# Where to live - or not to live in NZ



## akmacca (Sep 1, 2009)

Insights, opinions and/or advice would be appreciated. 

I am an Australian citizen whilst my partner is a Canadian citizen. At this stage I think we have the visa issue worked out as there are several options available to us. We are planning to move from Canada to NZ at the end of the school year, probably around July August 2010.

Our two biggest issues are where to find work and where shall we live. We both realise that Auckland and to a lesser extent Wellington offer the best paid jobs and opportunities. 

But we do not want to swap being stuck in traffic and commuting to work in Canada to doing the same thing in NZ. Ideally we would like to live on a parcel of land, near the water or mountains. A lifestyle we probably can't afford in Auckland.

I am keen on Dunedin or Invercargill and perhaps Christchurch. There are some lovely houses in those localities at a reasonable cost. 

My partner is s senior HR executive and her career will take precedence.

Any suggestions where to live in NZ, including the less expensive suburbs in Auckland would be greatly appreciated.


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## topcat83 (Apr 16, 2009)

akmacca said:


> Insights, opinions and/or advice would be appreciated.
> 
> I am an Australian citizen whilst my partner is a Canadian citizen. At this stage I think we have the visa issue worked out as there are several options available to us. We are planning to move from Canada to NZ at the end of the school year, probably around July August 2010.
> 
> ...


Look to the South-East of Auckland - round Clevedon and Hunua. Or Silverdale, to the north. Beautiful coultryside and a reasonable distance to commute to the centre.


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## FrancisJames (Dec 14, 2010)

akmacca said:


> Insights, opinions and/or advice would be appreciated.
> 
> I am an Australian citizen whilst my partner is a Canadian citizen. At this stage I think we have the visa issue worked out as there are several options available to us. We are planning to move from Canada to NZ at the end of the school year, probably around July August 2010.
> 
> ...


You sound like you're looking for exactly the same as we were were - wanting to live somewhere close to well paid work, bit of land, nice views, reasonable cost, good climate, great schools. We couldn't find anything that matched that in our price bracket. We would have needed well over a million dollars and even then still be faced with a tiresome commute to both schools and work.

Eventually we found what we were looking for. Unfortunately it wasn't in New Zealand but in Australia.


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## topcat83 (Apr 16, 2009)

FrancisJames said:


> You sound like you're looking for exactly the same as we were were - wanting to live somewhere close to well paid work, bit of land, nice views, reasonable cost, good climate, great schools. We couldn't find anything that matched that in our price bracket. We would have needed well over a million dollars and even then still be faced with a tiresome commute to both schools and work.
> 
> Eventually we found what we were looking for. Unfortunately it wasn't in New Zealand but in Australia.


Hi Francis - where in Australia are you? Australia is a big place when compared with NZ, and there's a huge difference between (say) Sydney or Perth, and living in a city or a rural area outside. Where you live can make a huge difference to your experience.


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## FrancisJames (Dec 14, 2010)

Topcat  don't you remember? Mount Nathan in Queensland, you looked it up on google maps.


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## topcat83 (Apr 16, 2009)

FrancisJames said:


> Topcat  don't you remember? Mount Nathan in Queensland, you looked it up on google maps.


Ah yes - I remember. But I guess others wouldn't know that


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## mattpenaflorida (Oct 31, 2010)

FrancisJames said:


> Topcat  don't you remember? Mount Nathan in Queensland, you looked it up on google maps.


I'm in a simalar situation, on paper we really would have to live in Auckland or Wellington because of our work - but I recently saw some job posts on Seek for rural Australia ( with some incentives ) and it would be really useful to know whether or not you think you settled for second best in getting the environment you wanted, if not in the first choice country?

Everything I've looked at in my research says NZ is the best fit for our needs and epxpectations but price wise maybe beyond us - so I'd appreciate a view on whether or not Australia really does offer an equivalent alternative?

So what's Queensland like?

Cheers

Matt


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## FrancisJames (Dec 14, 2010)

There's rural and then there's seriously rural in Australia. I would not move inland more than 30 mins drive from the coastal strip and a decent sized town. If an employer is offering incentives to live there I'd be asking why and am I free to leave when I want to.

Although we live in the countryside we're only 10 mins from the CBD so we're not in the back of beyond, which is why we like it so much in this part of Australia. There's a fair degree of choice when it comes to chosing where to live and lots of space, much more so than in New Zealand where decent land near to town costs a small fortune. Petrol is expensive in NZ and if you live out in the sticks you really need a 4x4 (because of the roads) and they drink fuel. 

I think that life Australia does offer an equivalent alternative to NZ. There are some trade offs though. For instance, we have snakes and spiders here, there's a greater risk of bushfire because of the number of eucalypts, we get dust storms and "floods of biblical proportions." On the other hand we don't have to worry about earthquakes or volcanic eruptions and the economy is far more robust than New Zealands which is still in doldrums that Australia never got close to. I think this was the only economy to escape a recession.

Never in a million years did we think we'd end up here when we emigrated to New Zealand, this was never on the agenda for us.

I can discuss the relative merits til the cows come home but what suits me may not suit you. Come over and look at both countries, find out about jobs in both places and travel around some of the locations where you think you could live. 

Find out about the working practices too because there's a big difference between NZ and Australia. I've nver heard anyone here being told they can't do a job because they have no Australian experience. Whereas having NZ experience counts for a lot over there, as does who you know, not what you know.

Having tried both places these are who I think are better suited to NZ than we were, I stress this is only my opinion and other people are going to feel differently to me

1. Young people just starting out in life and wanting a bit of adventure, don't mind roughing it and getting by on a shoestring, people who work to live, not bothered about having money to put aside, living for today, no kids, no ties.

and

2. People getting towards the end of their working lives, wanting to take it easy, get out of the rat race, close the door on the world, financially secure with offshore pensions and with too much "canopy over the toy shop" as they say here in Australia.


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## mattpenaflorida (Oct 31, 2010)

FrancisJames said:


> 1. Young people just starting out in life and wanting a bit of adventure, don't mind roughing it and getting by on a shoestring, people who work to live, not bothered about having money to put aside, living for today, no kids, no ties.
> 
> and
> 
> 2. People getting towards the end of their working lives, wanting to take it easy, get out of the rat race, close the door on the world, financially secure with offshore pensions and with too much "canopy over the toy shop" as they say here in Australia.



Ah! - me, the wife and the baby are somewhere in between those two categories, the housing market means our proeprty is worthless right now so nothing to cash in on from selling and I'm staring at redundancy mid year, which would give us some start up funds but not much - so the shoestring bit applies, and we're desperate to get out of the rat race before stress reduces our retirement prospects permanently - but we're not ready to retire for a good while yet.............so maybe Australia fits the profile a bit better, I'm told that NZer's head out to Australia to actually earn enough to move back and live......

Thanks for the advice though - definitely worth bearing in mind - though the snakes and spiders bit is a little scary....


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## swnz (Aug 16, 2010)

FrancisJames said:


> Find out about the working practices too because there's a big difference between NZ and Australia. I've nver heard anyone here being told they can't do a job because they have no Australian experience. Whereas having NZ experience counts for a lot over there, as does who you know, not what you know.


When I worked in Australia, the company I worked for was very particular about hiring immigrants who already had Australian work experience. If you didn't have it, that made it much harder to get employment.

The others who were hired into our company all shared similar stories of having no local experience. One had come to Australia from Canada because they had an extremely difficult time securing a position without Canadian experience, which was the exact same experience I had.

Unfortunately, this happens the world over.


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