Where are you from...

[Nickyps]

Hey fellow kiwis...

I was just wondering where everyone is from in NZ and whereabouts in Australia you live now?

Have you been here long? Will you ever go back to NZ?

[SweetAngels]

I live in Tauranga NZ, grew up in Hamilton......

Hopefully we will move to Gold Coast one day, DP has family there and my dad just moved there, its not easy raising a family on NZ wages.

Merry Christmas fellow Kiwis :xmas:

[Nickyps]

I was born and bred in Hamilton!

Lived in London for 5 years, then moved back to NZ for 3 years, then moved here in August. We are in Robina on the Gold Coast and love it!!

Our plan was to only be here for about 2-3 years before heading back to France (DH is French), but he has fallen hook, line and sinker in love with Australia, so we'll have to see what happens.

[QTB]

Hamilton here :)

Brisbane now... we moved here in march 06

and no, we wont be moving back, there is way more oppotunities here for us and our children :)

[Shakey]

i'm from Christchurch originally, and am now living on the gold coast and loving it :yes:

DH is orriginally from Auckland :laughing:

[mumx3littlies]

We were both born and bred in the 'Naki' (New Plymouth) and moved here in September 06. We love it here and atm I dunno if we will ever go back:confused:

[Wondermum]

Wow there are a few from Hamilton here... me too :thumbsup: I was born in Hamilton and moved to Newcastle NSW when I was 11yrs old. I have my dad's side here and mum's side in NZ :)

Only go back for holidays but not to live. I feel it's a much better life here for us.

[Ky]

Born Palmerston North ... grew up in Gisborne ... left school and moved to Wellington ... moved back to Palmy, met DH, had kids in Palmy and Wellington then moved over here in June 2003.

Now live on the gorgeous South Coast of NSW and as much as I am a Kiwi through and through (although the accent is almost gone now), I don't think we will ever go back.

Dh was born in Whangarei, grew up in Kaikohe then moved to Masterton then happily to Palmy where we met.

[bambi79]

Hey.

Born in Feilding, grew up in Feilding...(NZ's beautifulist town 7 yrs running) moved to Sydney in 1998 and just recently moved to North Brizzy, June 07 to be exact.

Lived here 10 almost 11 years and as much as I would love LOVE to move home, there are far more opportunities out there HERE than there. Go home every 1-2 years and only quite happy to be on the plane after a few weeks. :D

Never say never though. I think once at retirement stage or lotto, whatever comes first, I will be on my way home. Who am I kidding, I dont think so. :laughing:

[*Chels*]

My DH and I are both from CHCH,and our son was born there:yelclap:We moved to Gold Coast when he was 7 weeks old.
I love home,and I miss my friends and family,and lots of little things like kiwi dip,cheap fish and chips and shopping at Countdown and Glassons.
But I would never go back-cant now anyways-I recruited my bro and sis over here!And all the inlaws are here.
Weather,lifestyle,pay is so much better here!
Now I just gotta get Mum over here and I will be complete!:hugs:

[Nickyps]

Chels - I'm working on getting my Mum to move over too. I know she really wants to because not only are my children here, but my brother has 3 children and they live in Brisbane. Mum's coming for a holiday at the end of next month, so I might have to 'accidentally' lose her passport! lol...

[*Chels*]

Chels - I'm working on getting my Mum to move over too. I know she really wants to because not only are my children here, but my brother has 3 children and they live in Brisbane. Mum's coming for a holiday at the end of next month, so I might have to 'accidentally' lose her passport! lol...

:laughing:Mum is coming over for the birth of next bub so I am planning on losing her passport too!!!
She says shes too old to move over here and she wont get the pension:ecomcity:Shes only just 50 FFS!!Really its just coz my stepdad is a total *******,so if he ever carks it,I think she would move over!

[peterpan]

Hi ,
I'm from the south Kaikoura been here for many years
live in Brisbane ...

Miss my family but would'nt go back:wave:

[prideNJoy]

West Auckland, have been in Brisbane for 9 years last Nov.

[gurnard]

We moved over to Brisbane from Auckland in December.
OUr immediate family lives in Auckland, but extended family (and where I grew up) is in Northland, and hubby's in Hastings.

