[starkhorn]

Hi Folks,

Well we've made it to Wellington! Flights went ok although NZ1 now use the smaller 767 planes so the leg-room was alot less than advertised on their web-site so beware!

We got to Auckland domestic terminal and we probably broke it after 5 minutes as the place had to be evacuated due to a fire alarm!!! Not bad going after only 30 mins in the country we thought! :)

It was really funny at customs as I asked a NZ customs guy whether we could use the NZ residents queue, whereupon he responded in a strong scottish accent, "It depends on which part of Ireland you are from!" We came to the other side of the planet to meet a scottish NZ customs officer!

It was really cool when they stamped our passports, when the officer said "Well you are both kiwis now!" :)

Strange thing though was she said that we had to renew the visa after two years. I'm a bit confused, i though permanent residency was permanent? Can anyone explain?

Anyway, trying to get settled in and to find a place to live. Any good news-papers we should buy for rental accomdation?

Cheers
Starkhorn & Claribel

[Brijan]

Hi Welcome to wellington, dont worry it will soon be summer (i hope).
There are lots of property rental agents about, probably best to look in yellow pages and phone around, Quinovic, Arjays, Active properties and Just property are the only ones i have had any dealings with but there are loads more,
The customs officer (scots get everywhere) was probably refering to your returning residents visa which is valid for 2 years from your arrival in New Zealand.
Hope you settle in ok and best of luck
Brian and Jan
:nice1

[Diny]

Welcome to NZ.

A Scottish customs officer - how funny. Our MAF officer (when container got delivered) was a Frenchman. Multi-cultural or what.

Keep us posted .... and hey - hope you're enjoying this lovely NZ weather (not).

Diny

[Trigirl]

well done starkhorn and claribel!!!! i'm so green :D with envy!!! we're only a few weeks behind you. don't forget to let us know what the serviced apartment is like.... we've definitely got to decide on that soon.

[StevieD]

Wahey you have arrived - pave the way mate, keep that Guinness glass cool ;)

Steve

[Milliemoo]

Hi there,

Do you mean a 777 200. That's what we're expecting for our flight on Sunday.

I never realised there was such a difference in pitch. Economy seats are upto 2" less legroom, whilst Pacfic Premiem are upto 1" either way depending on the location of the seat.

How did you find the food & entertainment?

Milliemoo

[marcia]

Nice update - can't wait to read more! :)

[starkhorn]

Hi Folks,

Well we’ve been here for 3 days now and things are going grand. Bank account, PO box and now dial-up internet connection sorted. (getting broad-band once we find a long-term rental accommodation).

Brijan,

I’m not sure what the returning residents visa is so could you clarify? Does this mean that if I leave NZ, I have two years to come back otherwise I lose the residents visa permit? Sorry I’m a bit confused on this point.

Trigirl,

The serviced apartment is ok. Don’t expect the Ritz and the ventilation is quite poor so it can get quite cold and humid. The facilities they provide are good, with fridge, cooker, dish-washer, tumble dryer, micro-wave etc. Basically it’s fine for 1-2 weeks but I wouldn’t want to stay here for much longer than that.

Milliemoo,

Yeah maybe it was a 777 then, I honestly can’t remember. I do remember on the 747 that the economy pitch was 42 inches and that was huge, I’m 6foot and my knees never touched the seat in front of me. On the 777, my knees were constantly touching the seat in front of me so it was less comfortable. Bearable and over the flights, I wasn’t in any great discomfort. I’m just annoyed as when I booked the flights, they said it would be a 747 and we requested specific seats which we didn’t get because the plane had changed. I also was annoyed because I didn’t get the pitch size that I thought I was paying for….but in the end it was fine.

The entertainment was very good with a good selection of movies and games. A big improvement from the 747….if only they had kept the pitch size the same.

Anyway we are off now on the next stage, trying to fine somewhere to live!

Speak to you all soonish.

Cheers
Starkhorn & Isabelle

[KerryS]

I’m not sure what the returning residents visa is so could you clarify? Does this mean that if I leave NZ, I have two years to come back otherwise I lose the residents visa permit? Sorry I’m a bit confused on this point.



