New Zealand - British Expat Forum

My family want to move to New Zealand. We are from Manchester, England.

My dad (a joiner/carpenter) is 52, my mum (a financial administrator) is 45, my brother (a tiler) is 21 and i'm an 18 year old student/part-time sales advisor.

We want to live in the North Island, somewhere close to the coast (Auckland, Napier?), where the weather is lovely (obviously, hehe) and just a generally safe and friendly place for a family to live.

Can anybody recommend a place?
Any advice on moving would also be really helpful. x

Hi Hayley
It must be very exciting planning your move. I think the reason nobody has answered you questions yet is because they are too general. As you can imagine, the different places to live in the North Island vary as much as they do in England and everybody has their own personal preferences. For most people, they choose their area nearby where they can find work and to fit their lifestyles. I live in an area that some of my English friends don't like, but I wouldn't like to live where they are as we ahve different tastes and needs.
The best thing to do would be to come over for a holiday and spend some time looking around. You're never too far from the coast in NZ either. It may be a good idea to get some books about NZ from the library and get some info that way.
Good luck with your move.
Alison

Totally agree, come on over for a visit, then choose. We looked long and hard and settled near Orewa about 40 mins north of Auckland. Anywhere north is doing really well from a property price point of view due to new motorway (well dual carriageway really) Renting somewhere to start is what a lot of people do and its relatively cheap in comparison to proeprty prices and you can chose the length of the contract, unlike the rigid 6 month thing in UK. I run a mortgage biz and so can point in right direction if needed. Good luck!