Just got sent an email about jobs in New Zealand and I am really tempted, however I don't really know much about it TBH. Anyone have any experiences on it…..

NZCol might be able to help.

Whereabouts in NZ? North or South Island?

I heard unemployment was high? but I guess it depends on your field.

NZ is gorgeous, I rode xc and rode bike there.

Well tbh anywhere, they are screaming out for civil engineers. Was thinking Aukland, christchurc, queenstownh or wellington

You have listed both islands there. South Island is the nicest and has more touristy things, but both are wonderful.

Lived there for a while, lovely place.

Far more violence and drugs than you would believe, stay away from it you'll be right.

South island is truly beautiful, even if they all have check shirts and bad haircuts.

Oh and the pubs are closed on Sundays 🙄

Hi,

I haven't been myself but my brother went on a holiday 10 years ago for a look and didn't come back.

He is a geotechnic engineer (I think) and has been involved in building bridges, tunnels … things like that. Has done very well career wise. He was doing a similar job before he left the uk but the projects are much bigger there. He got a job within 2 weeks and at that he filled in a form for a work permit, no probs there.

Lifestyle wise in Auckland its 15oC + all year round and he goes sailing & biking alot.

I will find out for myself next year when I got to his wedding.

On a downside it is very far away and some of my friends that have lived there miss the uk type modern culture, gigs theatre etc.

Lifestyle wise in Auckland its 15oC + all year round and he goes sailing & biking alot

Be aware that at least in most of the south island, this isn't true. In Christchurch, it gets bloody cold for half the year, made worse by most of the houses being basically wooden shacks, and central heating being rare. Similarly, Wellington is famous for wind and rain – don't move out to nz expecting it to be like baywatch – it has much more in common with Scotland.

I worked on the south island for a bit. In many ways it is similar to the highlands of Scotland – decent mountains, hardly any people, friendly but quite reserved people. If you like culture, like art, music etc, you'll be very limited – a few international acts play Wellington or Auckland, but if you're in the south island, that means a weekend flight or a 12 hour road and ferry trip just to go to a gig, and only a pretty limited selection of bands play there. same is true of art – don't expect to see many non nz artists.

The riding is good, although due to access laws, there is nowhere near as much as in Scotland say, and you tend to have to drive quite a way to drive anything non local, on slow nz roads – the biggest roads on the s island are pretty much the same size as a bigger b road over here.

Basically, it's a nice enough place, but not the amazing perfect idyll that many people build it up to be – personally, if I wanted to live somewhere with decent hills for riding, I'd prefer Scotland or mainland Europe, where you can have access to culture, the ability to go wherever you want in the countryside / hills, but still have many of the benefits of big hills and nice scenery. I think nz gets bigged up a bit because normal people without much experience of the outdoors, or the scenery that there is in Europe go to nz as it is a standard tourist thing to do now.

Joe

There's a reason most of their young people come over here – it's quite dull at home. The brits I know who've gone out there soon realised how much they took for granted being able to go to interesting cities for a weekend cheaply, or see decent concerts/festivals, or all kinds of different food practically on their doorstep. Some missed it more than others. Cost of living is pretty steep too, and many of the same problems over things like house price affordability that we have. They find travel times for getting to ski areas, interesting MTBing and the like out of Auckland much the same as out of London. Good if you like sailing though.

My gf is from Auckland, has been here 9 years and isn't feeling any need to go back (for more than a visit) just yet. She finished her uni exams and 3 days later was on a plane to Europe.

If you wouldn't miss the culture and bustling cities, want a slower pace of life, more temperate climate, a decent lifestyle and are being paid enough to afford it, it would be a nice place to live. Definitely get at least one trip as a tourist in first though.

Hi,

I agree with joemarshall said that the south island has a completely different climate, but I was just going on what my brother said. Also covered by the weather stats for Auckland (Quite far North.)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/city_guides/results.shtml?tt=TT003100

And he is right the do live in wooden houses with no insulation or heating. Different culture completely as goes housing.

Oh and the pubs are closed on Sundays

When did that start? When I left, pubs were open 24×7 if they wish- in fact one place boasted that it hadn't closed for years.

