# new plymouth here we come



## dangerousbh

Hi all,
Firstly must say Hi, I have been an expat forum stealth stalker for a while (researching what i needed though not posting) but this is my first post.
To cut a long story short myself and partner of 11 years have been looking to move to Australasia since a year in oz 2009 after sampling that side of the world. We have been saving since returning to blighty and recently got to the stage where we were both with 23 month working holiday visas ready to set off to new zealand to see what life adventures we could experience before hopefully finding a place to settle. A month holidaying in Feb 2012 in both oz and nz helped us decide on north island of glorious nz.
Up until literally a week ago our plan had been to fly into Auckland buy a camper van (just like we did in oz) then to live off our savings whilst searching for work. Then by chance a week ago I had emailed an automotive recruitment specialist who in no time at all had secured me a job in new Plymouth (even he had to say that its an absolute rarity as its usually quite a long and grueling process!) First thing Monday morning is contacting visa experts to find out the process of getting a working holiday visa transferred to a work to residence visa or whatever they advise, would love to get the ball rolling paperwork wise before I start in February! Currently got to get Xmas out the way and sell our possessions (we rent so no hassle having to sell a house etc)
Very excited and a bit apprehensive of all ahead. 
I've spent literally all of the past few days researching new Plymouth and it looks like a lovely place with so much outdoor life to offer. I am not bothered its not a major city, in fact quite the opposite, its what we would enjoy and seems to meet all our criteria. We are currently big town people seeking a smaller town life.
I would love to hear from anyone with experience of working/living in new Plymouth especially UK expats that may already be there?
Thanks forum


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## Song_Si

Hi

Best wishes for the move, from the 'lived there a long time ago' Taranaki/New Plymouth man.

If you click on the _tag_ links at end of this thread new plymouth, taranaki it'll provide a list of threads on the topic, such as this one and also look at the posts from forum member dawnclaremaddox she is living in Inglewood a town 20km inland from New Plymouth.


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## topcat83

Congratulations! We've passed through New Plymouth a couple of time son our travels and really liked it. As you say, not huge, but it has all the amenities you want a town to have.
Keep us informed on how things go.


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## dawnclaremaddox

Taranaki is a beautiful place (as is all of the places that I have visited so far). I have been living in Oakura for a year now (7.5 kms from the sea). I work in Inglewood still and love it. My Hubby hasn't looked back and neither of us regret and don't miss anything (other than the kids).


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## dawnclaremaddox

And where are my manners? Welcome to the forum, hope you find all the information here that you require for your new journey.


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## dangerousbh

Hey,

Thanks for the responses guys n gals.
Been doing a lot of research on the area and the more I look, the more I like! 
I have been looking at rental accomodation this evening, are there any areas I should avoid renting in or around New Plymouth?
Lots of paperwork to fill out this weekend for the new job as well as visa paperwork to try and make sense of!
Its all go!!!
Thanks again


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## dawnclaremaddox

dangerousbh said:


> Hey,
> 
> Thanks for the responses guys n gals.
> Been doing a lot of research on the area and the more I look, the more I like!
> I have been looking at rental accomodation this evening, are there any areas I should avoid renting in or around New Plymouth?
> Lots of paperwork to fill out this weekend for the new job as well as visa paperwork to try and make sense of!
> Its all go!!!
> Thanks again


What are you ideally looking for?


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## dangerousbh

My job offer is in central New Plymouth and we have been looking at properties within either walking or cycling distance. I guess our budget would be circa $300 to $350 per week for rent, although I am unaware of utilities costs (water, tax, electric, sky, internet etc etc) so would need some advice on these if possible? I am all over trade me/harcourts/Gumtree websites at the moment to get as much insight on prices before we move in Feb. (Any more I should be researching?)
Dawnclare, I have looked online at some of the properties in oakura and they look fabulous and great value, you must be very pleased to be living in such a community and so close to an award winning beach I read!! 
When we initially arrive in New Plymouth and for a period whilst finding our feet we will be looking for short term accommodation, either a motel/b&b or ideally a room to rent. Are there any taranaki message boards or websites I could search on for room rentals?
Thanks again!


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## escapedtonz

dangerousbh said:


> I guess our budget would be circa $300 to $350 per week for rent, although I am unaware of utilities costs (water, tax, electric, sky, internet etc etc) so would need some advice on these if possible? I am all over trade me/harcourts/Gumtree websites at the moment to get as much insight on prices before we move in Feb


Water should be included in the weekly rental as just like in Wellington the landlord will pay for the water through the property annual rates, however you will need to check and make sure.
Don't know what you mean by tax ?
There is no council tax like in the UK assuming that's what you mean or if you mean salary tax - see below.
Electric & Gas should be around $200-$250 a month apparently although we've not managed to get it under $325. Gas is the expensive component.
We pay on average $180 a month for Vodafone landline, 40gb a month broadband and Sky TV with Sports channels.
Consider you may want contents insurance, car insurance and associated car costs.
Other than this you will pay tax on all of your earnings. If you let me know a salary I can give you a breakdown including the elements of tax you will pay and the additional ACC levy.
Anything else ?


