Thanks Topcat.The car we hav now costs alot to run,tax and insure in England so we were thinking to sell it before we emigrate and take money with us to buy another but we won't gain much in the car as we owe finance xx

Hi again Emma,
We are from Hutton, Preston. Came to Wellington 3 months ago. Small world eh!!!
Please look at the other threads and my response about bringing a car over from the UK.
In a nut shell.......Don't do it. Complete waste of money and loads of other reasons why I say dot do it. cars aren't expensive here at all if you know what you want and where to look.

__________________
EOI submitted Jan 2010, selected Jan 2010, ITA Jan 2010.
Residency under SMC submitted Apr 2010, granted Aug 2011....they tried to keep us out but failed
Secured job Dec 2011. Arrived Mar 2012

Thanks escapedtonz, wow u only arrived 3months ago? What do u think to Wellington?Is it a busy city? We are looking for somewhere quite quiet but on the other hand close to the shops etc too. Did u sell up before moving?

Yeah we left uk on the 1st March & arrived in Welly on the 9th (spent a few days in Abu Dhabi & Sydney along the way). Welly is a great city. Never get tired of the city view as you come down State Highway 1 or 2 or when you travel in by train. Truly magical.
Loads to do. Lots of cafes/restaurants/shops etc.
It is busy on the roads at peak times I'd say from 07:30 with people trying to get to work but its not standstill like uk traffic & since I work shifts I miss it all.
We originally picked Welly as our preferred place to be but obviously it all depended on where I landed a job. Luckily I landed two, both in Welly CBD.
I wouldn't say it's a busy city. It's very compact but lots of streets & shops. Bigger than Preston but smaller than Manc but I've been thru the city every day of the week and it's never been as daft as Manc city centre. Just perfect really!!!

There are some really nice areas to live and obviously some not as nice. Personally speaking we prefer North of the city. There are some nice areas within walking distance South and West of the CBD but the houses are built either on the side or top of a big hill. Just a bit too much overlooked for us but thats the compromise if you want to be close to the city.
Some areas also look scruffy in our opinion due to the LV electricity lines being on poles in the streets.
We decided to look further out at the newer sub divisions like Khandalla, Johnsonville and Churton Park which are all fine. Settled in Churton Park which is the newest of them all but only renting for a couple years.
Still have a house in Preston which we are renting out. Did a guaranteed rental through Northwood. Lose money on the monthly rent but they take all the risk. We get the money every month regardless and luckily we get enough to cover all the costs of the house in Preston so it doesn't worry us.

If you want a quieter city then I'd say somewhere like Upper Hutt City, Lower Hutt city or Porirua city. All about the size of Wigan give or take, a lot quieter but still have lots of shops and an indoor shopping centre plus all the other stuff you need.

__________________
EOI submitted Jan 2010, selected Jan 2010, ITA Jan 2010.
Residency under SMC submitted Apr 2010, granted Aug 2011....they tried to keep us out but failed
Secured job Dec 2011. Arrived Mar 2012

Thanks for that Escapedtonz.Lots to think about.We need to hav a hol to NZ and travel round I think and see the different areas xx

Hey
Would it be a good idea to do it alone if I'm planning on moving to the Waikato area of NZ alone? Or would it be more sensible to get an agency to help me??
Cheers!!

My husbnd and I used an immigration agent called Immigration Partners, Rosie was our Agent and was worth every penny we paid, she responded to our questions immediately, was always at the end of a phone or answered emails very quickly. Our visa was a Long Term Business Visa so I felt it would be too complicated for us to deal with ourselves and I just didn't want the added stress of applying for the visa and creating a business plan, along with all the other pressures of moving house, let alone moving country.

Hope this helps.

Hi sarahhh,

Just look at page 1 for my previous reply to the thread.
We used an agent as we knew it wasn't going to be straight forward and I'm glad we did as I'm sure we would have given up the fight when medical assessor reported that in their opinion my wife would cost too much to the NZ health system.
It was costly but worth it for us and great to have someone who knew the process inside out and could advise us on any questions we had.

Cheers

Sent from my iPad using ExpatForum

__________________
EOI submitted Jan 2010, selected Jan 2010, ITA Jan 2010.
Residency under SMC submitted Apr 2010, granted Aug 2011....they tried to keep us out but failed
Secured job Dec 2011. Arrived Mar 2012