Advice for moving to New Zealand

Alice in DownUnderland

Hi all!

Myself and my boyfriend are coming to the end of our WHV in Australia and we don't have any options for staying on here We aren't quite ready to head back to the doom and gloom of home yet so we've been considering applying for visas to New Zealand, just to check it out and see how we get on. We know very little about what to expect there, so any advice from Irish people living in NZ would be very much appreciated!

We're both in our mid 20's and we would probably both be looking for temp work in office support or the likes. Your typical backpacker type of work basically. Neither of us has a trade unfortunately :mad: It's unlikely that we'll have the means to buy a car so we'll probably be dependent on public transport and need to live close to a city. It'll be just the two of us moving there on our lonesome so opportunities to meet other people our age, particularly other Irish people, would be useful. A bit of nightlife definitely wouldn't go amiss either.

We had thought that Auckland would be the obvious city to get set up in as we figured it'd have the most job opportunities. We'd also heard that it has a better climate than the likes of Christchurch or Wellington and as it has the largest population, there'd be a decent nightlife and more opportunities to meet people. However, from the little bit of research I've done, I'm seeing mixed reviews about Auckland. It looks as though people find it very overpriced etc.

So overall I'm just wondering if any of the Irish in NZ have any advice for us to help us out with our move. Do you think Auckland is a good place to go or can you suggest somewhere better? You might know of a great place to live, that will suit all of our needs that I've never even heard of! Also if you could be specific and even suggest suburbs that would be good to live in that'd be amazing. In Oz we lived in St Kilda in Melbourne and Edgecliff in Sydney and were very happy with both so that's the kind of vibe we would be looking for. Easy access to the city, good public transport and all the amenities!

Sorry for the essay and thanks a million in advance!! :cool:

Curly5

Hi Alice,

I was in NZ a few years a ago on a (very) short holiday! I had spent a few weeks in Oz and just a week in NZ. Of the 2, I preferred NZ by far. I really liked Wellington but not so much Christchurch (even before the earthquake). It's definitely a beautiful country and the kiwis are lovely people! I'm thinking of going to NZ in the next few months as it's basically my last chance to go either there or Oz as I turn 31 later on this year. I think Wellington will be my destination as although it's on the North Island, it's also the gateway to the South Island so it's a good location. There are some nice Irish bars and decent enough shops there too and it's not as hectic as Auckland I would think. Now, the only problem for me is to muster up enough courage to travel on my own!! Good luck with your plans anyway Keep me posted!!

Alice in DownUnderland

Hi Curly5,

Thanks so much for your reply. We have never been to NZ at all so we really have no clue. I have heard good things about Wellington so that's definitely a possibility but I was worried that it might be harder to find work there. I'd also heard that it's very windy! I'll have to look into it more!

Best of luck with your move, I'm sure if you take the plunge you won't regret it!

Curly5

Thanks Alice, best of luck with your travels too. Ye'll love NZ, enjoy!

MrCreosote

Sounds like Wellington is the place for you.

Great spot to live. There's the best public transport in NZ, a car is handy but not necessary (unlike Auckland), and a nice buzz around town. The weather isn't that bad, a bit windy maybe but never bad for long. Plenty of stuff to do.
It's the civil service/government centre of the country as well, which improves the job prospects a little, although it's currently running at 7-8% unemployment so not that easy to walk into a job.

debs1

Hi Alice

I'm in the exact same position as you.. I'm in Sydney at the minute and my visa is up in August and definitely not ready to go home just yet!! So I'm heading to NZ to I'll more than likely be heading to Auckland or Christchurch so hopefully will be able to find work easliy enough.. I'd be looking for office roles as well. I've been looking on Seek and there seems to be office roles in pretty much every city so fingers crossed it will be easy enough to find work!!

I'm definitely gonna just go for it and hope for the best! You only live once after all

Lenno87

Hi,

We're on the same boat as you were. Visa is nearly up in Oz, not ready to go home yet! So we're gonna give NZ a go. Thinking of Auckland or Wellington. Looking for office work aswel.

Just wondering how did you get on? Was it hard to get work? What city did you end up in? Any help or advice would be of great help. Hope your trip is going great.

Thanks.

BlackEdelweiss

Just a quick note about moving to Wellington, any kiwis I know are waiting for the place to slide off the mountains into the sea at any minute with all the earthquakes there lately. You cant base your life on waiting for earthquakes to happen but you dont have to move to a place with loads of badly built houses sitting precariously on a hillside situated over 5 major active fault lines either.

Matt Simis

But the last major earthquake did the opposite, it actually uplifted submerged land, not removed it..

balkieb2002

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

Just a quick note about moving to Wellington, any kiwis I know are waiting for the place to slide off the mountains into the sea at any minute with all the earthquakes there lately. You cant base your life on waiting for earthquakes to happen but you dont have to move to a place with loads of badly built houses sitting precariously on a hillside situated over 5 major active fault lines either.

They've been waiting for the big one for at least 60 years now (the one that brings the tsunamis etc) but that hasn't put me off going back to Wellington as like you said you can't live your life waiting for them to happen but the latest few have caused concern. There was a few last time I was there but nothing like the one a couple weeks ago. Scary but wouldn't put me off living there!

Matt have you moved out there yet? I remember you said you were going to Wellington? How you finding it? I'm finally flying back there on Tuesday :-)

Matt Simis

balkieb2002 wrote: »

Matt have you moved out there yet? I remember you said you were going to Wellington?

Wk1 October fly out for me, still gathering up work references and preemptively getting Medicals and Police Certs etc.

CatFromHue

Are not most of the buildings in the CBD in Wellington built to withstand earthquakes?

As for the houses on the hills I dunno.

Crumble Froo

They cordoned off the CBD with those Marlborough quakes the other week as far as I know.

Personally, I wouldn't trust it... but I've been in Christchurch the last few years. Wellington's still awesome, but man, those buildings in the CBD make me twitchy.

pclancy

The older buildings are expected to lose a bit of masonry and glass but the majority of properties are well built and have a high earthquake compliance. The ones that arent well you've got to make your own decision if you wish to enter them or loiter nearby. The city's infrastructure such as water pipes, reservoirs, power lines etc has been hardened and several tunnels have recently been upgraded. Gas mains will be the problem after a big quake, I expect there would be a lot of fires in some suburbs with older wooden housing like Newtown or Kilbernie. The hospital is very well protected being on seismic isolators and will survive and function well after a big one.

The airport will most likely be screwed if there's a Tsunami and rail/roads in and out will be offline for a few days at least so the idea is to have enough food and water to survive at home for a while.

Statistically I think I read somewhere you have a higher chance of being struck by lightening then killed in an Earthquake. Life goes on, all you can do is be best prepared as possible then forget about it because there's nothing you can do. Most of those killed in Christchurch or the two recent California quakes were killed in a specific building that failed or bridge that collapsed, generally most of the population were fine.

debs1

Hi

I actually ended up coming home for a bit as my sisters having a baby!! But gonna go to Auckland in feb. best of luck

Lenno87 wrote: »

Hi,

We're on the same boat as you were. Visa is nearly up in Oz, not ready to go home yet! So we're gonna give NZ a go. Thinking of Auckland or Wellington. Looking for office work aswel.

Just wondering how did you get on? Was it hard to get work? What city did you end up in? Any help or advice would be of great help. Hope your trip is going great.

Thanks.