We are planning on this being a permanant move :):yelclap:

[bambi79]

where bouts in brisbane are you all??

Im north...kallangur.

[megaminz]

Can I join in? I am not a mum yet but am working on it!

I am a south akl girl and my dh is from Roskill South (centralish akl).

we moved to melbourne in 04 and brisbane (morningside area) in late 06.

I don't want to go home but DH is determined to go home...he can't really tell me what in particular but I think he is worried about his dad getting old and sick and us being here. So looks like we are off home at the end of next year.

[danielle13]

Howdy

I grew up in Auckland, moved to Sydney start of 05, came back to Auckland last July - Big Mistake!
So we've just moved in with my ma in Mt Albert (the ol' family homestead), and we're headed back to Sydney mid April.

[prideNJoy]

Howdy

I grew up in Auckland, moved to Sydney start of 05, came back to Auckland last July - Big Mistake!
So we've just moved in with my ma in Mt Albert (the ol' family homestead), and we're headed back to Sydney mid April.

Good to see your coming back! :)

[allsgood]

I grew up on the North Shore in Auckland, lived overseas, moved to Sydney and have Tasman hopped a few times. Most recently live in the beautiful Whangaparaoa (just north of Auckland) and now happily settled on the southside of Brissy. Cant see myself going back to NZ, DP is born and bred Ozzie and both my children are definitely Australian! Still miss home tho every now and then.

[Petlover]

Hey there, allsgood, hopefully you come back to this thread because I would like to ask your opinion about Brisbane, we are making the move at the end of this year and although we don't know brisbane well we like the sound of South Brisbane...can you tell me what your favourite suburbs are....what would you recommend? also we have heard it is very difficult to find a rental - do you know if thats true? Here in Auckland you could go out on a Saturday and get one but I'm guessing it takes longer there?

[megaminz]

hey there
hope you dont mind me butting in
we are in the morningside/hawthorne area which is south of bris (in the 8km from city area)
if you want pm your max rent and requirements (ie we have four animals and need public transport) and I can maybe suggest some areas to look and help with web searching

you pretty much have to be prepared to go whenever you can to inspections, best during the week and in the morning if you can before anyone else gets there and if you can put an application in on the spot if you like it the agent might hold off on holding other inspections if they cant be bothered

[mummynow]

Hi ladies :wave: I'm fairly certain I don't 'belong' here in your thread, but I was telling DH about you and he wanted me to put his two cents in on his behalf. He was born and raised just outside of Christchurch in a town called Kaiapoi. He lived there until he was 20 and moved to Adelaide for work in 1994. He was doing an apprenticeship in Christchurch and the business was going belly up so he researched a company that was a supplier of the CHCH one and they were here in Adelaide. They offered him a job and he came over and worked with them for nearly 10 years. Anyway, long story short we met on New Years Eve 1996 and got married in March 1999. Had a DD in March 2005 and are TTC # 2. I am an ozzie though but have so many kiwi friends and a large contingent of kiwi in-laws who I adore. I also love the holidays we get to have over there.

Oooh almost forgot.... DH wanted me to say that although he is very patriotic (still a NZ citizen) he cannot ever see himself liveing back there. He says its a beautiful country and has a lot of good points, but he came to Oz for the opportunity it can give him. He says NZ wages are too low, Real Estate's too expesive, fuel, food and other cost of living is getting unaffordable too. His sister and her DH are trying to move here too. But she just found out she is pregnant so they are going to have bubs first then work on that plan.

His Dad would love to come here too, but his mum is the only family left for her own mum in a retirement home. So she feels committed to that situation for now. But they have both suggested that things could change down the track if circumstances change.

Anyway, sorry for the :ecomcity: It was very rude of an Ozzie girl (me) to hijack your thread and I will politely hand it back over now :thumbsup:

[Petlover]

Hey thanks Megaminz..... Whats PM? god does that make me sound ancient? Hawthorne looks lovely, I have seen some nice places on realestate.com.au around there. So far your area looks nice, so does kenmore hills but I think thats more west perhaps. The thing is we have us, our 4 year old daughter, one dog and two cats! so we are definitely not going to be overly fussy with areas I guess. We want to pay $360 max. Hard to pick an area when you don't know Brisbane that well but I was reasoning that South seems nice (west too) amd would be close to head out to Bayside and stuff in the weekends to be near the water?