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## escapedtonz

Also, $300-$350 a week rent isn't a lot. Are you sure you can get what you want for that money ?

We couldn't find anything decent for less than $600 a week within 10km North of Wellington where we wanted to be.
How many beds etc ?
Whatever research you are doing I'd err on the side of caution an add 10-15% on to the costs as we found the cost of living is a higher than expected


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## dawnclaremaddox

dangerousbh said:


> My job offer is in central New Plymouth and we have been looking at properties within either walking or cycling distance. I guess our budget would be circa $300 to $350 per week for rent, although I am unaware of utilities costs (water, tax, electric, sky, internet etc etc) so would need some advice on these if possible? I am all over trade me/harcourts/Gumtree websites at the moment to get as much insight on prices before we move in Feb. (Any more I should be researching?)
> Dawnclare, I have looked online at some of the properties in oakura and they look fabulous and great value, you must be very pleased to be living in such a community and so close to an award winning beach I read!!
> When we initially arrive in New Plymouth and for a period whilst finding our feet we will be looking for short term accommodation, either a motel/b&b or ideally a room to rent. Are there any taranaki message boards or websites I could search on for room rentals?
> Thanks again!


We found a room in a villa in Inglewood costing $200 a week, all bills including internet through the website called easyroommates. We did find a few in NP but Inglewood won at the time, which after 4 months we decided that we weren't ready to be living in a town. So it is very handy just rent a room as you aren't tied in like you are with a rental.


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## dawnclaremaddox

escapedtonz said:


> Also, $300-$350 a week rent isn't a lot. Are you sure you can get what you want for that money ?
> 
> We couldn't find anything decent for less than $600 a week within 10km North of Wellington where we wanted to be.
> How many beds etc ?
> Whatever research you are doing I'd err on the side of caution an add 10-15% on to the costs as we found the cost of living is a higher than expected



Isn't Wellington a little bit more expensive than NP?


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## escapedtonz

dawnclaremaddox said:


> Isn't Wellington a little bit more expensive than NP?


Yes but only slightly. 
We did a lot of research on NP and Welly before we came as I was considering a job in NP with the local electricity distribution company as well as a job in Welly CBD.
From what I remember prices weren't that much different - however we weren't comparing city centre to city centre, more 10-15km's out of Wellington to NP coastal property.
That research was a while ago now though - maybe 2 years so things could have changed.


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## dawnclaremaddox

escapedtonz said:


> Water should be included in the weekly rental as just like in Wellington the landlord will pay for the water through the property annual rates, however you will need to check and make sure.
> Don't know what you mean by tax ?
> There is no council tax like in the UK assuming that's what you mean or if you mean salary tax - see below.
> Electric & Gas should be around $200-$250 a month apparently although we've not managed to get it under $325. Gas is the expensive component.
> We pay on average $180 a month for Vodafone landline, 40gb a month broadband and Sky TV with Sports channels.
> Consider you may want contents insurance, car insurance and associated car costs.
> Other than this you will pay tax on all of your earnings. If you let me know a salary I can give you a breakdown including the elements of tax you will pay and the additional ACC levy.
> Anything else ?


My Husband earns between $50-60k and is taxed at 33%, myself I am on lower tax. If you don't want Sky TV like us, we pay $95, 30gb a month, NP (06) calls and a mobile number free, because we are classed as rural, we pay a little more. We have just replaced 1 of our cylinders of gas after 11 months, we started out paying $250 for hire and fill of 2. Can't give you a real reading on electric as we have solar panels, electric goes back in to the grid and they pay us as well as we pay them, so far we're quids in. House and Contents insurance, seperately done here in NZ, is a bit more expensive than the UK. Car insurance for my soft top peugeot 205 was £275 fully comp in the UK (20 years old), here for my suzuki swift sport (10 years old) $376, so a little bit cheaper and for a car half the age. 

Some things are more and some things are less, depends on where your'e priorities lie. Hope this helps.


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## dangerousbh

Thanks for the figures, gives me a good indication of what to expect and to budget for.
My start wage is $50k and my partner will be looking for work as soon as we arrive (we have some savings to live from and buffer whilst she is searching) We are not too bothered of the likes of sky tv (what is the basic TV like?) or even a landline, though internet with be a definate to email and skype. (saying that, if there is a good mobile service provider we may even be able to do without broadband at home if mobile data is reliable?) 
Is 33% tax the norm, Im wondering what a $50k income will mean in terms of cash in the bank after my monthly paycheck. Maybe $300-$350 per week rental might be too much of a jump whilst we are living off a wage for the period that we are getting on our feet on just the one wage? 
I have signed up to easyroommates yesterday - thanks for that!! I really want to try and have some sort of accomodation in place before landing in New Plymouth as a motel or B&B will really eat into savings week on week.
For the first few weeks (maybe months) I will have access to a vehicle through my company and Im hoping that we could probably do without purchasing a vehicle in the interim, depending on where we settle. I have sent out some tentative emails to vehicle shipping companies to potentially ship our small campervan over mid 2013 if all is going well.
So much to think about and to plan!
Once again thanks for all the advice.