Most of the country's a bit provincial- like Yorkshire with much better food, coffee and weather. I left there (Queenstown) nearly twenty years ago, and to be honest, don't miss it on a day to day basis. Sure, every winter I get nostalgic for the easy access to the slopes, but for me life in the UK is better overall, and certainly career wise. Like Joe and others say, it's not all a bed of roses.
On the other hand, simply moving to somewhere else (anywhere) can be a tremendous rush, and make life a lot more enjoyable just by making a change, so don't let what I've, or anybody else, said put you off. It's only a long flight to come back if it doesn't work out.

I think I am still prefering Vancouver

What Joe said.
Also due to low population in areas of the south island, some of the phone exchanges haven't been updated for broadband, the pubs shut early, and the spring winds are no fun. If you want to go pig hunting, sport a rat tail and leave your doors unlocked then check out Springfield.

You'll need to put your watch back to 1986

I left there in 2001, the Sunday closing may have changed now. I was hanging around very rural areas 😐

I was a farmer for a while in Oamaru, out in the wilds of Kia Ora.

Totally agree with the lack of culture, Sat night in Oamaru was like the 80's.

Very friendly people though, oh and no one locks their doors +1

^ most of whats been said above is about right although there are a few items that I'd put firmly in the category of bo-lax.
One thing thats probably been missed in all this is the simple fact that on the two islands there is a total population of 4million-ish. 1 million of them live in and around Akl, the rest are spread out on the rest of the land. That makes for not a lot of people in many areas which you may or may not like. Seeing as you are a Civil engineer you would most likely end up in a major city or a large regional centre. Depends what you want really, a large regional centre might send you loopy if you like the high life, in fact even a major city might as well. NZ is what it is, lots of people think its total nirvana but it has the same issues as most other countries but also has some real natural beauty, relatively low crime rate ( i mean, i would struggle to send someone into wellington and tell to avoid any particular areas) and nice people. If you fancy a change and a challenge then there are lots of opportunities. My wife is an engineer (civil) here so could probably tell you a lot more about that but in a nutshell don;t expect your UK slaary x the xch rate but you do get paid relatively well. Renting is cheaper than buying, you'll get an OK 3bd house in wgtn for $350 a week etc I dunno, i moved here 13 years ago and I'd be loathed to leave as life is so easy and i like the lack of people. Email me if you want more specific info, username at securify dot co dot nz

I have had a reasonably good look around the world – I will be going back home to NZ in the near future, as it is awesome.

Queenstown – Lake on door step for fishing, wake boarding skiing. DH and XC riding in abundance and can ride from your house. 2 ski fields within 30min drive, and other 3 wihin 1-1.5 hours drive. Heli skiing on your door step. And for you weather obsessed people – cold like the Alps in the winter, hot in summer.

Christchurch – surf before work, ride after work (DH/XC) And over 10 ski fields within 1.5 hours drive in winter.

Been in Aucklkand for 13 years now, its much like any other city, we have the lion's share of international cultural visitors and the weather is unpredictable but generally pleasant. coffee culture is huge here as is good quality dining and bars. Downside is theres a 45 minute drive to get decent riding and you've gotta go a long way 3+ hours to find a DH style days riding. However i love it and wont be rushing back to Scotalnd in a hurry.
Whats the weather doing in Wtown today Col? its pissing down in the city of sails!

I have traveled around the world, but came back to NZ (Christchurch) as it had everything I wanted. It really does depend on what your priorities are??

Unemployment was increasing for a bit, but it is reasonably low at 6%.

Pubs are open every day.

My priorities.
Access to outdoors. Proper mountains less than an hour away. Skiing, biking and tramping. Mountains here are never crowded. Real adventure biking opportunities (check out my blog for the sort of tracks I am talking about http://mountainbikingzane.wordpress.com/ ).
Living is pretty easy here. People are easy to get on with, crime is reasonably low.

Things that some people whinge about:
Cultural stuff. (I would rather spend a weekend away riding my bike than going to a concert/art show whatever).
Housing. Our housing standards have been pretty crap. Lack of insulation and central heating in many older houses. You can get a nicely heated house, you just have to pay a bit more for it. Having said that the housing here is still affordable by your average wage earner.
Bike bits can be expensive and sometimes the full range is not bought into NZ. Chain reaction cycles will be doing a reasonable amount of business here.
It is a long way to fly to go on holiday to many places, but there is Australia and all the little pacific Islands like Fiji and Tonga quite close.