[megaminz]

PM is private message
I have sent you one,
you will see it in the top right of your screen on the forum tool bar

[conorexnz]

Hi everyone!!!

I'm from the Naki also (New Plymouth) but lived in Chch since 2001 where I met DP (who was born & bred in Timaru), we moved over here March 07 to live in the Outback for a while (what an experience!!!) but moved to Townsville, Qld in December cause of the facilities for our new baby, and the opportunities.

I personally wouldn't go back to NZ - the opportunities here are so great, the wages so much better and the cost of living is pretty much the same as NZ so all in all we'd be in a better position financially. If we were in NZ I wouldn't be able to be a SAHM but would have to go back to work to be able to afford our lifestyle and costs of living (not that our lifestyle is lavish at all).

DP, on the other hand, misses his family and friends and the support that comes with that, I've vowed never to move back to Chch (I can't stand the LONG & cold winters) so if (or when) we do go back, we would be starting over again unless we moved back to the Naki where I know some people and we have my HUGE family (that may not be a benefit though :D)

[haileye]

Hi guys,

I was born and raised in Wanganui, Then my family moved to Auckland in '97. Have been living in Brisbane for 2 years now and loving it I would never move back to nz, not enough money to keep us going over there.. DP is from Westport, Baby #1 will be born here in aussie in early september... If NZ offered more money we would go back there so that baby was an NZ citzen at birth... Oh well, beggers can't be choosers

[bambi79]

Hi Haileye.

Where bouts in Brisbane are you? Im originally from Feilding, but have lived here in Oz for 11 years. 10 of those in Sydney and coming up in june we would have been here in Brisbane 1 yr. How are you liking it?
Good luck with your bubs, oh and you can get Citizen by Decent when bubs is born to make him/her a NZ citizen, thats what I done with my younger 2, and with number 5 due in Nov, I will do the same.
Im north Brizzy by the way.

:wave:

[talavoumama]

Hey Kiwis!

I'm originally from West Auckland and DH is from Roskill via Tonga but is a NZ Citizen. We have absolutely no family over here in Brisbane where we live in Spring Hill.

We got here from our OE planning to stay a year then continue our travels but got a bit stuck. Now with baby #1 on the way we are planning to head back to Auckland 2010 so I can do further study. Because this baby will be an only child until I complete study we think it's really important for him to at least have lots of cousins around, hence the move. I wouldn't rule out moving back here though as we love it and as everyone's mentioned there are lots more opportunities here.

For me the weather is the major drawcard, for DH I think it's the distance from our families :laughing:

I don't think I'll ever convince my family to move over so who knows if we'll come back here though. So much I miss about NZ, the amazing music, rich culture, live mussels at the supermarket, kfc delivery lol, ponsonby pies, kiwi burgers, umu, fried bread.....

[bambi79]

Too true about the glorious things we must all miss from NZ but theres compromise. You search till you find seafood ;), I make my own fry bread, found an awesome bakery that has nice pies and "fresh cream doughnuts too", music is forever in our home, BUT so miss my culture!

Good luck with the new bubs and the move!
Deep down I envy you :yes:

[cwsmum]

I'm another kiwi :wave: I've been here for ages tho, we moved in 1988, so 20 years this year. I was born in Whakatane (did I even spell that right? I think so lol).

We'd love to go back for a holiday, DH says he has always wanted to visit. Pretty much all my family are over here now, only my granny (who thinks I'm still 12) and one aunt & uncle are left in NZ. My aunt & uncle I haven't seen since they visited us when I was about 11 and last I heard they were moving to London anyway. Mum and Dad still have a few friends over there, but a few of them are talking about moving here too LOL

[ArnaNZ]

Hi guys,

Just found this thread and thought I'd join in!!!

I'm from Tauranga (grew up in Te Puke though) and went to high school in Auckland. Married a gorgeous man from Toowoomba and have been living in Brisbane for 4 years. We have a little boy Joel who was 2 yrs in March.

