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14 minutes ago, patches said:9th October at Westlake Girls High? hahaha
Ah, you don't fall in the Auckland region one, I am at the Auckland Town Hall on the 2nd Oct. I am happy about the venue and it is also a fancy evening doo
10 minutes ago, patches said:aaand approved. So like @hayleyearth they took about 1 month to process. Pretty darn good!
But now the wait for the next available ceremony.
haha!! imagine you get invited to the same one than me!!!
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On 8/31/2023 at 8:10 PM, patches said:To clarify, that is for the primary caregiver. The partner doesn't get anything from the government. But still, it all helps.
As for earnings dependant, yup. It's for primary caregivers that were employed prior to going on parental leave. $712/week is the max. So if one earned that, or more, that's what they get. Anything less the government will pay at the earned rate.
There is also another payment from months 6-12 of $69/week, regardless of earning and leave (so even if the primary caregiver is back at work)
Some companies also pay full salary during parental leave, many different conditions then, some pay up to 6 months if taken in the 1st 6 months or some pay 3 months taken at any time before the child turns 2 years old. Both these examples can be either the dad or the mom that gets it (so primary carer).
On 8/7/2023 at 7:53 AM, patches said:The good...
I finally applied for my citizenship...
...sadly though, my Aus visitors visa has expired and I was hoping that I would have a little black passport by the time I head across the Tasman again (therefore not needing to renew said visitor visa), but alas, citizenship processing times seem to range from 5 - 15 months. So I won't hold my breath.
@Wayne Potgieter, how long was the processing time frame for your citizenship, and how long after that for passports?
How much did you pay for your AUS visitors visa?
Anyone on here that have kids around the age of 5 and/or 2 that's keen for playdates? 😃
....or that live around eastern suburbs and have a wife that would be keen to go for some runs or rides?
I want to get back into things!!
On 8/7/2023 at 7:53 AM, patches said:The good...
I finally applied for my citizenship...
...sadly though, my Aus visitors visa has expired and I was hoping that I would have a little black passport by the time I head across the Tasman again (therefore not needing to renew said visitor visa), but alas, citizenship processing times seem to range from 5 - 15 months. So I won't hold my breath.
@Wayne Potgieter, how long was the processing time frame for your citizenship, and how long after that for passports?
My citizenship was approved within a month from applying, I only have my ceremony in Oct though.
Congrats on the other parcel of news, now you will see money disappear into thin air!
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19 minutes ago, Lifer said:Churchill Park -yeah we were pretty envious of the golf shirts at Glendowie.
Why didn't you put them in Glendowie?
1 hour ago, Lifer said:On another note, how insane is the cost of a new school uniform? We are just next door to you at CPS with their tailored button up shirts 🤦♂️ going for as much as my best work shirts. Highly recommend going the second hand route or starting up a disruptor business. The sports shirts are also way overpriced vs what I pay for a quality dry fit 🤑. Good school I believe, she will love it.
CPS?
I have heard about the expensive clothes so when I purchased my daughters I was quite surprised it wasn't too bad - thank goodness I guess for golf shirts and simple fleece jackets.
I can't believe I took my daughter to fit school clothes!! 😥
She's so skinny, the smallest size is a bag on her.
On 1/19/2023 at 4:29 PM, Steven Knoetze (sk27) said:If I may ask, what are the dislikes with the way kids are taught?
They do no repetitive work.
So they practice (I shouldn't even call it that) something once and then move on so it can stay to be fun and entertaining rather than the child getting use to it and and 'sticking'.
One example: In SA the Pre-schools have end-of-year concerts, where the kids actually act or do a performance of some sorts and they sing the actual songs with someone playing the background music. In NZ the kids just stand around and sing along if they want to to the full song being played. So acting. As if the teachers don't know how to get the kids to listen and follow orders and then remember it to perform it on a certain day. It's shocking actually this comparison. As a toddler and pre-schooler those are still some of my fondest memories.
The kids don't have to sit in the certain time in class where everyone is doing maths for instance, they can choose to go build puzzles or do another activity.
My sister is a teacher in NZ and she needs to prepare her classes to have these different types of activities available for if the child does not want to do what the teacher want (need) to focus on at that particular time.
My daughter is 4 years old, they don't do nursary rymes or 'familiar' songs like we use to do at school repetitively so we remember them, no, here they listen to songs on YouTube and dance like crazy people with no defined moves being taught. She can't sing one English song still.
I'm so so scared of school.
What about the timetables?
On 1/19/2023 at 4:29 PM, Steven Knoetze (sk27) said:If I may ask, what are the dislikes with the way kids are taught?
They do no repetitive work.
So they practice (I shouldn't even call it that) something once and then move on so it can stay to be fun and entertaining rather than the child getting use to it and and 'sticking'.
