[MaryM]

Hi to everyone.
This site has been my bible for the last 12 months so I feel a bit shy about actually posting something on it!
Anyway, we are a family of 6 - myself, my husband and 4 very young children (5, 4, 2 and 2 months!) and we have just got our visas under the skilled migrant category. We have to take the leap now and book our one-way tickets!
Our plan is to travel straight after Christmas 08 and, hopefully, arrive in time to get the eldest into school for the start of term.
Because of the number and age of the children it has not been possible to make a recce trip so we have to plan as best we can from Ireland. Our initial destination was to live close to Christchurch but we have now decided we might prefer somewhere near Nelson - basically the weather and the smaller city appeals to us. There seems to be lots of info on these forums about Christchurch (which is good as it is still an option) but not so much on Nelson. It looks like a lovely area - can anyone tell me what it is like to live there and will it be difficult to get work? My husband is in construction and I am an IT head but would be willing to try my hand at pretty much anything that paid a reasonably wage.
Finally, if we pay the exorbitant fees to bring the 2 dogs with us do you think we could find a decent house to rent that would allow them too?
That is it for now - thanks in advance for any help!
Mary

[Leanne]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your visas!!!
:raebanana:raebanana:raebanana

[nippa&pippa]

Welcome to forum :cheers

Can't help on Nelson, sure others will...if you ever change your mind on Christchurch, we are here to help :yes especially most of us including myself got young children.

EDIT: oops, congratulations from us by the way :laugh:raebanana

[migratory birds]

CONGRATULATIONS on your visas!! :raebanana:raebanana:raebanana Glad you came forward with your questions!

Don't live in Nelson (have only driven thru on our way further northwest to Golden Bay) but...don't imagine construction work would be at all difficult to obtain as the Nelson area is growing and depending on his specialty and skill, he'll likely be fine.

IT work will definitely be more limited there than in ChCh but there would certainly be SOME need for an IT specialist - within schools, hospital, businesses, governmental offices...

It'll certainly be trickier finding housing with 2 dogs but I'm sure it can be done with a bit of effort or luck.

Best to you all in your preparations!

[JandM]

Congratulations, and glad you're talking to us!:) (Hope you have a go at bringing your 4-legged family.)

[slider]

Hello, and welcome to the forum :)
Congratulations on obtaining the visas :raebanana:raebanana

[Kiwi-In-Texas]

Hello and welcome...Congratulations on obtaining your visas.


Cheers,


Suzanne.

[peebles16]

Congrats and welcome along for the ride from us too :)

Karen

[dusk]

hello and congratulations :D

[Red Devil]

Fantastic news, bet you're really excited... best of luck :cheers

Christchurch ticks all the right boxes for us and is also our focus of attention for settling. It's interesting you mention Nelson though, as on face value it has a lot of potential for future development and appealed to us whilst staying in the area in April... the climates good too :cool:

Keep us posted how you get on :nice1

[janrzm]

Hi & Welcome

Can't really offer any info regarding Nelson other than we stayed around there for 4 nights earlier this year and decided that it wasn't for us. The rest of our search was based in the North Island.

I also have 4 kids, bit older than yours now but all born within 4 years of each other, so good luck!!
We are planning to move at the same time aswell.

[thewoodies]

Congratulations :raebanana- we are also heading out at the same time as you - havnt been before - but will head to Auckland to start with as schools are good on the North Shore and our one and only friend in NZ lives there.!!!!!! My other half is a computer electronics engineer - loads of work near Christchurch and Auckland in his field so we may head that way too if need be! We are family of 5 - 2 small ones. Schools are rated by decile 10 being the best 1 being the worst. i hope this helps:cheers

[dilanium]

Hello and congratulations!!! :)

[jackie m]

Hi & welcome to the forum

Jackie

[MaryM]

Thanks for all the support. Will keep ye posted.
Hope the broadband in NZ is better than here - I haven't been able to access the web since Monday so I am now logging on via the phone line for a quick browse!
Mary

[tea drinker]

hello and welcome
glad that you got over your shyness and have entered into the world of posting:yes
great news about your visas:cheers

[IanW99]

...
Schools are rated by decile 10 being the best 1 being the worst. i hope this helps:cheers

But the best what!!! Please don't take a decile rating as a measure of how good a school is academically or how suitable it will be for your children.

Ian

[M-Squared]

Welcome to the site! IT huh?...... hmm, I'd most definitely head for one of the bigger cities. Wellington ticks all our boxes, big place (obviously) for government departments.

But the best what!!! Please don't take a decile rating as a measure of how good a school is academically or how suitable it will be for your children.

Ian

Very true. The rating is based on the socio-economic rating of the surrounding area. So poorer areas might have an influence on a school, bringing the rating down. We're in a newish, affluent area, with another affluent area right next to us, but several poorer areas around us. The local college (14-18 year) has a decile rating of 2.

[IanW99]

...
Very true. The rating is based on the socio-economic rating of the surrounding area. So poorer areas might have an influence on a school, bringing the rating down. We're in a newish, affluent area, with another affluent area right next to us, but several poorer areas around us. The local college (14-18 year) has a decile rating of 2.

Most of the schools in Wellington have recently been re-graded, are you sure that it's still 2, most have gone up due to newer houses being built around them?

One thing to note is that higher decile rating mean less government funding and thus more parent donations (higher fees) than lower decile rating schools.

Ian

[M-Squared]

Most of the schools in Wellington have recently been re-graded, are you sure that it's still 2, most have gone up due to newer houses being built around them?

One thing to note is that higher decile rating mean less government funding and thus more parent donations (higher fees) than lower decile rating schools.

Ian

Actually it was 3 right before we moved here, so it's gone down. Mind you... our area isn't selling well, apparently (I've not counted ;) ) there are 70 houses for sale. :eek:

I need to check up on the # of houses for sale, but the decile is definitely either 2 or 3.

[SharpBlade]

hi Mary,
We moved from county Mayo to Chch in 2006. I really like Irish people but this was a good move. Schools are fantastic, and the weather is far far better.
good luck
Laura