Aroha

Arna :smiliedance:

[lilla]

Hi
Have just joined for the first time so am new to all this. But thought I should start as am about to go on a new adventure and challenge of moving to Australia in August this year. :yelclap:
I am currently living in NZ but like the many others out there we are finding NZ way to expensive and wages to low. So yet another kiwi family is relocating. We will be moving to queensland not sure where have not made up our minds. Looking at gold coast, sunshine coast and Hervey Bay. Just been on holiday to Hervey Bay and loved it although worried it will be too quiet. Hubby is joining the Queensland police so can choose where to be based.
I have two children a daughter who is 3 (nearly 4) and a son who is 14mths. A little nervous about leaving the family support networks.:(

[Petlover]

Hi Lilla, we are moving to Queensland this year too (October). We have decided on Sunshine Coast because we figure if we are making the move we may as well move somewhere considered one of the most beautiful places in Aussie!. We have one daughter who is 4. We are really excited about the change in lifestyle, originally we are renting an old beach house for 3 months (2 streets back from the beach!) while we find a permanent rental. I would be interested to hear what you decide on for areas and how your plans are going.

[lilla]

Hi Petlover good to hear there is someone else out there who is relocating and making plans. That sounds like a great way to start off with the beach house for 3months. We may do the same for the first bit while we figure out kindy's, schools and generally the nice areas to live. Where abouts in NZ are you from? We are in Wellington so looking forward to having days without wind and being able to sit outside in the evenings for a good part of the year. I am assuming that you have pets that you will be bringing over. We also have a dog so am looking into what we need to bring him over once we get settled. Let us know how you plans are going too. Where about is the beach house on the sunshine coast?

[Petlover]

Illa, the house is a little bachy type house in Moffats Beach, Caloundra. We are bringing our dog and two cats! We have a quote to fly them over for $2000 which is not that bad really. We are really looking forward to the warm weather as well - not the spiders though but I'll just have to get used to that, god knows how because there was a tiny black one in the washroom yesterday and I had a nightmare about it that night - truly!. We are really just looking forward to a nice change and having fun in a new sunny place I suppose. I think sunshine coast is appealing because its obviously gorgeous, has a real family feel and is really progressing so I guess there is lots of work.

[lilla]

petlover yeah I know what you mean about the spider thing. I am trying not to think about it too much. Have been looking at rentals on the sunshine coast looks like to get somewhere decent you need to spend $350 min and have heard there can be loads of people looking at the same place.
That quote for the pets does sound reasonable I will have ring a couple of places today.

[Afakasi]

My partner is from porirua wellington but where in melbourne now :( Cant wait to find more kiwis in melb lol Been here way too long! :fingerscrossed:

[maorimama]

We are from Porirua in Wellington too:). Have been in North Brisbane for approximately 18mths now.
We came over for the lifestyle and opportunities and although we have been back twice I don't think we would ever truely consider going back to live.
We do miss alot of things from home, but you do make more of an effort to source them, and the culture here is so different and that took some getting used to.
The kids took time to adjust but they all love it now too, just hard that they are missing whanau.
Any of those on the Northside interested in meeting up? I am in the Caboolture area.

[Buby]

and been in South-West Brissie for 5 months now and loving it!
Dont miss NZ at all, love the weather and the people here.......lifestyle is what we've always wanted. I use to live in Melb when I was a kid for 3 1/2 yrs, Geelong to be exact. NZ born though, same with the hubby and kids all Welly.
Glad to be out of the weather and the rat race or working to live. Here you work for lifestyle, in nz you just work to pay the man LOL hhe :smiliedance:

[kylz6]

Wow! So many fellow Kiwi's here lol...

I'm orginally from ChCh... My first Daughter was born in Invercargill (such a cold horrible hole! lol).. But DD2 was born in Melbourne

Lived over here 3yrs now , Lived in Melbourne , But now living in Shepparton which is 2 hrs north of Melbourne...

Going for a holiday back to ChCh on 15th Aug 08 , And i'm sooooooo looking forward to it , its been so long! , I get to catch up on some missed Shortland Street episodes!!! LOL

[leeloulee]

im from New Plymouth in the good old Naki. now living in Melbourne and have been here 3 1/2 years. my two daughters were born here. i would move back to np to be with family but the money and having more choices are holding us here.

