Why I have decided to write a post titled tips for newcomers to Christchurch New Zealand? Because, I have not written for my blog for a long time. Sometimes you go through these stages when you do not feel to write anything. You feel like someone has taken away your power of writing. I am going through these stages. So, I thought of writing something off topic to my blog. Today I am going to share some tips for the new comers to Christchurch who come here to live for a longer period of time. This will not be very helpful for the tourists who come to visit Christchurch for 1-2 days or a week but I hope it will help those people who come here to live or to study and live at least for some time. I am going to provide some information about ethnic local shops, markets, restaurants and places to go and/or information about public transport.
Tips for Newcomers to Christchurch New Zealand:
- Power Adaptor: When I came over here, the first thing I needed is a power adaptor to charge my laptop or phone. Cause the power plugs I was using were having American standard as I just came from Taiwan. So, I was looking for a place to buy those power adaptors. The best place to buy those adaptors are from Pak’nSave. You can find one in WestField Riccarton Mall (on Riccarton road and close to University of Canterbury) or in Moorehouse Road. You can also buy it from Noel Leeming but that will be very expensive (almost 3 times).
- Mobile SIM Card: The second most important thing you need is the Mobile SIM Card to communicate with people. You can buy a Mobile SIM card from Vodafone outlet or you can get a plan from Skinny. I personally do not recommend Spark as it is a bit expensive compared to the other two vendors. Skinny gives good deal for Data.
- Transportation: This quite normal that you will not have a car when you first come over here. So, you will have to take public transport or Uber unless your friend is not providing you rides. Uber rides are quite cheap here. You can use the code himadris728ui to get your first ride free. If UBER seems a bit expensive for you, you can buy a Metro card for bus and top up with money to go from one places to another. Bus routes cover almost all the parts of the city but sometimes the waiting time is high as the buses are not that frequent.
- Food: If you have just arrived in Christchurch for less than 48 hours and staying in a Motel or student accommodation, you must be looking for reasonably priced restaurants which can provide good food. In that case, you can have KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Dominos etc. Fish and Chip shops are quite popular here as well. You can get one almost in every suburb. I can refer to you a very nice Afghan restaurant where the price of the food is cheap and you will get a good amount of food. But before you go there you will have to make them a call to check if they are open. Cause they are not always open and if you are lucky, you will get the chance to taste the food. You can read details here Afghan Restaurant Christchurch. I can also recommend you some takeaways inside the mall like Kebab Inn in BushInn mall which is close to Church Corner and the other one is Shamiana (Indian Food). You can definitely get some Chinese takeaways as well.
- Bank Account: Bank account is very important in New Zealand. If you want to get paid from employer or from University (for scholarship) they will ask for your Bank Account details. So, this is always better to open a Bank Account first. You can open a bank account in any Bank but I will suggest you to open an account in ANZ or in WestPac. These two are the most reputable banks in New Zealand. You will need a photo ID like passport to open a bank account.
- IRD Account: IRD means Inland Revenue Department who process your income tax. If you want to do a job in New Zealand, the employer will ask for your IRD Number so that they can attach it to your account while paying so that the deducted tax goes to your account. So, if you want to get paid in New Zealand, you will have to apply for an IRD which you can do here Apply for IRD.
- Rent a House/Buy a Car: If you want to rent a house, you can have a look at Trademe . This is the most popular trading site in New Zealand. In most of the advertisement of the houses you will find one agent is dealing with the property. What you will have to do is book a booking for the property or contact the agent for more details. You will find details in the advertisement. Then you will have to go to the house for a viewing. If you like the house, you can apply online or by using a hard-copy application form. Then the agents will do their background check and if they think that you can be a suitable candidate, they will select you as a tenant. To buy a car also you can rely on Trademe and contact the seller. You can schedule a viewing time and then make the deal.
- Buying Some Second Hand Furniture: If you want to buy some second hand furniture, you can buy it from EcoShop which is in Blenheim road or you can buy it from Salvation Army. You can also check Trademe or some Facebook group in Facebook.
- Buying Fresh Vegetables: Varieties of vegetables in supermarket are very limited. So, you naturally look for other sources to buy different kinds of vegetables. The best quality is found in the China Town which is chose to Church Corner. The Growers Direct is another shop which is close to China Town as well and has got fresh veges.
- Indian Grocery Shop/Spices: If you are from South East Asia, you must be looking for Indian Groceries or Spices. There are two great shops where you can find great Indian Groceries which cheap rate and those are – Yogi Ji Food Mart and Guruji Indian Food Indian Grocery
I will update this post time to time when I will have more information which can help newcomers to Christchurch. Please share the information with your friends and add more information in comment section.