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Family life in New Zealand

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    #32
    BlackEdelweiss
    Registered Users Posts: 1,529 ✭✭✭BlackEdelweiss


    I am on a 2 year work visa and the wife and kids on work and student visas. We are entitled to free schooling although our school has fees as it is a Catholic School. My kids get all their vaccinations free, I think the under 6's get free medical, my son got diabetes 7 months ago and his hospital stay was covered as is his insulin and doctors visits. You pay for the first 20 prescription items and after that the test is free for the whole family. We did have to pay for my other sons eye test and I think the dentist had to be paid for although they do get checked in school by the mobile dentist.
    Definitely come out here man, see what it is like for yourself. The only reason I mentioned negative stuff is so people don't come here expecting some tropical paradise because that it is not. It's basically like Ireland with better weather. If you offered me a one way ticket to Ireland now I wouldn't take it, had you offered it to me 3 months ago I would have bit the hand off you for it, who knows what your experience here will be!


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    #33
    DoozerT6
    Registered Users Posts: 2,589 ✭✭✭DoozerT6


    OP, as mentioned in the first page of this thread, a thing I found surprising in NZ was the poor quality of housing (for the average joe soap). Generally in Ireland, most houses built since (at least) the 1970's have central heating. Newer houses will also have double glazing and insulation as standard. In houses I saw and lived in in NZ, none had central heating installed, no double glazing or insulation. New Zealand, esp. the South Island can get pretty bloody cold in the winter. Kiwi's just plug in a heater (think of the bills!) or leave their jacket on inside. I used to wear thermals to bed under my jammies. It can be a bit of a culture shock. I'm guessing you would be looking for an average house in an average area. Prepare to be taken aback. It can feel a bit like you've travelled back to the 1950's. Lots of rental properties (the majority of them unfurnished, without white goods either) can also suffer from Poorly Decorated Syndrome :) Lots of loud, swirly patterned carpeted places on Trademe (trademe.co.nz, check it out to scope out rentals in your chosen area).

    I mention the above not to run down NZ, I loved my time there, but moving your family to a new country can be stressful enough. Just don't be surprised if you end up living in a house that you may not have chosen to live in at home.

    And of course not ALL houses are that bad!


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