Pools of Mud

Due to the real estate crisis, and the fact that I am stuck here with quite a few apartment buildings that are losing their value and cannot be sold, my plans of moving to New Zealand are being postponed, at least for a “while”. I am sorry to hear it myself!

Meanwhile then, here are a few Kiwi links:

Pools of mud (by Pete Ashton)

New Zealand’s Hottest Weather Broadcast

How to prepare a kiwi. (Re-post)

Welcome to the youngest country on earth

Lost Novels of Nineteenth-Century New Zealand

Another blog about Emigrating to New Zealand

Comments

[Joe Chasse]

No new news on the moving to New Zealand project, eh? I have learned that it is going to cost between somewhere North of 10 to somewhere North of 11 grand to ship my vintage motorhome over, which I intend to do, as will love having it there, AND a 1965 Chev motorhome will be worth a TON of money there. Being in a resort/retirement community, I am confident of the place selling fairly easily. We hope to buy a leasehold (freehold would be better but $$$) motel in the East side of the Far North somewhere. May settle for New Plymouth as she has family there.

Peace, eh?
Joe

[Andrea]

Hi,
I stumbled across your website while doing an image search for "miniature poodles" ! Strange, not sure what happened, but I have enjoyed looking at your site and reading about your interest in NZ. i live in Taranaki and think its a great place.
Best of luck
Andrea

[Dawn]

I was pleased to find the blog of someone else wanting to move to NZ. I'll be checking back to see your progress. :)

[Mark Bondurant]

Some tips most Americans might not think of: Try to find a house with decent windows. Almost all only have single glazing and many have slat panes. It can get cold in the winter and many places can be very windy at different times of the year. Rarer still is natural gas. Most NZ homes use electric space heaters, which are very expensive to run. Nothing like a good robe and slippers. Also check the crime sheets and take a good look at your potential neighbors. Burglary is very common. Check out the neighborhood on Friday or Saturday night and see who'd making noise. And check the street for tire marks to see if they're racing near by.

[sukanya]

We moved to NZ from the US. And we have not had a smooth transition at all. If poor housing is one problem, another is that you will be lied to that the house is centrally heated, fully furnished etc. We have had a highly unpleasant experience with jade rentals in wellington. Lack of information, false information, and utter indifference on the part of the property manager have all made our stay very uncomfortable. Windows with holes, cracks in the doors, no curtains, defunct fireplace (and all this in a house on a high rent !) and no one to attend to, have been the features of our stay in wellington. And when we complained, the property manager had to say only this: 'you people coming from the US expect too much'! (though she raised the rent overnight thinking we had US $ !)

And then there is this electricity providers! Our first month energy bill was close to 900 $. We still haven't been able to figure out how it could be for a 2 bed house when some of our friends told us with 5 bedrooms, their energy bill was not more than 250 $ a month, even with using the heaters extensively. 'Contact one' is a provider who seems to have taken us for a ride. We had to break the lease at the end of 3 months and jade rentals has still not released our deposit bond.

On moving to a rented house/apt, you have to register with the electricity/gas provider. If you don't, your energy supply will be cut off without any notice. And then they charge you for the reconnection !

We miss the housing facilities we had in the US. Concerned people in the US apartments were professional, straightforward and honest.

Added to all this is the cold and windy weather that competes with the hostile housing system.

[Nancy Joy]

So sorry to hear about your change of plans. I hope the economy in general and the housing market in particular improves soon, and that it's just a short detour. (I look for a big bounce after inauguration.)

Although, after the note above, maybe you should rethink the whole idea...

Best wishes.

[Adam]

Sorry to hear you won't be making it here after all. As a recent immigrant to NZ I can tell you that's a fantastic place to live, however remote it may be, its nicely sheltered from a lot of the problems of other countries.

Anyway lets hope the markets pickup and other things fall into place and then you can fulfill your dream.

Adam