Mumneedschocoloate

Hi everyone,
Husband is applying for a 2 year secondment to Wellington. He is really keen to go and I am coming round to the idea. I would work part time - I'm a psychotherapist and would try to find work doing this. We have two kids, ages 5 and 7.

The (perceived) advantages about going are:
1) a change of life, been in the UK in London all our lives and we just want to experience something very different.
2) a more outdoor life with lovely scenery, beaches and forests to explore - think our age children would love it
4) I am a keen runner and husband likes to cycle so we would want to make some friends with these interests
5) Warmer weather than the UK (although maybe not less rain!)

The (again perceived) disadvantages might be:
1) Worry we might lose touch with friends in the UK, even though only going for 2 years
2) Would be far from family but would keep in touch reguarly via Skype
3) I would need to give up my very stable job in the NHS
4) I am slightly worried that husband won't want to come back to the UK and I would because all our family are there

Would be really interested to hear what are peoples thoughts about us going? Anyone else done something similar and stayed longer, or been glad to get back to the UK? If so, why?

Thanks

escapedtonz

It'll be the making of you. Get out there and have some fun and adventure. Fantastic opportunity for you all.

Advantages:-
1. Definitely a change in lifestyle. Although Welly is still busy at peak times you'll notice there are much less vehicles on the roads and much less people knocking about........which isn't a bad thing.
2. I'd agree the lifestyle is more outdoorsy here and I'd say because the weather (in my opinion) is generally much better than where I lived in the UK. The scenery is awesome when you get out and about on the hills and bush (forests) surrounding Welly. There are some great tracks. I did many of them in my 2.5 years there. Just note there is no right of way for the public here like in the UK. You can't just go walking across hills, fields and forests as the majority of it is privately owned and there aren't public rights of way or bridle paths across them, but with that said there are many many walking tracks.
Beaches aren't that great around Welly, but that depends what you are wanting them for. If it's just for walking, take the dog etc then fine. If it's for sunbathing then there are only a few that are nice enough and sheltered enough to be worth it. Many of the beaches in Welly are windswept and covered in driftwood. Impossible to have a sunbathing day playing with the kids on many of them as you'd just get blown away or sandblasted to death.......talking from experience
No matter though your kids will love it.
3. What happened to 3 ?
4. Yeah there's a few groups that go running and cycling in Welly. There are regular meet ups etc.
5. Welly isn't that different to the UK in all honesty. I suppose it depends where in the UK you live. I was in the North West and I'd say the weather in Welly was generally better. It was warmer, more settled and with proper seasons. The only bugbear was the wind. It isn't called windy Wellington for nothing. There are only usually a couple of days each year where it is completely still in Wellington. Usually there is always at least a mild/medium/strong breeze and then a handful of times storm force gales. The highest we experienced was a late evening storm in 2013 with gusts peaking at 202kph on top of Mt. Kaukau. That was a scary night. Thought the windows were gonna blow out the house!!!

Disadvantages:-
1. You will. Don't worry about it. It is a fact of life, but if you return or when you return, even if only for a holiday it'll be like you never left and doesn't take long to catch up. I'm still friends with all my UK buddies on Facebook and whatnot but we seldom chat nowadays. Just regular comments on posts etc. We maybe only chat half a dozen times a year when we'll have a messenger frenzy for half an hour but that's fine. We've all got our own busy lives to lead.
2. Yes we did that but have now moved more to WhatsApp video calling instead of Skype as it's easier to use on the go. Also can't do Skype on the TV anymore as they ditched the service and only do the PC/Web/Mobile App version now. Won't ever be as good as being with family in the flesh but with 18000 kM's separating us it's the best we can do.
3. No you won't. My Mrs was a Sister in our local NHS hospital ICU unit and when we migrated she took a career break, initially for 2 years and if I remember rightly she could have extended that up to 5 years ? This meant she always had an employer to fall back on if we did go back home, however not necessarily in the same job.
4. You shouldn't worry about things that may or may not happen in the future. Life is for living, not for stressing. It may be you that wants to stay after 2 years and hubby may want to return to the UK. No one can call it until you've been here and experienced life here.

We initially told relatives we were coming to NZ for a 2 year adventure. Looking back that was kind of an easy way to let them down instead of just saying we are migrating to the other side of the world forever. Personally speaking I was never going back but I think the Mrs thought we would return after a couple years, however that changed when she started work again in NZ and became more settled and then all bets were off when we moved up to Tauranga after 2.5 years in Welly as it is just exactly how we expected life would be like in NZ. We went back to the UK for a month September 2015 after being here 3.5 years and we couldn't wait to get back to NZ. All the reasons why we left were still there and getting worse.
We've been living in Tauranga getting on for 5 years now and no plans to return to the UK anytime soon. Maybe in a few years we'll take the kids to visit relatives but we have a steady stream of them visiting here so don't see the point yet.

Mumneedschocoloate

Thanks so much for your post, just so helpful ​​! Did your wife find work within her field fairly easily in NZ?

escapedtonz

She didn't want to work shifts anymore, had enough of working in a hospital and was sick of all the politics and crap she had to deal with 70 ladies on shift so the year before we migrated she did some volunteering and got some paid experience as a practice nurse. When she decided it was time to return to work, she just created a new CV (seem to be set out differently here) and cover letter and did a cold drop to all the local GP surgeries around us and out of that was offered 2 practice nurse jobs even though neither had an advertised vacancy. She worked part time 3 days/week for a year and then we moved to Tauranga. We then had another child so it suited her to just be casual where she covered sickness and holiday shifts at several GP surgeries around Tauranga and then when our youngest around 18 months she took a permanent part time contract as a practice nurse at a local surgery. They now want her to be the COPD specialist nurse so they can treat patients with those problems and obviously claim for it via the DHB (District Health Board). She's just started getting in to that again as it was something she was interested with in the unit many years ago. High possibility she may be poached by the DHB and more specifically the asthma clinic. Could lead to more pay/better conditions, only time will tell. So many UK trained or UK nurses here. No kiwi nurses in the place she works now. All hail from the UK, even the receptionist who is obviously a trained consultant......just like in the UK

Gill and Rob

I would suggest you look at the Psychotherapists Board of Aotearoa and start the registration process as early as possible as it's quite a process to become registered in NZ.

Gill

carcajou

If you can take a career break from NHS rather than resign outright, go for it then.

Two years is a good period of time - professional networks "back home" start to break down after that, not before.

You are also arriving with a job and a stable income source, which is the #1 stumbling block for most people - and if you don't like it, it's just a secondment. Particularly true if you just go on leave from NHS.

This set-up seems low-risk.

However, significantly temper your expectations about "lifestyle." Your partner will be working just as hard, if not moreso, in New Zealand compared to the UK; and "NZ lifestyle" is very expensive (out of reach for many Kiwis) and you might be down to one income for a while.