Need advise on job offer in Nelson

[IndoGaruda]

Hello there, really appreciate if anyone can give me an advise here.

My wife and I are Indonesian and we've been living in Singapore for around a year.
This year we are planning to have a baby and after a considerable thought raising a kid in Singapore would not be an option because I want to have a well work life balance when we have a baby. So after doing alot of research we have a thought to move our family to New Zealand.

I have 8 years exp as a software engineer and recently I got an offering from a newly established company in Nelson around 70K in Nelson. While median salary from payscale site in NZ for this role is around 88K. So it is lower than avg but I assume it's due to the lower living cost in Nelson.

We will be a single income (for now) with earning after tax is around 56K.

My questions are:

What kind of lifestyle could we get? I know this is difficult to answer since it's very subjective but I would like to know with that income how much are my expenditures (groceries, rent, etc) and saving based on your experience so I can manage my lifestyle and expectation if I’m going to decide to take the offer.

How is the acceptance of the people in Nelson about the foreigner or migrant?

Thank you so much for any tips, thoughts or opinions you care to share!

[Asteger]

Hi IG

Sorry as I don't have any info for you, but I am curious to see how things go for you. I'd send you a PM but seems it's not possible yet because you're a brand new member.

I have ties to Indonesia as well (wife) and Singapore is one of the places we've thought about before, but I understand what you mean about the work-life balance issue.

I'm sure someone will say a lot more, but just a little googling/reading makes me think that Nelson is a nice destination. I'm also curious to know about 'the acceptance of the people in Nelson about the foreigner or migrant' as you said.

[kiwieagle]

I would recommend you keep the entire geographical region of Nelson/Tasman in mind when you think of moving here. You can live in the Tasman District and commute to Nelson.

70K is livable but you'll have to budget. Nelson/Tasman has what's called "sunshine wages". That means the cost of living is high in comparison to the average wages (some of the lowest in the nation) because employers assume you want to live here for the "temperate" climate.

Rents for a 2 bedroom range from $300-500 per week. The lower end will be due to location and quality of warmth. Although, a higher cost rental doesn't necessarily mean it's warm. Colder house means higher power costs for heating. At first, I was cold year round because I am from Southern California. Now, May to September are my "grin and bear it" months. Summer in this region is phenomenal and that is what I keep in my head while I sit in my house with my three layers of clothing. My children wear shorts and jandals year round but they are not right in the head.

I have a family of 4 and we budget around $400 a fortnight for groceries. That includes friday treats for the children, beauty (I don't wear make up very often), cleaning supplies, etc... I usually make most everything at home, breads, biscuits, muesli, etc.. so that we can afford little extras like salami for our pizza on friday night, drinks for our social Sundays with our neighbours and other little things like that. We eat half our meals vegetarian (my former dairy farmer, digger driver, south island stereotype husband can only live without meat half the time). We eat out once or twice a fortnight. We do a lot of outdoor activities and sport. We also attend a few concerts, have a few weekend getaways, and attend events like social quiz nights or a meet up with friends at the pub.

School donations in this region are relatively low. Sporting activities for children are also pretty low cost. Activities like dance or performing arts are much more pricey but schools often have lots of those kinds of activities within the curriculum.

We live a nice life and I absolutely love it here.

Is Nelson/Tasman accepting of new people? Yes and no. The region has one of the largest populations of UK expats. When we first moved here, we found that most of the new people and friends we were making were UK expats. One of our family's best friends are a UK family. They get a few snide comments here and there about "Poms are this or that". There is a certain amount of they are paying for what other UK immigrants have said or done before them, which is very unfair because they embrace NZ wholeheartedly.

Nowadays, most of our good friends are Kiwis. I think that Kiwis just take time to get to know. I suspect having a local Kiwi partner makes it a bit easier for me. I definitely noticed a difference between how people treated me before they learned my partner was a local and after. They just seemed a bit more open but that could just be my perspective. When I first came here, nobody ever asked me about where I was from. The only thing they wanted was for me to explain the ravings of American politicians. Now, people are more curious about me, and therefore, where I'm from.

