sidneyowes

Is there anyone else thinking or in the process of going back to the UK from New Zealand?

sunray

Hi

I am considering moving back to the UK. I have only been here a short time compared to some but have known most of that time I wouldn't be here for ever. I have lots of issues about NZ which I won't go into on here but I really don't think I can stand it here much longer.

Have you decided to leave or just thinking about it at the minute?

Sunray

sidneyowes

We have been here for 4 years - decided this time last year to leave, but then work got better and decided to try to stick it out. But it's not home and never will be. The longer we are here the more unsettled I feel. It's hard to make good friends, good enough to replace family. Most kiwis are friendly but hard to get to be good friends and the sense of humour - well! It's great for kids here, but the wages are shocking and the lifestyle (that you hear so much about) is really only achievable if you earn lots of money. So it's a decision we have made, again, but all systems go. We will have to stay until we sell the house, however long that will be, but it's a light at the end of a tunnel.
So what are your reasons? Are you all set to go? How long have you been here? I think we knew quite early on that it wasn't right, but kept thinking time would solve it. Where in NZ are you?

sunray

I could have wrote a lot of that myself!! I have only been here 6 months....not long I know. My hubby came out around 6/7 months before me. I had to stay in the UK to sort out our house over there. I said before we came we need to give it a minimum for 12 months before we made any decision but I think we've made up our minds.

I have to be totally honest and say I don't really miss my family and friends that much. For us it's financial and work reasons. We knew before we came we would be worse off financially but hoped the "improvement" in our lifestyle would make up for it. As you say you need money to achieve that. I have found the cost of living shockingly high, add that to the shockingly low wages it doesn't make good sense to stay. Yes the views are fantastic, I drive the kids to school and think wow look at that but at the end of the day, (like lots of people said to me before we came) views don't pay the bills. Our work life balance has also suffered greatly. We spend less time together as a family than we did in the UK.

Lots of people are telling me to give it more time but I think I could give it all the time in the world but the two main things (work & money) will not improve. I could go on and on but don't want to be a whinge!!

We are looking into the possiblility of getting our old jobs back.....fingers crossed if everything goes OK we will be moving back towards the end of the year/early next year.

Have you got your house on the market yet? Where in NZ are you?

sidneyowes

We are in Tauranga, which is really lovely, but like you say the views, beach and weather don't pay the bills! Our work/family balance is worse here than in UK and that was one of the reasons why we came here. I work full time, which I wasn't planning on working before we came. Our children were very young and didn't really want to work full time but had to make ends meet. My husband was in a job he hated and stuck it out for far too long. He now works somewhere else and really enjoys it, but the money is not good. I feel I don't spend enough time with my kids as work takes over. I want to be part time but we can't afford it. So I don't want to waste any more of our time just working to get by! On top of that it's very cliquey here and so difficult to make really good friends. So it's more about the future that we are thinking of and don't see it here. We are open minded about where we go in the UK and this time willing to go where the work is! It will be great for you if you can get your old jobs back. Did you sell your house the UK? We did so we might not even go back to our hometown. As far as giving it time, it has improved for us over time, but it's not enough! It's been good to see a lot of the country, but think we are ready now to go back. What age are you kids and where are you?

lizard

We are in Whakatane and are planning to move back too. We have been here four years now and have decided its not really for us. We both feel old before our time. We want some fun, easy travel, good night out, get pissed with people who know how to party and take the dogs for good long walks.

Fleaflyfloflum

I am married to a kiwi and also lived there for 2yrs. Even my husbands fills with dread at the thought of living there again!! He says he has outgrown it, which is the case for many NZers!
I also felt as if i was in gods waiting room. Good humour is not one of their strong points, and a fair few of them can be extremely narrow minded. I suppose being so isolated fromt he rest of the world might have somehting to do with it.
OH says that once he had left NZ and seen what the rest of the world has to offer, he really couldnt live there again, no matter how pretty the view from your window is!

sidneyowes

I absolutely agree - read your message out to my husband and we both laughed - good to know we're not the only ones!!!

sidneyowes

Amazed that a kiwi thinks like that, but I suppose if you leave you really do get to see what the world is like and what else is on offer. It's great that they are such a proud nation, but there's a lot more outside of here. It's been good to come here and at least we've done it and won't always be wondering what it would have been like, but time to move on.
Just quite daunting the whole process of relocating again! Are you settled back in the UK now?

sunray

I am so pleased it's not just me who feels like this.I feel a lot better just reading these posts.

sidneyowes - I've sent you a PM.

