Hello,

We are just loosely discussing the iddea of moving to NZ and knowing how knowledgable CD people are i wondered if anyone had any info to pass on.

It could be about anything at all to do with New Zealand as we are trying to get a background at the moment. Also if anyone has any experience, good or bad, of moving dogs there with them. I couldn't leave mine behind.

thanks

Helen

Friends of mine moved with husband;s job & 10 year old lab. They now love in Auss(again with job)They said it was quite expensive cost of living wise but loved the life out there Loved the people Property was expensive but not land

It was a while ago since they went as their dog has passed on & he was 15 + when he died. They flew him out via a pet carrier company & he did 30 days quarantine on their property if memory serves me right

It was expensive to fly the dog £500 +

Obviously with Pet Passports thing have changed since then have a look here http://www.passportforpets.co.uk/new%20zealand.html

Hello

My brother moved over to NZ about 8 years ago now - he lives in Queenstown. If you PM me and send your email address I could send it to him and maybe you could 'chat' with him about how they found it (he moved over with his wife), looking for jobs etc? They don't have dogs but they have had 2 kids since being out there ...

PS - I've been out to NZ LOADS to see him and it's just a well lovely country. :) :)

I know someone who moved from the UK with I think dogs and I think maybe other animals!!  If you PM me I'll send you her details.  She seems more than happy there and doesn't seem to be in a rush to come back here.

ENVY ENVY ENVY from Newfie....grrooooooaaaannnnnnnsssssss....:rolleyes:

I have Kiwi friend and met some of her friends.  They are so laid back and friendly.  My daughter is in Aus for a year and all the friends she has made so far are Kiwi.

Our friend who married the Kiwi refuses to live there yet.  He finds it too quiet.  Supposed to be very beautiful and climate is milder than ours, rarely get so much as a frost (N. Island) but still seasonal

A friend nearly moved to NZ in the summer (long story why she didn't  - cancelled at the last moment due to being let down by a man ). The restrictions on what can and can't be taken into the country were very weird :) They are paranoid about diseases being carried into the country :D Make sure that you look into this aspect well if you do decide to go. It isn't just a case of packing up all your worldly possessions :D

Daisy

friends of mine went & took 2 dogs & 8 race horses!!!! They say it rains more than in Devon which is saying something!!!!

I understand it is very hard to move there permanently unless you have the skills they require and are the right age, ie young (or are Australian!).  That's why I was so annoyed when they let Barrymore in :D

can I come? :-)

Thanks for all your help.

it seems as though we aren't the only ones that would be keen on moving from good ol Blighty to NZ!

Rain wouldn't be an issue as we already live in Cornwall!!

can see from small amount of research that i've done so far that it wouldn't be easy to move there and that you have to fit certain criteria. Bit different to this country!

A friend that has spent time out there said that the Maori are friendly, he did say that they are huge though and you wouldn't want to fall out with them. Guess thats why they are great at rugby! He said that he was terrified to be approched by about 10 massive guys that came up to him and his mate and asked what they were doing, when they said they were on holiday the guys said if they (my friend and his mate) shared their bottles of fruit juice then they (the big guys) would get the chips! Sure enough they did and a good evening ensued. A bit different to this country as well.

I am going to have to research the dog aspect as well as i think they have quite strict regulations on ownership (good thing) and does anyone know if they have to quarentine? I know racehorses and Stallions do

I think my e-mail in on my details if you have any specific info, if it isn't i will add it

With the internet now the other side of the world isn't so far away! I could even still spend all my free time on CD!

Thanks again

Helen

Just another little thought to throw into the equation :)  I have flown, myself, to the antipodes and decided after the experience never to put any of my dogs through the experience!  Not only is it a very long and arduous journey it is dependent on stops in countries where animal welfare is not as highly regarded as ours.  Even if the care was of the highest the possibilities for mix ups involving crates being left out on the tarmac in searing heats is too high for me to ever risk and indeed there has been a couple of tragic losses.  Of course the risks are not huge but they are real and they are there and are enough to have made me decide to leave it until my present dog is no longer with us before my Hubbie and I return to our discussions regarding a sabbatical in the area.

Hello

A way around this would be to go via Los Angeles (London - LA - Auckland) - this is the shortest/least stops way to NZ (I think ... :) ) ... and travel out of their main summer season. Then again the human side of navigating customs etc in LA is another matter entirely .... :)

Have a look on the link I posted it explains all re pet passport

The Maori's are lovely In my much younger days I had a fling with a Moari guy(he did play rugby too the northern version ;))He had a brilliant sense of humour He was a big chap all 6 foot 4 plus of him. LOL no one ever picked an argument with him but he was a pussy cat really He played a local amateur side while he was over here :D improved their results no end LOL

My cousin, her husband and there two kids live in new zeland, (the husband was in the all blacks :-o )
They live on a little farmy place where they collect there own rainwater in a tank for water etc, They have a labby called Cody (bless him) but cant remeber wether he was with them when they lived here. Seen pics and it looks sooooooo beautifull! im jelous :D

Well, i have been continuing research and i'm begginning to think it would be more trouble that it's worth!

