JosephD

Hi Joe hows things ,I myself have been in NZ for nearly 17 months now and currently working in Auckland for TreeScape which help out alot of guys with work to residence visa's since they get alot of guys working for them who come from overseas . i however am on a 23 month working holiday visa since i am under 30 and my visa expires at the end of this year but i do work with a scottish lad who has just started who the company brought him over on a work to residence visa and he was telling me 2 years working with a accredited employer can gain you residency in NZ. i think its some sort of points system that you work towards , another guy i spoke to told me it was 4 years to gain residence but thats all i know. Best thing to do in my opinion is to contact Immigration New Zealand and tell them your cercamstances and they will tell you everything you need to know.

Nice one dude! , glad you have found you feet and that you are enjoying your time here in NZ , ive been here nearly 17 months now and working for TreeScape up in Auckland. I did alot of travelling last year including the south island and visited nelson a couple of times which i enjoyed. keep up the good work and stay safe

Whats the Update ? did you finally get over here to NZ?

If any climbers are looking for work in New Zealand Tree Scape in Auckland are always on the lookout for staff especially climbers to come over and work . big staff shortage on the council and private divisions over here . i came over here on a working holiday visa as i am under 30 or if your over 30 you can contact treescpae directly and they can help you with work to resident visas , lots of british guys over here including management.

Yes , there are as horrible as they sound. i have climbed about 10 of them over here in NZ when i was working for domestic companies both pruning them and removing them. Not really a problem spiking them as inside they are soft but its the branches (frons) that are the killer! on pheonix palms they have long sharp spikes on them which contain posion and i have been stabbed badly a couple of times in the hand and after 2-3 hours you start to feel you hand go numb , that night its starting to get sore but the next morning its agony! , just simple tasks like turning a door handle or using the gear stick on your car just causes your hand a world of pain! , the clean up on the ground is just as bad if not worse than actually doing the tree. alot of dusty and sticky wet sap comes of the palms and pidgeons often nest in them so you get covered in pidgeon shit.

Dude Contact TreeScape Auckland there currently on the lookout for guys to come out and work. i am here working for them currently and they are really under-staffed and need climbers , great work , great atmosphere and great lads to work with , alot of british lads over here so you will have no problem fitting in. if you are under 30 you can apply for a 23 month working holdiay visa which is easy to get and you don't need a job offer for it. if you are over 30 then contact TreeScape directly and they can sort you out on a work to resident visa , there is a 36 year old scottish climber who has just started here and he got sponsered with tree scape.

No i never had to do anything like that when i booked my working holiday to new Zealand. Just filled out the form online and sent it to Immigration NZ and got it approved within 5 days

I have been living and working in Auckland for 8 months now and my working holiday is due to expire in late January next year and i have the option to extend my visa for another year and wanting to move out of auckland to a different part of new zealand to spend my second year. I will be traveling for the next 3 months down to places like wellington , nelson , queens town,Christchurch etc for the rest of my current visa duration and thinking of while i'm down in those areas to contact some tree companies to enquire about any work that will be available come next January when i will have my second visa granted so i can re-locate and start work straight away in my desired area. not particulary fussy about what area i will move to just aslong as there is work there available but preferably somewhere in the south-island however ive heard work down there is more scare down there and not alot of companies so was thinking maybe the capital city wellington. if any body who can give me any help or if theres anyone currently in NZ who knows of any vaccanies anywhere other than Auckland then if you could let me know then it would be much appreciated. Cheers Joe.

I'm currently over here in New Zealand (Auckland) , And i am on $22 per hour. I'm 22 years old and had just over 2 years climbing experience prior to arriving here in NZ in january this year. I am classed as a climber but to be honest most of the trees i am climbing every day are not very big or difficult. a few medium-large trees every now and then but mostly 90% of the time smaller trees in gardens and on the street etc. For work purposes i would say here in Auckland is the best place to be as there is loads and loads of work and plenty of tree companies that would snap you up as a contract climber as there is a very big shortage of skilled climbers over here so you should have no problem finding work at all , however with you first arriving it will take a while to prove yourself and get your name around , so i would reccomend maybe working for a comapny as an employee for a while just to get going before you go sub-contractor. in terms of pay i'm not sure what the wages are like for free-lance/contract climbers here in Auckland but i know a good team-leader working for a company could earn 30 dollars per hour if thats any help.