One example: In SA the Pre-schools have end-of-year concerts, where the kids actually act or do a performance of some sorts and they sing the actual songs with someone playing the background music. In NZ the kids just stand around and sing along if they want to to the full song being played. So acting. As if the teachers don't know how to get the kids to listen and follow orders and then remember it to perform it on a certain day. It's shocking actually this comparison. As a toddler and pre-schooler those are still some of my fondest memories.
The kids don't have to sit in the certain time in class where everyone is doing maths for instance, they can choose to go build puzzles or do another activity.
My sister is a teacher in NZ and she needs to prepare her classes to have these different types of activities available for if the child does not want to do what the teacher want (need) to focus on at that particular time.
My daughter is 4 years old, they don't do nursary rymes or 'familiar' songs like we use to do at school repetitively so we remember them, no, here they listen to songs on YouTube and dance like crazy people with no defined moves being taught. She can't sing one English song still.
I'm so so scared of school.
What about the timetables?
13 hours ago, patches said:
I worked with a guy who took on $500k extra debt to sell his house and move 2km away (but on the right side) of the highway to send his son to Westlake Boys.
Seems ludicrous! (although we're currently zoned for Westlake, unintentionally, haha)
So yeah, some Kiwis can be really would up when it comes to grammar schools, but like davetapson said, us Saffers are very "school conscious" and I think it goes back to the private school obsession that middle-to-upper Saffers have back in the homeland.
Some can't conceive of sending their kids to a government school, unless it's one of those prestigious ones that breeds elite sportsmen as well as young men with big egos (no offence to anyone who went to KES, haha).
In a similar vein, most middle-to-upper class Saffers wouldn't dare risk treatment in a government hospital. Private healthcare seems like the only way to survive a medical ordeal.
However it's different here. The public offerings are generally excellent, and in many cases on par with, or better than the private offerings in SA. (I can affirm that especially in the healthcare sector).
So like davetapson said, don't stress too much over it. If you pick a decent area, schooling will be fine. Plus it sounds like you have a few years to go before you send the youngster off to highschool, which buys you time to get more familiar with areas and where you want to be.
If you really wanted to be selective, previously you could try judge a school on its decile ranking (1-10, with 10 being the schools in wealthy socio-economic areas), but this year the Ministry of Education did away with the decile system and created an "Equity Index" where I think the lower the score, the less the socio-economic challenges faces by students and families.
https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/changes-in-education/equity-index/how-the-equity-index-works/
Here's a snippet of the top handful
But hey, it's just school! I went to very average government schools and I turned out just fine 😅
My daughter is starting school this year. It's a scary thought as I dislike the way kids are taught in NZ.
We applied to 2 schools "out of zone", one 2km from our house and one 4km from our house. She got into both. The latter is a 349 on the list and the other a 364.
I also believe the teacher is what makes it, one teacher might not work for all but if the kid and her/him is in the same brain space then it's going to be a good fit.
We are still in SA currently, it's week 5 for us and we are on a big road trip currently. Started at my folks place in Bushmans river mouth (close to Port Alfred) up the less dangerous route through Elliot, Underberg, Howick, Centre Drakensberg, now in the Northern Drakensberg and then Clarens before making the journey back to my folks. (So basically circling Lesotho.)
Here's my view:
All small towns have become dumps.
Even places like Howick we didn't feel comfortable at all parking at Woolworths foods and then the Howick falls.
The roads are in pieces. I can't see any parts okay to drive at night anymore. I remembered Underberg not to be bad at all, it's like a township now. We keep on asking ourselves "where do the middle-class people living here (or farmers) buy groceries".
Groceries prices ... Wow!!! The same as in NZ with way less options. We miss our fresh salmon and fish we buy weekly at the grocery store and our multi seed breads and and and
Load shedding...In Bushmans river they don't get loadshedding because they have the water filtration plant there and on our trip or places we stayed elsewhere we mostly had access to gas stoves or generators. But I can see the areas is places on the businesses and restaurants.
The radio news bulletins constantly speak about Eskom, the price hikes, the attempted murder of the CEO etc etc but I never hear something about the roads, it is the infrastructure needed to keep a lot going in the country.
This country is now in big trouble.
On 1/9/2023 at 7:02 AM, Pieter1 said:Lekker to read all the stories and see the pictures.
When did you guys move your kids to a pedal bike? I was thinking as soon as my son can use the brakes I'll put the pedals on because he is using his feet to stop at the moment.
3.5...
I did brakes 1st and removed the pedals from her bike. Took her down a VERY steep hill and asked her to stay behind me and said we will go very slow. She used her brakes very well.
I then asked her a few times in the few weeks to follow if I can put the pedals on. We had them in her front basket on every ride. She just one day said yes (after many no's) and that day she started cycling by herself.