The only way to really find out if you like it is to get on a plane and find out. Everyones experience will be different. I happen to know a bunch of Brits living here in Chch…

Slim – dry but cold although I've just got back from cairns so it's probably not actually that cold. Looks like rain this arvo. Slicing work so will flick through mysky and see what's been taped while I was away

ianpinder – I think I am still prefering Vancouver

Fair enough. Have not been there myself… but Canada is pretty high up my list too. Only thing I dont like about Canada is the bears… is really quite safe on the animals that can kill you front here in NZ…

The wife and I have been here (Tauranga, North Island) for two years and love it. We hadn't been here before, we just sold the house and car and moved out (having arranged jobs first, so we had residency visas).

As mentioned above, a lot of people seem to see NZ as some sort of nirvana, and try to escape whatever they perceive to be making them unhappy in the UK or wherever they happen to be. I guess this is partly down to some excellent PR work by NZ Tourism, who seem to have successfully promoted NZ as an outdoor sports wonderland where the sun always shines and there's no crime or pollution etc etc.

NZ is much the same as the UK in many ways – mostly good but with a few shitty bits. Occasionally it can be a bit 'get up, go to work, come home, dinner in front of the telly, go to bed, repeat'. But more often – much more often for us – it's like being on holiday, except you have to go to work. Sometimes we come home from work and walk down to the beach for a sunset stroll. We can surf before & after work. There is excellent MTBing less than an hour away at Rotorua, and some very good stuff 15mins away on the edge of town. In Winter we can leave our house and 4hrs later be sitting on the lift up the mountain with boards on our feet, so an easy weekend away is a frequent thing.

Most of these things can be achieved in the UK, if you know where to look, though. And some of the negatives people have pointed out are true:
– Bands you like won't play here often, and if they do it'll likely be one show in Auckland and one show in Wellington, both of which will sell out in 10 minutes;
– Same goes for theatre/musicals and other artsy stuff;
– Drink driving is still socially acceptable, although getting less so;
– There is a big gang culture in some places, although my only interaction in two years has been to see some yoofs in gang colours hanging out in a park as I drove through some small hick town. It's no worse than any UK city I reckon;
– A lot of housing is woefully under-insulated, and double-glazing is rare (although is now compulsory for new builds I believe).
– Interest rates are way higher than the UK.

Also, you can't just pop over to Yerp for a weekend of culture in some old city. But you can just pop over to Samoa or Tonga for an island break.

Overall though, we love it here. I think we were lucky in that we came here with no expectations, and had the option of just going home if we didn't like it (Obviously everyone can do that, but we were relatively well placed financially, don't have kids, and could have easily got jobs again back in the UK).

Basically don't expect to come here and find the answer to everything. And even something like picking the wrong town can make the difference. We have friends who moved out to Auckland, lived there for a year and got fed up with city life, and decided to move back to the UK. On their way they came and stayed in Tauranga with some friends, and loved it. They regretted having made the decision to go back, as they realised it was Auckland they didn't like, rather than NZ.

I suggest you have a lurk on vorb.org.nz for a bit, which is the equivalent of STW over here. See what people moan about, and also the cool stuff that goes on. Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions.

Oh one more thing, its a great place to bring up kids. garden is not sodden wet for three quarters of the year, sports and recreation is heavily promoted in schools and there is generally a good sized playing field every couple of hundred m. in most cities

Yeh, was up in Tauranga last week. Seems like a nice place to live. Auckland however would do my head in, although wifey is originally from there and wants to move back 🙁

+1 for Auckland not being representative of NZ, just as London isn't the UK.
Unfortunately, it is too easy to get stuck in the Auckland trap, as that is where you are most likely to find work.
I've been back here since Nov 08, and am still stuck in Akl, still, we have a plan to escape to the South Island inside of 5 years!

I do get sick of people talking about NZ being stuck in the 1980s. People here are very early adopters of tech that works, banking system is the best example. I couldn't believe that in UK no PIN number was used on card transactions until when (04/05?). NZ had been using EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of Sale) with PINs since 1990!

Anyway, I'd vote for the South Island, as I grew up there, but make sure you arrange work first that will help you to avoid getting stuck in Auckland.

New Zealand; it's more or less the same as Scotland, but with a bigger advertising budget.

stunning scenery, beautiful weather/dodgy weather, lots of open space, flying biting things*, and the locals talk funny.

(*midges are annoying, sand-flies are vicious).

i'm not knocking NZ – i lived there for a year, but Scotland is also great.

