Hi Johannes,
I am only too glad to help people where I can. When we migrated
here 2 years ago, we didn’t have much help, so we know
what it feels like to have someone on the “other”
side to help.
I migrated here with my wife and son, and
since then, we’ve migrated
her daughter as well, but I didn’t have a job offer,
so you are pretty lucky. Most companies will not hire people
from overseas, you have to be here first.
What would you like to know specifically?
Otherwise I can just tell you more about Christchurch in general…
P.S. Just as a side note, we are in the process
of starting an immigration agency (which should be operational
at the end of the month) to assist people in coming to New
Zealand.
Regards
Steve
Hi there Steve
Thanks for the reply.
Basically I have a few concerns.
A) Schools and children adapting - systems to help them (remember
we come from a Afrikaans group 0 afrikaans school etc etc)
Children is 5 and 8 years.
Answer:
Kids start school in the year they turn 5, and they do have
programs to help kids from various backgrounds. There is another
South African that I work with, and his kids were a little
behind the curriculum for their age. The school organized
extra classes for them to catch up, at no extra charge. You’ll
find New Zealand is extremely organized in their service delivery,
and they REALLY look after their
children. Your children would probably be put on English lessons
to start off with to bring them up to speed. Within 5-8 months
they will start getting a kiwi accent. My 3½ year old
boy also has one. As for you and your wife, English is the
only language spoken here, and you’ll pick it up fast
as you’ll here it all the time. I work
with an Afrikaans lady Esbe, who still has a thick Afrikaans
accent, but she has learned to speak English extremely well.
Oh yes, you’ll meet South Africans EVERYWHERE…just
walking around the shops and you stand next to some people
and here them speaking Afrikaans.
B) Level of schools in area - Problems with
schools ? children etc.
Answer:
The schooling is of a very high standard, and New Zealand
has been rated at the best country to raise a child. The only
problem they really have is childcare, which is also on the
skills shortage list. The government has recently introduced
a scheme whereby they provide 20 hours free childcare a week
to preschoolers (basically halving the cost of childcare).
Naturally, every country in the world has
problems, and one of the issues that New Zealand has is a
“lack” of discipline, i.e. they have introduced
a “no smacking” law, which has caused some major
controversy here. New Zealand also has a huge problem with
child abuse, but that is generally localized within the Maori
community. Some kids tend to be disrespectful, but overall,
they are quite well behaved.
C) Living cost / areas to live in. How far
will 71 K a year take me ?
Answer:
Housing in New Zealand is VERY expensive, amongst the highest
prices in the world. Auckland is the most expensive, Christchurch
is about 60% cheaper on average to Auckland. The cost of living
is also much cheaper in Christchurch though. Salaries are
also lower in Christchurch. To give you some idea though,
we paid $460 rental a week for a 3 bedroom place in Auckland,
and $240 for childcare a
week. In Christchurch we pay $380 for a 4 bedroom place a
week, and only pay $160 per week for childcare. $71000 is
a fairly decent salary, and is in the region of the top 4%
of income earners. It might be a little tough to support 2
adults and 2 kids, but it is manageable if you budget correctly.
If you wife works, depending on
what she does, but lets say office admin, she would get around
$35000 - $40000, taking your total income to about $100000-$110000,
which you live very comfortably, and even be able to save.
To give you another perspective, the average male salary in
NZ is $38000, and the average female salary is $35000. Average
income for a family is $73000, so your salary on your own
is what a typical kiwi family earns in total.
Auckland (1,400,000 population) and Wellington
(500,000 population) are basically the same in terms of cost
of living etc, Christchurch (300,000 population) is cheaper
and the rest of the major centres like Dunedin, Invercargill
etc are even cheaper.
D) Safety in general. What we need to look
out for.
Answer:
Again, no country in the world is free of crime, and NZ is
without exception, BUT, if you come from SA, NZ has practically
ZERO crime. They have about 20-30 murders a year, and the
you’ll see the most amazing police force in action.
In 99% of the cases, the criminal is caught within 2 weeks.
