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New Zealand - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.


Wayne Potgieter

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I did a 2 week holiday solo a thousand years ago, mixture of family and prepaid accomodation/travel. I budgeted $100 per day average for dinner, drinks & entertainment, and that did cover the expensive Queenstown type tourist activities and had some cash to spare at the end. So $200 per day for yourself is probably OK, but if you need to cover expensive activities and meals for the kids or other family members those costs can rack up quick. Movie tickets, slushie and popcorn x 4 (for example) is a scary number in Australia & N.Z.

Hi Methusela  :w00t:

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Hmmmm... that's a tough one, but I'll give it a go...

 

Food

 

  • $30 - $35pp per meal if you're eating out a lot. That'll get you a main and a drink at most places (nothing too fancy though).
  • $15pp for KFC or McD's ("Maccas" as they call it here)
  • $5 - $15pp if you're cooking (depends on what you're cooking and for how many)
  • $5 for a pie or a basic Dominos pizza

Fuel

  • Up to $2.30ish per litre. Also, NZ roads are very windy and there's a lot of up and down, so consumption for an average NZ road trip is higher than one in SA. Same things applies to time. 200km in NZ (especially Otago/Fjordland) will be a lot longer than 2hrs.

 

Entertainment

 

This largely depends on what you're up to.

 

  • Free - DOC (Department of Conservation) has excellent walking trails all over the country and pretty much all of them are free. I can highly recommend looking into some DOC walks in whatever areas you visit.
  • $15 - $20 - A movie ticket. Not that you want to come all this way to get stuck in a cinema for 2hrs. But on a bad weather day it might be an option.
  • Arm & Leg - Most things in Queenstown (I'm guessing you'll be going there as Dunedin isn't too far away). It's the place where European wunderlust-instagram youngsters go to spend their wealthy parents money on adventure and fun. Prices of activities vary depending on what they are, but keep in mind that it's not aimed at Saffers with Rands. Its aimed at spoilt brats with mom & dad's credit card. Most of the "main attraction" type things in Queenstown are about $80 - $150

Hope that helps a bit. Which parts of NZ will you be visiting? I may be able to give some suggestions of activities for the areas, and an idea of cost.

I'll be based in Dunedin. The kids will be on school holidays and I wont have seen them for over a year so will spend all the time I can with them. So it will be beach time and I guess some touristy type stuff.

I've got costs in for internal flights - Wellington to Dunedin. Basic car rental and an Air Bnb/Hotel. Then the $200/day figure is over an above daily. I'll be taking the kids off my ex's hands as she wont have had a day off since moving over last October.

Still not a cheap exercise. Looks like I'm in for about 50k, but it will be money well spent!

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Dunno if it's been mentioned before, but there is a really nice track at Long Bay Regional Park.

 

It's not long, but there are plenty ups and downs and it's real pretty.

 

Good spot to take kids.

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Achievement unlocked  :w00t:

 

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Congrats! A Black Mamba to add to the Green one. Did you retain SA citizenship? I strongly advise everyone to do so, it makes a trip back so SO much easier and cheaper. For a fam of 4, think an extra $1000 or so for visas.

My boys don't have a Mamba, but me and the Mrs do. Gonna do the necessary paperwork to get theirs...

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Congrats! A Black Mamba to add to the Green one. Did you retain SA citizenship? I strongly advise everyone to do so, it makes a trip back so SO much easier and cheaper. For a fam of 4, think an extra $1000 or so for visas.

My boys don't have a Mamba, but me and the Mrs do. Gonna do the necessary paperwork to get theirs...

 

Nope, we've ditched the green one (except for Miss 8, obviously). One less thing to worry about. For now its easier to fly relatives out here to visit.

 

I don't plan to be going back for a while, so hopefully the visa situation has changed by then :P

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n

 

Nope, we've ditched the green one (except for Miss 8, obviously). One less thing to worry about. For now its easier to fly relatives out here to visit.

 

I don't plan to be going back for a while, so hopefully the visa situation has changed by then :P

Never burn your bridges....................

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Have registered on the "seek" website and applied for a few jobs. 

 

Does anybody know where to register for a work permit? 

 

Not sure if this is the correct website:

 

https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/apply-for-a-visa/tools-and-information/tools/office-and-fees-finder

 

Yup, that's the correct website, but don't jump the gun on the "work permit" just yet.

 

There are multiple ways to gain rights to work and live in NZ. If you look at this post, there's a brief outline of your 'work permit' options:

 

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/155527-new-zealand-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/?p=3322290

 

Some options are easier than others. Some get you a PR quicker, others get you a Kiwi passport quicker. Multiple ways to skin this cat.

Edited by patches
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Looks like you broke one of them on the trip.

He likes being dramatic! Did well tho. He had a mate who is a couple of years older so was under pressure...!
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I can have my French permanent residence status before having my NZ citizenship without having lived in France.... Getting the French citizenship is another story though (I have to learn French)

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I can have my French permanent residence status before having my NZ citizenship without having lived in France.... Getting the French citizenship is another story though (I have to learn French)

 

Same issue my wife has now for my Italian passport, before the only requirement was 3 years of marriage, now its 3 years of marriage plus she has to learn Italian....

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Same issue my wife has now for my Italian passport, before the only requirement was 3 years of marriage, now its 3 years of marriage plus she has to learn Italian....

That is how it should be..................you cannot expect to be a citizen of a country and not be able to speak their language !

A good system  to keep the refugees out also................

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