mardavrio

Hi there everybody ..my husband Davy has already posted a question about immigration consultants but didn't take the time to introduce us first! so here we go.
Im Mary and as i've said OH is Davy we're both 37 and have one daughter Sophie whose is 10months old... oh and 3 dogs (i know mad).
We are just starting to look into the whole process after toying with the idea for quite some time. Yes we have a mortgage and no family/friends in NZ but Davy has a chance of redundancy and we're thinking this could be a real opportunity for us as so far winning the lotto hasn't worked!!!

We're open to living anywhere except Auckland but we think we'd prefer the South Island. We're both pretty easy going Davy is a newspaper printer and i've had various jobs from tescos to being a taxi driver (which i loved).

We'd love to here from anybody that is maybe in the printing industry and could maybe give us a few pointers re employment etc.

Take care,x

alchris

Hi and welcome
Afraid I know nothing about the printing industry, but wanted to say Hi.
Like you we have no family in NZ and have never even visited but feel this is something that will be good for us.
Hubby is currently facing redundancy so all we need now is a house sale!- We can still hope.
Hope things work out for you all
Chris x

mardavrio

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the reply i was a bit worried i'd said something wrong as nobody seemed to be responding to me...so thanks

We're not going to sell our house mainly because of the present climate..thought it would be good to hold onto + then sell in a couple of years time and help to buy a house in NZ if things work out.

Whereabouts are you in the whole immigration process? My hubby Davy is going to speak to his boss on Mon and then we'll start the whole ball rolling...scary as hell but we decided this is it we're going to go for it.

Hope you get sorted with your house and everything works out for you.

Take care, Mary x

harrogate girl

Hi just to say are you intending to bring three dogs with you? do you have lots of money as when we arrived back in 2003 it cost us over 2500pounds for one dog we would of not left her!!if she was unable to come then I would not have come to NZ, also some Councils in NZ do not allow 3 dogs per household if and when you purchase a home you may need consent from the council and people living next to you and up to a few house away from your property.. if you are on a lifestyle block you can have the dogs.
But if you are renting in Nz to start its hard to get a good rental that allow dogs inside as NZ dogs are mostly outside all year round...and lots do not alow pets..
Have to say when I lived in Kerikeri 2 hours drive from Auckland and not many places you could walk a dog as its not allowed in lots of places.
Around Christchurch we have some walks and I take mine down to the beach we can walk for miles...

Hope you go on ok we did not come to NZ first and had no friends-family act now we have quite a few friends and made some from EXPATS have to say I would not go back to live in the UK.
Lin

mardavrio

Hi Lin,

No we wont be bringing the dogs with us...don't get me started or i'll just start blubbing!

We came to the realisation that we couldn't afford to bring them so family and friends have offered their services. It's so difficult...we have Rio who's 7 he's a white german shepherd, then Keasha who's 6 she's a siberian huskie and last but not least there's Stumpy their son who's 4.

It sounds so heartless when i say that we can't stretch the budget for them but we have to be realistic and i know no matter what anybody else thinks deep down it will be heartbreaking for us...see i've started already..can hardly see the bloody keyboard keys!!!

Anyway thanks for the info on dogs....god you learn so much everyday on this site.

Mary,x

BEVS

Hey Have some karma and welcome to the BE site.

Sorry to read about your dogs. Couldn't you bring just one with you then ?

harrogate girl

Have to say the same as Bev could you not bring one with you? may be best if its the youngest one? after all its your family... I could cry for you.

My husband was offered a good job paying over $270.000 US Per year plus a serviced 3 bedroom apartment and a car plus 6 first class flights back to NZ per year each he said NO as we could not leave the dog back in NZ even if it was for 3 years ...

See if you can bring one of them!!!
regards LIN

mardavrio

Hi All

Yes we've toyed with the idea of bringing Stumpy with us but we'll have to wait and see.

I know how it sounds but really its just not as straight forward as it seems.

Anyway Bevs thanks for the karma and Lin thanks for the info on the dogs...will keep in touch.

Mary,x

BEVS

That's it then . Sell the husband on trademe or ebay and bring Stumpy

Seriously. Keep all costs to a minimum . Do it all yourselves , although you may need to source a job offer. But do it all yourselves. Don't think to pay out for extras. We will all help and maybe you can bring Stumpy.

alchris

Hi Mary
How did it go with your OH boss? Are things still all go?
We finall y had 2 viewings on Sat, but what a surprise not suitable, like others it always seems to be silly things they give as feedback, generally something that is on the particulars! Dont think they even bother to read them. As our visa runs out very soon looks like we will be re-applying.
Not to worry trying to stay positive.
Chrisx

mardavrio

Hi Chris,

Sorry to hear that...people are so stupid sometimes you would think they'd read about the house first before wasting your time.

Have to be honest and say that OH didn't speak to boss...it's just a real rollercoaster for us...doubts creep into his mind sometimes and i just have to ride it out until he comes round again.

It's so difficult to just give up everything you have here for somewhere you've never been to...but i truly believe it'll be the best thing we've ever did.

So in the meantime we've fired off a few CV's to recruitment agencies in NZ and we'll see what comes back. Cheers for asking.

So how long do you have left before you have to reapply?
Do you have any family or friends in NZ?

Mary,x

mardavrio

God i'm thick!! Just spotted your date 22nd April...sorry

alchris

Dont worry, sort of thing I'd do!
No we dont we had originally tried to get to Australia as hubby's sister has been there for nearly 30 years, but things didnt work out- long story but we are still trying to get a refund from the migrants agents that originally told us we could but failed to tell us alot of what was needed in order for hubby to work over there! Any way at the time like you said it was something we as a family felt was the right thing to do so after some advice decided to take the New Zealand route. Even though weve never visited we wish we plumped for NZ first- and if we had 2 years ago we may have already been there! Hindsight is a great thing!!
We have friend over thier a couple that we have met through BE that went over just before Christmas and they love it.

mardavrio

Hi Chris,

Hindsight's a great thing but sure unfortunately you have to make your mistakes to learn by them....who made that crap up?..life would be so much more fun without mistakes surely?

So where did you're BE friends move to?

alchris

Hi Mary
one couple moved to Whangaparaoa and another who we never actually met but spoke many times on here moved to Palmerston
Did you say if you have any ideas on where you liked to go? We too fancy the North Island around the Coromandel we did love the look and sound of the Bay of Plenty but thought it may be a bit too far from Auckland(thinking when we needed to pick up visitors from here!!)
Chris x