The regulations and conditions of entry are as long as your arm and i don't think the cost of living is significantly different to here.

Once you factor in your costs of moving etc then it's way more expensive. We were already thinking this but todays article in Horse and Hound confirmed it. The coloumist lives in NZ half the year (nice life eh?!) and he said that there has been a massive increase in the number of people moving out there as the attractions of the livestyle become more apparent. However this is having a knock-on effect on house prices which is one of the main reasons we wanted to move.

We are after a 3/4 bed house with 6-10 acres and some stables. Totally out of our price range here, and after looking in NZ, not much more attainable there either. :-(

Oh well back to the drawing board :rolleyes:
Thanks for your replies

Anyone know anything about Wales??!! ;-) :D

There was a programme on a few weeks ago listing the top ten European countries best to invest in re property.  Places like Hungary came up but the most surprising (OH and I looked straight at each in surprise) was Belgium.  It's not about being the cheapest but these countries are likelyto make considerable returns on your investment in about 10 years time.

Maybe you should be looking closer to home

Yeah thanks Cheryl,

Don't really want to have to move to the other side of the world but you have to go where you can afford the lifestyle you want or stay where you are and compromise i suppose.

they speak french though don't they in Belgium and i don't!!

Not over keen on eastern europe but it would be a good idea to widen my search.

If anyone knows of any smallholdings going for around 100k let me know.

I won't hold my breath!!

I don't know if it was Hungary but around that side of Europe there was another property programme that was looking for old farmhouses to buy for an English couple. You can get a really nice sized farmhouse with plenty of land, varies between properties.  The prices were ridiculous - something like £60K for a farmhouse already done up.

Like you say though you have to compromise, right a list and decide what you can really compromise on.

You can see I'm a wannabe property developer :D Can never get OH to gamble.  When they started building the channel tunnel I went on and on about buying a French place but he has no vision and I have no pennies :(

Hi Helen,  Yes it is very daunting when you start realising what an uphill struggle you would have just to get in (I think you need to have job offers before you go) and I think you are right about the cost of living.  I thought house prices were much lower but then if the demand has got higher, it stands to reason prices will increase.  I should think though that quality of life is much higher there.  I believe anyone can live there for six months, but then you have to leave the country for six months before you are allowed to return.

Anyone know anything about Wales??!!

Only that the house prices have shot up there too :)

>Only that the house prices have shot up there too

and it's us English making them shoot up.  They'll be a backlash sooner or later

You're right Cheryl.  Problem is that some areas of England are now so expensive that people look for the cheaper areas to buy in (in the UK and abroad), even though that makes the cheaper areas too expensive for the locals to buy in :(.  Must be particularly galling when non-locals are buying holiday homes.

Holiday homes are the death of villages. I reckon the owners should be charged full (if not more) council tax on them, rather than having rebates. The second-home owners don't send their children to the local school, so that gets closed.  All they do is drive up property prices and drive out the next generation - so villages die.

I thought they did have to pay full council tax now - weren't the rules changed recently?  I had a holiday once in Charmouth which is a lovely little place in Dorset but every bit of property was getting bought up as holiday homes or by people retiring there from better off areas and the prices were getting extortionate.  I wouldn't think the local young people had a hope. :( 

According to this, they still get a 10% - 50% discount.

I think what has changed is that they used to get an automatic 50% discount (I presume because they weren't permanently resident and therefore weren't using the council's services) whereas now, the council can reduce the discount to 10% if they so wish.  I suppose I can understand why they get a discount but it must make it impossible for a council which has to provide the normal services anyway on a very low income.

I now pay 90% of the council rate for my weekend home in the Lakes despite not using hardly any of the services, I doubt rural areas without a tourist industry would have better schools, libraries, parks etc.  There is a local occupancy system whereby all new build, purchased council houses, etc are only available to local people, however, local people still find it very difficult as first time buyers but I don't see it being any easier in my other area that's just the price of property these days.  In areas like the Lake district tourism is by far the main industry if all the weekenders went away so would the decent shops, pups, restaurants that they support as would most of the employment that would give the locals any income to spend in what was left, the whole thing is interdependent and most people there recognise that.

