How's life in NZ/Aus?

Crumble Froo

christchurch is awesome. real mellow peeps, great music scenes, great beaches, great weather (depending what you're into), cheap public transport and believe it or not, the irish pubs are actually hte places the locals go when they want a great night out!

wouldnt wana live anywhere else either, but ive actually been here almost two years now (2 at christmas) and ive not been to the north island yet (yay for 2 weeks time though )!

FreeAnd..

Way to mix it up a bit - saying that, every person I have met has said the South Island is the place to be...ideally 3 months in each place would be sweet how is renting apts in NZ? Are there short term lets 3-6 months common? Are CBD rents (in any of the cities) expensive?

Crumble Froo

in chch city... it tends towards being quite a poor area, and often not that expensive. i work in the city and rent in a suburb to the east and pay $50 rent, sharing with one person.


this is the place to look for flatmates...
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Rentals/Default.aspx

and for rentals...
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-me-property/index.htm


for christchurch, you'll want the Canterbury area... these maps are pretty good for figuring out what's where...

http://www.ccc.govt.nz/maps/wises/

hussey

and guess who has friday & monday off??

brendansmith

hussey wrote: »

and guess who has friday & monday off??

Are you giving me Friday and Monday off Hussey? Cause I think my boss is the only one who can do that.

Crumble Froo

bah. im sunburnt and extra freckled already. though cant go too wrong rolling down hills, playing frisbee, blowing bubbles and being fed free food, before going for a surf.

****in life is good.

Mac055

Well i'm in Bunbury in south WA and i may as well not have left ireland, i arrived in Perth from ireland last week and it's done nothing but piss rain since i arrived!!

chele

I am thinking of heading to NZ for a trip to see my sister who lives on the North Island. How long should I dedicate to North Island to see the main attractions and how long would I need on South Island to see the main attractions?

Would the beaches on the south island be nice in say November? I am thinking of getting a summer... cos Ireland certainly didn't get muchof a summer

FreeAnd..

Mac055 wrote:

in chch city... it tends towards being quite a poor area, and often not that expensive. i work in the city and rent in a suburb to the east and pay $50 rent, sharing with one person.


this is the place to look for flatmates...
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Rentals/Default.aspx

and for rentals...
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-me-property/index.htm


for christchurch, you'll want the Canterbury area... these maps are pretty good for figuring out what's where...

http://www.ccc.govt.nz/maps/wises/

Sweet, thanks - looks like picking up an apt should be easy enough and they are fairly checp too for...

Mac055 wrote: »

Well i'm in Bunbury in south WA and i may as well not have left ireland, i arrived in Perth from ireland last week and it's done nothing but piss rain since i arrived!!

May to October can be pretty rough in South WA. Cold and wet. Definitely not a good time of year to be there...we had planned to travel from Perth and loop around by Margaret River, down to Albany and up to Kalgorlie...Made it to Margaret River - could do nothing but sit in the pub watching it rain and had to turn back after August with the wind and rain...

Would love to get down around there in the summer time though...

Mac055

FreeAnd.. wrote: »

Sweet, thanks - looks like picking up an apt should be easy enough and they are fairly checp too for...



May to October can be pretty rough in South WA. Cold and wet. Definitely not a good time of year to be there...we had planned to travel from Perth and loop around by Margaret River, down to Albany and up to Kalgorlie...Made it to Margaret River - could do nothing but sit in the pub watching it rain and had to turn back after August with the wind and rain...

Would love to get down around there in the summer time though...

Yeah was down in Margaret River on Sunday, didn't do much cos of the weather, but did find a nice wooden cabin, between ballingup and nannup for a few nights, myself and the gf, spent a lovely few days in the cabin complete with outdoor spa on the balcony, drinking wine and watching the rain... highly recommend it if your down that way again.

burger1979

can someone tell me what the life is like in wellington at the moment? i used to live there on a WHV for a year and loved the place, really miss it and still look at the dom post on line most days. coming into spring now so i bet the evenings are getting that little bit longer and everyone has that tingly expectation of a good summer on their minds. ah yes it was a great place. was watching the nz v oz tri nations game on sky in the cake tin and thought to myself i used to live there (quite close actually lived in wadestown).

ah yes had a good life there and then i left, 20 20 hindsight and all that.

so come on as i look out on the dublin skyline awaking from its dreary sleep in the grey clouds people of wellie hows it going?

FreeAnd..

Crumble Froo wrote: »

christchurch is awesome. real mellow peeps, great music scenes, great beaches, great weather (depending what you're into), cheap public transport and believe it or not, the irish pubs are actually hte places the locals go when they want a great night out!

wouldnt wana live anywhere else either, but ive actually been here almost two years now (2 at christmas) and ive not been to the north island yet (yay for 2 weeks time though )!

Christchurch it is well initially anyway, have flights booked for Mid-October and going to chill in the So Hotel for a few days. Plan is to probably drive up North of South Island and then through Wellington and on upto Auckland.

