[edsinclair]

Hello,

I want to thank all of you for the incredibly helpful information you've posted on this forum. We have been reading the forum for over a year and I'm sorry that we have never properly introduced ourselves.

My husband is an options trader and a massag therapist at The Four Seasons Resort here on Maui . I have had various careers, mostly in business & sales. For the last 2 years I've been home-schooling my daughter (15) and son (9) as well as running our business.

We took a wonderful tour of NZ in Jan. & Feb. 2006 and visited friends on the North & South Islands. I will post some pictures and notes on our experiences on another thread. I must say...all the posts I've read on the forum really prepared us for what to expect in NZ. I felt right at home in NZ...very comfortable.

We loved Christchurch and decided that it would best suit our needs.

Our kids had been attending a Waldorf private school here on Maui. In NZ Waldorf schools are known as Steiners schools. They have a lovely Steiner school in Opawa, ChCh that goes all the way from k-12...so we have decided to look for a house to rent near Opawa...within walking distance of the school.

Tonight, when I get home I will post about our 7 week trip to NZ and hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures posted as well.

I'm really impressed by and grateful for the generous & helpful people on this forum. I hope that I can contribute some helpful posts as well.

[Moorf]

The family from whom we bought our previous house sent both their girls to the Steiner school in Opawa and the reason they sold up was to move nearer the school - they spent over 6 months in a rental elsewhere in Chch as finding a rental or purchase in Opawa proved difficult. Just something to bear in mind - apparently it is because of the popularity of the school that makes local housing difficult to find.

[edsinclair]

Well, I guess that says a lot for the school!

Yes, I noticed in the real estate ads that there aren't a lot of listings for that area around Opawa.

I remember others on the forum saying that one should really be careful what neighborhood you move into. We only saw ChCh for a few days and only saw a few neighborhoods. They all looked nice in appearance.

Are there any neighborhoods in ChCh that you would advise us to avoid?

We don't want any unpleasant surprises...like finding out at 2:00 am that there is a drag racing strip nearby. I think you called them "hoons" or "boy racers".
Do you know which parts of town are likely to see this type of activity?