Mrs Pointer

I'm just intrigued to find out how many of you visited New Zealand before you decided to move there.

We spent two and a half weeks there last year and will arrive back a year to the day after we left. I really missed it when I came home which helped seal the deal to go live there.

I don't know that I would have made the decision without seeing it for myself. Ok so a holiday isn't the same as living there, and in some ways we put too much pressure on ourselves to enjoy the first week of our holiday.

But it was enough to get the gist.

PS I'm not being judgmental. It's not a cheap holiday and we could only go thanks to a windfall. I think the OH would have gone without seeing it, but I was more sceptical.

rushmere

We had a similar trip in January. I really couldn't commit to moving anywhere without experiencing it first.

We were originally going to Oz, and we'd had several trips there checking out every last little detail. We then went to NZ for a holiday, and after about a day there I think we'd already made up our minds that NZ was the place to be!

hazeandsteve

We did. Definitely made it easier to decide where we going to settle, townwise.

Fooferfish

No never came for a look, sold the lot up in 05, left Poole Dorset behind and landed in Dunedin May 05, only saw pictures of NZ and Dunedin on the net, and before we came out here we were toying with going to Canada, process was a lot longer than NZ, never really looked at NZ on a map before, didnt realise how far away from UK it was until we came to live here we just wanted a change in lifestyle, so we just went for it, after all they speak, well sort of English YIS she'll be right attitude.

I feel that you would need at least 2 months holiday to do this place any justice and to cover every thing, and if you just looked at Auckland then you would be looking at London as a twin !! and not the real NZ !!

Mind you if you can afford a hol to check out where you want to live, then good on ya, go for it, and take as much in as you can.

jengrantmorris

We made the decision before vising NZ and I've never been. DH went over in January (testing for his job) and he said all it did was confirm that we'd made the right decision. He felt right at home, he said it reminded him a lot of Cape Town (where we're originally from - we've been in the UK for almost 11 years) and said that he'd be quite happy to just ship us over and never have to come back to UK again. Of course he had to and we're still here plodding through the looong process but hopefully we'll be there early next year.

I kind of felt that a holiday wouldn't give me a true sense of what it would be like to live there, but basically we couldn't afford for all of us to go so he went alone.

simonsi

Never been before, all part of the adventure

Foxesecho

We came for three weeks as my OH would not live anywhere he had not visited.

Jan n Neil

Me n Jan just had a week as her employer flew us over for her weeks interview process, we where not sure at first but by the end of the week we realised what a nice place it was and Jan really wanted the job

Genesis

Kate did not. She moved here on my recommendation. It is a brave thing to do eh? Having come here 15 yrs previous I knew what an awesome place it was and it still is inspite of all the many burning issues of life in NZ. Would I move somewhere I had not been afore? Yes. I would move to somewhere like Canada without having 1st been. But then I like to take the odd risk. Like having 3 kids and a dog when every tissue is screaming in your body "NO, YOU ARE MAD!!!YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO COPE!!" The body was right..about the kids anyways, but avo 5 years I got my head round it. The dog has yet to arrive.

RobDon

We had never set foot in the country until we arrived to live here!
Did all our research on tinterweb!

shelloid

exactly this ^

Mrs Pointer

We saw a lot more than Auckland - drove from there, down to Wellington (via visiting pals in Hamilton), Nelson, Kaikoura, Queenstown, Christchuch.

Ok so it was a holiday - but I learned the following things which did actually help with the decision:

• Rural really means rural and some towns are actually just a petrol station. Which is why we chose a big city - would be a big culture shock coming from Glasgow. It's the longer term option.
• Books cost a fortune - (I didn't even check the price )
• It's not tiring to drive long distances in NZ in the way that it is in the UK
• The weather in Wellington is weird
• If you drive fast, you will get done for speeding
• People working in banks, pubs, shops take the time to chat to you and the default isn't rude boredom
• You will likely be served in a pub/restaurant by someone from the UK (other way round here)
• There is no main shopping street in Auckland like a major UK city - unless you want to buy a camera. Please tell me there are retail outlets.
• The sky is high - in the west of Scotland it is usually so low you can touch it.

LukeandJo

Jo and I have both been here on separate occasions, have experienced the country enough to know we could settle there.

Boopy

Never visited before & didn't know anyone. Just sold up & left in 2006, never really looked back.