Saturday, July 31, 2010

Emigrate 2 New Zealand

Good day to you all and welcome back to my blog on emigrating to New Zealand. Well middle of winter at the moment and the sun is shining through the lounge window. I cant believe how much better the climate is here in the far north compared to Wellington. It makes sense in a way though, similar distance seperating the two as England and Scotland. When I was in Wellington it also seemed to rain a hell of a lot, the far north is supposed to rain a lot too, but so far, for me it is more like an indian summer !

It gets pretty chilly in the mornings and at night, but during the day tempratures are often around 16 to 18 degrees C. So all good. Well we are getting settled in well after relocating from Wellington. Starting to make new friends and it is good to be in touch with old ones too. Perhaps the final hurdle that we have had to face is finalising our residency, which is forthcoming after recently passing our medicals. If you are thinkiing of coming out to New Zealand then I would suggest that you go the EOI route and gain your residency in the UK, or wherever first. I came out on a talent visa, which is fine, the only thing is is that to gain residency you have to apply for everything all over again. That means health checks, character references, proof of relationship and the like. It is a lot cheaper than the UK, but it still additional costs at the end of the day.

Thought I would put down here some real time costs, just to give an idea of day to day living expenses for those considering emigrating.

I wouldnt even bother bringing your vehicle out here, they are very cheap. Many of the imported vehicles can go for around $2k to $3k. for the bottom end of the market, with top of the range second hand vehicles between 10k and 20k - 20k will get you something that seriously turns heads in the streets. Fuel is cheaper by far, around $1.80 a litre with 6 months car tax around $60.

The following are approx costs: -
  • Bread - $4
  • Milk - $2 - £3 for 1 litre
  • Tins of toms/beans/spaghetti (cheap brand) - $1
  • House rents - $250 - $450 a week
  • House prices- $300k - $400k, budget, 2/3 bed with resonable amount of land, ensuites, garage etc
  • House prices - $450k - $650k, mid range, more land 4 bed, reception, double garages, study, acres of land, etc
  • House prices - $750 - $2mil top of the range, hectares of land, views etc, etc
House construction in New Zealand is predominantly timber framed buildings, the build time is VERY fast. If you are thinking about building off plan, then the procedure can be complex and local council by laws, such as building and resource consents can be daunting - again any questions just ask me........
  • Pint of beer - $6
  • Bottle of wine - $12
  • Veg - $20 for a week, for a couple
  • Meat - $40 for a week, for a couple
  • Eggs - $5 dollars a dozen
  • Flour - $4 three pounds
  • Sugar - $3
  • Standard coffee - $4
  • Cereals - $5
  • Cleaning materials $30 for a month
That gives you a general idea anyway.

Ok thats all for now, see you next time on my blog Emigrate New Zealand

Saturday, July 17, 2010

emigrate to new zealand - update

Well hello all and welcome back to my blog on emigrating to new zealand. Been a while since I have last posted !!! Sole reason is relocating and finalising my residency status, as well as starting my new job, moving to a new home again etc etc.

Looking through forums it is clear to see that emigrating is still on the top of peoples list. New Zealand is very popular as always. It suprises me looking through some of the posts, with questions on how to emigrate, what to expect in new zealand and so on. It seems that many people are relying on forum posts for information on immigration rather than using the net in its entirety to research their country of choice. In this instance New Zealand. If you want to emigrate then research is of the upmost importance, not just the net either, but a more traditonal approach is just as useful, you know, books...

Before my partner and I chose to come out to new zealand, it was my mission to lay my hands on anyhting and everything that had the word "emigrate" or "New Zealand" in it. Anything that would give me more of an idea of the place and how to go about getting here. I went to travel agents and got stacks of brochures - which is useful for snapshots, I used the library extensivey. From the net I requested as many free brochures and literature as possible - the postman was not a happy bunny I can tell yer......

Obviously the net.....

Well, signing off now, time for breakfast. Went dolphin watching last weekend, "playing holiday maker".

Cheer for now snapa.

"emigrate to new zealand"