[psh12001]

If we can help with any aspect, just ask. We have been here 3 years now and can offer help to anyone who needs it.

cheers

Paul , Lisa and kids

Ex -Manchester,UK

[JJG]

Can you buy my house so I can get to Christchurch ASAP :clap
Where abouts in Manchester were you from. I used to live in Urmston.

Jonathan

[psh12001]

Mossley, Ashton-u-lyne. When r u hoping to get here and are you coming to christchurch? . Let me know who is coming and what you intend to do when you get here. chat soon

Paul Lisa and tribe

[JJG]

We were supposed to have been there in January.
Cant sell the house, therefore cant afford the move.
Yeah I have a job offer in Christchurch and fortunately they are very patient.
Its nice to feel wanted for a change.
Just need a bit of luck and the 4 of us will be there.

Jonathan

[carina]

Hi
:)
Christchurch is the place where we'd like to be, I just wondered if you could tell me if there is much "heavy plant" in that area. We run our own heavy plant engineering company over here in the UK. My husband - Karl is going to come over to NZ to see if it could set up the business over there. I have been researching areas, and like the look of Christchurch. Is there much industry of this kind in that area ? Basically he mends large hydraulic machines used in all kinds of factories, and heavy earthmoving vehicles, also he could mend boats and farm machinery.

Hope you are enjoying you new life in NZ and look forward to hearing from you if you can help?

Thanks very much :nice1

Carina

[K&CS]

Hi
Whereabouts in Chch are you? We've been in Sumner for a couple of months now and really loving it.
Kate

[H & Rick]

Hello Paul & Lisa

Christchurch is one of the areas we have been looking at but we are not sure about our job prospects.

I currently work in Social Housing in the UK. So far I have only seen a website for the NZ Housing Corporation, but they don't seem to have much of a presence in the South Island. Do you know of any other similar industries in Christchurch?

My partner is an Electronic Engineer. We recently read in a Live and Work in New Zealand book that the Canterbury area is an important centre for electronic, telecommunications and software development.
So far we have not been able to find much information on this either.

Everything seems to be in the North but the South looks the best to us... :roll

Heidi

[craddweb]

We are coming to Christchurch, in just three weeks in fact! :raebanana

This is our first visit to ChCh and we are here to hopefully secure jobs and accomodation before we arrive on 2nd August with our three children, two cats and a container of stuff!!!!

Would love to get together in mid-June if you're about?! :cheers

AND, anyone needing or knows someone who needs an IT Network Manager, looking after 50+ pcs, please point them in our direction! I know a man who can!

We are surrounded by boxes and lists at the moment and we are looking forward to the open space!!

See you in ChCH!

Debbie and Brett and co!

[Moorf]

Just addressing a couple of I.T comments above - have you guys been to the Canterbury Software Cluster site. My hubby is in I.T and found many contacts and job opportunities by word of mouth via this site, and also made many connections... worth a look, if you haven't already.

http://www.canterburysoftware.org.nz/Home

[psh12001]

good luck with the selling, we too were inthat boat and just ended up coming over and renting here till ours sold, but it was a bit scary after 6 months and it was still on the market, but we had paid off a years mortgage so we were ok till then, anyway it sold after 8 months, so we were able to buy our own here... and its been great since then. when do you intend to get here then and how old are your kids etc. what work do you do?

[psh12001]

Hiya Carina, heavy plant is all over, but mainly in form of farm machines. They dont seem to have quarries here, but usual roading type heary stuff.There are heaps of farm type businesses etc. Most heavy industry is located over the hornby and Sockburn areas of town. Loads of truck companies etc are all based over that south west area of christchurch. There are also loads of hire compaines and boat companies that sell and make boats. Some compaines i know of that do have hydrollic type stuff are Scope industries that make freezers and heaters etc. Hope this helps.
If we can be of any further assistanse , just ask

[psh12001]

To K & CS, We are over in Kaiapoi area. Hope your enjoying the sumner area of town. Its nice over there, except for the drive into the city..but i love the sea views over there! keep in touch with how your doing and if you get over this side of town, give us a call on kaiapoi 2127 and pop in to see us, for a tea or coffee!