At least that will give me a feel for the three and depending on work, I'll settle the feet for a while in one of them - looking forward to the change of scenery

jank

Don't forget the south of the south Island. Stunning countryside.

watna

burger1979 wrote: »

can someone tell me what the life is like in wellington at the moment? i used to live there on a WHV for a year and loved the place, really miss it and still look at the dom post on line most days. coming into spring now so i bet the evenings are getting that little bit longer and everyone has that tingly expectation of a good summer on their minds. ah yes it was a great place. was watching the nz v oz tri nations game on sky in the cake tin and thought to myself i used to live there (quite close actually lived in wadestown).

ah yes had a good life there and then i left, 20 20 hindsight and all that.

so come on as i look out on the dublin skyline awaking from its dreary sleep in the grey clouds people of wellie hows it going?

Spring is here and I can feel summer in the air! Absolutely beautiful here at the moment. Wellington is doing pretty well! You should come back. I like Wadestown too - it's a nice suburb.

burger1979

watna wrote: »

Spring is here and I can feel summer in the air! Absolutely beautiful here at the moment. Wellington is doing pretty well! You should come back. I like Wadestown too - it's a nice suburb.

yeah would love to and some times i just dream about doing it all but i have a mortgage and that is what the problem is. the grass is greener on the other side. when i was in NZ i missed home a bit and friends back at home too. and had the inkling to go home. also was getting married back home after leaving NZ, wife was with me at the time. i was travelling 4.5 months in south america before i got to NZ and when the WHV was up i was ready to hit the road again. my wife was ready to stay for another 6 months which would not have been a problem with both our employers saying that visas were ok and they would pay for the extensions etc. etc. also it would have taken us to summer time (left in NZ in june 07). thinking of heading over to there for the world cup in 2011 and then who knows if the pull of the white cloud is strong maybe, just maybe.....

jank

Makes me want to go the Wellington and check the place out. Hopefully it wont be too long until I get my blue stickers and I might be able to take my time to check it out.

Crumble Froo

woohoohoohoo! only ten more days till i get to check out auckland! can't wait.

FreeAnd..

jank wrote: »

Don't forget the south of the south Island. Stunning countryside.

No chance of that - will take a few months next year and travel the whole country properly and in-depth...our first few weeks will be a whistle stop tour to get a feel for the main cities before working for a few months...all the while looking forward to finishing work and testing what the country really has to offer

v.e.r.b.a.l

life in New Zealand is great... except for those nasty sandfly bites! i still expect to wake up minus a leg one of these days

Coileach dearg

I'm worried because I spotted a Garda van in Newtown, Sydney this morning. I reckon they were on a stakeout a bit away from my house. I've got some unpaid TV licences from back home

poggy

hey,

will be traveling to New Zealand in Febuary, just wondering what the work situation is like over there at the moment. will be heading for christchurch area initally. all advice welcome. thanks.

watna

Just booked flights to go home for a visit next Easter. I'm so excited! I'll have been away two years by that stage and I'm dying to see my friends and family. I'm making a list of things I want to do and places I want to eat!

jank

poggy wrote: »

hey,

will be traveling to New Zealand in Febuary, just wondering what the work situation is like over there at the moment. will be heading for christchurch area initally. all advice welcome. thanks.

Really depends on what sector you are in but Christchurch can be slow going to get work.

pclancy

watna wrote: »

Just booked flights to go home for a visit next Easter. I'm so excited! I'll have been away two years by that stage and I'm dying to see my friends and family. I'm making a list of things I want to do and places I want to eat!

Don't forget to sign up for frequent flyer points! Round trip to Ireland and back should give you enough points for a few free trips within NZ or OZ with AIRNZ or Qantas

watna

pclancy wrote: »

Don't forget to sign up for frequent flyer points! Round trip to Ireland and back should give you enough points for a few free trips within NZ or OZ with AIRNZ or Qantas

Nah, checked with the travel agent and because the flight is on sale you don't get air points. I'm flying with Emirates.

Boo, I say!

pclancy

Feck. Yeah they did the same to me on the leg up to Ireland last time but coming back I earnt enough for a free Welly-Auckland/Christchurch flight. Never occoured to me before to sign up for points so I spread the word as much as I can now.

Emirates will be lovely, I think they might use the new A380 on part of that route too? Nice new double decker plane

poggy

jank wrote: »

Really depends on what sector you are in but Christchurch can be slow going to get work.

i have an electronic engineering degree but its a WHV im going on, will only be looking for work for a bit to keep me going, whats the part time services type work like, also have several years experence working on buildings labouring and such so would be willing to take work in any area really.

The_B_Man

lol officially got my name changed in work today from Eoin to Owen coz nobody could pronounce me name! Kept gettin called Ian and ee-on. ah well, least we got free donuts!!

Zambia

The_B_Man wrote: »

lol officially got my name changed in work today from Eoin to Owen coz nobody could pronounce me name! Kept gettin called Ian and ee-on. ah well, least we got free donuts!!

Thats my name the latter spelling, except in work they call me Scotty, and no I'm not Scottish.

Eoin or Eoghan would have really just been messing with their heads.

brendansmith

You should have changed it to something cool like optimus prime. You let yourself down there.