[Richard Minton]

Hi folks, :nice1

I'm new to the forum and have a job at Papakura High School and are going over around 15 January 2007 with my wife, she's 38 and our son who's seven. I'm 33 by the way. The question I'm really wanting answered is what's it like there in any respect. I've heard about the gangs in New Zealand and those around south Auckland in particular but the hoodies that roam around the streets where we live in the Midlands has put us off living here in the U.K.

We don't intend on staying in the region forever, Napier, Hastings and Nelson look nice but we just want to know is it really bad, really good or somewhere in between and is that by U.K. standards or New Zealand standards.

Any and all information is greatly appreciated as we are really looking forward to our new life.

Cheers, The Minton's. :cheers

[Trigirl]

Now isn't that funny - two in the same week! You might want to try sending a message to sue (the piesleys) - she's just taken a job there

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=8752

they are flying out on monday though so may not be answering straight away

[Trigirl]

sorry - so rude of me....

welcome to the forums by the way

[Richard Minton]

Cheers Tri-girl for your reply,

If the piesleys are around then it would be good to hear from them and others.

Just a quick point on the location and gangs thing, not just 30 mins ago the Nationwide Bank was held up by armed robbers in Cannock where we live. :( They had dropped the getaway car in the grounds of my son's school and have been surrounded by police. It should be on at least Central News tonight. I've heard of stabbings of an innocent, but that coulod be here say. Still I don't think it's made me want to stay. This folks is the final nail in the U.K. coffin. The U.K. and it's dross are getting away with it but not with my son they aren't, not even when I'm six foot under. Sorry for the downer guys!!!

Still bring on New Zealand :clap :clap :clap

[Helsandfamily]

Hi Richard,

Don't know the answer to your question - Just wanted to say Hi and Welcome to the forum!

hels

[Ana&Steve]

Any and all information is greatly appreciated as we are really looking forward to our new life.
Well, since you put it that way...I met a Kiwi over the weekend, he's been in the US on and off for 12 years, and admitted he left NZ because he was bored. He still has a lot of pride, though, and when we talked about crime in NZ I asked him about S Auckland, to which he replied "I've driven though East LA, love, South Auckland's got nothing on it". He also went on to point out that, in his opinion, a small community like NZ is going to have a tendency to report everything that happens, where as here (US), much of the crime doesn't even make the news, being "small potatoes". He was very encouraging of our move, and wanted nothing to sway us from our decision, and hoped we found some of the "boring" we seek. :p
Hope one Kiwi's opinion delivered through an American helps!
Ana

[Howie]

We stayed in Papakura for a couple of weeks when we first arrived. We thought we would find a permanent place there as it was close to work, cheaper than other parts of Auckland and has a lot of services. There are nice parts of Papakura (which of course are pricier), but there are a lot of not so nice places. I must admit that I never felt unsafe there, but it became clear that I didn't want to live there. A lot of the houses we looked at to rent were in neighbourhoods covered in graffiti with stray dogs running about and just didn't have a nice feel. But that's really just the neighbourhoods that we could afford. As I said, there are some nice places as well. We ended up renting in Howick and that commute's not terrible. Don't know how it would compare to the UK, but I don't think I had ever seen a place in Canada that game me the same feel. But then again, I've lived a sheltered life. Not as scary as Newark, NJ!!

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

[willsken]

This is a link I found

http://tinyurl.com/3c73sj

[Richard Minton]

Cheers for all your replies folks!!! Keep all the information coming, many thanks!!

Regards The Minton's :nice1

[The Hodges]

Hi The Mintons

Welcome to the forum.

I come from the Midlands originally and have lived in St Albans fo 10 years, we are moving out to NZ hopfully end of January 2007, just trying to rent our house at the moment.

Stories of ever increasing crime only makes you more certain that you are doing the right thing. My husband was on the underground last year when the bombs went off and I just spend my time worring about him travelling into London everyday. This just made up our minds to go.

Hopefully I can stop worrying as much when we move to Auckland

Clare

[Jenny & Mark]

Welcome to the forum. Congratulations on the teaching offer.

Ana's point is quite true. Smaller crime makes for bigger news in NZ than it does in much larger countries.

Mark.