Christchurch

DG22

Just pm'd you

Samuri Suicide

The peg.

EffieM

Hi all, my husbands just been offered a Job in Christchurch with Canstaff. Just looking to get in touch with anyone there at the mo. Lookong forward to a change and we have 2 small kids (both in our early 30's).

Crumble Froo

Heya, I'm in my early/mid 20s and have been living in Christchurch about 5 years now, if ya need a hand or info, just post on here, or private message me, no worries

(though I can tend towards sporadic use of boards.ie)

EffieM

Crumble Froo wrote: »

Heya, I'm in my early/mid 20s and have been living in Christchurch about 5 years now, if ya need a hand or info, just post on here, or private message me, no worries

(though I can tend towards sporadic use of boards.ie)

Brilliant thanks crumble. What brought u over there? Have u family there?

toshy321

Hey all looking for a bit of info about chritstchurch.. Have a interview for a job there and just wondering how people are finding the work and conditions out there whats the money like also?? Is there much of a social life there as from I hear most of Chrischurch was desimated cheers.

What are the benfits of say headin to New Zealand when maybe more can be earned in the likes of Austrailia, Canada sorry lots of questions..

Crumble Froo

EffieM wrote: »

Brilliant thanks crumble. What brought u over there? Have u family there?

Haha, no family. Accidently fell in love with a kiwi on the internet when I was 17, moved over when I was 19, broke up a couple of years after that, and hell, it's as much a home to me now as Ireland ever was.

toshy321 wrote: »

Hey all looking for a bit of info about chritstchurch.. Have a interview for a job there and just wondering how people are finding the work and conditions out there whats the money like also?? Is there much of a social life there as from I hear most of Chrischurch was desimated cheers.

What are the benfits of say headin to New Zealand when maybe more can be earned in the likes of Austrailia, Canada sorry lots of questions..

Right, not sure quite how much I can help here... There's work here, particularly if you've got something that can help with the rebuild. I've heard lots of good things about all the Irish over here already for that purpose - good workers apparently. Money, I've no idea. I think, generally, people will tend toward a paycut coming here, but the lifestyle is just so 'other' to what it was in Dublin, rather live here on a pittance (and you can, quite easily, too) than be there making heaps.

Social life... well... what do you do for a social life at home? What part of the country are you living in? Coming from Dublin to Christchurch, pre-quakes was a bit of an initial shock, cos I'd just never spent time in such a small city before. That said, I was never particularly into the nightclub scene, so no major worries there. Since the quakes, the centre of town is dead, unless you count the colossal rats and demolition machinery, but the suburbs have sprung into a new life of their own. Riccarton, Addington and Merivale seem to be the new hotspots for people who used to enjoy that side of town and the local council have brought in alcohol laws similar to what was in town in those areas too.

For me, the biggest losses were in all the awesome live music venues in the city, literally every single one is gone, and all replacements have been scattered all over the place.

Can't speak for Australia or Canada, but I love the people here, the attitudes, the communities, the activities, the landscape, the sports. took a little while to get used to some of the differences between outlooks and humour from kiwi to irish, but hell, I love it here.

daveblinkbass

I'm moving out to Christchurch next week with a job. The money in my opinion is good in terms of exchange rate but I'm not sure if the spending power will be better or worse than Ireland. I heard the cost of living is rising faster in NZ than the wages are so perhaps somebody already out there can shed some light on that. Work and Conditions appear to be the same as home (on paper at least) with hours per week, breaks, holidays etc.

I cannot personally compare the benefits of NZ to OZ or Canada, but friends in OZ have told me that some (not all) Australians can be difficult to integrate with, possibly due to the large amount of Irish immigration there and the "they're taking our jobs" attitude. But understand I have only heard this - not definitive fact nor my opinion of the Australians! (I'm hope I don't offend anyone).