2 hours ago, patches said:So turns out my Mom's visa was approved nearly 3 weeks ago, but she missed the email 😅🙈
Frustrating that the INZ portal doesn't have an accurate status, but a relief that she has the visa.
Now to find a time when flights don't cost a small fortune.
Wanted to say that that "lapsed" status means it is done ...
Edit: mine will only come possibly from June when Layla starts school
7 minutes ago, patches said:Yup! She went to PTA for passport viewing and had her medical at the one-and-only Dr Cobb (who nearly every JHB Saffer immigrant has been to, haha).
So yeah, seems she was just unlucky enough to get mixed in with the backlog.
Did you add a screenshot to her visa application page as additional information of the email you/she would have got when they completed the medicals with the ref nr?
2 minutes ago, patches said:Dammit INZ! My Mom applied Aug 26 and still sitting on that "Lapsed" status.
Did she send het passport to be 'viewed'?
Did she go for medicals yet?
43 minutes ago, patches said:Nice!
Did they apply before 1 August?
My Mom applied right in the middle of that period 😒
Applied on the 30th Aug.
Visa approved on 1st Nov.
My son still has a far way to go....
My daughter though is really enjoying it. She's 4 years old. I took her to the 'famous' Rotorua redwoods where we did the simple family trails, we didn't intend to go far as her dad was walking our son in the pram (for a nap). She did just over 5km there. At home she can do 10km on our city cycling trails (quite flat here where I am next to the water ways). She's very skinny and have weak legs for the hills, but as long as it's flat she can just go and go..
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On 11/23/2022 at 10:17 AM, patches said:Nothing too exciting for us. The usual (or pre-covid usual) visiting the in-laws in Sydney for Christmas, then back to NZ shortly after to road trip down the east coast to the Wairarapa, across to the Kapati Coast and back up to Jaffaville.
I'm having South Island withdrawals. Looking forward to the Dusty Butt in Feb, and a bigger South Island road trip once INZ grants my mom a visa and I can get her over here (she applied for a Parent/Grandparent Visitors Visa during that period that INZ dropped the ball).
@Wayne Potgieter, did your in-laws come right with their visas?
My folks were granted their grandparents visa. I just keep on adding letters to state the process steps has been completed.
Talking summer... Yes... Where is it?
About the holidays, we are going back to SA for 7 weeks 
can't wait for all the baby sitting and having some time for myself.
Anyone have Rands for about $3000?
You pay from your SA bank account into my moms SA bank account (Nedbank) and I pay from my NZ bank account (ANZ) to your NZ bank account with the exchange rate as is on the day of transfer?
1 hour ago, ouzo said:but you also had someone that was very enthusiastic to ride. That does help.
What I've seen thus far with my daughter (4 years old), she's enjoyed riding because she's been on the right bikes from year 1 till now.
She started riding a pedal bike when she was about 3.5years old, most of her friends (actually all of them) can not ride yet. All of them have been on bikes not well designed for the age I'd say (the one 4 year old boy is actually on a Specialized.....with back pedal brakes! What nonsense!) and side wheels.)
We didn't always go with the most expensive or lightest, just with what I could see made the best sense for her development.
The bike she had before her current one was one of the cheapest balance bikes we could find. What made it great was that it had a much wider handle bar and was actually heavier that the popular Strider etc bikes. Being heavier added to the stability when moving so she didn't get a fright and was thrown off balance when going over the smallest opstical.
Now she has an expensive bike, purely because there isn't many 16" with no back pedal, 6kg and nice looking ... Prevelo!!
I could have paid even more if I wanted a fork and disk brakes, but as this was her 1st pedal bike we went 'entry level's and it was about R10k (landed).
If I gave her the choice she would have picked the pink bike in the 1st shop with the front basket, rear seat for her doll and tossels on the handlebars. I asked if she wants to ride with us when we ride or when we walk and she obviously choose the 1st so I said that bike won't get her to do that. She was over the moon when the plain silver bike arrived and wanted to go test it even though it had no pink.
As a family we often go on bike tours (Monkey see monkey do), till now she's just sat on one of our bikes, what makes her keen to ride long term is so she can be independent when we go on tours...what makes her keen to ride daily is the fact that she has a comfortable bike that is easy to ride. She's very proud to always show others her skills on her bike.
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Anyone here looking for a new job and in the engineering field? We have multiple of jobs available and desperatly looking of people all across the reporting structure... Here's one position...
https://www.lioncareers.com/job/923672000/
They are basically looking for people, so anyone looking for a change, now is your time
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Wifi options in SA?
My parents are paying through the roof I think for a Vodacom package which doesn't give great coverage. Most of the time I can't even video call over the phone.
What options do you guys know of in SA that doesn't cost an arm or a leg?
New Zealand - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
in Chit chat
Posted
How long did your last AUS visitors visa take to be approved?
My moms online application has not changed status since the 11th and she went for biometrics on the 13th.