# Auckland the first two weeks



## Plastic Paddy (Jan 13, 2010)

Hi all, I just thought i'd put down my experience so far since we emmigrated to NZ.

We arrived on the 12th Jan an extremely hot and humid day, since we came from Ireland's worst winter on record - minus 15 in some parts, this was very hard to handle and we basically spent the first week couped up either ill or suffering from the heat... NOT THE BEST START!! - The baby had no problems and took it all in her stride.

Our first priority was to secure rental accommodation, so we hired a car picked out 12 or so properties in our price range and started the drive by's (the rental agents like you to view the property from outside before you apply) we were not impressed, even the ones in top area's such as Mission Bay, Remuera and Medowbank were not up to much. We managed one we thought was worth a look inside, however it was already taken. Another few days of this and our spirits were fading, managing only one more property we liked in Devonport (Lovely area) We then changed tatics and decided to have a break and buy a car, and ended up getting a fantastic one from GVI (General Vehicle Imports - 575 Great South Road) For anyone looking to buy a car head to the great south road or the great north road, you'll find a wealth of car dealers.

The second week started much the same with a ton of bad properties, however we went to view a house in Hillcrest (North Shore) and fell in love with it. It was 300 times better then anything we had seen so far and well within our price range. We applied and had an anxious two days wait before we finally got the approval... We move in on the 8th Feb Fantastic!!

So as we start our 3rd week in NZ we have managed to buy a car, drive most of the suburbs, look at more bad rentals then good (in our price range - there are some beautiful houses in all area's) and secure a gem of a house, it has been a real strugle at times and there's been a lot of stress and a few tears and the money has gone alot quicker then we had expected, however we are starting to feel positive and are looking forward to the coming weeks and hopfully secure work.

Will keep you all posted. If I can help with anything please let me know.
Michael


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## Siouxzee (Dec 8, 2010)

Thanks for the great post Michael! Please keep them coming.
Not sure if maybe you can add to any of the current posts ie : medicals or ITA/Fat people etc seeing as you have just been through it.


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## laurasaurus (Feb 1, 2011)

*Similar experience*

Hi there

I just wanted to echo, that we had pretty much the same experience arriving in Auckland. I think it just costs more to live here than we expected. We were living down the road with my partner's folks till he got the job in Auckland and we thought, we'll just go up a week before, stay in a motorpark and find somewhere. We did lots of looking online before we drove up, but the places we'd picked all looked nasty from the front in reality.

A lot of places were units. Not something I have seen in the UK, but they are quite small places and not what we really wanted. We also heard that the rental market is really tough at the moment, but should improve in the next couple of months with student movement etc. So from Feb things should start to get easier on that front.

Alot of buying and selling seems to be done on TradeMe (like e-bay) or at least in the rural areas. We bought a Honda CRV, which is a nice car, but has already had a few problems in the two months we have had it and personally I wish we had bought at a garage where its easier to get faults dealt with. Did you get any warranty with your car?

So my partner has started his job. I am busy spending my days checking the Seek website, Weekend Herald, and the govt jobs website. .. and waiting for the shipping to arrive of course.

L


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