Now that I have told you there is crime, let me put it into
some context for you. It’s a gun-free country (although
they do have firearms, it’s for hunters etc), and the
police are not armed. Criminals rob shops with knives, and
school kids catch the criminals and drag them to the police
station. You will not find burglar bars anywhere, you will
not walk through
electromagnetic doors to go into the bank, there is no bullet
proof glass, you can even walk up to a cashier in a bank and
shake their hand if you want. You will never see barbed wire,
electric fencing, practically all properties don’t have
any gates, they don’t have ANYONE standing at traffic
lights, nobody harasses you for money,
they don’t have smash ‘n grab, no hijacking, you
don’t lock your car while you drive, I’ve seen
people who don’t even lock their car when they run into
the shops. My wife was EXTREMELY nervous in SA, as soon as
the sun went down, she would stay indoors, within 2 months
of living in NZ, she would drive at 23:00 to the garage to
buy cigarettes. She does not look over here shoulder, she
is not nervous at all. Almost all the criminal activities
are concentrated within the gangs and drug circles. I am NOT
at all afraid to take a walk with my family into the bushes
here around on the farmlands (Christchurch is an agricultural
city). I am not afraid to drive
anywhere, stop get out the car, take a walk around, get back
in and drive off. To end off, NZ and SA is black and white,
night and day, yin and yang, different when it comes to crime.
After living here, you truly start to understand that this
is what freedom is about, to be able to move around and not
be afraid, and you start to understand exactly how violent
SA actually is.
E) Taxes etc that one does not think of when
moving over and get surprised with when having to start paying
them :D
Answer:
Nothing should surprise you. You will realize one thing about
New Zealand, service delivery is supreme. For example, to
repair a road in SA would take 6 months, in NZ it takes 3
days. Another example, in SA I had a tax refund due that is
I’ve been waiting for OVER A YEAR to be paid. In NZ,
I received a cheque in the post 4 days after submitting my
tax return. To sell a house in SA, takes anything between
4-12 months. In NZ, if it takes longer than 5 days you start
swearing at the lawyer. Property transfers are done in a week
in NZ. In SA, you pay your tax, you see NOTHING in return.
In NZ, you pay your tax, you get family support, you get 20
hours free schooling, you get the grass mowed at parks, you
get free medical for your child up to the age of 6, you get
free business courses, women get free breast cancer health
checks, and the list goes on and on. Everyday you see where
your tax money is spent.
F) Weather..
Answer:
Auckland has amazing summers, pretty much like Cape Town weather.
It rains constantly in winter. But it’s a rain the starts
and stops the whole day. If you are in a shop and its raining,
just wait 5 mins, the rain stops and you walk to your car…20mins
later its raining again. Auckland is green all year round.
Wellington is extremely windy, even the Super14 rugby team
is called the hurricanes. Christchurch is a little colder
in winter, we get snow here, personally I found it to be as
cold as Joburg, but my wife thinks it’s a little colder.
Summers in Christchurch are absolutely stunning. It doesn’t
rain a lot in Christchurch. Auckland is very
hilly, Christchurch is completely flat. The only hills in
Christchurch are man made overpasses (about 4 of them in total
around the city). If you get onto the 2-3 floor of a building
(just above the tree line) you can see the mountain ranges
on the west coast. Oh yes, there is not a single place in
NZ where you will travel more than 2 hours to get to the sea.
G) Vehicles/Driving
Answer:
99% of cars in NZ are in very good condition. You won’t
find a taxi, and you won’t even see an accident…I’ve
seen 3 accidents in the 2 years we have been here, I would
see 3 in 1 week in Joburg. Every 6 months your car has to
go for a W.O.F (Warrant Of Fitness) and they will check your
vehicle’s lights, tyre tread, brakes, shocks etc…they
will not issue your WOF if your tyres are too smooth. You
have to buy new tyres and then go back to the testing station.
Speed limit is 50km’s in the city, and EVERYONE drives
the speed limit bar about 10% of the drivers. Maximum speed
limit is 100km’s on a motorway. Christchurch is so small
that they have very few motorways. Traffic congestion is practically
nil. In peak hour, it will take you about 5-10 mins longer
to get to work. Drivers are courteous here and will let you
in if you indicate.
Regards
Steve
Hi Steve
Sorry to intrude here.
My brother forwarded me your email.
Where do you say you stay, are you in heaven?
Sounds like it.
You say property are expensive but then you
talk about rental rates. Can you give me an idea what it cost
to buy properties? What will it cost me to buy a 4 bedroom
house and then if I want to buy rental properties what will
a 2 bed or 3 bedroom unit typically cost me.
What is your prime lending rate at the moment?
Also vehicles, lets say I want to buy a second
hand 2005 model Hilux double cab, what will that cost me more
or less.
I currently stay in Langebaan north of Cape
Town. So we are used to small towns with Cape Town like weather.
What small towns are there close to you with weather which
us South Africans will like?
I earn my income on the Internet, so I can
stay where I want to as long as I have a telephone and Internet.