[psh12001]

to H & Rick,

Housing NZ, do have offices in christchurch and there are quite a few socal housing estates dotted about , but i think most of the work HNZ do is arranged from Welly. I have a good friend who worked for them and he worked all over south island. Socal housing is no where near the same scale as in Uk.( which I think is good)
Regarding the electronics stuff, i couldnt really comment about that...i dont know the answer..

[Moorf]

There's a couple of quarries and haulage places around our way which is Darfield/Oxford/Sheffield (mainly gravel pits tbh) and there's a huge, now-unused one at Halswell (now a good picnic place!) it's a stone quarry, the stone from which was used to construct many of the old buildings in Chch - but as psh says, lots of heavy machinery places around the Sockburn / Hornby way too. :nice1

Frews are quite a large transport/haulage firm in our area and I believe they have offices etc in Rangiora and Oxford.

[JJG]

good luck with the selling, we too were in that boat and just ended up coming over and renting here till ours sold, but it was a bit scary after 6 months and it was still on the market, but we had paid off a years mortgage so we were ok till then, anyway it sold after 8 months, so we were able to buy our own here... and its been great since then. when do you intend to get here then and how old are your kids etc. what work do you do?

We looked in to renting, but it wasn't feasible unfortunately. I am predominately a structural draughtsman but also team leader/IT manager with a job offer on Kilmore st. They will sort the visa out once we have sold (they reckon within 6 weeks). The 2 wallies are 3 and 7.
What do you do out there? How are you finding Kaiapoi?

[westi]

Hi. We're hoping to move to ChCh this year after 5 years in West Auckland.
We don't know much about best areas to live but would like to live within a 30 minute of the city.
I'm a bit concerned that we won't find a decent rental that allows a dog ( or 2 ) but hopefully we'll find something as we don't want to rush to buy.
It will be nice to enjoy a few months of no D.I.Y and having weekends to do what we like !
Does anyone know much about high school in ChCh ? We'll be moving with our son who will be starting yr 12 there next Feb.

[psh12001]

I am a builder by trade(carpenter) but i am MCIOB qualified and currently work for ccc as a building consent officer. Kaiapoi is a lovely community based river town with nice shops, riverwalks , only 4 km from sea, good schools and is far more rural than chch. We love kaiapoi and so do lots of other UK families, as its cheaper than most areas in chch and has everything we need.
Hope you get it all sorted soon, we will have been here 3 years next month and have enjoyed it so far...looks like the longhaul for us now..

[carina]

Hi psh12001 & Moorf
:yes
Thanks very much for the info about heavy plant etc. I have just found the Hornby online website, and found lists of business etc, but can you tell me is Hornby a nice place to live ? and roughly how far away is it from the beach ? It looks ok on the website but then they can always make somewhere look nice can't they! There certainly seems to be a lot of the right kind of companies around there that we are looking for. Thanks ever so much for your trouble.

cheer :nice1
Carina

[JJG]

We passed through Kaiapoi last year, had lunch at the subway there.
We had a bit of drive around and quite liked the place. How long does it take to get into Chc in the morning rush.
To be honest at the moment we are hoping to be able to afford a sea view, but that may change once we get there.

[tonyb]

hi

im coming over (from the uk) to settle in Christchurch. I too am looking at Kaiapoi and would also like to know how long it would take to drive to work, i'll be working at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Cashmere, south Chch.
Also what are the house prices like at the moment in Kaiapoi??

Tony

[psh12001]

Well thats a tricky one , I know that getting there setting off at 730 from kaiapoi would take you another 10 mins to get down columbo street and down to cashmere, but coming back at 5 is a different story. chch is weird, if you set off at anytime other than 5pm it would be same extra 10 mins so 35-40 mins max, but at 5 pm bythe time you get back to city and then fight your way through city, you end up getting home closer to 6. and it is sometimes easier to set off early or work a bit later just to miss that 5-5:30 mad rush home. I would presume that you may be on shifts anyway at the hospital and it may not be a problem to you.
For property prices, look on www.realenz.co.nz and remember kaiapoi is in Waimakariri district.

