We have been in New Zealand a full year now and I wanted to give you our thoughts on life right now.

So what’s life like after one year? Well it would take far too long to write in one article and I will save all the detail for a book I am going to write!!!

The highlights for me have to be centered around our children, a boy just turned 6 and daughter nearly 10. They have changed so much and for the better. Now you could say they would have changed anyway, however looking at our life back in the UK I don’t think we would have seen so much of a difference. They are so sociable, there friends are lovely and polite, we feel they are not growing up as fast as children do in the UK and they are children enjoying childish things. They love being outdoors and hardly watch the TV. We spend much more time with them, and always think we should do more!!! They participate in at least two sports each and we have got really involved with them. When our son started playing soccer, our group of friends doubled and we have so much fun. We've also gotten involved with their school and again have made loads of friends.

I am doing a similar job as I was in the UK and it is a lot less stressful and less of a commute. I work with a great bunch of people who share the same values and attitude to life. We live in Birkenhead on the north shore. We are the first to admit this wasn’t our first choice to live and we are only here because the only people we knew in New Zealand were there. What we did know was that we didn’t want to live in an area full of poms. We wanted to live with Kiwi’s and live a kiwi life where possible. Birkenhead is a great location if you need to get into the city and an easy commute on the bus over the bridge. It’s really easy to get anywhere and doesn’t take long to be out and about.

The key to our success comes in a long list. However I would give one bit of advice to everyone. Get on Skype. We see and talk to family and friends every week. We never use our landline to call outside of NZ. We feel we are included in what’s happening in the UK and everyone gets to see what we are doing. Obviously it doesn’t replace the cuddles and kisses, but it goes a very long way to helping settle in a new country. Best of all its free for those already on Skype in the UK, or a really small cost for those who are not yet on Skype.

We have just got our first home and unpacking boxes with stuff we haven’t seen for over a year. Infact we were unpacking a year after we were packing it all up.
We have had serious issues with a house we have been trying to sell in the UK. After accepting an offer 12 weeks ago, the couple decided to pull out on the day of completion. You just have to love the UK system for house buying!!!!
We have got another buyer and made conditions for a non refundable deposit. If you can sell your house before you leave, if you can't then still come and start enjoying the experience. You will soon become an expert on managing two properties.

We love New Zealand and it’s been really good to us. The way we always describe NZ is it's “Just Different”. That isn’t meant in a negative way. What we are trying to say is that most things are different. Positive or negative. So if you can except that everything will be different and not compare things to the UK or other countries, you will get on really well and settle quickly. It’s not easy to do this. I used to work for Sainsbury’s and hated shopping at Countdown and New World. and used to think "Where were all the ready meals?"

As I said, I could write for hours as we have achieved and experienced so much in the last 12 months and can’t wait for the next year and what adventures we will have.

Have fun everyone and remember life is for living, laughing and loving, not winging, whining and worrying.

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