centers and cheap fruit and veg places...plus with a small garden you can possibly even grow some veggies yourselves. Check out the tax credit situation on the IR website as I would imagine that you may be due some depending upon your visa restrictions, but you must declare your foreign sourced income to claim these. If your wife is working you may also be eligible for childcare subsidies so my colleagues tell me. If asked would we leave Christchurch we have always thought that we would not.....but we are currently trying to purchase a house and hoping that we can surmount the obstacles and get through it with the reports and insurance transfers required. If we cannot my OH seriously wants to look at relocating...not because we lessen the EQ risk....but because at least we can have our own place again. But I have anothe thread with those trials and tribulations! Feel free to pm me. sophiedb also has another experience of being in Christchurch.......if you search back through our posts you will get an indication of how we have felt at different points in time... I don't think I need comment on your location options, as that has already been covered. Yes, I believe it would be possible to survive on a $60k salary if you are used to living frugally. However, with 4 children and a lot of initial expenses that you will be required to fork out for while getting yourself set up, I would be more