[tonyb]

Thanks p

Yeah, ill be working shifts 7am -3pm , 2pm - 10pm and nights(fin 7am). So all being well it should take 35 -40mins max at those times ???
Yeah ive looked at Realenz. If the exch rate is still the same in Aug / sept then im looking at around 330K-350K $NZ. hope ill get something for that amount. ive only estimated the cost for rates, elec, phone, broadband, car ins, Sky, etc by looking at various threads on here. My wife is a higher level teaching assistant, im just worried that there may not be much work for her locally and that she may have to commute into CHch too

Tony

[psh12001]

I have worked in most areas in chch for the last 3 years nearly and live just a few streets away from Mway in kaiapoi. it takes me 25-30 every morning ( set off at 730) to get to most places either in or to east or west of city centre. is is another 10 minutes to get the the foot of the port hills area. It does take longer for to get back if you dilly dally much after 5 when setting off back, but only another 5-10 mins. It is better if you can aviod usual school times and rush hours. when kids are off school its heaven...

hope this helps

[minnieuk]

We are also looking to come to Christchurch in the next couple of years. I need to get a job offer first and we are waiting for eldest son to finish GCSE's. We were thinking of either living in central Christchurch or somewhere in the Sumner area.
Kaiapoi sounds lovely. We would love sea views. Which are the good schools in that area.
We are currently looking at the Boys High or Christ's College (depending on where we choose to live of course). I also have a younger son who will be starting high school around the time we arrive.
I would have to commute in to the town but I wouldn't mind 45 minutes drive and my other half will be working from home so he doesn't mind where we live but he would like a view from his office!!!
We were over in NZ at Easter but only had 1 day in Christchurch. We are planning to return again in March for several weeks to have a good look round and also for me to hopefully get some interviews and make contact with some employers. I'm in IT (Web and Database development) so will have a good look on the Canterbury Software site ahead of our trip.
For me schools are SO important. My boys attend an excellent school in the UK which is both academic and renowned for its sports coaching. It is the one thing about our current life that we are loathe to leave and feel this is the real risk area for us and I am determined to find an equally good school in NZ.
Our careers, lifestyle etc we feel can only benefit from coming to NZ and the boys are both really keen too. I think the outdoor and sporty lifestyle really appeals to us all - particularly the ski-ing and all the wonderful places to travel to in the area.

[Moorf]

Someone asked about what Hornby is like to live - it's not on the coast, and quite a way to the beach relative to the other areas, and I find it rather "industrial" and personally I don't think it's a nice residential area. You'd be better off with Halswell or Hoon Hay which are nearby...

For "views" in Chch you're going to need to be on the hills (Redcliffs, Sumner, Scarborough, Mt Pleasant, Cashmere) or down on the flat by the coast for sea views (Wainoni, Nth New Brighton, New Brighton, South Brighton). Having said that, some of the suburbs on the "flat" are in lovely park-like areas. The above isn't exhaustive and there are places like Opawa which have lovely riverside heritage houses and which, for some reason, get left off the "places to live" list.

Friends have just bought and moved in to a place in Kaiapoi - they got lots more for their $$ than in Chch.

[psh12001]

I dont mean to sound mean, but i too am not too keen on Hornby either. It seems to be one of the industrial hubs of christchurch, but i wouldnt want to live there although i am sure there is good place to live there as in anywhere in christchurch.
I would say that except for the very few places which i wouldnt consider moving to, the vast majority of places in and around christchurch are nice areas, not like some i could mention in Manchester.

I would like to make one point to people though when looking and that is if you like the sea, live on the east side , if you like mountains live on the west as its a bit of an ass having to trek across town if you dont need to. So choose carefully and find an area that has what you need in it or close by, like shops , malls, schools etc, dont just go on what sounds good from someone else as we are all different and what appeals to one may not necessarily appeal to another. Obviously money too has a say to where you can live too!

[backtonz]

For me schools are SO important. My boys attend an excellent school in the UK which is both academic and renowned for its sports coaching. It is the one thing about our current life that we are loathe to leave and feel this is the real risk area for us and I am determined to find an equally good school in NZ.


Minnie.. Good Luck with that. Living well and living in the zone for the best schools in Christchurch can be quite a challenge. It is one of the things that has almost made us drop Christchurch as a location. Have a look at at houses on sale in the Burnside High School zone !!! If you find value there, please let me know as well.

[minnieuk]

Yes I know what you mean about the house prices but it is the same in the UK. We live in a village with an excellent primary school and house prices are sky high as a result.
I'm always looking on the NZ realtor websites to see what's available and there is plenty in our budget so that is ok. I'm just not sure until you've been there for a while and really driven round, lived in an area you really know if it's what you want so we will look to rent first and make sure we buy somewhere we're happy with.