[mummyto2girls]

hey, born in hamilton lived in ngaruawahia. me and my husband moved to brisbane end of 07, maybe go back in a couple of years afta we have made heaps of money:laughing:. We had our first daughter here in april 08. Im not too sure bout the summers tho they are very hot and we got told last summer wasnt really hot, i dont think i could handle any hotter mind you i was 6 to 7 months pregnant wen we turned up:flowerz:

[rysmom]

We are from Tauranga!
Moved here In May, expecting DS #2 in October!!
Things are so different here!
Look after DS and my sisters 2yo girl all day weekdays

[smudge]

Wow - really interesting seeing where everyone is from and hearing the different experiences.
Me, DH and 4 yr old DD are from the beautiful Kapiti Coast and I'd still be there if the weather was anywhere near as nice as it is here and the economy wasn't in dire straights.
As of March 08 home is now the Gold Coast, where we are slowly settling in and I'm sure it wont be too long before friends are made and thoughts of moving back leave my head.
Now... if only I could find kiwi vogels bread somewhere, I'd be set for life! :yes:

[trifecta]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this site and thought my first post belonged here :)
I'm from Wellington (born in Hamilton) and have lived in Brisbane for 5 1/2 years after 2 years in London where I meet DH who is from Brisi.
We have recently moved to a small town in North Qld (Bowen) for DH work and I'm feeling rather isolated! We have no family here and limited friends and that's what I miss most about N.Z.
I would love to live there again, but we have such a better lifestyle here that it would feel like we were going backwards. And I couldn't cope with Wgtn winter!
I'm nearly 11 weeks and lucky enough to be at home, though starting to feel a bit bored....
We make it back to N.Z to see my family at least once a year and spend every 2nd x-mas there. I will always be a proud kiwi!

[FluffyBunny]

Wow heaps of people here from Taranaki way!

Well DH and I are both from Levin. Chances are if anyone else is from Levin on here, we'd know you as it is such a 'big' town. :laughing:
We've been here for 8 years now on the southside of Brisbane

Smudge, someone told me that you can actually bring Vogels bread over with you on the plane??
I dont know how true that was but in saying that, we've bought Custard squares etc over with us.
You need the list of ingredients with you so that when it goes through customs, they can see what is in them.
We got them through no problems at all.

[conorexnz]

Hello Hubnbub, how's it going in Bowen??? We're in Townsville so if you're ever up here doing some real shopping we could perhaps catch up, reminesce about Kiwiana???

[smudge]

[Smudge, someone told me that you can actually bring Vogels bread over with you on the plane??]

Thanx Fluffy Bunny. I have already had my inlaws bring over a couple of packets of vogels but they were soon consumed. I was a bit like that guy on the advert getting mad with his partner for burning his precious vogels. I'll keep asking visitors to bring some but I think family and friends will stop coming if I demand vogels every time they visit. I could always make it the accomodation payment though - the more you bring the longer you can stay!!

[Ky]

I could always make it the accomodation payment though - the more you bring the longer you can stay!!

With me it's sunshine pegs and oxtail soup! All Kiwi visitors must have some on their person to enter our front door!

[trifecta]

Thanks Conorexnz! That's so kind, I will def let you know when I make the big trip up to some proper shops - how I miss them!
Bowen is a lovely place but there is only so many trips to Woolies one can make :)
Where about's in Kiwiland are you from?

[VickieP]

I am from Tauranga and me and my family are looking at moving to Springwood area in Brisbane - end of Jan 09. My son will start prep school and I will spend lotsa time with my daughter (2) hopefully with playgroups and being a home mum (never had opportunity). Will aim to do relief teaching maybe 2 days a week though.

[steviebabynz]

We from Hawkes Bay - Waipukurau for DH and little old Clive for me, been living in Perth for 12 mths, didnt like it so now in Cairns. Be 2 years when we go home for Xmas but in limbo at the mo about moving back or not
Grr i wish they'd pay more wages in nz - dont they see thats why ppl leave

[Afakasi]

So many of us kiwis hanging around here lol missing home..well just wondering when any melbourne kiwis would like to have a meet maybe soon someday...