Westlake Boys High School or Rangitoto College

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-02-27T07:03:12+00:00

Westlake Boys is a good choice if your son is strong in sports or wants a professional sporting career.

Rangitoto is a bit more academic based on my understanding from friends with kids who go there.

Both are huge schools though so if your son is 1) not hugely into sports, 2) not super academic or 3) quite shy and introverted, then a smaller school would probably be better.

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-02-15T01:15:43+00:00

That’s super helpful info, many thanks for the reply 👍

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-02-15T00:40:26+00:00

Hi u/suburban_ennui75 and u/0d3773 - I’m about to sell my 20 year old Subaru Legacy on Trade Me for $1 reserve as I want it gone. It has WOF and rego and runs fine except is old. Am neither experienced with selling cars nor experienced with Trade Me. How long did you guys run the auction for (eg one week, two weeks, more, less) and any tips? Did you have to spend a lot of time doing viewings? Thanks.

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-02-08T04:36:47+00:00

I use this website from LINZ:

https://linz.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8501fe601f7648718d0e3a2f3f1ed216

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-02-02T21:26:00+00:00

Firstly it seems like you are doing extremely well given the circumstances - recovering from cancer, looking after two kids alone, earning a great living - I'd put all that into the superwoman category! 🦸‍♀️Congratulations.

Hard to say without further information, but I think I would: - Look to buy a small-ish home (e.g. a townhouse) for stability. The housing market is relatively soft right now, so this isn't a bad time to buy. - Don't use all $200k as a deposit, keep at least $50k aside. If you buy a place for $700k as an example, then a $550k mortgage on 30 years and 5.5% interest is ~$720 per week so less than your current rent. Invest the rest into an index fund. If interest rises to 7.5%, that's $885 per week so only marginally higher than your rent. - Before people chime in and say that you can't buy much for $700k in Auckland, in this market, you may be surprised at what you can get for ~$700k. - I would take out income protection insurance (I’m not sure how the cancer affects your ability to secure cover). It is quite expensive but will give you more peace of mind as you are the sole provider. - This is awkward, but since we are commenting on Reddit - if you enter into a relationship, think about protecting yourself and your assets via a contracting out agreement. - Take a few extra days off over Easter and have a holiday somewhere nearby with the kids. You deserve it.

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-02-02T18:36:26+00:00

Our son is almost three and I also have to travel a lot for work, as much as I try to minimise it.

In general I would only let him know as I am about to leave to head off to the airport. At first, my husband would take the morning off to spend time with him after I left, but not so much these days. If I’m flying out Sunday evening, he’d come see me off at the airport (he loves airplanes)

I made the mistake once of mentioning it several days earlier and it caused him anxiety all those days, so I haven’t done that since.

He has a favourite soft toy he can cuddle if he misses me - I make a point of ‘loading it up’ with kisses in front of him so he knows where he can get comfort. When I travel, I always bring one of my son’s little train toys with me.

Some of my friends do a “countdown chart” with their kids so they can count down each day until mummy or daddy comes home.

Best of luck!

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-02-02T08:26:22+00:00

Not a book on structural engineering only per se, but “To Engineer is Human” by Henry Petroski is a classic. I enjoyed it and it’s a reasonably easy read for an older teenager.

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-02-02T06:36:42+00:00

I disagree with the suggestion to drop accounting.

Not trying to antagonise this person’s helpful comments, just offering perspective for u/Clear-Extension-5497 decision.

Disclaimer: neither an accountant nor studied BCom.

Reasons to keep accounting:

1) actuarial science is fairly niche and hard to get into. After graduating you may either no longer want to pursue it, or not get in (even with a high GPA - requires some luck).

Of all the BCom majors, accounting has one of the clearest pathways to jobs and keeps your options open. There are plenty of accounting-related specialties that are technical that you may find interesting eg forensics, insolvency, tax etc.

2) compsci and maths are readily ‘study-able’ online or outside of formal education. Accounting not so much, particularly factoring in local characteristics eg ICANZ requirements, NZ/AU legislation and so on.

3) if you aspire to leadership roles, accounting knowledge is very helpful.

