gorrington:
Hi mate, only been down in Christchurch for three months myself. I’m looking for a new job myself. Was working for a demolition company, had a row with them on the last day before Christmas. Plenty of work about tho… Wages seem to be around the $24 an hour mark. Accommodation is expensive. I’m living about half an hours drive North of Christchurch, place called Rangiora. Renting a little one bed unit $300 a week all in.
As you will know, the Kiwis expect you to work up to the maximum hours allowed. DON’T work for a company called Rangiora Transport… I worked for them for a week… Mon - Fri I did 80hrs driving really [zb] old trucks for $21 flat rate an hour. Never again.
Christchurch itself is nowhere near as good as Auckland, I lived in Auckland for two years. Since the earthquakes there’s not much left of the centre of Christchurch, not really a lot of nightlife about. I like going out for a few beers, you end up drinking local.
I lived in London for 25 years prior to coming to NZ and for it’s few faults I’d still choose NZ over London any day…
Let me know how you’re getting on…
Simon.
I beg to differ on few things in your post…
First of all, yes, accomodation can be expensive in ChCh but paying $300/wk in Rangiora… …you can get places in ChCh for that price, nothing fancy but still a roof on top of your head. And besides, have you heard of flatting, you can get ‘packages’ (rent+bills) for $180-250/wk anywhere in the city.
Secondly, not every company expect you to work full 70hrs/wk. Yes, there’s lot of them but lot of cases you don’t have to but you can if you want to. In my case, I’ve made it pretty clear that I work Mon to Fri and I’m happy with app. 55hrs/wk and my bosses respect that. Of course, if and when needed, I work more and might even do occasional weekend work but only if being asked nicely. I’ve told my bosses that I’ve got life outside work and they respect it, you can reason with kiwis easily.
And least but not least, ChCh ain’t really that bad. Okay, you’ve lived in London so Auckland might be more your thing but just look at everything that’s happening in ChCh atm, all this development and this opportunity to witness city rebuilding itself and becoming more like us, residents, want it to become. Yes, CBD is pretty messed up but pretty much every week there’s something new coming up, whether it’ll be a new corner pub or just a gap filler but honestly, this city is evolving every day. You just need to get out there and start exploring. And, instead of beers, head out to outdoors, we’ve got such a stunning nature around us, right within our reach. Think about it, you could start you morning surfing in New Brighton and by afternoon you could be skiing in Mt Hutt, only few hrs drive from the city.