BkyMonster
14th October 2008, 02:59 PM
Dogs are finally here and we are happy to have them. The larger one was mad at us and wouldn't look at us when we got them at the airport to take them back to ChCh. He soon forgave us when we let him out of his carrier. :)
Pethaven was wonderful. I highly recommend them. Both dogs came back a bit skinnier but that is probably due to their eating habits conflicting with Pethaven's feeding habits. The larger one needed to lose a bit of weight and the smaller one only really picks at food throughout the day anyhow.
I have so much I want to talk about so I'll try to divide this into topics so I don't ramble too much ;)
The 3 big cities:
We thought we would end up in Welly but after going there really didn't care for it. We didn't like how it is laid out a bit like an octopus with a commute necessary to get between the major suburbs. We thought the cost of living would be too high just with the gas necessary to combat the wind and get around. We also had a really hard time finding internet access (though our hotel advertised it did not deliver. It was a dreadful motel in Lower Hutt/Petone. DePont.) and so though we were there for a week we weren't able to really job hunt at all. We ended up going to the Library in Porirura (really nice) every time we wanted to check the internet. We didn't think we would like Auckland but it grew on us. It was overwhelming at first but after going back a second time it isn't as big as it seems. Once you learn some major roads it isn't as bad to navigate as we first thought. I don't care as much for the weather and my husband developed some allergies as there is more pollen up there than in ChCh. So we ended up in Christchurch and we like it for the ease of getting around, there is so much conveinient shopping, and it is really pedestrian friendly compared to what we saw of the other cities. The bus system is great. I highly recommend using the bus and possibly even getting a metrocard (discounts the price of bus fare and automatically deducts from the card) even if you are on a visit. Unfortunately the buses were on strike in Welly when we were there so no way to compare. As for the ChCh smog/haze.... it doesn't hold a candle to what we used to see in Oregon or California. I'm sure it gets worse in fall when logburners start going, but it really isn't that bad. It is just worse than other places in NZ. So far we have only seen it from the tops of hills.
Housing:
We first stayed with some friends parents in Bucklands Beach. They are fairly well off and retired. The house was a little cold but not so bad. We then moved from motel to motel (the worst being the one in Welly, and we didn't see any in the Lower Hutt area that looked much better :no) and the best by far being the Arena in ChCh.
Once my OH had secured his job offer and work permit (more on that in a bit) we started looking for a place that would take our dogs. Harcourts was quite helpful and if we hadn't found a private landlord through HomeAds with cheaper houses that would allow dogs we would have gone with them.
We want to live as cheaply as possible so we can replenish our savings and buy a house. The low price from Harcourts for dog friendly houses was about 290/wk. This was a bit more than we had planned to spend but still doable. We found one place for 180/wk but it was a unit and shared walls, a yard and a laundry line. The layout was a bit questionable as well. The one we ended up with is 230/wk and a small house with a yard near a park. The house, however, is 100+ years old. This is good and bad. The good is that there is none of this modern room to room flow nonsense that can make heating difficult. There are distinct living areas and doors to keep the heat in each area. We live in the large kitchen which gets all day sun. If we are still here in winter we will probably move into the lounge with the log burner. The bad is that...well it is 100 years old. Things are a bit funky. wires go along the wall not through them and who knows about insulation if any. There isn't a foundation (which seems optional here in any case) and the floor slopes alarmingly in some areas.
We have Power manager power via merdian I think. It is neat as you can see what is sucking down the power and adjust accordingly. We have to take the card down to a bakery down the street to put more money on it, but i gather that Meridian also has an online viewing service for the power as well if you don't have a card. We hope to use about 80 a month.
Our oven uses 80c/hour. We bought a 5 fin oil heater---50c+ an hour! The water heater is a bit unavoidable at 30 something c per hour when it is heating. And def get energy efficient lightbulbs! We have a 100w outside and if we leave it on by accident it can suck down a dollar or two over night!
So to save power we are doing the following:
Not using the oven. The stovetop is fine as we only use up to 2 burners at a time. I plan on getting a slow cooker and already have a breadmaker. This is far more economical than using the oven.
No oil fin heater. we found a little blower type heater that is much cheaper to use.
We also invested in a warm mattress pad, a good duvet inner and a coverlet type blanket for under the duvet. Despite 0 and -1C temperatures a bit ago we were just fine in our unheated bedroom all night. it will probably get colder come winter but I think adding more blankets and warm pyjamas is a better and more economical option for us than heating the room or electric blankets.