You will currently have a returning residents visa. This is valid for two years and allows you to leave and enter NZ freely during this time. After the two year period you apply for an indefinite returning residents visa. This has no expiration date - meaning you could leave NZ and then return 20 years later if you desired.
You have to fulfill some basic criteria (have been resident for 183 days for each of the two years or somesuch...) The full details are on the NZIS website.

Good to hear you have arrived and look forward to more updates!

[Brijan]

Hi Starkhorn
In your passport you have a Residence Visa, this is the blue full page sticker, you also have a returning residents visa also a blue full page sticker, when you entered NZ your passport was stamped with a Residence permit, your returning residents visa is valid for 2 years from the date of this stamp. If you leave NZ your residence permit( the stamp ) expires, this is the reason you have the returning residents visa so you can have a new residence pemit stamped into your passport and renter NZ. After 2 years you can apply for an indefinate returning residents visa and this can be transfered to a new passport when the old passport expires,
I have been out of NZ twice in 4 years and have had no problems with customs at all, it is VERY important that you have a current RRV if you leave NZ or there can be real drama's getting back in .

Good luck with the house hunting, at least the weathers turned better for you
Brian and Jan :)

[Trigirl]

the ventilation is quite poor so it can get quite cold and humid

that doesn't sound good! hope everything is going well and you find somewhere to live quickly

[starkhorn]

Hi Folks,

Sorry for the lack of posts but we've had quite a busy time of it.

Well we had originally arrived and intended to stay in Wellington and after the first 2-3 weeks we were still in Wellington. However things changed as I got rejected from the first 3 interviews that I had done in Wellington which had shocked me quite a bit. As I was in IT I was expecting to find it easy enough to get a role but for some reason I found it very difficult to firstly get past the recruitment agencies and then to get offered a role in Wellington.

In the end a large company in Auckland offered me a role which I had took but that involved moving up to Auckland with only a few days preparation time. Thankfully our container hadn't yet arrived so it was just a matter of getting a car, loading our cases into the car and driving up. Simple we thought.

First off I bought a 5-year Rover car which had only done around 80,000kms from a reputable car dealer in Wellington. We then found a furnished appartment to stay for the first week in Auckland. We decided to break up the journey by going to Napier and Taupo for a few days. Napier was really cool and I'd recommend the place to anyone. Taupo looked great as well but the weather was nasty, infact the drive between Taupo and Napier was a hell of a drive with really heavy rain and winds.

I had noticed during that drive that Rover was making a few funny sounds but I figured it was nothing. THe next day we left for Auckland and we had just gotten near bombay which is around 30km's from Auckland when the Rover totally died on me. We were on the bombay express-way and I managed to get the car over to hard-shoulder before it completely stopped. Thank god the car didn't die the previous day between Napier and Taupo and thank god it was a nice day.

Anyway I had wisely joined the AA a few days beforehand so they sent someone to look at the car. He couldn't fix it so we had to be towed. So our arrival in Auckland was sitting in a AA tow truck with a very friendly tow truck driver with our car on the back of the truck. I should have know better than buying a Rover. I mean an Irishman driving a British car was never going to work out. The truck driver was brillant, we had to go someone's house to pick up keys for the appartment. As it was a friday evening, every garage was closed so he dropped us at our new appartment, let us take our suitcases off the car and then he drove back to South Auckland where he stored the car in his yard. It was Friday at around 8:00 p.m. when we finally got into the appartment, rememebring we had left Taupo at 10:00 a.m. that day! We were exhausted but very hungry and very thirsty so we caught a taxi to Parnell and went to a great restaurant that we had been to before. Needless to say we drunk several bottles of wine to console ourselves! :)

We had only had the car less that 4 days and it had only done around 600kms so the next morning I phoned the car dealer and I went totally beserk on the phone which I guess must have had an effect. I guess a 6foot Irishman going beserk down the phone motivates people. I actually freaked out my wife who had never seem me that angry before. Anyway I must say that the car dealer really reacted well and I cannot say a bad word against them now.

He immediately got a rental car for us which was complicated as obviously I was now in Auckland and he was in Wellington. I had told him to take back the Rover and initially I was demanding my money back. In the end he took back the Rover as a trade-in (for the entire price that I had paid) and I took a newer Ford Focus instead. They transported it up from Wellington free of charge as well so I was happy with that. Touch-wood but it seems to be going ok so far. Again the car dealer was very good and he didn't try to dodge the problem or my phone-calls so in the end all went ok. I guess I was just really unlucky as the car really seemed to be ok. Thank god I bought the car from a licensed car dealer and not Arthur Daley.

