honeybunny2011

Hopefully I can make some sense of my thoughts. I was wondering if any of you have moved once, then decided to move again? I think I'm in danger of doing this! I moved to NZ 3 years ago and to be fair I've had my ups and downs, suffered severe homesickness, got over it and got on with it.

I have a canadian passport as my father was a Canadian. So I have some family in Canada but I dont know them. I woke up a few weeks ago and had this massive desire to move to Canada. I guess I just dont want to spend the rest of my life on this side of the world. The recession kinda of pushed us here. I do love it here but the cost of living is so high its become harder to save and do anything. Visiting family is a mega expense. I had a baby this year and the pull of family is dragging me down a bit. I understand we have to do whats best for our immediate family. I cant help but want to make one more move while the kids are young. I cant ignore how I feel.

Would I spend the rest of my life wondering what if, if I didnt do it? Has anyone been through a similar situation or can anyone offer any guidance?

If I was truly happy here, I wouldnt question it. Would I?

Dave+Jules

Please don't see Canada as a cheap option, in my experience food is expensive, work for new immigrants isnt easy to come by.

honeybunny2011

I think I just see it as a closer option to my homeland and a better location in the world. The works situation is maybe a problem with the recession at the moment. It very expensive here too so I'm not sure it would shock me any further. House prices are defo cheaper in canada as are interest rates, so thats got to help hasnt it? I'm still trashing these thoughts around in my head - A dream has to start somewhere I guess.

Dave+Jules

I'm not trying to discourage you, you seem to be doing your research. Ask your questions on here and you will find plenty of people willing to help

pdarwin

I don't know if you'd be happier moving to Canada as you would still be dragging your personal baggage with you. After a while here, you would have the same worries that you have now and for the same reasons.
Canada is the 4th country we've lived in long-term and I still think the grass is always greener somewhere else and that's why we've moved so much and would like to move again, perhaps to NZ, but it's different in our case because we have no kids, no ties and can up sticks any time (or we could if we had money, that is).
Perhaps you should concentrate on providing your immediate family with as much life as you can and you would feel happier.

honeybunny2011

I live my life to the fullest already. Its not that I'm unhappy. I have roots in Canada, it was our first choice before here but we figured as my husband had a job offer here that it was the best choice for us. I agree tho, the grass is always greener somewhere else, tho I dont feel that way about my homeland. No interest in going there. Its not til you spend this time here that you start thinking, am I stuck here? I didnt take the distance into account. Maybe those of us that up sticks and leave in the first place will always have that urge to try new things.

I am happy here, we have a lovely house, live by the sea, have a great group of friends. Its because of kids we have little spare money. I am a stay at home mother. When i say we have little money, its because its expensive to live here. We live on one wage. I'm not a kiwi tho, its a different lifestyle here. I like it for the most part. Like I said, not sure i'm happy to be here forever tho. Ive given it 3 years so figured I'd be settled after that amount of time in a place. There is nothing more I can do about missing my family except visit them. Thats hard to do every year from here as its $20,000 trip. I cant help but wonder would the kids have a better life/education in canada. Growing up on this side of the world, would limit your choices in later life. Canada is by far a better location. I do love an adventure. Having kids does limit and change things tho. Would love to hear more peoples thoughts on this.

winky297

Hi

We are in the same position, we moved over as PR to Queensland in 2007, last year I got a back injury which has limited my activities and impacted the life we used to lead here, a few weeks later my lovely mum had a heart attack, this was her first real health scare (she is 71) so it came as a bit of a shock, since then she has been unable to fly so I have gone from having her visit every 3 months (she misses the kids desperately) to no visits, and the cost of the 5 of us trekking back to the UK each year is extortionate and very uncomfortable for me. We have been out of the UK for almost 5 years and now have our citizenship here, so the kids will be able to return to oz at any point in the future. At the end of last year we looked into Canada, being much closer to the UK and on a similar par expense wise to Australia we decided to apply, we received our PPR last week, so we leave oz 9 weeks today for Christmas in the UK and then are heading out to Toronto in January, I can't wait. The kids are excited for a new adventure. We all felt 5 years was a long time to be away and worried that we would not be able to settle back in to our old lives with friends etc (many of which the contact is very rare, my fault and theirs but lives move on).

Hope your decision either way brings you happiness...

Ailsa

Piff Poff

We emigrated to Alberta in 2005 and are thinking about moving Provinces, although it's not a different country it is still a massive move. We know we're not in our forever home at the moment, and we don't want to return to the UK (yet?) so we're going to give another Province a try in a couple of years.

honeybunny2011

I would move in a heartbeat if the economy wasnt as bad as it it and we were sure of a job for my husband. We are also a family of 5 so it really is hard work saving for such an event. We have no debts thankfully but its still hard. I was cursing to myself today when I saw a 500gram pot of butter for $7.42 - I mean seriously, thats unreal!!! I have spent all weekend reading the wiki section of this forum. I'm excited but I still need to do more research. Keep in touch and also good luck to you. I'm also looking at Toronto. What part are you thinking of going to?

honeybunny2011

So how come you are waiting for another few years? why not sooner?

soconnell74

I moved to Toronto back in 2000, I really like it here... that said, we took a family holiday to NZ this year and loved it. You are right, the cost of living in NZ does seem high in comparison but the scenery was stunning and the speed of life seemed so much nicer. Travel from North America to the UK is definitely cheaper and from what I hear the job situation is better here, maybe I have my rose coloured spectacles on, but NZ blew me away in terms of quality of life.

We had our first baby this year too, and we really only manage one trip home to the UK a year. To compensate I bought an installed a computer at my parents house and we do a video chat every weekend so they can see how our little girl is progressing. Maybe you could look into a similar setup?

Piff Poff

Couple of reasons. Our daughter is in grade 11 and doing well (she gets awarded honors this week - proud Mum alert!) We also promised her we wouldn't move until she had finished school, she's also doing brilliantly in Air Cadets, it just wouldn't be fair to uproot her again as she's not ready.

We also want to be as sure as we can be that we are going to move to the right place, I don't want to be moving every 7 years, by not rushing into things we can do a little more research on areas and really decide what it is that we hope to achieve by moving when we do move.

OH would move tomorrow, but we are in a good place atm financially and emotionally, we just know we don't want to be here forever as the winters are just to forbidding. We have a couple of things in the pipeline, if one comes of next weekend then we may stick around even longer...

honeybunny2011

Thanks for your reply. Nz really is beautiful, which is just aswell because once you get here, your stuck here. Tho there are lovely places to visit each year. Climate is nice, warmer than most places tho this year our winter got down to 3c which is pretty cold when your house is not insulated or has no heating. Housing is pretty poor here unless you have $600,000 plus to spend on a house and even at that, it may not have double glazing or heating. Lifestyle is slower, which I love.

I have already got contact through well known sites (not sure if I'm allowed say them on here) and emails with my familly. So everyone sees them grow up. Its just that my mother is on her own and I miss her. I worry about her. Its not cause to rush off home but I would love to be able to visit her once or twice a year. A trip from here for a family of five is $20,000. Things would improve when i go back to work but thats not for 5 years. I guess I just dont yet know what I want. Thanks for your imput. Really appreciate it.

ExKiwilass

You will find the standard of living here higher than NZ for sure - houses are actually insulated & have central heating here. It's also not as isolated. I really hear you about being stuck. It's hard enough for us trying to get back to visit - so $$ and so far.

honeybunny2011

well the best of luck with your pipeline!!! I think I put pressure on myself to make a decision now as i only have one child in school and I think the move would be much harder if I had 2 or all of them in school. They are more likely to fit in when they are younger. Thanks.