[Fooferfish]

OMG where did that go lol

5 years ago we left Poole, Dorset and headed for Dunedin, we stayed in a small fishing village about 30 mins outside of Dunedin called Karitane, beautiful place and one that will be forever in our memories, we often return there for trips to the seaside. I rememebr our first night in a cold bleak Crib, it was my new bosses holiday home, no insulation, no double glazing and a wood fire, the first night after all that Jet lag was weird, i woke up with the sweats at an early hour and felt like i was on another planet lol, the wife was in tears that night, as it was so cold and they had left cotton sheets on the beds, which were bloody freezing, she must have been thinking what have we done lol, i later found out why i had woken up with tyhe sweats, it was the fact the owners had plastic under the sheets, just in case any holiday makers wet the bed lol but it had made me gte to hot lol, plus the Jet lag didn't help.

First few days we stayed at the village as we had no car yet, the boss came over and took us to town and showed us around, bought us lunch, and took us around a few car yards, he then took us to my new place of work and we picked up a Ute to use , we had the Ute for 6 weeks and free fuel.

We drove into Dunedin in our first week and our first impressions were OMG, what have we come to lol mind you we had driven into the University area and its full of student flats etc, once in the city, it wasnt to bad, hard to compare to Poole, but it was fine and we needed to make it our home, no going back now.

I started work as a roofer on $12.50ph Yes i know s*** money but after loads of trouble with Immigration and NZQA, the points i got as a roofer gave us the in route, on my first roof the lads were running around on icy roofs with no scaffolding and i thought " bugger that " made sure i was still safe, as i was used to better H&S than that, not long into my first week the boss came up and had a chat and asked waht rate they had put me on, he nearly died when i told him, so he chnaged it to $22ph, now thats a bit better, my wife didnt have to go to work and stayed at home with our 8 year old daughter, she went into town and looked at schools etc, we had to get out of the holiday home after 6 weeks and tried to find accomodation in town, but as the rugby wass on it was full of Pomes and all places were full up, we only needed a couple of weeks as we had been out and bought us a house, and it would be ready in a couple of weeks, so we stayed at Dunedin holiday camp in a chalet , it was cramped and tiny and when i came home from work each day, the wife did not look to happy.

The house we bought was an ex state house at $175k it got the all important all day sun, had 3 beds 2 lounges and was in good condition, it wasnt in the best of areas, but we payed cash for it, and for once in our lives had no mortgage, so the wife could take as long as she wanted off work and see where and what she wanted to do, we had found a school for daughter and started getting the house ready for winter, the first few days in the house was bloody freezing, we even had ice on the insides of the windows, havnt see that since early 70s in my parents house as a kid, so we went out and bought a woodburner, and as they wanted to charge us $800 to install it and nobody could do it for 5 weeks, i fitted it myself, the DCC guy came out and passed it, so we lit it and mmmm warm house, i spent the next few weeks, draft excluding doors and windows, underfloor insulation, more in the loft etc, fitted a moisture system and we were a lot warmer, for our first few weeks we sat on Patio furniture as our stuff had not arrived, was good when it did.
About 12 weeks into our new life and house we regreted buying an ex state house so quickly and realised we should have maybe looked around a wee bit, as the house had been empty next door for some time and it was the only one that was still owned by the state in the road, and guess what, they moved a family in who were as rough as, she had not many teeth left through drug abuse, she constantly swore at the wee kids with words that would make shudder, the bloke was gang related, fortunitley they got moved on after a couple of months, the house stayed empty again, but again they put this family in 2 adults 3 kids, and in the first week the cops turned up and along with CYF's they took all the kids away OMG what have we done to deserve this we thought, the bloke there would regulary abuse his missus, and they would be arguing every day, we had been in our house mortgage free for 4 years but decided enough was enough and we found our dream place in the countryside, no nieghbours no streetlights and miles from anywhere, we would have to get a wee mortgage, but what the hell it would be worth it.
The house we had looked at sat on an acre of land, was far to big for us but it was an investment it was 4 beds, 2 lounges, and 220m2 huge double garage workshop, chooks and ducks. We had been back to this place twice to view it, the first time we saw it and loved it, but thought it would be way out of our price range, but when we looked into it, we had our place as a deposit and if we got $200k for ours it would be used as a deposit , we took our house to Auction as the agent recconed that was the way to go, people with cash ready, we had only 3 open homes and several couples interested, they all came back to view more than twice, we wanted to move in before Christmas as the In laws were landing on the 22nd Dec, and we had a move in date of 18thDec , the Auction came around and we all went to watch our fate, we sat there in a packed auction room, we had a reserve of $190k and could accept that, the first house came up and it didnt even get a bid arrghh and it was way better than ours and brick to OMG next up was ours , the Auctioneer opened the bidding, but no bids OMG there was deadly silence, then he said right lets start at $145k and there was a bid, he then went up and up, people we bidding like mad, he got it up to $190k and we thought YES, thats all we need, but he carried on going $200k bloody hell, $210k and even got to $220 **** me, never thought it would reach that, probably one of the highest price state houses to have sold that month lol.
So the young women who bought it was chuffed to bits, she payed her deposit that night and we counter signed, the next week the mortage was signed and we moved in with help from a Great bloke George from this site and a few others.
The In laws arrived on the 22nd Dec and once we had picked them up at airport which was only 5 mins away from new place, we told them we had a suprise, and that i needed to collect some paper work froma mate in the countryside, we than drove to the new place and it was a beautiful sunny day, and once on the driveway, our daughter told them " we are home now " you should have seen the look on their faces, it was priceless.
They and us had an awesome relaxing 4 weeks.

