[Janey]

Brilliant is what I can say everything we expected and wished for and more! yes the pictures on the web are what you see and even better!

We flew with Air New Zealand via Hong and had excellant service and food, on arriving in Auckland we could not believe how clean the airport and surrounding areas are it puts Heathrow to shame, having transferred to the domestic terminal we then boarded an internal flight to Wellington for the 45 mins we had free! snacks and drinks and a lovely smooth ride.

First impressions were everything Airport good, clean, efficient hire car sorted and completed in under 1 hour.
We drove from the Arport to Lower Hutt where our Bach was which was lovely and provided an excellant base (Fern Cottage, Belmont, Lower Hutt). The couple are well use to Brits and others staying and had provided for every need, reading the visitor book they have been used for many a new resident before their stuff arrives and I can well recommend them.

Our second day (Sunday) we visted several open homes in the areas we wanted to look at this was intrsting to see the various styles, sizes and prices and we narrowed down areas we preferred to do further research.
I had some prelimary meetings with Agencies on Monday so we decided to catch a train in rush hour from the furthest point we liked (Silverstream) to see how long it took, again we were well impressed with the service and cleanless while I was visiting agencies OH and my son visited Te Papa and had a whale of a time I not heard the last of it thats for sure! Central CBD was beautiful we took the cable car up to the botanical gardens for the view and had coffee etc. It was so pleasant not to choke on vehicle fumes (the many buses run on tram lines) the city was quite weasy to move around and when it rained virtually every main street had covered walkways so you did not need an umbrella or were bashed by one!

more to follow

[BigRod]

... and when it rained virtually every main street had covered walkways so you did not need an umbrella or were bashed by one!Erm .... the lack of brolleys has more to do with the wind than covered walkways:)

After all we play 'Spot the tourist' by looking for the brollies in winter :exit

Glad you are having a good time, and I hope the foul weather hasn't dampened your trip. If you have your own transport I can recommend a trip over the Rimutakas into the Wairarapa, and a trip over to Kapiti followed by sunset on Titahi Bay. Also worth a trip up Mount Victoria to the vantage point for a brill scenic view across Welly.

HTH

Rod

[Janey]

Tuesday: we visited a school today, our son who is 7 would be in year 3 (yr 2 UK) it was intresting to learn they did PE every day, children were expected to measure their own achievement against goals set out, reading seemed more advanced than his current school (Children his age were reading in class to themselves Harry Potter this is far above what our son is doing who has a reading age 2 yrs above his age in the uk) also we were told in both schools visited that classes are not streamed and although there are various tests throughout school life they teach more skilss for life than how to pass the next exam you are going to take. This is refreshing to us as the week prior our son sat his first SATS and was quite stressed about them.

The other school we visited did PE twice aday and also a jogging session with parents before school. Perhaps I need to get my fitness levels up before going out!

On Wednesday pm we caught the train in to go to the Theatre to see CATS living in rural Cornwall this is a luxury and one we intend to do more often when we get out there. We also in the week went ten pin bowling and visted various restaurants etc.

We limited ourseleves to a week as a fact finding mission on how suitable our life would be in Wellington. We were not disappointed in this, the final day after having an interview for a potential job we drove up the Kapiti coast which was beautiful, we also visited Kairoke Park and Belmont park having a dog it was very important for us to see where we could go for longer walks and we were not disappointed in this.

Petrol is now about 80p per litre ($2) what was interesing like the rest of the world everybodty was concerned but there were no price wars between garages every garage was the same price so you do not drive around trying to find the cheapest.

We visited Johnsonville and Poiriua Malls and found them both pleasant and not overly large if you want Malls like Lakeside and Blue water you will be disappointed again living in Cornwall where the nearest M & S is 25miles away and we are limited on the range of stores this set up we were used to and suited us fine.

We toook our son to Maidstone park in Upper Hutt to release some energy this again was clean, we saw no graffiti and children of various age groups were happy playing along side, there seemed no gangs hanging around looking bored and causing trouble. This park catered for all ages and was certainly fun for our little one.

The weather we had was mixed although on the sunny days it was warm for those in the North of the UK you will find it warm those in the south & south west will only find it marginally so. The difference however was noticed at night when the sun dropped and being in a bach you did notice the cold blankets were dragged out to snuggle under watching TV and heaters on full blast.

TV um! I can see what you mean from the comments on this forum previously. Our son was overjoyed to find Ben 10 on there repaeats of UK programmes and US could make you give up. Two points though the weather forecasts are very detailed and seem to be accurate. (National Weather in the UK never ever gets SW weather right!) The news is a good mixture but does not appear to be all doom and gloom like in the UK we seem to revel on bad news it semmed to be more detailed and personal which is not suprising considering the size of the population

My overall opinion is I can not wait to return coming back on a high has not led to depression as we have had no new viewings and after 8 months on the market see no end especially with the constant media reporting of the Credit Crunch! The UK could learn a lot from NZ way of life in every way.

I currently work in the NHS in Finance one of the interviews I had was working for a DHB in Wellington the intervieer was from the UK and said one of the major differences is in the UK if your GP thinks it might be beneficial for you to have an operation you get put on the watining list and wait, this does not happen in NZ you are referred then it is considered how ill you are it it might be only beneficial you will be sent away again, should the condition deteriate you are referred again but to again the operation you need to reach a certain level of pain/condtion and only then will you be put on the waiting list I can see why lots of people have private healthcare!

[Red Devil]

Pleased to hear all went well... good luck with the house sale, we're in the same boat too :roll

[joeandsacha]

Thanks Janey for that very informative post.

We're moving to Wellington in a few weeks, so I found your information useful. We're looking forward to going to some open homes up the Kapiti Coast - the ones we've seen online look amazing!

[Janey]

Hiya
good luck in your move you will not be disappointed!

[slider]

You seem to have crammed a lot into your recce week. Well done. :nice1
Good luck with the house sale

[dusk]

glad it went well janey. good luck with the house stuff *crosses fingers*

[BaldyBeardyBloke]

Glad you have a positive experience. Good luck with the next stages.

[doowrehsij]

Hi Janey,

Thanks for the info - good luck!

[Alan]

Janey glad you found it as great as I did. With the TV weather did you like the way they tell you what the weather has been like rather than trying to predict it.....excellent!

[Janey]

HI ALan
thanks
yes it was good wasn't it Thanks everyone else for your comments just need the house sale now

[M-Squared]

We're looking forward to going to some open homes up the Kapiti Coast - the ones we've seen online look amazing!

Although prices are dropping, you'll need the money you would otherwise spend on a house, to put in proper insulation, a heat pump (or similar) and, if possible, double-glazing.

We lucked out with our house, but they're still building brand new houses all around us without those 3 essentials. :mad:

[M-Squared]

Great update! Hey Rod, I have an umbrella, but I do look at the wind forecast before I bother taking it with me. :laugh I have one of those leather cowboy hats that you can tighten up under the chin, so often that does just as well (actually, usually better) in the rain. :nice1 Worse for me is wearing a skirt in the wind here. :laugh I usually flash a few people a week if I'm really unlucky (them too!).

[Red Devil]

... sounds like scenes of Marilyn Monroe :D