Shopping:
Go to stores often if you need things. There are sales on all the time for ridiculous amounts off. $100 duvet cover for $20, 20-50% off is common on stuff. For food I recommend buying bulk of course. I loooove my local BinnInn. I'm so far getting my meat at Pak and Save (along with other assorted things) and vegetables/fruit from Raewards (which is a SI only chain I think?). I have yet to check out the Funky Pumpkin for veggies and The Mad Butcher for meat prices. Not super impressed with what I've seen in thrift like Salvation Army stores but have gotten some good deals off TradeMe. You do have to hunt a bit to get something below the average going rate on TM but it is possible. We did buy our computer chairs from a used/new furniture store for a good deal. Prices are exorbitant new! Some things are cheaper or about the same as what we are used to. For example, printers, computer peripherals. Other things are a lot more expensive, appliances especially microwaves and computer games.
I'm a little sad that finding black beans is a bit difficult. I found some at BinnInn but they were about $6 kg. I'm used to about 60c USD per pound.I guess that would be about 2.20 NZd per kg? ..but then beans like that are kind of a mexican product so it is understandable.
We are having a hard time finding anything decently spicy. I bought some pepper--spicy capsicum? seeds and am trying and kind of failing to grow them. Until then we have some Siracha sauce. The vegetables taste great. I can't get over this. veggies in the US are size over flavor and as such are somewhat nutritionally empty. Rice is a little harder to find...or I should say brown rice. My huband is miffed over the absence of Doritos corn chips but is making do with penguin flavored potato chips for now. Not penguin FLAVORED...but uh penguin brand flavored...
If you want something and don't like the price shop around. You will probably find it for cheaper somewhere else. Also each store in a chain kind of has its own stuff. Not all Warehouses/Briscoes etc have the same items so check around for that as well.
Dog kibble is expensive but dog rolls are cheap. Not sure how to manage a dog roll or how much to feed the dogs really. It kind of seems like its similar to canned food in the US but is denser and meatier with less...well juice. It looks like ground up pressed meat stuff. They like it fine and for now I am mixing. We have a local pet shop that sells dog meat and bones for fairly cheap so I may try that. I haven't yet had a look for things for them to chew so we will see.
....more below
Pethaven was wonderful. I highly recommend them. Both dogs came back a bit skinnier but that is probably due to their eating habits conflicting with Pethaven's feeding habits. The larger one needed to lose a bit of weight and the smaller one only really picks at food throughout the day anyhow.
I have so much I want to talk about so I'll try to divide this into topics so I don't ramble too much ;)
The 3 big cities:
We thought we would end up in Welly but after going there really didn't care for it. We didn't like how it is laid out a bit like an octopus with a commute necessary to get between the major suburbs. We thought the cost of living would be too high just with the gas necessary to combat the wind and get around. We also had a really hard time finding internet access (though our hotel advertised it did not deliver. It was a dreadful motel in Lower Hutt/Petone. DePont.) and so though we were there for a week we weren't able to really job hunt at all. We ended up going to the Library in Porirura (really nice) every time we wanted to check the internet. We didn't think we would like Auckland but it grew on us. It was overwhelming at first but after going back a second time it isn't as big as it seems. Once you learn some major roads it isn't as bad to navigate as we first thought. I don't care as much for the weather and my husband developed some allergies as there is more pollen up there than in ChCh. So we ended up in Christchurch and we like it for the ease of getting around, there is so much conveinient shopping, and it is really pedestrian friendly compared to what we saw of the other cities. The bus system is great. I highly recommend using the bus and possibly even getting a metrocard (discounts the price of bus fare and automatically deducts from the card) even if you are on a visit. Unfortunately the buses were on strike in Welly when we were there so no way to compare. As for the ChCh smog/haze.... it doesn't hold a candle to what we used to see in Oregon or California. I'm sure it gets worse in fall when logburners start going, but it really isn't that bad. It is just worse than other places in NZ. So far we have only seen it from the tops of hills.
Housing:
We first stayed with some friends parents in Bucklands Beach. They are fairly well off and retired. The house was a little cold but not so bad. We then moved from motel to motel (the worst being the one in Welly, and we didn't see any in the Lower Hutt area that looked much better :no) and the best by far being the Arena in ChCh.
