thanks Moorf... get ready for the barrage of questions ;) :D

[Mels]

Fantastic you enjoyed yourselves so much and I totally understand your feeling of wanting to be back there right now :yes

Mels

[Red Devil]

Thanks Mels... I see you're heading for Wellington. We enjoyed the windy city, especially the ride on the Tram for the view over the city and harbour front.

Te Papa museum was fantastic and kept our 5 year old son occupied for hours... couldn't believe it was free.

[JayBee]

Glad to hear you enjoyed the trip. Did the UK look really "flat and boring" when you came back??

[TrentBridge]

Sounds like you had a great time. Hope all goes well for you. :)

[Red Devil]

Glad to hear you enjoyed the trip. Did the UK look really "flat and boring" when you came back??

Hi JayBee... it sure did, we had to go over to see the 'outlaws' in Lincolnshire at the weekend :laugh

We've only been back a week and already we've noticed a huge difference with how people live their day-to-day lives... rushing here, dashing there, busy, busy, busy... I keep saying to myself "chill out, take it easy"... then again that'll be us once we get into the thick of PR :eek: :D

[Kerry and David]

Enjoyed reading your post Red Devil, you fitted loads in! I know how you feel about wanting to get back to NZ I feel like I am in limbo now - we keep looking at the pictures too!

Good luck!

Kerry

[Red Devil]

... I'm sure you'll all be fine :yes

OH NZNC paperwork being mailed tomorrow... fingers and toes crossed for a quick and positive turnaround, then it's EOI & ITA :eek: :D

[stephenandjulie]

All those places you visited and you have chosen Christchurch...good choice...well we think it's pretty good and we've been here almost a year now. Best of luck with everything and maybe we will see you at a meet sometime.
Julie

[AndyR]

great stuff! glad you had a nice productive trip!

[victoria24]

can you post your thought process as to why you chose christchurch? i know its a personal view you take but intrigued!

[Red Devil]

... yeah, sure:

On the face of it, Christchurch seems to have a little of everything. Plenty of shops and restaurants in the city centre, plus plenty of attractions for the family. We're aware certain levels of crime exist (like everywhere), however we felt very comfortable strolling around the city at night.

As much as we like Christchurch for what it has to offer, we don't envisage ourselves actually living in the city itself. We hope to settle in one of the surrounding towns/suburbs. Good quality schooling appears to be widely available, so we'll be paying particular attention to that area for our 5 year old son.

We like the feeling of having some old(ish) English architecture and heritage in the city centre, the trams are a nice touch and punting on the Avon. There's plenty of inner city parks should our little one wish to 'let off steam' after a meal or shopping spree... it all adds to the settling-in process :D

People appeared to be friendly... we particular remember strolling along the river and our little one saw some ducks, the next thing we knew a little girl appeared with her Mum and handed Harrison some bread to feed the ducks... a nice gesture and we ended up chatting about this, that and the other whilst the kiddies ran around having fun :)

I'm an engineer (draughtsman) and OH is a nurse (renal), so we've been assured finding suitable employment shouldn't be a problem.

We like our outdoor space and seeing those surroundings mountains is such a big pull, as we hope our 5 year old will take to skiing during the winter months. My wife and I enjoy walking and the attraction of the Banks Peninsula is also a big pull. I especially like my mountain biking, so I can see myself heading out on the many tracks and trails on a regular basis.
The nearby beaches look tempting and we look forward to long, lazy summer days.

Just need a few things to go our way to make our move happen... sell our French property, quick turnaround of OH's NZNC registration, await job offer(s) and get PR sorted... not asking for much really ;)

Cheers :nice1

[Drover Jess]

good luck and look forward to hearing how you get on

[victoria24]

thanks guys :-)

[Den]

I really enjoyed reading about your trip and thoughts about choosing Christchurch, good luck with the application!:cheers

[Potato]

We're aware certain levels of crime exist (like everywhere), however we felt very comfortable strolling around the city at night.


But allegedly, it's "out of control"!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4516655a10.html