Auckland just came top of some "best cities to live in in the whole world" survey (not run by NZ Tourism Council).

Money is generally not as good as in Australia or the UK, from what I understand (might be rubbish, might be different for you specifically) but quality of life is better (hopefully).

I didnt mind Auckland, getting about is a pain as the traffic is always congested but it is an ok city with some nice bits and some not so nice bits. South Auckland was a bit rough, Over the bridge to North Harbour a bit souless.

lived in various places during a year long trip in 2003.

loved the place, i can agree with many points made above, the people that go out to NZ/OZ and expect miracles always crack me up, do you research and at least go out there for a long holiday to suss it out.

I may be still looking back with rose tinted spec but it was an amazing place, much more laid back than the U.K.

When i landed in Auckland I thought i'd landed in the wrong country, very multi cultural.

anywhere you go in the world its going to be a wake up, work, come home etc, etc. the wages are not as good as the UK/OZ, nearly all the places i worked in most of the staff were saving up to get over to OZ (but that was manual labour jobs as i didnt get into IT over there)

you do feel you are a million miles away form the UK though and it can feel a little isolated, but maybe because i wasnt really settled there

our plan is to retire there and set up a hostel (you have to have your dreams)

the best way id sum the weather up compared to the uk is, the summers are hotter and the winters more severe.

good luck

Spent three months there and "did" both islands in a car we bought in Auckland.

Absolutely loved it – stunning, lovely people, warm (North Island), great surf and amazing mountains.

Preferred the South Island but it's more remote and inaccessible so living there would possibly be tricky.

Wish it was closer but from what we saw (it was a honeymoon), jobs are hard to come by and it's hard to make money.

you won't like it. i left 10 years ago for the bright lights and big money in oz.

Sorry to hijack…but I'm travelling to Auckland on June 15th and will be there for 6 weeks. Going to be working in the hospital there, but will have all my weekends free. Had planned on spending a week on the south island but unfortuntely dont have the time.

What can people reccomend I do with my weekends? Obvioulsy want to try and go cycling one or two weekends, and possibly travel to a ski resort. Quite like outdoors and scenery.

i can tell you i've just been offered a job and currently getting my medical and police check for my visa!!

woohoo!

i forgot to say it was as a highway engineer

Wish it was closer but from what we saw (it was a honeymoon), jobs are hard to come by and it's hard to make money.

Riiiiiiiiiight, if you work in one of the main cities thats quite incorrect. Same as Scotland really, if you lived in Ullapool for example i doubt you'd land yourself that high paying IT job…but its all relative. I certainly make more cash now than i ever would in the UK.

mrh86 – have a look at Woodhill for riding, you can get down to the Coromandel easily enough and some nice places in there as well. Rotorua obviously would be worth a trip for a w/e.

I moved to Wellington last October. I'm still job-hunting, and have found the search a bit frustrating (a lot of weight is given to having NZ experience) but if you are a straight-ahead civil eng for roads, rail or construction then there are plenty of jobs about (have a look on seek.co.nz – you'll get an idea of salaries there too).

Wellington has worse weather than most of NZ but has good bars, restaurants and stuff to do, and still has ace singletrack on its doorstep (most of the riding I do here is steeper and more technical than anything I did before NZ, and there's a good trail centre at Makara Peak just out (rideable) of town).

I lived outside the UK before moving here; if you haven't there are other things to take into account, moving away from friends & family etc..

Message from my missus: if you are a civil engineer, bridge pref. then get in touch with me as they are recruiting (Akl, Wgtn, ChCh), email in one of my posts above and i'll put you in touch.

Riiiiiiiiiight, if you work in one of the main cities thats quite incorrect. Same as Scotland really, if you lived in Ullapool for example i doubt you'd land yourself that high paying IT job…but its all relative. I certainly make more cash now than i ever would in the UK.

So why did my high earning cousin and her husband return from Auckland after 5 years due to the lack of opportunities out there?

Sure Auckland is a busy place but NZ is stuck out in the middle of nowhere.

We loved it there – favourite place (apart from Cornwall) in the World but unless you have very particular skills (like Engineering) that are in demand (and even then the demand will fall) then it's harder to make money – the simple fact that the population is so much smaller dictates that.

The trouble with poms moving to NZ is they actually expect u to work for your pay which can be a bit daunting for some.