Excited of Swindon
 

Hello all,

I am Sam, my husband is Ian, and not forgetting the person we are doing this for, our 18month son Ewan.
We got our residency visa 2 days ago now and plan to be in Christchurch in September, so now we have the go ahead, it is all a mad panic!
I have a job lined up in Christchurch as a nurse and for the immediate future Ian will be a house husband until we suss out areas and childcare, then he will go job hunting.
So little time and so much to do.
So, any hints or tips are greatfully received.:rofl:

Sam x

Re: Excited of Swindon
 

Hi Sam,

Firstly congratulations on getting your visa :thumbsup:

Yeah it will be a mad rush for you. Not sure i can offer much advice as i am not going til next year.

If you want to ask any specific questions, then ask away.. i'm sure someone will know the answers.

Anyway, Good luck with your plans. :D

xxx

Re: Excited of Swindon
 

Hi Sam.

You are a few months ahead of us - we are just getting the final bits of documentation together for our ITA and need to sort out medicals - hoping to be out early New Year if all goes to plan.

We are also looking at Christchurch and again doing it for the same reason - namely our 2 boys - ages 7 & 2.

Which part of the UK are your leaving?

What job does Ian do?

Hope all goes well and you never know may bump into each other in Christchurch.

All the best.

:thumbsup:

Steven.

Re: Excited of Swindon
 

Hi and welcom

Just read as many threads as you can, you'll find loads of unthought of questions including which airline to use, problems with removals, what we all miss, what to bring etc etc etc etc etc.

Good luck
Pauline

Re: Excited of Swindon
 

Hi Sam

Congratulations. I am in chch and have been here in NZ for almost 6 years, so if i can answer any of your questions please fire away. My husband works from home so has also become a house husband while i have gone back to full time study. If you want to meet up when you arrive just let me know. I know how hard it is coming to a place not knowing anyone.

Lots of childcare facilities around ABC is a very good childcare facility they cater for children from new borns up to school age. Not sure how much they are but there are lots dotted around chch.
There is another post here somewhere about places in chch to stay away from.
If there are any specific questions you would like to ask just email me.
Good Luck
Clair

Re: Excited of Swindon
 

Get your airline tickets ASAP if not already booked. most likely to rise substantially in next few days due to fuel costs. Good luck! We are going temporarily as family circumstances don't allow for permanent emigration.

Re: Excited of Swindon
 

Well done and good luck with coming here. Sure you will love it. I am 15 mins North of Chch. PM me if you would like any further info about anything. You must be excited.

Re: Excited of Swindon
 

Congratulations, we were from Reading, down the road from you apparently we were rivals(don't no what's that all about something to do with radio station 210fm!!) Good luck with your travels and yes book those tickets quick big! hike coming!!

Helen:thumbsup:

Re: Excited of Swindon
 

Hello all,
Thank you everyone for taking the time to look at our intro, we are touched. In answer to some of your questions, firtsly Ian at the moment works for the MOD as an attack dog handler/security and is hoping to continue in Christchurch in the same line or similar line of work once we are settled.
We are leaving Swindon, which we will not miss, i am sure it is the same everywhere but we did not want our sons first spoken sentence to contain a 4 letter expletive.
Good luck 'Broaders' with your ITA, it can be a long drawn out process but hopefully nothing will delay yours. And i know with ours the visa officer assigned to our case was always contactable on email for an update.
And as things occur to us i am sure we will have loads of questions.

Thanks all

Re: Excited of Swindon
 

Kia Ora and welcome to this little NZ forum.
Happy posting and I'm bunging you some welcome karma.

Re: Excited of Swindon
 

Hi Sam & Ian, we are also looking forward to move out of Swindon and for the same reason as you, to give our son a nicer place to grow up, I know NZ may not be perfect but we believe is a good place to bring children up

I know someone else from Swindon that will be moving to Christchurch in the near future, as her partner is Kiwi and wants to go back, I will ask her to join this site

In the mean time just to whish you all the best with your move and new start

Re: Excited of Swindon
 

Hello nena11,

thank you for you kind wishes. Completely upping sticks and moving is a scary prospect, especially when you have never even visited the place, but there has to be something better than what we have already. We are both realistic that every place has good and bad, and from reading around have come to the conclusion that the good outweighs the bad.If we don't try we will never know.
When and where do you plan to move? Do you have your visas yet?
It is all very exciting in a mad kind of way.
If you want to get together for coffee then please shout.
Sam x

Re: Excited of Swindon
 

Is funny we are the same, we have not been there... well my husband has but for all that we have read and asked we also believe it is a nice place

We have just sent our ITA back to NZ house so we are on the waiting process, but we cannot leave until we sell the house so not sure when we will be going as this is not the best time to sell a property ..... but hopefully we will be there before schools start next February

It may be nice if we can meet up I sill send you my details in a PM

Take care

Re: Excited of Swindon
 

Good luck with the ITA, it is the waiting that is always the nerve wracking time.
To help give you a boost, our house was on the market for 5 days before we got an offer!! So you may be lucky and be out there before you know it.
Then the fun begins.

Keep in touch
Sam x