Friends in Canada and NZ seem to love it. Benefit to Canada is the ability to come home relatively easily should you want/have to.

toshy321

Lads thanks for the replies and info had the interview friday and it went quite well so I'm hearing back in the next two weeks or so if I have the job starting dates etc. Looking to work as a carpenter out there.. The recruitment firm I done the interview with are one world resourcing and from what I could gather I think they have already sent tradespeople out to christchurch so if anybody has any info about what there are like to deal with that would be great.

daveblinkbass

Well I'm glad the interview went well Toshy321! I haven't heard of that firm but I wish you the best of luck. I saw on some other threads about a company called Canstaff hiring carpenters for the Chch rebuild. So might be worth your while trying them also and cover all angles.

This is just one of the links: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=72308393

Enter Canstaff into the search bar and plenty other threads appear also.

toshy321

Lads will probaly be heading for Christchurch within the next 3wks sorting details nxt week. I suppose I'm still a little concerned over money think I'm going to be starting on something like 25 dollars an hour so a 45 hour week would be 1125dollars converted back is around 725 euro is this enough to survive comfortably on out there. How much is renting bills per month, is food expensive etc?? Ne info would be great cheers..

tom_ass19

First thing to do is don't do the convert thing. You got to forget about the euro while you are here. You can't compare things to back home.

Depends where you want to live, I live in St. Albans and pay 360 a week for a 3 bedroom townhouse. My last power bill was just under a 100 for the month. Internet I find is a bit expensive for what you get but does fine.

For food, Countdown is like tescos and Pak n Save is like lidl and aldi.

You'll pick up a car pretty cheap, just keep in mind that if you buy a diesel car you'll need to pay road user charges, just like road tax back home. Petrol have those charges built into the fuel when you buy it. You'll see the price difference when you arrive anyway if you get a car.

Hope this helps and safe travels

kiwipower

tom_ass19 wrote: »

First thing to do is don't do the convert thing. You got to forget about the euro while you are here. You can't compare things to back home.

Depends where you want to live, I live in St. Albans and pay 360 a week for a 3 bedroom townhouse. My last power bill was just under a 100 for the month. Internet I find is a bit expensive for what you get but does fine.

For food, Countdown is like tescos and Pak n Save is like lidl and aldi.

You'll pick up a car pretty cheap, just keep in mind that if you buy a diesel car you'll need to pay road user charges, just like road tax back home. Petrol have those charges built into the fuel when you buy it. You'll see the price difference when you arrive anyway if you get a car.

Hope this helps and safe travels

Well put tom_ass19!
I found the same when I immigrated from NZ to Oz then to Ireland. I have a theory that generally when your living and earning in a country things tend to work out similar overall. Some stuff will be cheaper some more expensive but it balances out.

toshy321

Thanks for replies lads great help..

tom_ass19

No worries Toshy!

Just one more thing to add as well which I forgot to mention last night regarding accommodation.

Two things that shocked me were that the large majority of places are unfurnished and don't be surprised to see a lot of people turn up at the same time for viewings. They're set times from the estate agency so a bunch of people turn up, so it's like a competition pretty much I remember one viewing there was about 30ish people there, crazy like.

When I was looking at places on trademe the pictures show the place furnished. I thought that place looks amazing but when I showed up for the viewing nothing was there. So when I found a place I had to kit it out fully. So maybe set a bit of cash aside for that

You never know you could find a lovely furnished place and you'll be sorted! Best of luck

Cheers,
Tom

Mrs OBumble

tom_ass19 wrote: »

the large majority of places are unfurnished

FYI, it's normal to rent places out unfurnished in NZ, most people have their own furniture, so trying to let a place with furniture in it would cut down the pool of potential tenants.

And besides, the way a landlord sees it, if you cannot afford furniture, you can't afford the rent either.

Ways around it: move into an established flat, that way you only need to furnish your bedroom. Or the big cities do have some apartments that are targeted to travelling executies and the like. These are often furnished.

