Hamilton is in the middle of the Waikato (Why-Cot-Oh) region. It is the most like England in all the regions of New Zealand, that is very wet, cold (and not Utah cold, cold to the bone cold, wet cold), foggy, and humid. It's dairy country. Although, you are coming at the perfect time (the beginning of December)! It's finally starting to warm up! Weather is a big deal. Everything centers around the weather. I was finally warm the other day at church, for the first time, when a man in the class opened a window. I said, "Oh, no, I was finally warm." The man replied, "Bridget, New Zealanders are cold people. You'll have to get used to it." The climate is most similar to the Northwestern United States.
Hamilton is a university town. There are TONS, TONS, TONS of migrants, immigrants and a few locals. There is a HUGE Pacific Islander population; Waikato is near the center of Mauri (Maw-rree) tourist culture, Rotoura.
When we came, we brought 7 suitcases. Five came with our flight, and we paid to have extras. We brought a suitcase full of kitchen and laundry stuff, a suitcase full of blankets (in spacesaver bags), a suitcase full of linens (in spacesaver bags). We brought our electronics--two laptops an additional computer screen. I'm so glad we brought extra blankets. In Hamilton it's common to use duvets and duvet-inners. Personally, I hate them. It difficult to find an actual blanket.
Something I brought that seems weird, but for which I am so grateful, were the blue IKEA shopping bags. We've used them for grocery bags, shopping bags, beach bags. Totally worth snatching a few of those in Tempe before you come, if you don't already have a few. Everything else you can pretty much find here. Clothes aren't too expensive, but the sticker-shock is real. That won't really be comprehensible until you get here. So, much of what you would bring will depend our your family needs and what you're willing to pay extra for as far as baby stuff goes. Gumboots. . .we don't have any and it's been fine. You can also get those here without having to pay too much more. Baby rain clothes. They have RAIN EVERYTHING for babies here. I could not find anything comparable in the US to what they have here, maybe in shops in Seattle or Portland. Bring clothes you can layer. I'm a layering retard. So, it's been hard for me. I'm a desert rat. I get how to wear two layers, much more than that is incomprehensible to me. My daughter (age 8) will wear 4 shirts on a cold day. If I could do it all over again, I'd go to DownEast or ModBod and get a ton of layering ts. . . especially the long sleeve ts. I was shocked the other day when my neighbor said she still wears long sleeves in the summer. . .blah.
Any other specifics on what to bring? It all depends on if you decide to go with furnished housing or not.
We also wanted a furnished place. We tried Trade Me. Trade Me is HUGE in Christchurch and in Auckland, NOT in Hamilton. Although you'll see stuff on there, and people will refer you to the website, we haven't found it to be all that great. (This is coming from people who regular shopped on Amazon and Ebay.) We were told to go with a rental agencies. We were trying to stay in a budget. . .and frankly, the housing was horrifying. Since I am a doctoral student, we decided to meet up with the accommodations office on campus. The referred us to a rental property in our price range that was fully furnished. Our landlord has been AMAZING. (Just a heads up, that can make a huge difference. One of my office mates was evicted because he cooks Indian food. My other office mate has moved 3 times in 8 months because things are not always what they seem.) It's so good that you'll have a month in a townhome.
Because we found a place that was fully furnished, I brought things I didn't need--like cooking pans. Which brings me to cooking--this may seem weird, I know you mentioned Costco. . .once again, it's an eye-opener. What we consider "from scratch' in the US--it's even different from that. If I were you, I'd start collecting recipes (In a book or on pinterest) that use simple ingredients. You'll be desperate for them. Like my brother said, "Coming here is like stepping back into time in the US. . .it's like living in the early 1960s." (By the way, depending on your housing budget, will determine a lot what your housing will be. It's nearly impossible to find double pane windows in Hamilton...even in new housing. You may only have one sink in your kitchen, like we do. It's possible you won't have a mixer for your water, we don't. . .one hot, one cold--you have to mix the water yourself, except for the shower. And, our bathroom has a permanently opened window designed NOT to close.)
Areas to avoid: Nawton and Frankton. We were told that by the missionary couple responsible for find housing the missionaries. When we finally drove through Nawton and Frankton, we could completely understand why.
We live in Hillcrest. It's a nice area. It is close to the University (they call it the Uni here) so there can be a lot of students. But our street is pretty awesome. We are within walking distance of one of the public libraries, the elementary school, the university, some shopping. It's nice. Outside the previously mentioned areas, anywhere else is nice.
There are four American "families" in our ward. . .we're the only family, the other 3 are older couples. The Curtis', from Sandy, UT, husband is a doctor and he's doing a year assignment at the hospital. The Whites, from Salt Lake City, they work with the Presiding Bishopric. They are here to deal the the closure of the church college (a college is a high school). Another couple from Hawaii...the wife is terminally ill and so we never see them. And us. The ward is HUGE, but only has 30% active attendance. There are four stakes in Hamilton. The church is pretty good sized. It was assumed it's because of the temple. When we got here, we learned that its because of Church College. The church college was closed four years ago. It's a deeply controversial issue. We can save that for another time. But members would move to Hamilton to send their children to Church college and then stay in Hamilton. Hence the larger LDS population.
CARS. . .we did end up buying a car. We bought our car at Turners Auction. They auction repossessed cars. We got a great deal for what we needed. If I were to do it all again, I would have done it the same way. The auction was helpful. Driving on the other side of the road is hard, but with practice, it works out okay.
By the way, there's a 15% flat tax on EVERYTHING. And when you buy something in the store, the tax has already been added into the price. This is part of what makes items so expensive here.
Bugs. I know that seems weird, but that was the tipping point for my husband and myself. We've had to deal with a ton of spiders of all shapes and sizes (although they are nothing compared to the GIGANTIC spiders in Australia). We've had to deal with two types of cockroaches. We had our kitchen sprayed, out of our own pocket because our landlord was like "just how it is in New Zealand." We still catch a few and have to spray them, and then flush them--don't step on them, by the way, they immediately lay eggs when you crush their exoskeleton. We've had to deal with fleas and flea bites from the garden which got in our house. (We learned what they were from one of the Elders because they get training on fleas in the MTC.) And, if you send your 3 year-old to the kindergarten, or kindie, there's consistently scares with head lice. I now make my kids spray tea tree oil on their hair every day. For a while, we felt like we were experiencing the seven plagues from the Old Testament.
OTHER RANDOM THINGS we learned:
-Police officers don't carry guns.
-Domestic violence is a horribly prolific problem here.
-Many wards are made up of P.I.s (Pacific Islanders) Apparently Kiwis don't think they need the religion.
-Most television programming is from the States or Australia...like we are watching X-factor USA right now, pretty religiously
-People who speak English as a second language AND have a Kiwi accident can been surprisingly difficult to understand.
-Shoes are definitely an option, no matter your age and particularly when it's warm
-Plan on handing your clothes out to dry, and average washing machines. Still figuring out how to manage lint.
-Air New Zealand is awesome!
OH. . .don't do money exchanges in the airports. They are pricey.
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