I think this region can be a bit parochial and closed but it's not absolute. Nelson/Tasman and all of NZ really is very much about "who you know". People trust each other when someone can vouch for you. That takes time to build. It can be demoralising and frustrating at first. You can doubt yourself and feel like you're constantly auditioning. One thing that helped me "prove myself" to the community was I joined the committee of a local sport club and volunteered a lot at school. Kiwis are social doers. If they see you getting stuck in, they respect that. I'm an introvert but have managed to make it work! However, some of it is just luck of the draw. My son befriended a boy at school whose family ended up being our best friends. I couldn't have planned that.

There is a growing number of Asian immigrants from all sorts of places in this region. I've never personally heard Kiwis I know disparaging Asian people but that is self selecting. I know there are some very racist people in all regions of NZ. They aren't the majority but they are definitely out there. The nice thing about Nelson/Tasman is there are a lot of people who actively seek to eliminate that attitude. Like I said, Kiwis (immigrant or born here) are joiners and they like to come together to make the world how they want it. This is a good place to see that in action: http://www.nelsonmulticultural.co.nz/

I hope that helps.

[breeze]

It is a foot in the door if you'd like to come to NZ. However, Nelson is small (under 50k population). While it will offer you a nice life, job opportunities may be few and far in between. You can always start a small business of course.

If you're into advancing yourself in IT, you may find the need to move to another city later.

[kiwieagle]

Nelson is small (under 50k population). While it will offer you a nice life, job opportunities may be few and far in between. You can always start a small business of course.

That population is just the Nelson region which is very small geographically. The outlying region of Tasman is also around 40K. It doesn't make it THAT much bigger but it does double the potential. But you're right, job opportunities are hard to come by. The good news IndoGaruda, as you already have a job offer, that would get you in the door to that elusive "NZ experience".

[IndoGaruda]

Hi Kiwieagle,

Thank you for your reply, We have a better picture about Nelson/Tasman now.

I would recommend you keep the entire geographical region of Nelson/Tasman in mind when you think of moving here. You can live in the Tasman District and commute to Nelson.

70K is livable but you'll have to budget. Nelson/Tasman has what's called "sunshine wages". That means the cost of living is high in comparison to the average wages (some of the lowest in the nation) because employers assume you want to live here for the "temperate" climate.

Rents for a 2 bedroom range from $300-500 per week. The lower end will be due to location and quality of warmth. Although, a higher cost rental doesn't necessarily mean it's warm. Colder house means higher power costs for heating. At first, I was cold year round because I am from Southern California. Now, May to September are my "grin and bear it" months. Summer in this region is phenomenal and that is what I keep in my head while I sit in my house with my three layers of clothing. My children wear shorts and jandals year round but they are not right in the head.

I try to check the distance from Tasman to Nelson using the google maps, it said that I might take around 1-1.5 hours per trip. Are there any convenient public transportation there (MRT or Buses)? or driving is still the best option for to commute everyday?

About the weather, I did read somewhere that it is better there than other part in NZ, but didn't realise that could be a downside in terms of living cost vs wages.
Yesterday I just saw the news saying that the temperatures was dropped 2 degrees overnight there, so it must be really cold now.
On this weather a good insulation house condition is really helpful but I heard that is an issue there, is it true the good insulation rent property are rare there?

Is Nelson/Tasman accepting of new people? Yes and no. The region has one of the largest populations of UK expats. When we first moved here, we found that most of the new people and friends we were making were UK expats. One of our family's best friends are a UK family. They get a few snide comments here and there about "Poms are this or that". There is a certain amount of they are paying for what other UK immigrants have said or done before them, which is very unfair because they embrace NZ wholeheartedly.

Nowadays, most of our good friends are Kiwis. I think that Kiwis just take time to get to know. I suspect having a local Kiwi partner makes it a bit easier for me. I definitely noticed a difference between how people treated me before they learned my partner was a local and after. They just seemed a bit more open but that could just be my perspective. When I first came here, nobody ever asked me about where I was from. The only thing they wanted was for me to explain the ravings of American politicians. Now, people are more curious about me, and therefore, where I'm from.

