[smitjo]

Not sure if this sounds ridiculous or not? At the moment our plan is to move to Welly early Oct (never visited the Country before) and then look for somewhere to rent once we get there. We like the look of the Wairarapa area. How difficult is it to find place to rent in that area - got a chocolate lab who will also be joining us once we have found a place to rent!

Any good motels/hotels that you can recommend in the area for us to stay in whilst looking for place to rent?

Sorry about all the questions - I'm new to the forum!

[john & becky]

Which bit did you expect people would find ridiculous? lol

If it puts your mind at rest we are in exactly the same boat. Never been before, want to move out there. No job, no house, no real idea of which area to live.
Sound familiar?

From the various posts i have read on here and from asking these lovely people for the benefit of their experience we have sort of settled on Wairarapa too, maybe Featherston, Masterton sort of area. As i understand it, and i am by no means an expert, it is pretty easy to find rental and the landlords are pretty keen to have you move in within the week. The only other thing to consider is that they will want a deposit(bond) and rent in advance so you will need to have about $1500 to start with, although the less time you spend in a hotel, the better off you will be.

[smitjo]

Sounds very familiar!!!!
It is really great to know that so many other people are in the same boat!
We are also looking at the Featherston and Masterton areas. Look really lovely, affordable housing and most importantly the chance to afford a place with land so that I can get a horse again!
When are you looking at moving over?

[john & becky]

Tomorrow!

No, really i have a business here which will need sorting out and we haven't applied for PR yet. We have been discussing whether to take a holiday later in the year but Becky doesn't want to wait till xmas holidays (we have 2 kids) and before then it will be winter out there. Would love to just drop everything but we are caught in 2 minds whether to spend the money on PR, take a holiday and then decide or whether to just jump with both feet, saving the money a holiday would cost and putting it towards a house!. We also have a horse and a dog (prob only dog would come-t is about £4000 to have the horse transported) and seem to have the same itinerary you do, reasonable house, poss mortgage free, paddock, pool etc.
Sounds lovely eh? if only it were that easy!!
Where in uk are you?

[john & becky]

Sorry, just remembered your other post, Newark eh?

If you are interested there is a south east meet up on 5th March at Thurrock (on M25). would only take you an hour and a half to get there, might be worth coming for a chat?

[smitjo]

That sounds like a great idea!
What happens at the South East meet up?!!

[john & becky]

No idea, this is our 1st one aswell!
I think it will be nice to just go, make some friends and have a chat about what we all expect, want, need from our potential life change. There will be people there who have more experience of the process than we do so i am looking forward to some honest appraisals of how life is.
There is a thread on "emigrate NZ community" in the forum which is about meet ups, you will be able to add your name to the list there, don't be shy, there is about 15? on the list at the mo.

[kiwidebs]

What happens at the South East meet up?!!

We've had two so far. We go to a child friendly pub, chat about NZ, moving, emigration, kids, life......have a drink or two (depending on who's driving) and just basically enjoy being able to talk about our plans with people who understand and who don't glaze over as soon as you mention NZ (again!! :laugh ). It's also nice to know you'll know people on 'the other side'.

Debs

[katandbob]

QUOTE:
( is about £4000 to have the horse transported) UNQUOTE....ooh do tell who quoted that price, cheapest we had was £7,400 and that was earlier last year.


Tomorrow!

No, really i have a business here which will need sorting out and we haven't applied for PR yet. We have been discussing whether to take a holiday later in the year but Becky doesn't want to wait till xmas holidays (we have 2 kids) and before then it will be winter out there. Would love to just drop everything but we are caught in 2 minds whether to spend the money on PR, take a holiday and then decide or whether to just jump with both feet, saving the money a holiday would cost and putting it towards a house!. We also have a horse and a dog (prob only dog would come-t is about £4000 to have the horse transported) and seem to have the same itinerary you do, reasonable house, poss mortgage free, paddock, pool etc.
Sounds lovely eh? if only it were that easy!!
Where in uk are you?

[john & becky]

sorry to get your pulse racing but i read it on a thread here, i haven't actually checked myself. we only paid £1500 for the horse so it wouldn't be worth doing for either £4k or 7k for us.

[smitjo]

I have to say that when you said that it was £4000 to take a horse over to NZ it did cross my mind that I may just do that! However my husband put a stopt to that idea!!!! So if it is more that £4000 - good - I won't let it enter my mind again!!

[john & becky]

better just buy one when you get there!! :laugh

[Avalon]

Nothing about horses Im afraid - but reniting shouldnt be too much of an issue unless you want an apartment in the city - but then any dog in the city doesnt sound like a good idea to me.

We DID have a problem finding somewhere - but thats because we arrived in Januaray - when all the students are apparently lloking for flats - so there are lots of tenants and not many flats left. Otherwise there always seems to be plenty of choice.

Welly or the Wairarapa - good choice Imho!

[katandbob]

Yep the cost is astronomical, to ship a horse over, but when you see the type of care and the vet fees involve you can see how the cost get high, but this sort of travel is usually for top class horses that participate in international events and the horses can be worth thousands if not millions!

And as the horse that I ride is techically my daughters hes staying here, but she'd pay it to get him over as hes more than just her eventer, hes her baby {her first before she had cole :laugh}

But when she is finally ready to follow us to NZ, she will see if he will survive the trip as its a stressful journey and she may end up retiring him to a person who she will trust to look after him for the rest of his days.

then theres the cat....do we leave him here settled with my inlaws or fly him over with the kids in September! oh the decisions never stop do they!

Kat