If you need to buy furniture - remember that you don't need to buy new. Try second hand shops (either charity ones or commercial operations), or trademe.co.nz

DG22

Hey Dave just woundering if you made the move and how u are finding it. I am hopefully going over before christmas, just waiting for the start date.

kiwipower

Just wondering if anyone here is working in the hospitals in Christchurch?
Just spotted a job on Seek that might just tempt me back to NZ and Christchurch.
Only downside would be distance from Wangavagus and related travel costs.

daveblinkbass

@DG22 - I did make the move, I'm here two weeks yesterday. Started my job almost straight away and the place so far it's great. The city centre is non-existent. At the moment they are demolishing the high rise buildings and access is restricted. That being said, the suburban areas have come to life and there are lots of great pubs. Unfortunately, there is no night club as such anymore but some places have dancefloors and DJ's. Other than nightlife, there is so many things to do here. If you have a sense of adventure I can't think of a country with more things to do! Had my first earthquake the last day too, think it was a 4.3. If you don't mind me asking who you starting with?

If anyone has specific questions about Chch, just ask and I'll do my best to help! I'm getting to know the place pretty well now

CatFromHue

I haven't been to ChCh since the earthquakes but one of the things I did like about it when I was there was it's closeness to many nice outdoor things that we don't have here. For example there are a few surf beaches pretty close to the city and then the Southern Alps would only be 1.5hr to 2hr away. So you could realistically surf and hike in the Summer with relatively little commuting and then Ski/Snowboard in the Winter too.

Crumble Froo

Only need a good wetsuit, hood n booties to surf in winter too Much better swells, as well.

Mrs OBumble

kiwipower wrote: »

Only downside would be distance from Wangavagus.

Not everyone would see that as a downside


I spotted this on Stuff the other day:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/7828034/Quake-impact-yet-to-hit-health-officials

Not picking up prescriptions, binge drinking and delaying medical checkups are signals ''the full impact of the earthquakes'' is still to come, Canterbury's health officials say.

They're basically looking at what happened after Hurricane Katrina to predict what Canterbury might be in for, medium term.

kiwipower

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Not everyone would see that as a downside

Cheeky :P
I like to visit the whanau and leave again 2! Ireland is jst to far away for that anymore.

danielstook

hey toshy,

i'm just wondering how you are getting on in christchurch, i'm having an interview next week with one world resourcing, just really wondering how it all went for you,

thanks

danielstook

to all other folks here,

i'm really getting interested in the idea of moving to christchurch, i work as a carpenter here in ireland and i'm aware of the whole rebuild thats about to begin in christchurch.

so can anybody please take the time to tell me a little about job prospects, pay, terms to sponsorship, visa processing times etc ?

any help would be greatly appreciated,

thanks folks!

Cookie_Monster

another 4.2 quake in Chch today, no reported damage but that's the biggest in 8 months.

tom_ass19

Hi Daniel,

The best thing to do is go through the posts here and have a look for yourself. It's been repeated here over and over again so there's plenty of info to find

Best of luck!

danielstook

tom,

thanks for taking the time to reply,
i have been trolling through the pages here for a few days now. i was interested in what toshy had to say really, as i am haing an interview with the same recruitment company as he had.

as for the other posts here, whilst they are very helpfull, some are old and i think they could be somewhat outdated, regarding the rebuild, and current visa processing times,etc.

i'm really getting into the idea of working there, whilst i know the pay may not be the best in the world, it really would be a promising move regarding the security of work. unfortunetly work for me here is slowing, whilst i still manage to pick up work each week, i really cant seem to make progress. for me, just ticking over is not enough.

but tom, thanks for the peply, and if anybody has any new information on work in christchurch, visas, etc, it would be great if you could share it here,

cheers folks,

tom_ass19

I'll ask a mate tomorrow about rates etc, sadly i'm not in trade so I don't know off the top of my head but if you take a look on www.seek.co.nz you might find jobs there that'll state the salary. Just to get a picture.

You can also check out this fb page and maybe ask there as I know it's very very active

http://www.facebook.com/irishpeoplelivinginnewzealand?fref=ts


Apart from that i'll get back to you once I find out a bit more. You should definitely come out though, even if the salary might be around the same. The lifestyle is just unreal compared to Ireland and it's a great life experience.

danielstook

cheers tom,
thanks for your help, i have a fair idea of rates from looking around, but i'm just looking to find someone on the ground if you know what i mean, i will have a look at the facebook page, that should be a great help. sure get back if you can!

thanks