Hi Isabel - We're very much getting off the point of the original post here aren't we? :)  However, I have to comment on your remark that "if all the weekenders went away so would the decent shops, pubs, restaurants that they support" - surely if these properties were mainly occupied full time by locals, this wouldn't be the case as presumably, they would also use the shops, restaurants and pubs, maybe more than the weekenders?   The locals would also use local services which would not be utilised by the weekenders/holiday makers which would make their survival more likely.  Also, tourists would still be able to stay in hotels, guest houses, b&bs etc so wouldn't disappear.  I suppose it is all a question of trying to balance the local area's needs with those of the second home owners really and that isn't easy.  Yes, property is far too expensive for first time buyers in a lot of places but areas like popular seaside resorts, lake district etc are particularly difficult for local people.  I remember trying to buy my first flat in Brighton many years ago and being extremely frustrated and upset by all the holiday flats which were empty for a large part of the time and the constantly rising prices due to demand for such flats.

'Temporary residents' tend not to use the local public transport either, which a local occupying the house might well do, thus keeping the service viable. Houses which are empty for extended periods become a target for thieves, vandals and vermin, contributing to neighbourhood blight and are a drain on public resources.

I use the excellent bus service in Cumbria a lot as does everyone I know up there, the service is so good because it is subsidised by a proportion of our 90% .  The rest goes to lots of other services that the locals get more benefit out of than us ) If my house was targetted by thieves, vermin or anything else my insurance would deal with it certainly not public resouces but in general the holiday homes seem to be better maintained than the local's despite the ruinous exploitation by the local tradesmen of any out of towners ;)
Annie, the shops, restaurants etc in the Lakes are considerably better quality than in my home town so presumably that is what they would be more like if no tourist industry.
Sure if all the weekenders left the property market would plummet but the, then, jobless locals would not be able to obtain a mortgage to cover even the lower prices.  As I say the property market has remained bouyant everywhere, bearing in mind, too, that this demand by everyone from the age of 19 up to own a property is a very recent one in history so demand is always going to be difficult to meet.

Ah but there would never be "no tourist industry" Isabel as people wishing to visit the Lakes would stay in hotels, guest houses etc thus still providing work for the locals. :)  There must be many thousands of people visiting each year who don't own a property there.

Oh yes, the hotels and B&B are on full occupancy most weekends and summer months you are right the weekenders are a smaller portion but a significant number spending money about the place all the same :) 

The way I see it is that people have been sucked into the property market in recent years because of the obvious investment potential.  Relative of mine realised that the money invested in a pension plan was actually losing money in real terms and so he took it out and bought houses.  It's not the fault of individuals that we find ourselves in this situation it has a lot to do with economics.  Look at the poor pensioners who want to be impoverished when you have worked hard all your working life?  I don't blame anyone for buying second homes and if I could afford it I would do the same tomorrow.  Unfortunately it has this knock on effect which is not just negatively affecting village/rural/seaside communities but most first time buyers regardless of where they want to live.

This is the truth Cheryl.  I invested in shares and had done very nicely but I never trusted the market to continue in the way it was and fortunately bottled out of it and moved to property as an investment just before the crash, this is my pension, I have no other because I chose dogs! ;) and the government has made it clear that in the future we cannot rely on the state there will simply be too many of us.

I did my bit for Queen and country (3 children) :D but am still going to end up Tesco Trolley Tramp :rolleyes:

I'm sure those 3 kids will take care of their old mum

I agree JG.  OH and friends do lots of walking weekends all over the country (Even I go sometimes :D).  One of the friends toyed with the idea of buying somewhere in Peak District but the places he had in mind are so expensive now.  I saw something about Cumbria and how the local people are being priced out of their own communities.  I always liked Cornwall and it used to be very cheap because there's little employment down there, but even those prices have shot up.

We are in a new town and bought the house we are in just 6 years ago.  My 21 yr old is looking to buy a house with bf and in those 6 years the prices have risen so that even paying £80k more than we did she will still end up with much smaller house. Pleased she's managing to get a foothold though, it's getting harder and harder for youngsters.

Something will have to be done because there is a shortage of houses pushing prices up and so many people with second homes as holiday places which are sitting empty much of the year.  I thought I heard something about government putting capital gains tax on 2nd homes or was that another one of my strange dreams?

>I thought I heard something about government putting capital gains tax on 2nd homes

Sadly we do pay 40% on any capital gain that a second home achieves.  Gordon was planning to allow SHs to be put in self investment pension plans but just recently he has changed his mind :rolleyes: dispite companies already being set up to manage this and many people buying properties off plan in anticipation.

Hi Helen

I've just joined CDs after seeing your post.  I am a regular browser of the site as I have recently got my first pup.  Anyway, I'm from New Zealand and have been in the UK for a few months now.  I am more than happy to answer any specific questions you may have.  I got my first pup a few weeks ago so I don't know anything specific about taking dogs on a 30 hour plane trip.  However, a quick tip about luggage is to fly though LA - this route works on a "piece system" instead of the standard "weight system".  I bought exactly 64kg (32kg + 32kg) + 7kg(hand-) luggage over with me - the absolute limit.  And a previous poster is right about the seemingly strange restrictions when going through customs, but remember we are a country based on agriculture!  We can't afford to have disease and pests.  Anyway, where are you planning on living?  I have lived/studied in most of the major cities and well NZ is a small place so know a bit about most of the country.

