Tell us a little about yourself and family.

Jan and Steve, married with two teenagers, Chris and Helen.  We come from Manchester and have upped sticks and moved to New Zealand with nothing more than luggage allowance and are applying for residency from here.

What were your reasons for choosing New Zealand?

Well, first of all, we wanted to leave the UK because as our kids got older we became more and more concerned about their futures there.  We were worried about the crime levels, terrorism, and the increasing costs of ensuring they had prospects, e.g. further education, housing costs etc.  Secondly, we wanted to move somewhere we could enjoy into our old age, but whilst we were young enough to make use of the experience, so the time was right to put down roots somewhere we could see ourselves growing old in.

We chose New Zealand because it had everything we felt we were missing in the UK – lower crime rates, more space, a better daily lifestyle, and the belief that you could improve your life by becoming your own boss, something that is very difficult to achieve in the UK. For a long time we’d been aware that our lives revolved around our jobs, so New Zealand appealed because of its reputed work/life balance.

How long did the emigration process take?

This is a difficult one to answer as we don’t have residency yet so technically we haven’t emigrated.  We came over on visitors’ visas as we were at minimum points and so came over to get jobs.  We also had to choose the right time to get our eldest into school, if we hadn’t of moved when we did we would have had to wait another year, which none of us wanted.  Our visitors visas expire in April, but we are confident of a positive decision on residency long before then.

Where do you live in New Zealand?

We live in Rangiora, which is a smallish farming town, (though large by NZ standards) and 30 minutes outside Christchurch.  It’s got everything we need, and is a great combination of rural and urban.  We chose the town long before we got here, in fact we’d put a pin on the NZ map for here before we’d even submitted the EOI.

What differences have you noticed between NZ and the UK?

We have yet to meet anyone in NZ who is not positive about their future and what they can do themselves to ensure that future is secure.  We’ve not met anyone with the attitude of ‘why should I work when I can get money off the government’ – which we saw a lot of in the UK.  There is no compensation culture, which makes a huge difference.

Personal safety in NZ is so much better, and when major crimes do occur it makes nationwide headlines, and all stops seem to be pulled out to find the people responsible.  All kinds of crime do happen here of course, but people don’t turn a blind eye, or take it for granted, as so many people I know in the UK did.

People are so much friendlier here – it still amazes me when teenage kids stand to the side to let you pass, and say hello.  Even the younger ones are incredibly polite and cheerful.  For the first few weeks we thought we’d landed in Stepford having come from a town where you never meet strangers’ eyes.

What is your favourite thing about NZ?

Just the one thing?  That’s going to be tough.  It would have to be the friendliness.  We joined a Newcomers Network when we got here and have made loads of friends, we’ve socialised more here in 3 months than we did in the 12 months before we left the UK.  Steve had a slipped disc within a few weeks of us arriving, and everyone we met here rallied round with offers of lifts to the hospital, watching the kids for us, shopping, cooking, moving furniture, gardening – you name it, we had someone offer to do it for us.

We like the informality too, we call our doctor and all our kids’ teachers by their first names.

What do you miss from the UK?

Family and friends – nobody should underestimate just how hard it hits you from time to time that you can’t hug the people you love, and you can’t see smiles over the phone. I miss my hometown, Manchester, though I never thought I’d miss it so badly seeing as I wanted to get away so much. At the end of the day I’ll always be proud of the good side of Manchester.  I miss a lot of the ‘everydays’, such as having a good pub on the next street, access to loads of entertainment, wider variety of shops, more job opportunities, but all of that fades into insignificance when it’s measured against missing people.

We’ve found though that we’ve missed the most ridiculous things – Steve got the mickey taken out of him for days when we realised he’d ‘hidden’ his Weetabix so none of us would pinch any!  Who’d have thought that Weetabix could be a Christmas present and that we’d pay as much as we did for it!  Only people who’ve emigrated would understand the hilarity and the poignancy of missing Weetabix!

If you or your spouse work how easy was it to find employment?

Amazingly easy.  We arrived on the Monday, Steve had work by the Thursday, and in the field he wanted, and when I started looking for work I got the first job I went for.  Getting work here is very informal, employers seem to go more on your personality and their instinct than on qualifications (just as well in my case!), and Steve was really lucky with his employer who was very understanding when he couldn’t start for a month because of his slipped disc.  We were disappointed with one of the agencies though, who had promised they’d get work for Steve within a month and were really lax about it, so I’d say research your agency very well if you’re relying totally on them to find work for you.

How does the work environment differ from the UK?

Much more laid back.  Much less PC, which I imagine could be a problem in some workplaces but the UK has gone PC-crazy, which meant working in that environment could be very difficult.  Employers in NZ also seem much more family orientated, people we’ve met here all say they’ve had good experiences with employers if they’ve had any family crisis.

If you have children how easy was it to enroll them in a new school?

We enrolled them before we got here, after doing loads of research into it.  We couldn’t sign them up as it were until we arrived, but the school knew they were coming and from meeting their teachers on the Thursday they had timetables ready to start on the Monday.

How different is the education system from the UK?

NZ has a much wider mix of cultures, and the schools are very experienced in meeting these needs.  Although there is a defined curriculum the teachers do cater more for the individual, and nurture a very good, informal, relationship with parents.

Have your children settled?

Definitely, and we’ve been surprised at their sudden involvement in all we do, because we did this together they’re involved in every decision as adults, we no longer make decisions and then tell them about it.

Both of them did talk about going back to the UK on their 16th birthdays for a few weeks after we came, slowly but surely they’ve started to talk about holidays in the UK, rather than living, and neither of them want to go back for more than a few months.  They’ve both made loads of friends, and don’t feel like the outsiders any more.

Has your quality of life improved, if so how?

We’re much less stressed.  Steve doesn’t have to deal with social problems and threats in work now, (he was a housing officer in the UK), we all feel much safer and healthier and we spend much more time as a family instead of the kids always being in their rooms as they were in the UK.

How does the cost of living compare?

It’s higher, because the wages are lower.  We’ve had to make a lot of adjustments – food doesn’t cost as much as we expected and you can always cut back and be creative on a budget, but things like utilities are more expensive comparatively and you have to be aware of the costs of health services.  It takes a long time to get your head around the differences, but once you have it’s quite easy to budget and I’m confident we can manage on the wage we bring in, which is lower than the average wage at this time.  Having said that, we’ve not yet bought a property or spent a winter here, so I’ll say at this point we will manage fine, but will have an open mind as to what winter and having to pay our own property maintenance brings.

Do you have any long term plans?

Assuming we get residency, we intend to stay where we are.  We want to rent for a year, then look to buy in the town we’re living in now.  We’re also hoping that we can set up our own business at some point.

In retrospect is there anything you would change?

Nothing major, I just wished we’d have done it sooner and not had to rush at the end because of bad house sale experience, but otherwise we’re very happy to be here.

Are there any final thoughts you would like to share?

Well to anyone who’s thinking of it, but having doubts, you don’t know until you do it whether it’s going to work out for you or not.  I’d rather have tried it and gone back if it hadn’t panned out for us than forever thought “what if …”.  As long as you don’t buy property until you know for definite you are staying, your decision is not complicated by having to sell anything should you have to return.

©britishexpats.com and Jan