Yo Hamilton32 how's things . I'm here in NZ doing the tree work and been here since the beginning of the year on a 1 year working holiday and i am staying in Auckland and have been working full-time climbing since i got here as an employee for a couple of tree companies. I can't really say much about nelson or any other part of NZ to be honest as i have only been living in Auckland but i can't imagine you have any difficulty finding work whether you work as an employee of a subby climber like you mentioned . My advise to you would be to look up online tree companies in the area that you are heading to and contact them all by sending them an email and they should get back to you pretty quickly. Just after i booked my working holiday visa in November last year i contacted 5 or 6 different tree companies in Auckland asking for work and they all got back in touch within a couple of days. There is a very big shortage of climbers here and the British guys have a very good reputation and i know that TreeScape & Aspludh who have offices all over the country are always on the look out for staff , particularly tree scape who i know that they offer you 1000 dollars as a loyalty bonus if you work for them for more than 6 months! so yeah worth getting in contact with those companies. As far as climbing kit is concerned i brought my full climbing kit over here + chainsaw trousers and boots with me and i didn't get charged extra. i had a 30kg luggage allowance to take on the plane and my climbing kit fitted in no problem . i took my harness , climbing rope , spikes , wire core flipline , couple of prussiks , 2-3 karabiners and it all fit in my one bag along with the rest of my luggage. (didn't bother bringing my helmet) also brought my chainsaw boots and trousers Check with your arline how much luggage you are allowed on your flight and if i was you i would say only bring your main basic climbing gear with you , like the kit ive just mentioned. most companies out here will supply you with additionally bits of gear like cambium savers , throwlines things like that so i would say only bring your basic gear because the more gear you take with you the more weight in your bag and that might result in you going over you luggage allowance and getting charged. Bringing you're helmet is up to you , i didn't bring mine i just used the helmet the company i worked for supplied me with as i wouldn't buy 1 out here because they are double the price as the UK! , if you think arb gear is expensive in the UK then wait and see what its like over here , stuff is like double the price! Maybe worth giving your climbing kit a wash before you bring it out here with you as immigration at the airport is quite strict with soils are dirt coming in from other countries. I can't give you any advice on insurance as i never bothered getting any , plus quite a few different species of trees out here so worth getting yourself a book because i had trouble identifying stuff when i first got out here Yes you will need to open a NZ bank account over here and transfer money from you're UK account over to that one . main banks over here are BNZ , ANZ and kiwi bank. I am with BNZ and set up my account from home in the UK and transferred money into it a few days before i flew out . Make sure you tell your bank in the UK your situation and that you are planning to transfer money into a NZ bank account because if they don't know then they think its fraud and will block you account automatically. you will also need an IRD number which is for you're tax while in NZ but unfortunatly this can't be sorted from the UK it has to be sorted in NZ which is a bit of a headache but just the way it is. you will need to pay tax while working over here however you can apply to refunt it all back by the end as i have done , if you are a foregn traveller you are intiltled to you tax back or at least most of it back to keep that in mind. yes you can use a uk phone with a NZ sim card but make sure you ring your service provider whie your still in the UK to get your phone unlocked which they usually do it for free , 02 did anyway. Hope this helped , safe travels and good luck

They certainly are skyhuck. i personally hate climbing phoenix palm's. The frons have long sharp spikes on them and ive been stabbed twice in the hand and the posion from them makes you're hand go numb for a couple of days. not only the frons of a pain but the timber aswell when sectioning down . You have to bore through the middle first then move the saw across to each side leaving 10% on both sides then pull the saw out and finish off both sides from the outside . you cant just do the standard step cut because of the timber is heavy and moist and will just clamp down on you're chainsaw. Also there is alot of mess from them and takes a long time to tidy up.

Phoenix Palm Removal today in sunny Auckland NZ not a bad day considering it is the middle of winter here at the moment. Boss climbing with me and 1 other on the ground .

I arrived here in NZ early this year on a 1 year working holiday visa and thinking about extending it another year next january. I am currently living and working in Auckland and there are heeps of work in this area with loads of tree companys so you won't find any problmem finiding work if you come here. I have worked for 2 companys so far. DS Trees & Auckland tree works who i will be working with till the end of september then i'm stopping work to go travelling for the remainder of my visa. I am hoping when i get my working holiday extension to head down to the south-island preferably queens town to live and work , i have looked up tree company's down there and they have 3- RoyalTreeCare Ltd , New Zealand Tree Care LTD and Asplundh who ive been told are the biggest tree company in the world! , they are an American Comapny but big in NZ and Australia too. if i have no luck finding workj down in queenstown next year then i will try somewhere else in the south - island Christchurch maybe . in terms of getting a visa he working holiday visa is the most simple visa to get (thats if you're between 18-30) , I applied for mine in November last year and got it approved within 5 days! and as i mentioned hoping to get it extended and do another year here. Let us know how you get on!

My old Boss who is 53 still uses and has only ever use a regular Willans T22/2 harness and i also know a couple other older chaps who still use this harness to climb. They still sell them! Honey Brothers have them for just under £200. I used my old boss's willians last year and wasn't too keen , i felt the seat squeezed my legs together and restricted my movement in the tree. At the end of the day it's all personal preference when it come's to harnesses. here's a pic of my old boss climbing up an ask on his Willans back a few months back. free web hosting images

I'm from the UK and currently out in Auckland working full-time for a tree company Ive been in New Zealand since january 28th and on a 1-year working holiday visa and thinking about applying for the same type of visa for Australia and going across there straight from NZ when my visa expires next January. Any good experiences of the work out there and any names of company worth applying for who would be interested in taking on a 21 year old british guy with 3 years experience for 3-6months? i'm not too pciky about what sort of work i do weather its on the ground or climbing as i'm not the best climber in the world but it would be good to get some experience working there. Any guys willing to share there experiences and the company(s) they worked for would be much appreciated as i haven't made up my mind yet. p.s any other type of visa i could apply for if i was to go and do tree work? or will the 1 year working holiday be the best? Joe 21 - Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (Current : Auckland)