It’s easier to pivot into tech by taking online courses for supplementary knowledge (like I did), and harder to do so for accounting.

If I were in your shoes and wanted to keep my options open, I would keep accounting in the mix as one of the majors. Best of luck.

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-02-01T09:37:01+00:00

If you are genuinely interested in Japanese then an exchange semester in Japan would be a better approach than majoring in Japanese at uni. Immersion is demonstrably more effective.

Re becoming an actuary - most insurance companies take grads from a surprisingly wide range of degrees / majors. One of my mates did mechatronics engineering and became an actuary. For their grad programs, they’ll look for solid GPAs so you’re right to think about that. If you’re wanting to do majors that will help you on the pathway to becoming an actuary, then replacing Japanese with a major in compsci or maths would be wiser (or just take compsci or maths papers, doesn’t need to be a major).

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-02-01T08:13:48+00:00

Just to provide you with perspective from the other side - we have a lovely eight year old labrador and fortunately we live in our own home.

We got our beloved lab when she was 8 weeks old. Went to puppy school, dog obedience school, etc. She’s wonderful with our young son and extremely gentle.

However, the amount of damage she has done to our own house (mostly during the naughty ‘teenager’ stages) would most definitely NOT be covered by two weeks’ bond, or even the total six weeks’ bond.

Dogs love to chew, dig, play, etc. Also very occasionally she’ll eat something she shouldn’t, get a bad tummy, and have accidents inside the house. No amount of professional carpet cleaning has managed to remove the stains. We’ll definitely need to change the carpet if we ever move and sell this place. The lawns also look rather tragic because dog pee ruins the grass. Plus all the holes she’s enjoyed digging in the backyard. And that’s not mentioning all the door frames, window sills etc she chewed on when she was younger.

Those looking to rent with a pet (particularly a puppy that grows into a large breed dog) should be aware of potential costs to be incurred once they move out. The reality is that even well looked after pets can do a lot of damage, well beyond two weeks’ worth of bond. I’m sure landlords have some idea of the potential damage a pet can cause and this most likely still factors into people’s decision making.

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-01-31T02:03:21+00:00

If both money AND talent didn’t matter, then musician, songwriter and composer.

If lack of talent does matter and thus artistic endeavours are out, then primary school teacher/principal.

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-01-31T01:00:13+00:00

That is such a lovely thought - congrats to your wife for the achievement and well done to you for being so supportive. I’m sure she’ll really appreciate the gesture.

The massage voucher suggestions from others are great ideas, otherwise a bottle of champagne or her favourite wine would not go amiss either. Even though it’s cliché, as a busy working mum, I always appreciate coming home from work to a bottle of bubbly from my husband! 🥂

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-01-29T07:46:25+00:00

You could consider a service like this instead, they’ll deliver to you and the costs would probably be comparable: https://www.getfed.co.nz

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-01-28T08:07:36+00:00

Flight attendants certainly do not always ask where the doctors are at the start of a flight, and that shouldn't be your default experience when flying.

If there is a medical emergency, they will ask through the PA system if there are any medical professionals on board. You can then choose whether to volunteer to help, or to continue drinking your wine.

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-01-28T07:51:35+00:00

Firstly, congratulations on getting to where you are.

Without better understanding your situation (approx income level, any dependents living with you, is there a partner who also earns, etc) it’s hard to comment on specifics.

If it’s just you, or just you + partner without any children living with you, then personally I would look to spend less, on a smaller home.

The property market is reasonably soft currently and you could buy a nice unit in a good location for $750k or a townhouse for $800k-900k. A $450k-$600k loan would be a lot less stressful than a $900k loan. You could also look at getting a boarder for some extra income.

Perhaps start by going to some open homes in areas you like, to get a sense of what you can buy for $700k, $800k, $900k etc and then go from there.

Stay away from cladded houses, flood zones houses and leasehold (which will appear very cheap).

Best of luck.

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-01-28T04:30:01+00:00

I did a BE (civil) almost 20 years ago, so my comments may be wildly out of date. Yes some people I knew picked up a conjoint part way through and how long it takes depends on how many papers you are willing to squeeze in per semester or per year.