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## escapedtonz

dangerousbh said:


> Thanks for the figures, gives me a good indication of what to expect and to budget for.
> My start wage is $50k and my partner will be looking for work as soon as we arrive (we have some savings to live from and buffer whilst she is searching) We are not too bothered of the likes of sky tv (what is the basic TV like?) or even a landline, though internet with be a definate to email and skype. (saying that, if there is a good mobile service provider we may even be able to do without broadband at home if mobile data is reliable?)
> Is 33% tax the norm, Im wondering what a $50k income will mean in terms of cash in the bank after my monthly paycheck. Maybe $300-$350 per week rental might be too much of a jump whilst we are living off a wage for the period that we are getting on our feet on just the one wage?
> I have signed up to easyroommates yesterday - thanks for that!! I really want to try and have some sort of accomodation in place before landing in New Plymouth as a motel or B&B will really eat into savings week on week.
> For the first few weeks (maybe months) I will have access to a vehicle through my company and Im hoping that we could probably do without purchasing a vehicle in the interim, depending on where we settle. I have sent out some tentative emails to vehicle shipping companies to potentially ship our small campervan over mid 2013 if all is going well.
> So much to think about and to plan!
> Once again thanks for all the advice.


Ok here is a breakdown of your earnings on $50k, what you will pay in tax and acc and what you will take home (net pay)......

Rates as of 1st April 2012:
Tax Rate Taxable Income	Tax Element	Remaining
Bottom (10.5%) $14000.00 $1470.00	$12530.00
Low (17.5%) $34000.00 $5950.00	$28050.00
Mid (30%) $2000.00 $600.00	$1400.00
High (33%) $0.00 $0.00	$0.00
Totals: $50000.00 $8020.00	$41980.00

ACC Levy (1.70%) on $50000.00: $850.00 

Total available to spend: $41130.00
Monthly: $3427.50
4 - Weekly:	$3163.85
Fortnightly:	$1581.92
Weekly: $790.96

All payment amounts are approximate, due to specific rounding amounts used by IRD which vary depending on payment frequency. Rates are correct as of April 2012 - March 2013 tax year but are subject to change. This should only be used as a guide. 

Mortgage Guide
With your income of $50000.00, you could potentially borrow: 

(Repayments based on 25 year loan at 5.9% interest)

If you have Amount	Monthly Repayments
No Children: $275000	$1775.7
1 Child: $265000	$1711.13
2 Children:	 $250000	$1614.27
3 Children: $237500	$1533.56
4 or more Children: $222500	$1436.7

IMPORTANT NOTE: Values can be more or less, depending on loan type, property, area, deposit, lender & personal circumstances. This is ONLY A GUIDE!

As you can see you won't pay tax at the higher rate.

Normal 4 channel tv is rubbish as is sky TV ha ha. 
You just have more rubbish to decide over with the extra 60 or so sky channels 

Broadband is expensive but I'd say better than the mobile network for Internet purposes although saying that I've not had any problems with iPhone 4 here in the city.

Friends have iPads and use them on the network without any issues but all depends on the signal I suppose but can't see it being worse in NP. 
May depend on where you live. 
Obviously a problem out of the cities and large towns where there isn't much of a signal.
I'd reckon you may have to pay high mobile contract costs or high pay as you go costs for surfing via mobile network as you will need a larger than normal data package ?
We pay $39 a month each on 2degrees and get 1.1Gb of data a month + loads of minutes for landline number and NZ mobile calls + loads of free texts to NZ mobiles. Usual monthly mobile cost is around $45 which includes calls texts outside of NZ. Never go over data allowance as we have wifi and broadband at home.


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## dawnclaremaddox

dangerousbh said:


> We are not too bothered of the likes of sky tv (what is the basic TV like?) or even a landline.
> For the first few weeks (maybe months) I will have access to a vehicle through my company and Im hoping that we could probably do without purchasing a vehicle in the interim, depending on where we settle. I have sent out some tentative emails to vehicle shipping companies to potentially ship our small campervan over mid 2013 if all is going well.
> Once again thanks for all the advice.



Depends on how much TV you watch, compared to ITV, BBC1 & 2, and Channel 4, we find it much the same, just different programmes and lets face it, even half of the programmes in the UK were rubbish or repeats, you don't pay for that here!

Landline we have through Telecom - Total Home Lite package, we started on 10gb which Telecom put upto 30gb for nothing after a few months. We did ask another provider first who wanted more money and told us that we needed 20gb for Skype - this was not the case as we found out when we went to Telecom.

If you decide to get a car eventually, after looking for a month, we found our Suzuki for $2000 less in Hamilton, don't buy necessarily in NP, shop around.


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## dawnclaremaddox

ps. you can access the internet in libraries (NP Puke Ariki Library near the bus station), most of them are free and have wireless.


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