PS  I am a Maori.  And yes some of the posts were humorous, but just a reminder we are not a different species or an anthropological study - just the same but with a year-round tan! :)

In response to other posters about house prices...
I saw someone mentioned Cornwall as a possible holiday /second home area as the prices were low. HA HA HA HA *laughs ironically*

I live in Cornwall, in one of the most depressed areas in EUROPE and the average house here (3 bed terraced old miners cottage) costs around £160,000. Just to clarify the point, the average wage in Cornwall is £11,000 a year, as the Americans say, "you do the math" !

I am NOT one of those staunch Cornish who hate 'incomers' from 'up country' and have no problem with whoever wants to live here. However different to the person with a house in the Lakes who mentioned a local's only policy on new homes, to my knowledge this exsists on only ONE small estate near Padstow and had to be done to keep the harbour open! (which is what the holiday makers come to see)

I can see that in some ways i may seem hypocritical as i am looking to buy in Wales, another depressed area, but i defend my self by saying that my family needs to live SOMEWHERE and we can't afford where we are. It's not just the 'ideal' house with land etc that we are after in Wales, just a house.

My issue is not with any of you or with the people buying these houses, it's with the people letting this happen. ie the Government (again, they get blamed for everything i know) By keeping interest rates low they are not allowing the market to self-correct and are artificially inflating prices to look good economy wise.

Here ends my rant on house prices and on to nicer things....!

Hey Totzilla

Don't mean to offend anyone about ethnicity and not meaning to be condesending either, sorry.

Not sure about where in NZ as no experience whatsoever of the country. Had though about Waikeke (is that right? town called Cambridge?) because that seems to be the main Thoroughbred bloodstock area. My OH works in the bloodstock industry so that would be where the jobs would be. What is the area like? Looks very nice.

Funnily enough I spent most of my childhood in Cornwall :)  My parents though, like just about everyone there, rented.  40 years ago they could never have dreamt of buying and didn't do so until I was in my teens.  There are a few areas in the country with a specific tourist issue but the same bouyant market has occured everywhere (even Hull ;)) so  I do think this modern idea that everyone must aspire to own property from the moment they leave home together with the large increase in people living singely has contributed most to how things are in the property market.  The Government can influence the market to some degree with Stamp Duty, SIPS etc but they do not set interest rates, the Bank of England do, independantly, juggling the need to encourage investment with avoiding a crash.  Hands up who wants their property value to fall :(

Well, how about the Greek Islands?? We bought a 2 Bed Bungalow, with around 3/4 Acre...own water supply, as well as mains, small Agricultural Village, 200M from the Sea, with a lovely little Harbour for our Boat, for around £56,0000(can't remember whether it was 55, 56 or 57K in the end!!) Small amount of Tourism on our part of the Island, lovely Indian Summers, one month of winter YIPPEEEEE!!! Very low cost of living, on average about £150 per MONTH!! We have room for a Pool, room to expand and still have a lovely garden and as it's mainly agricutural land, plenty of areas for Horses if I get one...I'm a bit worried about falling off and messing up either the rods on me back or me 2 new Hips!! LOL Probably safer on a DONKEY!!! LOL Though I have to say, you'd have to pity the poor Donkey!! Can't wait to move out there in a couple of years, then plan all the Euro shows we gonna do!!!

The prices in Cornwall were low ... that's not to say they are low nowadays! ;) :D

We've just arrange for the export of 2 dogs to NZ in a few weeks, and the regulations regarding exporting dogs is horrendous! The owner had to pay between £700 and £800 just for vets fees for numerous blood tests and faecal tests. Masses of forms to fill in too, the vet even has to sign a form starting that they are not pregnant - well i shouldn't think a castrated male and spayed female would have that problem!!

Hi Helen,

Sorry I'm a little late on your post!

I'm from NZ and have lived in the UK for almost 7 years now. If you need anymore info on NZ please feel free to PM me. It's a lovely country and I do miss it alot especially my best friends and family, but do like living in the UK, we live in London at the moment and are looking to move out to the country in the next year or so! Eventually we will return to NZ, not sure when though as I still have shown a dog a Crufts ( which is a dream of mine ).

Dog wise you might be a little shocked as in many parts of NZ dogs are seen as working dogs and not pets. Having said that there are lots of dogs as pets too, but alot of them live outside. Some dog owners have a different attitude towards dogs, I would describe the UK as more dog friendly but NZ is slowly getting better.

Lets us know what you decide!

H:)