clg
25th September 2005, 10:25 AM
I thought I would post an update to our arrival in Wellington. We have been here about 5 weeks now; we moved from Los Angeles. So far, fair to say we are loving it. When you get to the point where the movers come, the house is sold, the goodbyes start… it is very difficult, but things started getting better once we got on the plane.
I had a job lined up and they arranged for housing so arriving was easy. Our initial focus was on just finding a place to live. We had looked at neighborhoods on our last trip here so we had a sense of what we were looking for. Despite telling ourselves we would rent first (how many people say that?) we started looking for homes right away. I really liked the first house we saw and after looking at another dozen we made an offer on the first one. 3 weeks after we arrived, we moved into our new house in Khandallah. Two weeks after moving in, our newly installed central heat was working. Houses here are cold - you can survive it but there are some things I am not willing to give up. It cost us about 16k (with GST) for a diesel powered radiant heat system; gas ducted costs less but that would not have worked in our house. Our house is 250 sqm or 2700 sqft.
A few comments/observations from a Californian’s perspective.
Houses here are very similar to what I am used to in LA in terms of types of construction. Style is different, but the basic techniques are the same. Our house was built in the 70’s and has insulation in the walls.
Prices here for food in NZ$ is about the same as what I would pay for things in US$ on average at a grocery store. Trader Joe’s prices were better. Quality of food is better than the typical grocery store in LA about on par with TJ’s. Milk tastes better here. Eggs are better. Vegetarians are out of luck, though- no Boca burgers or Morningstar Farms. In fact, hardly any veggie products at all.
We drive a lot less here. I take the train and we will probably end up buying gas only every 3-4 weeks unless we go on a trip.
Prices for furniture are not that bad, selection is better than I thought it would be too. We bought a Tempur Pedic mattress for less than it would have cost us in LA, 4,000 NZ$ vs about 3,000 US + tax for the same mattress.
Electronics are about 20% cheaper in the US. When you do buy things here, furniture or electronics - negotiate. We got prices down 15% from marked price, on average.
Toys here are really expensive as are books and CDs/DVDs, but with Toy libraries and very good libraries we will buy less of these things than we did in the past.
On banking, we are using National Bank NZ (owned by ANZ). They have been superb about currency transfers. They are giving us a great exchange rate, but I had to ask for it. The default rate is not good.
Get letters from you insurance companies saying you have no claims; that will save you a lot on insurance here.
All in all, I have to say it has not been that big of an adjustment in some ways. We can get most of the food we are used to, language is the same, lots of American TV. We really love the city and it is great to be so close, but feel like we live in a more mountainous setting. Even though we don’t have our furniture yet (our container is supposed to arrive today, though) our house is feeling like home. We set up a Vonage phone, so calling the states is easy to do and it is easy for people to call us.
I think the big outstanding issue for us is that we need to start meeting people. We have met some, but most of our time here has been spent just getting settled.
Think that is about it. We are really happy to be here and at least at this point feeling like we made the right decision. I know we have to expect culture shock, but I have spoken to some other migrants that did not really go through that much of it. NZ is still the first world. I can see how it would be very hard financially if you did not have much cash when you came over here. I do know someone like that who came with very little, and she struggled for a bit, but after a few years she is doing better. She had a tough first year, but seems quite happy now.
Good luck to all of you going through this process. In our case, we are glad we did!
We are going to have a housewarming party in a few weeks once we are unpacked. If anyone would like to come by, PM me! We’d love to meet you.
Chris
I had a job lined up and they arranged for housing so arriving was easy. Our initial focus was on just finding a place to live. We had looked at neighborhoods on our last trip here so we had a sense of what we were looking for. Despite telling ourselves we would rent first (how many people say that?) we started looking for homes right away. I really liked the first house we saw and after looking at another dozen we made an offer on the first one. 3 weeks after we arrived, we moved into our new house in Khandallah. Two weeks after moving in, our newly installed central heat was working. Houses here are cold - you can survive it but there are some things I am not willing to give up. It cost us about 16k (with GST) for a diesel powered radiant heat system; gas ducted costs less but that would not have worked in our house. Our house is 250 sqm or 2700 sqft.
A few comments/observations from a Californian’s perspective.
Houses here are very similar to what I am used to in LA in terms of types of construction. Style is different, but the basic techniques are the same. Our house was built in the 70’s and has insulation in the walls.
Prices here for food in NZ$ is about the same as what I would pay for things in US$ on average at a grocery store. Trader Joe’s prices were better. Quality of food is better than the typical grocery store in LA about on par with TJ’s. Milk tastes better here. Eggs are better. Vegetarians are out of luck, though- no Boca burgers or Morningstar Farms. In fact, hardly any veggie products at all.
We drive a lot less here. I take the train and we will probably end up buying gas only every 3-4 weeks unless we go on a trip.
Prices for furniture are not that bad, selection is better than I thought it would be too. We bought a Tempur Pedic mattress for less than it would have cost us in LA, 4,000 NZ$ vs about 3,000 US + tax for the same mattress.
Electronics are about 20% cheaper in the US. When you do buy things here, furniture or electronics - negotiate. We got prices down 15% from marked price, on average.
Toys here are really expensive as are books and CDs/DVDs, but with Toy libraries and very good libraries we will buy less of these things than we did in the past.
On banking, we are using National Bank NZ (owned by ANZ). They have been superb about currency transfers. They are giving us a great exchange rate, but I had to ask for it. The default rate is not good.
Get letters from you insurance companies saying you have no claims; that will save you a lot on insurance here.
All in all, I have to say it has not been that big of an adjustment in some ways. We can get most of the food we are used to, language is the same, lots of American TV. We really love the city and it is great to be so close, but feel like we live in a more mountainous setting. Even though we don’t have our furniture yet (our container is supposed to arrive today, though) our house is feeling like home. We set up a Vonage phone, so calling the states is easy to do and it is easy for people to call us.
I think the big outstanding issue for us is that we need to start meeting people. We have met some, but most of our time here has been spent just getting settled.
Think that is about it. We are really happy to be here and at least at this point feeling like we made the right decision. I know we have to expect culture shock, but I have spoken to some other migrants that did not really go through that much of it. NZ is still the first world. I can see how it would be very hard financially if you did not have much cash when you came over here. I do know someone like that who came with very little, and she struggled for a bit, but after a few years she is doing better. She had a tough first year, but seems quite happy now.
Good luck to all of you going through this process. In our case, we are glad we did!
We are going to have a housewarming party in a few weeks once we are unpacked. If anyone would like to come by, PM me! We’d love to meet you.
Chris