Once my OH had secured his job offer and work permit (more on that in a bit) we started looking for a place that would take our dogs. Harcourts was quite helpful and if we hadn't found a private landlord through HomeAds with cheaper houses that would allow dogs we would have gone with them.
We want to live as cheaply as possible so we can replenish our savings and buy a house. The low price from Harcourts for dog friendly houses was about 290/wk. This was a bit more than we had planned to spend but still doable. We found one place for 180/wk but it was a unit and shared walls, a yard and a laundry line. The layout was a bit questionable as well. The one we ended up with is 230/wk and a small house with a yard near a park. The house, however, is 100+ years old. This is good and bad. The good is that there is none of this modern room to room flow nonsense that can make heating difficult. There are distinct living areas and doors to keep the heat in each area. We live in the large kitchen which gets all day sun. If we are still here in winter we will probably move into the lounge with the log burner. The bad is that...well it is 100 years old. Things are a bit funky. wires go along the wall not through them and who knows about insulation if any. There isn't a foundation (which seems optional here in any case) and the floor slopes alarmingly in some areas.
We have Power manager power via merdian I think. It is neat as you can see what is sucking down the power and adjust accordingly. We have to take the card down to a bakery down the street to put more money on it, but i gather that Meridian also has an online viewing service for the power as well if you don't have a card. We hope to use about 80 a month.
Our oven uses 80c/hour. We bought a 5 fin oil heater---50c+ an hour! The water heater is a bit unavoidable at 30 something c per hour when it is heating. And def get energy efficient lightbulbs! We have a 100w outside and if we leave it on by accident it can suck down a dollar or two over night!
So to save power we are doing the following:
Not using the oven. The stovetop is fine as we only use up to 2 burners at a time. I plan on getting a slow cooker and already have a breadmaker. This is far more economical than using the oven.
No oil fin heater. we found a little blower type heater that is much cheaper to use.
We also invested in a warm mattress pad, a good duvet inner and a coverlet type blanket for under the duvet. Despite 0 and -1C temperatures a bit ago we were just fine in our unheated bedroom all night. it will probably get colder come winter but I think adding more blankets and warm pyjamas is a better and more economical option for us than heating the room or electric blankets.
Shopping:
Go to stores often if you need things. There are sales on all the time for ridiculous amounts off. $100 duvet cover for $20, 20-50% off is common on stuff. For food I recommend buying bulk of course. I loooove my local BinnInn. I'm so far getting my meat at Pak and Save (along with other assorted things) and vegetables/fruit from Raewards (which is a SI only chain I think?). I have yet to check out the Funky Pumpkin for veggies and The Mad Butcher for meat prices. Not super impressed with what I've seen in thrift like Salvation Army stores but have gotten some good deals off TradeMe. You do have to hunt a bit to get something below the average going rate on TM but it is possible. We did buy our computer chairs from a used/new furniture store for a good deal. Prices are exorbitant new! Some things are cheaper or about the same as what we are used to. For example, printers, computer peripherals. Other things are a lot more expensive, appliances especially microwaves and computer games.
I'm a little sad that finding black beans is a bit difficult. I found some at BinnInn but they were about $6 kg. I'm used to about 60c USD per pound.I guess that would be about 2.20 NZd per kg? ..but then beans like that are kind of a mexican product so it is understandable.
We are having a hard time finding anything decently spicy. I bought some pepper--spicy capsicum? seeds and am trying and kind of failing to grow them. Until then we have some Siracha sauce. The vegetables taste great. I can't get over this. veggies in the US are size over flavor and as such are somewhat nutritionally empty. Rice is a little harder to find...or I should say brown rice. My huband is miffed over the absence of Doritos corn chips but is making do with penguin flavored potato chips for now. Not penguin FLAVORED...but uh penguin brand flavored...
If you want something and don't like the price shop around. You will probably find it for cheaper somewhere else. Also each store in a chain kind of has its own stuff. Not all Warehouses/Briscoes etc have the same items so check around for that as well.
Dog kibble is expensive but dog rolls are cheap. Not sure how to manage a dog roll or how much to feed the dogs really. It kind of seems like its similar to canned food in the US but is denser and meatier with less...well juice. It looks like ground up pressed meat stuff. They like it fine and for now I am mixing. We have a local pet shop that sells dog meat and bones for fairly cheap so I may try that. I haven't yet had a look for things for them to chew so we will see.
....more below