Moving to Wellington from Leeds, UK

[Mrs L]

My husband has been offered a job in Wellington and we really want to make the move so any advice is welcome! We have a son and daughter aged 4 & 5 so we need to be near a nice school. Any tips on areas to live, what to look out for when renting, hidden costs etc. Also if there's any major difference in the cost of living such as food, health care, cars & fuel. One last thing what is Kiwi saver? Any other tips gratefully received, thanks!

[Sun777]

Just thought of saying a quick hello. We moved from Wakefield to Auckland, basically we were globe trotters so didn't find much challenges leaving UK or settling down in NZ (minus young kids). There are quite a number of threads & posts for all your question and you can use search functionality on the top right hand corner by entering some key words like "good suburbs", "health", "medicals", "benefits" etc.

Kiwi Saver is work based savings initiative, where part of your income is deducted at source and deposited into schemes (employer also contributes about 3%). To be honest, my knowledge on it ends there, however have a look at this link which explains everything about KiwiSaver in detail

[Mrs L]

Great, thanks Sun777.

[wellywearer]

Hi Mrs L,

I'm sure you and your family will love Wellington, it has so much to offer.
From friends I know who have researched schools they've been impressed by the openness and friendliness their queries have been dealt with and a seemingly child centred approach. Their children seem forever busy with interested activities that I'm pretty jealous about!!

As you'll have read on other posts, bring as much as you can. Yes you can get most things here, bit sometimes choice is limited. I do a lot of online shopping myself!
Some things are expensive in Wellington, like veg at the supermarket - so shop at the market if possible. I go into the Wairarapa a lot and am surprised by the veggie price difference!
Good areas to live in have been covered, but part of that will depend on where you are working and which school catchment you want to be within.

Feel free to ask any particular Wellington questions
Also check out this facebook group for Wellington Newcomers

[vikusmile]

Churton Park/Glenside/Johnsonville Quite good areas. Churton Park especially has newly built houses. Also Schools are quite good in this area.

[Manks]

Not sure if you've moved yet but we love Wellington. There are pretty much no bad areas to live! Yes the weather can get some people down but you can't beat Welly on a good day.

Kiwisaver is basically like a private pension scheme in the UK. I think it's mandatory because the govt realised kiwis weren't saving enough for retirement and is deducted from your pay. You can choose your own scheme if you want and some employers have their own super schemes.

[Living Life]

Hi Mrs L,

We don't live in Wellington but thought it would be nice to welcome to you the forum!! We think Kiwi Saver is a brilliant idea, I am sure you will learn a lot about it when you are over. We enjoy Wellington when we have been down to visit, hoping to go again in the future to see the Gallopi: The scale of our war museum (Its free admission and I think its only there for 4 years so make that a must see whilst your there)

You pay to see the doctor, for us its $40 a visit then a small prescription charge (each health centre prices are different I think) Children's doctors are free up to a certain age but they have changed the age to an older age but not 100% sure, they will tell you at the health centre when you register. Even though we pay for doctors, you don't pay for national insurance out of your wage like UK so there is a saving if you are not a regular visitor! You don't pay t.v licence out here but there are a lot of adverts ha ha!! We have a little boy who is 21 months soon and another one due not so far away!!

Ask away if there is anything I can help you with even though we are not living down Wellington

Good luck with your move

[Manks]

Children's doctors are free up to a certain age but they have changed the age to an older age but not 100% sure, they will tell you at the health centre when you register.

It used to be under 6 was free, it's just changed to under 13s I work for ACC and this is the same for ACC appointments AND health appointments.

If anyone wants to know about ACC let me know. It's a major difference as it's a unique scheme that doesn't exist anywhere else. A lot of kiwis who've never lived abroad don't understand how lucky they are to have ACC!

[salmon colour]

What is ACC please?

[JandM]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accide...on_Corporation
http://www.acc.co.nz/