j19fmm

Perhaps it helps being in Northland? We are in the Far North and don't have heating except the wood burner. We got a dehumidifier this winter and that made a huge difference to the condensation.
Everyone we have met has been really pleasant and friendly, and my two children slotted into High School with no problems.
Clothes shopping is done online from the UK when free postage is on offer, and food shopping is much the same as the UK.
We sometimes go to the cinema and go to the beach most of the time in the summer.
It's not an amazing social whirl - but then it wasn't when we lived in deepest darkest Devon either!

homesik

hi barnsleymat, I know what you mean. My parents went back to UK after living here 25 years, mum and dad said they had too much living to do and life did not end at 56. That was quite a few years ago. They have since passed away but they got in a great 10 years of living something that was not likely to happen here. My mum was a really social person and living in NZ was like having one foot in the grave..
As I have said I would dearly love to go back home but the reality is I don't have much here but I have a heck of a lot less there, and I envy all of you who are able to return and pick up your lives again and treat this as an interesting travel experience.
I don't want to depress people but I have absolutely no family left in UK yet I am homesick , now why you ask, all my happiest memories are there my happiest places are there and my parents ashes are there. NZ is just the place I breathe and go through the motions of living,
trapped by my own stupidity....

BEVS

Can you not go back to the UK for an extended stay to see how you would get on with it, or is that not viable financially.
We have BE expats from around the world that make a UK return after decades of living away. You can read about some of them here on the MBTTUK forum. Please click the link.

I'm not sure we will stay here forever. For me it is a bit like dropping off the planet. Pleasant enough if somewhat dull.

barnsleymat

We'll be heading back sooner rather than later, we're fancying a completely new part of the UK and not moving back to South Yorkshire. Maybe a quieter spot close to the sea but within striking distance of a big city.

If you long to go back DO IT. You're only here once.

Snap Shot

Yup, that's pretty much what we plan to do, albeit nothing is going to happen overnight. For us it means not returning to the overcrowded, expensive South East of England where we came from. That's not to say I refuse to go there.

In New Zealand we live in a small coastal town, two and a half hours drive from the capital. Could we replicate that in Britain ? Who knows. No further north than Birmingham, no further south than Dorset ? Again, who knows. I will keep an open mind. Our arrival into Wanganui was dependent on my husband's job. Our arrival/return to Britain will probably be for my husband's job. Which I'm prepared to accept could probably be just about anywhere in the UK.

Leaving will be a wrench, time to drink some concrete and harden the......