The reason I asked is because just like you, we are also an introvert so it would take time for us to blend in and your suggestion on active in the community and voluntary services might help us on this.

Once again thank you so much for your thoughts.

[IndoGaruda]

It is a foot in the door if you'd like to come to NZ. However, Nelson is small (under 50k population). While it will offer you a nice life, job opportunities may be few and far in between. You can always start a small business of course.

If you're into advancing yourself in IT, you may find the need to move to another city later.

Hi Breeze,
Nelson is actually perfect for us,we like a nice and quite city to enjoy, but your point on the job opportunities is well noted.

Thank you

[IndoGaruda]

Hi IG

Sorry as I don't have any info for you, but I am curious to see how things go for you. I'd send you a PM but seems it's not possible yet because you're a brand new member.

I have ties to Indonesia as well (wife) and Singapore is one of the places we've thought about before, but I understand what you mean about the work-life balance issue.

I'm sure someone will say a lot more, but just a little googling/reading makes me think that Nelson is a nice destination. I'm also curious to know about 'the acceptance of the people in Nelson about the foreigner or migrant' as you said.

Hi Asteger,

Apa kabar?

you're right, based on some research from this forum and googling I found that Nelson is a nice and calm city.
I just hope that I could get the job with a better paycheck off course .

[Asteger]

Hi Asteger,

Apa kabar?

you're right, based on some research from this forum and googling I found that Nelson is a nice and calm city.
I just hope that I could get the job with a better paycheck off course .

Baik. Ma kashi ya

Good luck with the move if you do it. If I were you I wouldn't worry much about the salary, more about the move and adjusting. Then when you get there and get used to things and set up, you might find your living/working conditions improve, and you might be able to change jobs. It's a good salary by most measurements I think, but the problem sounds to be the high rental costs in that region. I wouldn't want to pay more than about 1/4 of salary on rent.

My wife will wear hats even when the temp is 20c. Worried about the 'cold kiwi house' syndrome in NZ

kiwieagle - another great post, thanks from me too

[kiwieagle]

I try to check the distance from Tasman to Nelson using the google maps, it said that I might take around 1-1.5 hours per trip. Are there any convenient public transportation there (MRT or Buses)? or driving is still the best option for to commute everyday?

Tasman is a huge district. Your mapping tool must've just picked the centre of it. The biggest town in Tasman District is Richmond. If you look on the map, you'll see that Richmond is only about 15-20 minutes from Nelson City Centre. Richmond is more like a suburb of Nelson and flows into the suburb Stoke. There is bus service.

If you continue South on State Highway 6, you have Hope, 20-25 minutes from Nelson, Brightwater 25-30 min, Wakefield 30 mins.
If you head west on State Highway 60, Upper Moutere and Mapua/Ruby Bay are about 30-35 minutes from Nelson. Tasman is about 35-40 minutes. These are semi-rural villages.
Motueka is 40-45 minutes.
Those times are slightly longer or shorter depending on time of day and how many harvesters or tractors you have to follow on the main road.
I wouldn't rely on bus service for commuting in these places. You would be much more free if you had a car living in these outlying communities. Brightwater, Wakefield, Upper Moutere, and Mapua/Ruby Bay have village centres with small grocery shops, petrol stations, centralised schools, and are quite walkable if you live there.
Motueka is a big town.

There are extensive bike paths all over the region.

About the weather, I did read somewhere that it is better there than other part in NZ, but didn't realise that could be a downside in terms of living cost vs wages.
Yesterday I just saw the news saying that the temperatures was dropped 2 degrees overnight there, so it must be really cold now.
On this weather a good insulation house condition is really helpful but I heard that is an issue there, is it true the good insulation rent property are rare there?

The good thing is, Nelson/Tasman has a lot of clear, sunny winter days. Houses with no insulation or insulation only in the ceiling are very common. It's probably worse to get a house that is on a hillside that gets very little winter sun.