MY work has been varied since we moved here in May 05, i stayed with the roofing company for 8 months, i left because i couldn't get my head round Kiwi attitude to work, so slack and most of the guys i worked with smoked weed even at work, it was whilst i was building the new Prison, i decided to move on, as part of my visa , i had to stay with them for 3 months.
I had found a new smaller firm and was going to be employed as a woodfire installer, mainly Feb through to when ever people stopped wanting fires installed, it was great job at first, but lifting 100kg fires on your own, took its toll on me, so after 2 seasons i got the itch, it was whilst working at customers houses i realised people wanted ohter jobs doing around the place, most asked me if i could do this and could i do that, and as i am multi skilled Trades, i decided to go out on my own and start my own business, crazy at first but it worked, bought some new tools, went around all the Property rental firms, and it was ll go. My wife decided after a year off work to go back and study full time at UNI, she wnet and studies to be a Counsellor and graduated , she eventually found work at a place that helps families with mental heath issues, her boss was a near neighbour to us, so that helped with meeting the locals.

After a couple of years in my business, i could see the reccession starting to bite, the work was slowing down and i was getting bored, i am a great believer in variety in life, when i was building the new Prison i had looked into maybe apply for a job as an Officer, but left it , but it was still there in my mind, so i applied, went through all the selection process and ended up in Wellington a year ago on a 6 weeks training course, i am now working in a high security unit and loving it, we have had some scarey incidents but all came away safe and well, i really enjoy it there and working with great people as a team is awesome, yes it involves shifts, but i mainly work 8-5, some time back the prison decided to open a new Drugs treatment unit, i had the heads up about this and asked the providers Care NZ if they were employing Counsellors, and yes they were, i then asked the wife if she would be interested, yes she was, so i handed in her CV to the boss of the DTU and she got an interview along with a fellow student who was at UNi with her, and hey started a couple of months ago, so these few years have been an awesome roller coaster of a ride, but well worth the effort.

We have seen alot of the south island, even been to Jafa land, seen and met some wonderful people, NZ is certainly what you make it, yes it is a few years behing UK, but its not the UK !! come here, work hard and play hard, i would say IMHO i recon the first 2 years are the hardest, you still have thought of home, family ect, we did go back after merly 4 years to see my folks, but once there we felt like aliens and realised we had done the right thing. So far our life has been very different than if we had stayed in UK Poole, but one trip we would do again and again if we had to.

Hope you enjoyed my we update into out first 5 years, we were going to apply for Citizenhsip this year, but the first part of this year was diabollickle $$$ wise, or Hilux cracked its head and repair bill ws $3.5k, the ride on mower needed major repair, an old tax bill, lucky i had saved that, and the holiday to Fiji was put on the back burner, but we are still here, alive and happy, warm and fed, what more could you ask for ? we are just about to have the house double glazed retro fitted, by that Dual Glaze thats on TV, added it to mortgage as we think it would be a great thing to have an investmetn for this house.

Plan for the future.... we hope to give up work in our early 50s and im 43 now, buy a house coach 6mtr luxury one and travel all of NZ for a few years, then put it on a boat and travel OZ for a few years, then head to Europe and travel there back up to Poole Dorset and UK, it is acheiveable, we made it this far..


Good luck to all of you who are heading this way, if you need any help or advice give me a call, dont be onbe of those people who in years to come say " we were going to do that " None of us know how long we have on this planet, so do the things you fancy doing now.

Nige, Karla and Martha who flew south in the winter of May 2005 and never flew back.

[Am Loolah]

Wow Nige, what an absolutely fantastic update! Thank you so much for taking the time to do it.

You should be rightly proud of yourselves, you and your wife, you really have been living the dream and changing your lives for the better. Huge congratulations! Loving the idea of the tour bus, it's on my wish list too!

(I'm moving your thread to updates - have some karma.)

[pestman]

top update from a top family!

Glad its going/gone well here's to the next 5 and onwards!

pestman!

[Fooferfish]

Thanks AmLoolah,

I think the tour bus is on a few peoples wish list, we saw about 12 of them in Queenstonw couple of months ago, awesome looking things, and i have been in a few, they are stunning, and you can drive them on a car licence, awesome. Thats the idea of buying this place and doing the extra bits to keep it up together, it was ahuge villge hall 9 years ago, and Double glazing wasnt around then, so we are getting it Retro fitted got 13 huge windows and most of the openers are sealed so we have to get the replaced cost is $14k all up, supposed to make a huge difference to heat and keeping it in.

