Moving to New Zealand for a year :) Q's?
 

Hello everyone,

I'm moving to New Zealand in mid November on a one year working holiday visa.

This is my third WHP trip with Australia (2009) and Singapore (2011) just completed. This has been a lot of fun in the past and I'm really looking forward to having a great time again.

I'm flying into Auckland and that's where I'd like to base myself for the duration of the trip. I'm curious where's a good place to look for work and places to rent accommodation. Any tips, advice, etc. would be appreciated.

My goal also is to fly about the south pacific as much as I can. Besides Air New Zealand, JetStar and Virgin Australia what other airlines offer budget flights? What's a cheap way to get to/from the airport?

I know I can and have Googled a lot of this info already, but answers from posts like these always point out something new that I haven't even thought of, so that's the reason I'm posting this.


Many thanks for your help.

--Russ

What type of work will you be looking for?

Jetstar doesn't fly any pacific island routes from AKL, they only fly domestic & trans Tasman.

Pretty much Air New Zealand & Virgin are the only two airlines that offer budget flights to the pacific islands.

There also is Air Pacific (Fiji), Air Calin (Noumea), Air Vanuatu (Vanuatu), Air Tahiti Nui (Tahiti). All of these carriers only fly to AKL a couple of times a week & tend to be full service airlines pricing wise.

By far Air New Zealand, has the best route network/frequency.
They fly AKL-NAN/RAR/PPT/VLI/NOU/APW/TPU

Routes like NAN/RAR on Somdays of the week get double daily services

@ mdc22474 - in Australia I worked in transportation and Singapore in IT/business development... so possibly in the same field. But it will depend on what I could actually find.


@ cavemanzk - thanks for that, I thought there were others besides the ones you mentioned. I already booked a JetStar flight from MEL-AKL last night for the day after Australin F1 GP, figure the closer I get to the date the more expensive tickets will be. Haven't decided when I'll fly to Melbourne though as it will depend if I get accepted to be one of the race officials there. (or not) Also searching cheapo flights AKL-MEL I came across flights on Virgin Blue/Australia sold for Air New Zealand. While checking Air NZ directly there was an upsell for flights that actually earn miles. How does that work with booking DJ? Will I get DJ points for NZ flights booked thru DJ?

DJ points are next to worthless ... there was a newspaper story a week ago comparing DJ to QFF and it typically cost 250%-300% more to earn a free trip on DJ compared to QFF (and people complain that QFF is a terrible plan compared to US plans!!!!). It takes 13 return flights on DJ to earn 1 free flight on the same route (using SYD-LAX-SYD as the example). The NZ/DJ relationship is new and the fine points, such as FF earn, are still being worked out.

As for island hopping, not sure the current Air NZ fare products, but in the past there were "visit pacific" type fares which allowed cheap inter-island travel provided that you flew NZ from USA or Europe to AKL and had to be bought in conjunction with your AKL ticket. Alternatively Star has some mileage-based RTW fares, and that may be a great use for island-hopping (though you have to eventually go RTW). Oneworld (QF) has a circle-pacific fare which is cheap, also Global Explorer fare that allows travel via Fiji and Hawaii (also Easter Island) but not island hopping per se. So there are some great options if you are creative (the more expensive fares are valid for 12 months and allow unlimited stopovers, so you can combine them with other tickets).

Have you actually tried VFF or are you basing this entirely on one newspaper report?

Velocity is not that bad if you are flexible enough to take advantage of the special offers

My best redemption to date was a Sydney to Hamilton Island round trip for 4k miles and some $50 or so in taxes.

I flew DJ almost exclusively because it was considerably cheaper than Qantas so the points collected over time... unfortunately the only way I'll be able to use what's left is flying within Australia which shouldn't be so hard to accomplish next year

DJ fly NZ - Aust as http://www.flypacificblue.com/. Some on DJ metal and others as Air NZ code share

yes that's who I flew to visit Christchurch in 2009

however their point redemption is significantly higher than the points I have collected

so the only way I could redeem them is by flying domestic when I visit Australia for the F1 race

I have a DJ account, along with 2 other Virgin FF accounts (now why can't they co-operate better?), and have flown DJ precisely once. I've been trying to avoid them after that experience. But compare the redemption table (oh, that is quite well hidden by DJ, so not so easy to do ... gotta love the transparency; I guess they are a bit ashamed at how miserly their FF plan is).

There are some very good value redemptions with DJ ... if you know where to look... and the DJ program allows you to earn and burn on any Virgin carrier.

more questions:


1. What is the best banking option available to foreigners on a 1 year working visa? I was thinking ANZ since i know they have branches in Australia, Singapore, Fiji, etc. But if there are better options I don't mind pursuing them... I already have an NAB account open in Australia and UOB in Singapore.


2. What is the best SIM card option available... I only need it for very moderate use, especially early on as I'm looking for work. Most of my phone calls will be inbound international calls.


thanks,
--Russ


PS. any opportunities to earn frequent flyer miles for everyday purchases???

If you can afford to commit a goodly sum a HSBC Premier account has worked very well for me. I'm a Yank that commutes to Oz with a resident visa and have a US Premier account - once you are Premier anywhere you can open a foreign Premier account with no minimum balance. Then you link the accounts and with their Global View/Exchange service electronically transfer currencies from an account in one country to another at a smidge over the interbank forex rate. You should also get a free credit card and ATM access with partners in the new country.

Otherwise ANZ does cover the region but their fees seemed a bit higher than Commonwealth which partners in NZ with ASB. If they offer an Internet saver account get one to complement your transactional account and set up a monthly recurring 'bounce' of $2K or so between the accounts to eliminate service fees on the transactional.

Good luck & kia ora

thanks for that... I looked into HSBC Premier before I went to OZ in 2009 and its way too rich for my blood. I'm poor :)

Good suggestion on the recurring transfer also, though I hope I'll find a job eventually that will take care of the fees.

Huge thanks to wijomas for helping me settle in so well on my first day in Auckland!!!!


Picked me up from the airport, shown me around, took me to buy a SIM card and open a bank account, and even found a decent place for me to stay in the CBD for less than I though I'd be spending.

Amazing experience so far, thank you so much Will!!!