Fleaflyfloflum

Yes, we have been back since April and loving it. OH has just got a perm job so looking at relocating to that area now.

I am also glad i did experience living in other countries (after NZ we spent several years in Aus) It has made me realise just how good my home country is!
I dont hate NZ as such, it just left me feeling bored as bat sh*t

ExKiwilass

Trust me, there are plenty of Kiwis who feel like that. Aren't there something like 1 million kiwis living overseas? And I"m one of them. I flirt with the idea of going back occasionally, but I don't think I could long-term.

Going overseas...real overseas, not just Australia, which is kinda more of the same, just a bit bigger...tends to blow your mind coming from NZ. And once the mind is blown, there is no way to make it small again. I do know people who've gone back but they've made peace with the limitations in some way, the pull of family, professional development etc.

majohnno

Hi Lizard was surprised to see you are in Fakkers..me and the wife left there last October after 5 years.I worked at the hospital and she worked at pattersons in Kope.

it would be interesting to hear from you.All i got was "how i will be back" and miss paradise" as if theres no other place that doesnt have its own beauty.

admittedly the first few months back were a bit of a culture shock,but now were loving being back in blighty and loving being home.

all the best

majohnno

janeyk

Its glad to see I am not the only one we arrived September last year from Cornwall into Wellington although I like my job my life and family life out of work is awful Kiwis are nice but when it comes to family an time anfd other kiwis doors shut the only freiendship we seem to have are expats. we live in a very competative neighbourhood which is very clicky and as time goes on we are treated more and more like outsiders. 2 months ago OH omitted he was extremely unhappy and wished to go home I said give it time etc we can not move as we are tied into a mortgage but as time has gone on its got worse. Children here blow like the wind too DD has had a rough time and also agreed he would be much rather at home so as we speak we are working our socks off to spruce up the house take a hit on costs and go home to Cornwall, we know we will have little equity not afford anything like we had but DD will hopefuly go back to his old school once I have found a job not easy from this side of the world!
incidently does anyone have any expereince of shipping a dog back to the uk from NZ and who they used?

Scottish Family

Hi we've been in NZ about 21 months now. Its several things for us.
The very high cost of living just to buy everyday groceries, also huge power bills (over 600 - 800 monthly) because we're still living in a rental that has no heating to speak of but is a five bedroom home, also no insulation so the place is like a bloody freezer in winter and an oven in summer.
The price of buying a house that is poorly built in terms of insulation, glazing & heating etc. etc. We feel the houses are just not worth what agents are asking for them. I swear its warmer outside right now than inside our house!
We love the scenery and living close to the beach and going fishing etc. We're just back from a few days skiing and that was great but again it cost a fortune. I agree with the previous posters who said that to do the outdoorsy quality of life thing is really only possible if you earn lots of money. Also the lack of proper health care facilities and the way you have to pay for absolutely everything unless of course its a sporting injury (ACC) and then no redundancy safety net or welfare state to speak of as well.
Our main worry though is the standard or lack thereof in education. Our two boys are in the latter stages of primary school and to get a reasonable high school education we would either have to be in the right catchment area in Wellington or send them both to residential private school. We can't afford to do the latter and don't want to be without our kids; we might as well have stayed in UK if we have to live in a city for the former. My kids rarely get homework and when they do it is ridiculously simple stuff. They seem to spend a lot of time on art, music, maori lang., sports, RI and minimal time on Maths, English & Science. There are only two teachers in the school with any science background at all, the rest are all arts. Our school is thought of as one of the best here in our area...Goodness knows why. Sorry to whinge on a bit but hard to stop once started.
We hope to return to UK so that our eldest can still retrieve some knowledge from the last year of Primary education in Scotland.
Not so simple though as they're are not any suitable jobs in my husband's field available right now unless we're willing to go to London or Manchester. We really want to be somewhere in Scotland again. So here's hoping a good opportunity comes up in the next couple of months.