Totally off topic - location, location, location

[MSTRS:Me]

That's one of the main reason's we're looking to move over. Rather partial to hedgehogs myself.

Apart from the accent, they'll be pretty much what you are used to, then.

[Lias]

Fielding has ~14000 residents, and is pretty much an agricultural support town and not much else. Bulls is quite a bit smaller again, and isnt much more than somewhere to stop to take a leak on the main state highway (SH1).

Fielding is probably big enough to have broadband these days, but I very much doubt Bulls is so I hope you like dialup if you move there. Whilst fielding advertises itself as being close to a "Major" city, Palmerston North isnt exactly what I'd call Major even by NZ standards, and our "big cities" are towns by UK standards. Palmerston North has ~80,000 residents so yeah, not all that big really.

What sort of work do you/your wife do, as you may find very little demand for a lot of skills in either of those towns. Its ~45-60 minutes away, but alot of people like to live on the Kapiti Coast and commute into Wellington. Paraparaumu or Waikanae might be a better choice if your careers are more white collar orientated, as Wellington will have a much greater range of jobs than Palmerston North.

[Beemer]

What do you do for a living, Tony? That could influence where you live more than anything. Some areas have many jobs in particular industries, etc whereas others don't. We live in Levin (about 50kms south of Palmerston North and 100kms north of Wellington) and housing is pretty reasonable here. We paid less than $300,000 for three acres, five car garaging and a house that was only three years old! We're 8kms from town but it's as peaceful as anything. My husband works in retail and I work from home as a freelance journalist and photographer so it doesn't matter where I am based.

Prices in Feilding and Palmerston North are likely to increase as the air base at Ohakea is gearing up for major expansion so there will be literally thousands of people looking to move here in the next few years.

I have no idea about Feilding, but there are some good schools in Palmerston North and there is also Massey University there if your daughter is nearing that age. Feilding is a good compromise - several friends live there and commute to PN every day for work.

Lias - you posted at the same time I did! Bulls will have broadband I am sure - I doubt very much if the military at Ohakea would settle for dialup! Wellington may have the jobs, but I bet Tony would get fed up with the commute every day - one of the reasons he wants to leave the UK most likely. Also, his daughter would have to commute to school too, which is a pain.

[Lias]

Snap! *punches beemer inthe arm*

[Beemer]

Oi, not so bloody hard, I'm a girl remember!

[ceebie13]

We're in a small village called Bardsey, about half way between Leeds and Wetherby. It's fairly rural and just 9 miles from Leeds city centre, so the best of both worlds really. It's a lovely spot, and one that we'll be sorry to leave .....

Hey FT, I spent a year living in Boston Spa. That can't be far from you mate.
If you need more advice, there's plenty of ex-pats on here that can confuse you with their wisdom. Me included. Cheers.

[crazybigal]

nice places, shit hole of a place to live!

Wonder if any of you could help with a bit of info?

Wife and I were having a nosey round the Harcourts real estate site last night trying to get an idea of what the money from our UK house sale would buy us over in NZ. We won't be buying for 12 months, it was just to get an idea, and no doubt prices will have gone up considerably by the time we're ready to buy - just dreaming at the mo

The two properties below fall a bit above our ideal budget, and we just wondered if somebody could shed some light on the areas that these are in as we haven't a clue (planning a visit next year to familiarise a bit). They look fantastic and it seems you get a whole lot more for your money over there, but you never know what's next door/down the road etc on the real estate site, lol

So, anybody familiar with the areas that these two houses are in?

http://tinyurl.com/yzlrjz
http://tinyurl.com/yfgtbx

Thanks in advance

[betti]

Hey Mate

we're about 10miles from fielding and a bit further from bulls, fielding is as most have said small town, probably on a par with skipton, I'm from Lancaster originally, yeah I know the right side of the pennines!, Bulls is basically a crossroads on the way to everywhere else, but probably a good place to buy for investment, with the ohakea airbase expansion the guys have mentioned!.
Renting in the rural areas is much cheaper than town, and Palmerston north is probably on a par with Lancaster size wise, but considerably less people, crime, etc. etc..
As far as the area goes , it does depend on your skills as has been mentioned, but if your a tradesman, trucker or even better have farm experience, yer in!
I'm a chippy and the missus is a nurse in Palmy , no shortage of work round here , and the quality of life/ folk and the ROADS!!!! kick the ass out of the Uk.
Yep even ingleton to Hawes/ sedbergh!.
If yer comin over for a recce drop me a mail and we'll catchup fer a beer, it'll be the best move you've ever made

[McJim]

Best of luck.

I actually wrote loads but then thought the Kiwis would gang up on me (so I deleted it all). You'll find out what it's like when you get here.

[Fat Tony]

Best of luck.I actually wrote loads but then thought the Kiwis would gang up on me (so I deleted it all)

LOL

Wow, thanks for all that guys! Yeah I know we're jumping the gun looking at property n stuff but with the best part of a year to go before we can make the move we've got to do something to keep the dream alive

Boston Spa, Skipton, Ingleton, Hawes... hell you guys know where I ride most weekends

As for work? You mean we're going to have to carry on working over there? Damn! Unfortunately we're not nearing retirement age so no chance of changing that for some time!

My wife's a sister on an early pregnancy unit, and is trained as both a nurse and a midwife so we're hoping that's what'll help get us in to NZ and that she'll be able to find work fairly easily, leaving me to stay at home and wash n ride the bike everyday. I wish! I work in the web industry (creative director, so not much hands on these day) but to be honest I'm looking to get out of that. Having said that I'm not trained in much else other than design... so that's another conundrum for me to sort out Sounds like getting my HGV licence and gaining some experience on the local farms around us would be worthwhile

Thanks again for your help, and offers to get in touch as and when

Cheers,
Tony