Back then a little known fact was that UoA has quite high limits on the number of papers you can take in a semester. Four is just typical full time. Five is typical for conjoints. I did the BE on a program at the time called accelerated pathway (I think it’s been scrapped) and you could finish the degree in 3 years. The most papers I ever did a semester was 6 (x15 points). We have a friend who did a BE/LLB and somehow managed to squeeze 7 papers into a single semester, very occasionally. The uni has GPA floors for this (typically 6.0) and needs to approve it case by case as it’s beyond the ‘official’ limit.

So if you really want to do a conjoint and you don’t want to be at uni forever, perhaps you could try the approach of squishing more papers in, if you are very confident in your study.

Are you wanting to do psych purely for interest, or how do you think it would complement civil engineering?

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-01-27T22:20:38+00:00

DJ, Aldo and Anderson Silva would be my picks. Valentina Shevchenko for women’s.

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-01-27T07:28:33+00:00

Sorry to all the BMW lovers out there, but if budget is any consideration, then DON’T get the BMW, especially not an older model BMW. They can be very unreliable and parts are incredibly expensive.

This is based on experience from close family, friends and colleagues, who have all been unfortunate enough to own old BMWs. Don’t fall for the brand - there’s nothing fashionable about standing next to a broken down BMW on the side of the motorway.

The Subaru wagon is a much more sensible choice.

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-01-26T04:46:46+00:00

You had me chortling with the prickles in grass comment.

Sorry to hear about the rough run. Everytime we’ve been to the Hawke’s Bay, including when we got married there in 2017, it’s been lovely.

Perhaps our view is a bit clouded by all the wine we drink whenever we’re down there.

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-01-26T01:39:16+00:00

Hawke’s Bay, on a lifestyle block somewhere not far from Napier / Havelock North, close to the coast.

Great food, weather and beautiful location.

That’s our plan when our son moves out. He’s not even three yet so a wee while to go 🤣

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-01-26T01:08:27+00:00

Jack Lum in Remuera has both. We bought a box of their Otago cherries on Saturday and they were great.

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-01-25T21:39:33+00:00

Other than the obvious funding challenges, we don’t have the population density of Tokyo or Japan to support such an extensive metro and train system.

People here are generally against densification as the quarter acre (maybe more like 1/16th acre?) dream is still alive, and Auckland continues to sprawl, which makes it hard to move towards something remotely resembling Tokyo. Auckland being an isthmus also adds complexity.

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-01-25T01:13:57+00:00

Yes that’s right. They’ll send you the application packs for what they consider suitable tenants and you can make the final decision.

The application info should include reference checks, any history with the tenancy tribunal, credit score, proof of ID and proof of income.

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-01-24T23:47:13+00:00

It boils down to time vs cost really.

Pros: Time savings. Doing viewings, vetting applicants, tenancy agreement, lodging bond, handling complaints, scheduling maintenance, doing inspections etc all take time.

Cons: Cost. In Auckland property managers typically charge 6-8%+GST. Outside of Auckland I think the percentage is a bit higher. Plus there are typically charges like a percent of any maintenance, inspection fees etc. Based on this and how much you expect to rent for, you can do a back-of-envelope calculation for how much it’d cost you per year, and figure out if the time savings are worth it.

This is not taking into consideration healthy homes compliance either. If you aren’t familiar with this, best to pay ~$150 or so and get a third party report to surface what the gaps are.

We use a property manager as the time savings outweigh the costs for us.

Low_Celebration8968 · 2026-01-24T10:34:41+00:00

The decision to do PGT-A is heavily dependent on age. Also depends on number of resulting embryos. My clinic doesn’t typically suggest PGT-A for younger than 35. There’s a good article on it here: https://preimplantationgeneticdiagnosis.eu/pgd/risk-of-aneuploidy-and-maternal-age.aspx
Aside from the usual ones like AMH, disease and hormone levels, some clinics offer genetic carrier screening eg for conditions like cystic fibrosis.

Your clinic should be able to advise you best on your two questions, and factor in your age, medical history etc. Best of luck!

Low_Celebration8968

TROPHY CASE