Anyway after a week in Auckland we found a nice appartment which was a 5 min walk to work and all seemed to be going ok. Unfortunately we hadn't figured on the upstairs neighbours who must have been students or something. They seemed to have a karoke machine or something as they would be singing very loud, very badly, very late into the night. We had lived in appartments for 6 years and never had such a nightmare neighbour. THe problem was we had signed a 6 month lease. The worst was that they smoked on the balcony and were throwing their cig buds from the balcony. Nine times out of ten this would land on our balcony.......

We started looking for a new place and we found a beautiful 2 bedroom home in Birkenhead Point....with sea views and a garden. THe commute is longer but still not too bad...I'm starting to take the Ferry to work now which is a new experience. We spoke with the management company and asked to leave the appartment and thankfully they found someone almost immediately. Our only problem was that our container was about to arrive that week and we had given the old appartment address as the delivery address. However it was easily sorted as well. A few phone-calls to the moving company and they changed all the paper-work and change the appointment with MAF.

The container arrived and all went smoothly. The washine machine is damaged so we are claiming that back, a few bowls and cups are broken and 1 table lamp is broken. Everything else seems fine so we are quite happy. My wife's guitar made it in one piece so she is over the moon.

After a week or so of unpacking the place is really looking well and we are finally feeling settled and happy. We certainly had an eventful few months and I'm feeling a little exhausted but we are getting settled now and enjoying. A few days break in the Bay of Islands during the Xmas break was really nice as well.

Anyway that's our story, hope I didn't bore you all too much.

Cheers
Starkhorn

ps anyone selling a washing machine??? :)

[saabmania2]

I bet your exhausted i am just reading it i'm glad you've got settled now keep us posted. p.s great post :clap

[Trigirl]

you poor things - you sound like you've really been through it! i'm astonished you couldn't get an IT job in wellington - they are crying out for people (although one recruitment agent tried to get OH to take a contract paying more than 25% under the going rate for his skills - they really do like to try it on with new migrants!)

what sort of IT do you do?

[Marie P]

Welcome to Auckland :cheers

Best wishes

Marie x

[gil]

Starkhorn.
Great to hear from you and oh boy, what a start! Sounds like things have finally settled down for you, good! Perhaps we'll see you at an Auckland meet soon?
:cheers
Gil
x

[Ana&Steve]

I like how in your post you have an upbeat outlook, even while listing a lot of problems. I also like that you grabbed each problem by the horns and in the end it worked out! :) Hope NZ lets up on the hazing soon, and you can enjoy life without hassles. :nice1
Ana

[starkhorn]

Hi all,

Thanks very much for all the kind comments and wishes, it is much appreciated.

Trigirl I'm an unix/technical specialising in telecommunication products, particularly SMS txt messaging products. I'm not sure why it was so difficult, I mean I got 9 years experience and a computer science degree so I was a bit surprised. I probably just didn't go with the correct agencies or companies.

Funnily now I see lots of roles of seek based in Wellington that I could easily do......typical! :)

Gil,

Auckland meet? Sure, I'll search these forums to find out more.

Cheers
Starkhorn

[StevieD]

SMS! The engineers comms tool utilising spare signalling capacity that some advertising bod thought would be a good idea and started a whole culture!!! :laugh

Great update Brendan, tell you what mate, you must be glad that guy took that Rover back - what were you thinking of?!! I mean, a ROVER!!!

You have had more than your fair share of ups and down already, glad to see your wifes guitar was o.k., I am wondering whether to carry my 2 or trust them to the container - gulp.

Steve

[Smiler]

Wow! You've really had the runaround haven't you?

I hope things are on a more even keel for you now and everything settles into place soon.

:cheers:cheers

[The Hodges]

Top post, and thanks for the update.

I was actually in the car dealers over the weekend and asked whether he had a wing mirrow for a rover. He said it sounded like a fair swap. :laugh Must have been the same dealer. ;)

Glad you made though, can't help you with the washing machine though. You'll have to go in to the laundrette doing the Carling Black Label advert (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Frost).