Yes lifes been very interesting over these past 5 years, we came out blind and didnt really do to much research either, should have done some more as that would have made things easier, we have both had to face up to alot of challenges, some which we set oursleves and some which are part of life, my biggest challenge for me was the Prison service, i have never had the sort of confrontation you get with this job in my life before and once you have had your first Crim shouting in your face, it gets easier my first major one was a few wekends back when we heard an emergency call from the other wing of our unit, big fight between crims, later on we did find out one of our officers had been knocked to the ground, but when i got through to the other wing, they had chairs and meal trays aimed at us and it was all on try to assess the situation, but what with blood all over the floor and 4 crims bearing down on you,and only 3 of us on the floor, it was back off and wait for more staff to arrive,which they did, but it seemd like ages, we got it under control and nobody else got hurt, it certainly made my arsehole quiver i have had a few mouthy crims along the way, and when i was asked by a senior officer if i wanted to move to high security wing mmm i had to think for a wee while, but this was what i wanted in life, this was my choice and a chance to learn your craft as an Officer, people think we just turn keys in doors, beleive me, thats not the case nowdays, we have heaps of forms to fill in, we have case loads or Prisoners to keep and eye on and review each month, also run the wings, deal with all their moans and groans, but good fun and interesting and i dont have to go into peoples filthy houses like i used to do

Some of the highlights for me in these past 5 years have been, watching my daughter start her new schools and adapt to all the changes that we have brought on her, she has done very weel and coped with it all, also my wife graduating before her 40th, watching walk down Dunedin highstreet in their gowns and going up on stage to receive their certificates, moving to the countryside, getting my new career and now the wife is there to, Oh what a wonderful life , heres to more of the same.

[AngelaandJim]

What an amazing update I have total admiration for you and your family! Good luck with your future plans

Angela and Jim x

[RobDon]

Originally Posted by AngelaandJim What an amazing update I have total admiration for you and your family! Good luck with your future plans Angela and Jim x

Ditto what they said!!

[Psychopandy]

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading that, thank you.

Best description

Inspirational x


Psycho x

[weejie]

Great update Nige,hope to be at that stage in my life once we have been in Dunedin 5 years. You have given me hope it can happen. Cheers

Phyl x

[Irish Guinness]

Well done Nige....

that was a great read, really enjoyed it !!!!

[Dewb09]

fantasic update, great to read thank you fo rposting

Dewb

[IngStina]

What they all said. Thank you for being a positive presence on this forum.


Kristina

[Charismatic]

5 years? You must be starting to settle in then.

[Fooferfish]

Ita bizzarre that after 5 years, you wonder if you ever lived in the Uk Sometimes i sit out on the Deck and look at the stars and wonder what the folk back in UK are up to ? also realise that we have done a great thing in our lives, hopefully our 13 year old daughter will say the same in a few years time, im sure she will visit the Uk and rem the people and places where we came from, it takes at least 2 years or more to feel realy settled, but then it all comes down the personal preference and visions etc,

You also need to remove those rose coloured glasses well before you come here, mind you if you live in Auckland then you probably wont have seen the real NZ and how different life is outside the cities and infrastructures, so life will be easier on you with almost all that you had back in UK now in NZ, we like the rural life here, only gte to town every couple of weeks for supplies, have no need for regular trips to take aways ect, also with the work that we do, its awesome to come home to peace and quiet.

One thing that we could not get over when we went to town for the first time and saw the locals, was the way they dressed im sure thay got dressed in the dark some still had their PJ's on, and people didnt care if they went to the shops in their dirty work clothes, watched people on golf courses in Gum boots and any old clothes, as time went by, you get used to the way people, are and i have met some realy poor people when i had my own business, but beleive me they were the salt of the earth, IMO we have never met more friendlier people than the Kiwis down this end of the world.

We look forward to the future, but live for today, nobody knows how long we have on this planet, but as the music is playing, we will dance to it, i watched a video the other day of that chat with no arms or legs, he does speeches to people all over the world, and we think we have problems, he has over come some major hurdles in life, dont get me wrong, we have had some hurdles to jump over and some hurdles we put in front of ourselves, but thats the way i like life, give yourself challenges, make some goals, make life enjoyable, its awesome fun if you want it to be.

Im 43 now, did nothing at school to be proud of, but realised in my 20's that life should be varied and interesting, went back to college, got some quals, but for me i have always wanted a real Professional career, and now i have got that, another feather in my cap, not sure how many years i will do, but hope this is my last employment till we get our coach and head of for the adventure of a life time.

[MattandJax]

brilliant update. thanks for sharing it with us

...warms the cockles it does!

[new life]

Hi

Great read... well done for making things a success for you and your family.

when you say "We drove into Dunedin in our first week and our first impressions were OMG, what have we come to" , what was is it that you found so different? We are thinking of Dunedin but it looks lovely and picturesque.. am I not seeing the reality of the place? Getting a bit worried that it will be worse than Bolton!!!!!!!!!!!! The main reason for moving is a better environment for us and the children.