Best regards
Pieter
Pretorius
www.passive-income.co.za
Hi Pieter,
How are you doing?
First of all I just want to clarify something.
You have to remember that although I have told you a lot of
good things, NZ is just another country and has its own problems.
It is not perfect, and there is no perfect country on this
planet otherwise EVERYONE would be there.
Now, having said that, we as South African's
think that we have found heaven because NZ's problems are
completely acceptable for us. When you compare South Africa's
problems and NZ problems, trust me, NZ is like heaven. What
you also got to remember is that NZ is a 1st world country,
SA is 3rd world trying to become 1st world. And that is where
the major difference is. Government officials are held
accountable here for their actions, in SA they are not. As
a final note, my wife, step-daughter and I believe that we
have made the right decision. We should have just done it
years ago.
About the property, it’s a difficult
question to answer because I don't know what you are looking
for, what you like etc. For us Saffers, we typically like
what they call "Executive" homes, they are like
face brick houses. Also, you will not find houses made of
bricks, 99% of houses are made of wood. There are a number
of reasons for that. Wood is cheaper to build, NZ doesn't
have bugs/pests that eat the wood, so it's pretty safe. Oh
yes, NZ has ZERO snakes if you don't like snakes (like me).
Most of the older houses are slat houses. Also the question
is difficult because the prices so vary quite a bit between
the major cities, and also between the inner city and outer
city limits.
Typically though, you'll find in Auckland
that the houses prices range from $350000 (2/3 bedroom) to
$700000 (very larny 4/5 bedroom). In Christchurch that is
typically $250000 (2/3 bedroom) to $450000 (very nice 4 bedroom).
Then it just gets cheaper than that as you move out the city,
or look at the smaller towns. If you go just outside Christchurch,
say about 20-30km's, you could pick up a 4ha piece of land
for around $150000, which is not bad at all.
Prime lending rate has risen dramatically
recently due to world market pressures, so it is currently
8.25%. You'd get mortgages around 9.9%. Inflation is currently
3.4% Oh yes, kiwi's LOVE property, there are a lot of them
that have 2/3/4 extra
homes, but they are feeling the crunch now with the high interest
rates.
Mortgagee sales are on the increase.
Vehicles prices are not that bad, but most
kiwi's drive 2nd hand vehicles (which are of very high quality)
from Japan. For a 2nd hand 2005 Hilux you'll pay around $30000.
As for the weather, Auckland is like Cape
Town weather, Christchurch is protected from the mountains
on the west coast so it typically doesn’t rain a lot,
but it does get a little cold in winter (like I said, about
as cold as Joburg). Summers tend to be not as long as in SA,
but having said that, we just had a long summer. The temperatures
average around 22-24 in summer which feels like SA's 28 or
so due to the humidity.
Speaking of internet, broadband is simply
stunning here. I am currently on an unlimited speed plan with
a 6 gig cap. My average download speeds are 600-900kb/s. In
SA I was lucky to get around 40kb/s. In SA they have a 4mbit
plan which costs a tiny bomb, I'm on unlimited (which is around
6-8mbit with my hardware) and it costs me $49 a month. If
I go over my 6gig cap, it costs me $5 for another 3gig block.
It's really cheap. Plus they are busy unbundling the local
loop, and starting to roll out ADSL2+. We should be seeing
speeds of around 20mbit in the next few years. Local calls
here are free, and I am currently on a plan where I can phone
locally free,
nationally free, and 40 countries free (including SA) and
I only pay $30 a month. Yes, my wife does phone her mother
in SA and speaks for hours. To put it into context, it is
cheaper for me to phone SA from here, that it is for your
neighbour to phone you. Again, service delivery, if you order
a phone line, within 48 hours it will be installed. In SA,
a friend of mine waited 9 months for ADSL. BUT there is one
problem, (a bad thing about NZ). NZ has a total population
of 4.3 million people, and mostly in the cities. The
scales of economy dictate that it is not viable to have broadband
everywhere, even cell reception because there are just not
a lot of people to make it profitable. Therefore, the rural
areas tend to battle a lot with broadband, and there are a
lot of places in NZ where there is just no cell reception
at all. The government is trying to force the ISP's into providing
at least broadband to the rural people.
Wow, I have said a lot (I get carried away)...I
hope I have tried to
Answer your questions. Also remember one thing, it is very
difficult to fully understand prices etc, because you'll be
converting the whole time to SA Rand. It doesn't work. What
I can tell you though is that the NZ dollar is very strong,
about 0.76 - 0.80 to the US dollar.
Ok, that's enough...
Speak to you later,
Steve
