which area please

[roky1983]

hi all im luke , my wife is christine and 2 girls faye and ellie maie there 5 and 2
im 27 and in a wheelchair due to a car accident , were serious about making the move , we live in mid wales in the country and would like to move somewhere less boring, not to quiet with good weather , plenty of things to do for the kids , good education is a must and i dont want to be restricted in my wheelchair im into sports and i want my kids to be. when i say im in a chair i mean i just cant walk so i have no illness and ive travelled doing wheelchair marathons so im not lazy, i suppose wot im asking is your comments on
1 area to suit me and my family
2 how wheelchair friendly is nz
3 i have a visa question ( should i post it here)
4 wotever else you can think of
thnx all

[roky1983]

just to add that the area ive seen and fancied giving a go is nelson

am i heading in the right direction ?????????????????

[sophiedb]

Christchurch is a lovely city and about to host the IPC championships, so there's certainly some awareness and activity to ensure that athletes can take part in events and also get around what is admittedly a very flat city.

I know it's not all sweetness and light here though, else my mother-in-law would be out of a job (she works for CCS Disability Action). That said, public sector in particular seems very good at adapting workstations and so on if necessary - but I'm still very new around here with limited experience.

Regards schools - plenty of good schools all over NZ, as well as poor to middling of course. Best course of action there is to pick an area and read ERO reports, then visit the schools and areas to see if they suit you and your family.

Most visa questions go here, unless they're medical-related in which case here

[sophiedb]

just to add that the area ive seen and fancied giving a go is nelson

am i heading in the right direction ?????????????????

I've never been to Nelson, but am sure that someone here lives there and will be along at some point

[Kea]

Welcome.

I don't have experience of using a wheelchair in NZ, but as a country it is much more baby buggy friendly than the UK or Australia. I think it is because it is mostly newly built and one or two level. You can also drive and park close to most things. Places are generally less crowded which I suspect may help.

I wonder if there are any organisations for sports people with spinal injures etc you could contact? People here are generally happy to chat.

[alldone]

Welcome Luke

Nelson:
Weather - good.

Outdoor activities - excellent. 30m pool and learners pool at the primary school my son goes to, 6 bike shops(!) I think, loads of after-school organised sports etc. If it is raining it is a bit different as we feel there is less to do here than in a similarly sized uk town/small city when the weather is bad. A lot less than the previous places we lived (but they are Auckland, London and Glasgow!). I suspect a bit more to do in general in Nelson than Mid-Wales.

Schools vary, but they all seem reasonably good and some have an excellent reputation. Different sort of ethos to UK schools but suit our son as lots of running around and shouting happens. Good preschools.

Don't know about wheelchair frendliness but as Kea says, wider footpaths than in most of UK. Nelson has curb level crossings across the road in the shopping area (Central business district as it is called in NZ) and there is plenty of parking - much easier to get around with a (large) pushchair than in UK. Some areas are quite hilly. Most public buildings are single storey.

Nelson suits us very well and we think it is a great place to live, but the general opinion seems to be that is is great for small children but a bit lacking in excitement for teenagers (unless they are very sporty).

[roky1983]

thnx all so far , ive not made my mind up on where to live so im open to any suggestions, im just looking for somewhere where i can do loads as a family and meet with others, i want to know my neighbours,
again i thank you all for takeing the time to read my post

[Dell]

thnx all so far , ive not made my mind up on where to live so im open to any suggestions, im just looking for somewhere where i can do loads as a family and meet with others, i want to know my neighbours,
again i thank you all for takeing the time to read my post

I've spent a lot of time on www.trademe.co.nz looking at houses for sale. Perhaps there are more retirees in the areas where I've been looking, but I've seen quite a few homes that are already set-up for disabled access with ramps instead of stairs, easy access showers, etc.

Also, it's not uncommon in NZ for the floor of the shower to be on the same level as the bathroom floor with no edge or lip, so you can roll right in. The floor slopes to the drain in the center of the bathroom. Can't remember the name of this set-up but there is a name for that type of shower - I've also seen them in Europe so you're probably familiar with them.

[KatieBen]

Hi Luke

Nelson's good for most sporting things for your children and probably you too although some of the tracks around here aren't that wheelchair friendly there is a lot around that would be. Most outdoor sports have local clubs, there's a climbing centre, several biking trails if they get into that when older. There are also good sailing/kayaking/watersports clubs plus a number of pools which offer lessons to children as well as several schools having them.

The education here seems fairly standard - if you look at the ERO (education review office) website, all of the schools in Nelson seem to get good reports. There are also faith based schools if you would prefer that.

For young children Nelson is fab but I agree with Alldone in that I'm not sure what my boys (currently 4 and 3) are going to get up to when they're older. There's definitely an outdoor/sporty nature to the town (all my colleagues are into biking/kayaking/running) so I imagine the boys will do something along those lines into their teens. There really isn't a great deal for the older teen/young adult which you probably would find in one of the larger cities like Christchurch or Wellington. On the other hand if you want your girls to be into sports then there would always be something for them to do at weekends (one of my colleagues has 4 girls ranging from mid teens to 5/6 - they are always busy at weekends with matches or club meetings or something!).

There's a cinema (that we haven't visited yet in over a year!), indoor softplay area (for younger kids), indoor climbing wall, bowling etc for rainy days but again perhaps less for an area of this size that you might expect. I imagine it's less quiet than rural mid-wales but if you want lots of nightlife, museums, shows, etc then you may want to look somewhere more like Wellington. Weather here is better than there though!

It's definitely buggy friendly and there are several disabled parking spaces in the centre of town so I would imagine it's as wheelchair friendly as anywhere in NZ.

A lot about where you settle also depends on where you'd be able to find work (assuming you want/need to work which most of us have to!) - employment in Nelson is reasonably difficult to find on a permanent basis unless you're in the public sector and even then it's not that easy.

[roky1983]

as far as work , i have no qualifications but am currently studying to be an accountant ( only my 1st year yet so still a long way to go) but up till now i have managed to build a portfolio of 8 properties within wales with little or no mortgage so im hopeing to get a visa on the basis that i have my own funds and plan on investing in new zealand aswell as that i plan on continuing my education. i just want to give it a try as me and my family have been through a lot and i would like to try and give us a few more options and would rather of tried and failed than not try at all, where is the nearest city to nelson ( how far?)
i defo want better weather than the uk
im finding it hard to pin point a location to start with
could u give me an example of a uk city for which you would compare nelson to and someone has recommended christchurch
thnx for ur patience

p.s how long could i get a visitors visa for me and my family