Hazelnut

I've been lurking and reading for a while and just plucked up the courage to register. I seem to be having the longest lead in to making a decision on whether to move to NZ or not that I've come across. I'm varying wildly between, "Are you INSANE?!" to "Can we go NOW?"

Husband and I are 46 and 50yrs old this year and currently live in the north of England in a rambling old farmhouse with three hectares and four horses. We're both in professional jobs, his is in high demand and he's already had agencies falling over themselves to sign him up. My career prospects are a bit like a desert with tumble weed blowing across it. I've made some contacts with people who do the same job as me though and started networking as I'm told that's the best way to find work and it can only help with decision making too. I'm amenable to doing any job that isn't illegal or immoral and I'm pretty sure I'd have to work in order to be able to afford horses. Given our ages we need to move soon or not at all.

Our parents are old and ailing, I doubt two or three of the four will be around in 2015 , but they are all incredibly supportive of us moving and are helping pay for us to come out for three weeks in January 2014 so we can see the place and make a more informed decision. We don't and won't have any kids. When we first voiced our thoughts to our parents both sets confessed to wanting to be NZers on the £10 ticket in the 1950/1960s, it was only parental pressure to stay that meant husband and I were born in the UK and not in NZ!

I already know wages will be lower and living costs will be higher. Housing seems to be particularly scary and I already know we couldn't afford anything like what we have here if we move over there. Seems crazy but true. The scary thing is that if we sell our place here and move out we'd never be able to afford anything like it ever again if we wanted to come back in ten years time.

We're open to moving anywhere in NZ but I want to be somewhere warmer. I'm fed up of almost constant hail, sleet, snow and losing our pasture fields to bog due to incessant rain for two years. It's becoming harder and harder to do what we want to do here which is ride and drive the horses, grow our own veggies, have a few chooks and work on our own property while having a social life with friends who don't think the only way to have a good time is to get so falling down drunk that they're ill for days or don't remember anything of the night before.

The insane thing is that we're considering taking the horses with us if/when we go so it would be a permanent move as we'd not be able to afford to take them back to the UK. The cost of taking them over is terrifying though and hard to justify, it would do a serious refurb on our current house if we stayed put.

So, we're dithering and probably won't make any decisions until after we've done our visit and chatted to a few potential employers and driven round the two islands.

I have no idea why we're so attracted to NZ but there's been a few things happen recently that tell us it's the right thing to investigate further and make some plans. it will all work out for us and we'll be able to afford to go.

Jerseygirl

Hi Hazlenut...welcome to BE.

Have you considered renting your UK home and renting in NZ until you know for sure whether you want to stay or not? We have several excellent New Zealand Forums...why don't you pop over there and take a look around?

I'm sure the people who post in the NZ forums will try to answer any questions you may have. Good luck and if you need help with anything site related please shout out...there is usually someone around to help 24/7.

Hazelnut

Thanks for the welcome. Our main dilemma is that we can't afford to go unless we sell the house but we don't want to sell the house that's taken us nearly 30yrs to buy until we know its the right move.

I'll head on down to the NZ forum and have a quiet lurk

bakedbean

Hi Hazelnut and welcome to the forum. Doing the holiday sounds like a great idea and carry on doing plenty of research.

Do join in with some posts in the NZ section. They won't bite. Well, if they do, you can bite back . Best to ask plenty of questions. It's a big decision isn't it.

MrsFychan

what sort of work does your partner do? all well and good agencies falling over themselves but will it actually gain him employment? My husband, in IT, found most agencies useless despite all their good chat.
Have you looked into what sort of visa you would be trying to obtain? Also don't forget that the jobs in demand lists do change and some jobs that are on there now may not be in the future. Teaching and (some)nursing are the most recent ones that spring to mind to be removed.

Hazelnut

Thanks for the replies, rather than discuss more here I'll head down to the NZ forums and start a thread there.

Nokoman

Good luck

Rosemary

Hello and a big welcome to BE.

Excellent information can be found in the BE Wiki, not forgetting the Living and Moving Abroad forum that will help you, another set of great help is the permanent threads at the TOP of each forum, they are very pertinent to that particular forum and makes sensible reading.

Moderators deal with any problems that arise such as inappropriate posts, spammers etc, you will find their names at the bottom right hand side of each forum's index in bold font.

Please contact me if I can give you any further help.

Rosemary