Has anyone moved from England to NZ/Oz on these forums?
Living in New Zealand, lived in the UK all my life before moving here.
How long have you been there?
Coming up to 5 months now, we've just sorted the paperwork on a house (first one for us at the ripe old age of 28).
Do you regret your decision to move?
Not for a second
we sometimes miss friends and family but never enough to regret the move.
Are you enjoying life more?
We're both happier, healthier, more optimistic and just loving it out here.
What's the living costs like?
We were living in Marlow before, outgoings of about £1800/month. Now living in ChCh and outgoings of $NZ1800/month, probably a bit less, so for us at least it is much cheaper.
As a general rule we have found most house related things to be cheaper (accomodation, houses themselves, bills, etc). Food is about the same as the UK (so quite expensive when you take account of the difference in salary). Petrol is cheaper but works out about the same in terms of earnings.
One thing that is very expensive is dentist treatment so make sure to get your teeth sorted beforehand if you do decide to make the move!
I was earning ~£100k/yr in the UK, I'm now earning a quarter of that out here so we have much less disposable income. That said, we're happy to trade that for the outdoor lifestyle, relaxed atmosphere and people but weigh it up and make sure you bring a decent chunk of money with you if possible.
Any primary teachers there? Any advise for good places to teach/live thats affordable?
Afraid not, I work in IT and my fiancee works in retail. The recession has hit over here so jobs are harder to come by and the jobless total is expected to go up rather than down in the coming months. Check out
www.seek.co.nz to get an idea of the number of jobs on offer. Although the job market is a bit different out here, much more is done by word of mouth and networking. It's far from frowned upon to approach companies (or schools) directly rather than waiting for them to advertise a position.
How would a singleton fair moving across the world?
I think it's certainly doable but it's worth making connections in advance, there are a few decent forums about which are worth joining like emigratenz and move2nz (the latter are based in ChCh and the forum isn't as busy). There are plenty of clubs and social events out here and if you end up in ChCh then we'll gladly help you get settled in.
As others have said, it's worth visiting first if only so you can see which areas you like and to talk to potential employers.
It's worth looking at your visa/emigration options, we went for Permanent Residence (PR) as it means we don't have to renew anything and the visa wasn't tied to a job offer. They have tightened up the process a little recently and a few people on 2 year visas have not had them renewed (this has been rare as far as I can tell but has happened).
Drop me a mail if you want more info and whatever you do, don't pay for immigration advice as there is plenty of (better) free advice to be had!