SarahB

....we arrived in Auckland. It was a wet winter that year but with loads of sunny bits in between showers... I remember thinking I was amazed at how warm it was for winter. I was able to take my little lad to the park and just wear a tee-shirt....great!

We rented for the first 18 months and then we bought this old house in Beachlands. There wasnt much choice in our price bracket.... actually, no choice at all, so I sold my little house in the UK and used the money to pay off debts, pay off our 2 cars and put a decent deposit down on this place. We had given ourselves 2 years to see if we wanted to stay in NZ but knew after only 1 year that we wanted to be here and not in the UK.

The house we bought needed lots of things doing to it.... water coming in each time it rained.... loads of re-decorating etc.... theres still things that need doing.... they will get done one day!

Then last year my OH sold his house in the UK.... the money for that is here in a Foreign Currency Account.... we have dug into it a few times but most of it is still there. When the exchange rate changes to our liking then the plan it to pay off our rather large mortgage.

We had another child last year... something I vowed I would never do in the UK.... but thats my last one! We have 2 rescued cats and last week I have just got a beautiful Arabian horse.... I'm in love! I left my beautiful Arab horse in the UK and recently even started dreaming about him, (ooer!!) so in the end decided that I had to have another Arabian. Hes is rather beautiful so Im a happy bunny now!

So overall, we do like it here, we have made friends, most of them being British. We dont have any major gripes about NZ.... just a few niggly ones. We are country people at heart so living so close to Auckland wasnt ideal but this was the furthest out that my OH was prepared to travel. Hey, you gotta be where the jobs are! We like this area and Beachlands seems to have its own micro-climate and is often a lot warmer than other parts of Auckland. I still love looking at the sea and the islands everyday when I take my little lad up to Kindy, I hope I never get fed up of the view... its simply stunning.

Of course we still miss friends and family but Skype and Messenger work well so we still get to "see them" occasionally.

I'm not sure if we can now apply for Citizenship, or it might be after 5 years? We applied right when it changed so Im not sure, I will have to look into that one. We havn't done a trip back to UK but my parents visited us twice and they loved it here too and think we are very lucky to be here..... they miss their grandchildren but totally understand why we would rather be here.

Good you to you all!!

SarahB

krissie

hiya
Glad its all good for you!! we arrived 3yrs ago today (12th) and love it!! Just about the citizenship thing...i enquired cus we came just around the change (obviously!!) and we have to be here 5yrs!!!
see ya
chris

teebrown

Nice post, thanks for sharing that with us, it's always nice to hear from someone and their views after a few years.

Love the horse - I just sold mine and will be buying again once in NZ.

All the best

mickey_d

Must be a popular time for arriving here, we've been here 2 years tomorrow

Here's a link for the citizenship thing.

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/Migra...omingACitizen/

Marika 38

Lovely post Sarah,
Sarah, krissie, mickey d, its lovely to hear of folks being here few years and all happy and well, cheers to you all and lets hope many more happy years to come for all of us,

Moomoo

Glad to hear it's all worked out for you Sarah. We are hopefully heading towards East Auckland later this year.

Thanks for the story.
Moomoo

lapsed kiwi

What a nice post Sarah. So much of what you wrote echoes our experience (we've been here 2.5 years) - even down to the views of the sea and islands on the way to childcare. I was walking up to the nursery yesterday afternoon and thought how good it was to be able to do that, in the middle of winter but still light at 5pm and warm enough to only need a light fleece.

Batty

Happy anniversary Sarah Our 3 years is on the 25th This winter reminds me of that one - freezing isn't it? Have you got a pic of your horse? He sounds gorgeous. All the best for the next three years!

SarahB

Thanks everyone!

teebrown.... I never had the heart to sell my Arab back in the UK.... when OH asked if I wanted to move to NZ my first text was to my best mate to see if she'd have my beloved horse... she said Yes of course and still has him now. But, Ive just sold a Standardbred here, he was rescued and I got him when he was 2.... but I just love my arabs so in the end he had to go... it was still upsetting as he was a nice horse, but he grew a bit too large for me and I prefer smaller horses. I find selling horses really stressful and have hardly slept over the last few weeks. What was your horse like?... and what do you think you'd like when you get here?

Batty, he's on my new Avatar photo. Hes very pretty with a small dished head... his bloodlines being mainly Polish and Spanish.Hes well known down in SI as he was South Island In-Hand Champion a few years ago, and then went on to win many championships and reserves after that under saddle and In-Hand. Hes going to find things a bit different with me as Im just a happy hacker and probably wont ever show him.... his show days are over! Heres a couple of photos from when I went to try him out.... hes only 14.2hh but rides larger than that. ....and yes isnt it a cold winter..... there's a weather station here in Beachlands and 2 days ago we hit 22.5 degrees.... the nice weather has to end sometime surely?? Everyone is running out of water again!

teebrown

Not sure if you can see him, this was my horse, as you say selling horses is very very stressful and very upsetting, i sold him to a fantastic lady who is doing everything with him and he is having a great time and she regualy keeps in touch, he is a Russian warmblood.

I too have turned into a happy hacker now, makes you think a little more when you have kids and when you do take a tumble, it hurts for longer! I have sort of looked into the horse world in NZ, but i have promised myself, next time I get a horse it will be for life and no moving around.

Yours looks beautiful, you sound very happy with him, it's always nice to hear from other horsey people.

Best of luck to you.

Tee

Joshlin

Hi Sarah
glad things still go well for you - we're 3 years in October!
re: citizenship, if you received permanent residence before the 21st of April 2005, or had an application for Permanent Residence accepted by Immigration New Zealand before the 21 April 2005 then you can apply after 3 years, otherwise it's 5 years
Cheers
Vicki

Batty

He looks beautiful Sarah and d'oh to the Avatar I grew up in Wicklow surrounded by some of the best trainers in Ireland. I never was much of a rider but there's something about a horse..... This from the wan who, when I was a very small baby being pushed along by my mum almost got run down by a rogue horse - someone pushed my pram out of the way See? it was always an adventure

Teebrown - that is a magnificent photo.

Hee hee - OH just reminded me of the day my brother walked his 17 hh mare into my sister's kitchen lmao

SarahB

Hi, thanks for that. We think we got PR in the beginning of April or even end of March... we booked our flights on the 6th April and didnt do that did until we got PR. Looks like we better get the paperwork sorted for Citizenship then! ....ermmmm bit blonde but havnt got a clue where to start!!!

Tee, thats a beautiful horse!! You will have plenty to choose from here. I agree with you, I certainly dont bounce so well now. Everyone told me last month I needed to buy a safe old plod.... but I wont ever stop loving my Arabs, I guess I'm just addicted.

Biddy

Happy Anniversary Sarah. Here's to the next three.....and the next.......and the next....

Fooferfish

We to landed on May 05 so have been here a wee bit longer than you guys, but congrats on the time frame.

We were going to look into Citezenship, but we are flying back to UK this Christmas as my folk cant fly over here and it will probably be the first and last time we go back, and Citizenship is $1500 or so and you still have to wait around 8 months for it to got through and you still have to buy passports after that as well more $$ theres more imposrtant things to spen money on at the mo and that is logs for the fire.

Nice horse, a lot cheaper here in NZ than UK and i like the way you can ride them just about anywhere.wouldn't let you ride them on Dorset beaches.

Nige Dunedin