Hello from a, "do we don't we?" girl
 

I've been lurking for a few months and finally plucked up the courage to join. I put a post in the introductions section and had some welcoming comments that all encouraged me to post so here I am.

Brief summary of where we are right now is that husband and I are 46 and 50yrs old this year and live in the north of England in a rambling old farmhouse with three hectares and horses. We're both in professional jobs, his is in high demand but my career prospects are a bit like a desert with tumble weed blowing across it. I've made some contacts with people who do the same job as me though and started networking. Given our ages we need to move soon or not at all.

Our parents are all incredibly supportive of us moving and are helping pay for us to come out for three weeks in January 2014 so we can see the place and make a more informed decision. We don't and won't ever have our own children.

I already know wages will be lower and living costs will be higher. Housing seems to be particularly scary.

We're open to moving anywhere in NZ but I want to be somewhere warmer. It's becoming harder and harder to do what we want to do here which is ride and drive the horses, grow our own veggies, have a few chooks and work on our own property while having a social life with friends who don't think the only way to have a good time is to get so falling down drunk that they don't remember anything of the night before.

The insane thing is that we're considering taking the horses with us.

So, we're dithering and probably won't make any decisions until after we've done our visit and chatted to a few potential employers and driven round the two islands.

Husband is an engineer at a high level but can also do basic house wiring and has the right certificates for most things electronic so we're hopeful he'd always be able to gain employment of some kind. If teaching had stayed on the list I'd have done a one year PG diploma as I've been teaching for long enough to gain a qualification by evidence but it's not worth doing now.

We'd both fall into the skilled migrant category and I think we have 150 points even without a job offer. If husband has a job offer we'd have nearly 200 points.

I have quite a portfolio of things I can do and I'm looking at doing some additional training in the hope that I can earn as a self employed, general dogsbody person if salaried employment doesn't turn up quickly. Not sure whether I'd be allowed to or not though. I'm qualified to do horse care and riding coaching and have a degree which covers learning theory and behaviour which gives me an additional skill set for doing that. I'm also fully checked and trained to work with children and ran quite a successful child minding service a few years ago. The thought is that lots of little things in different areas mean I might be able to earn some money doing little bits of everything. The other thing we've looked at doing here is running a bed and breakfast business and we've said that's something we could do over there but I don't know if the recession has hit the tourist trade over there as badly as it has here. At the moment the B&B business in our area is pretty dead.

Not knowing the way things are set up over there I have no idea if I'd earn money doing any of these things. In the south of England it's relatively easy to find work as a child minder and horse person. It's harder to do the further north you go as people have family or friends who look after their horses and children for nothing. I'm guessing NZ may be more similar to north of England than south?

It's going to be a long road and I'm not sure where our final destination will be but we're having fun finding out. The bottom line is we both feel stale where we are and would like a big adventure before we grow too old.

Re: Hello from a, "do we don't we?" girl
 

Hello and welcome.

My wife has made a name for herself with horses here, she has her own and drives two working horses at a local vineyard.

New Zealand is one of those places, at least the bit we live in, where people tend to have multiple income streams and sounds like you would do well with that type of thinking.

Good luck!

Re: Hello from a, "do we don't we?" girl
 

Welcome Hazelnut :) We're from north east (Sunderland) & were also in the same age bracket as you both when we moved here, so I remember that feeling well "if we don't do it now, we'll miss the boat"
Enjoy the forum & ask away :)

Re: Hello from a, "do we don't we?" girl
 

Welcme, we are the same age exactly, but have three children, 6, 7 & 10 - currently in Tokoroa but looking to move to Wellington region.

I personally would give it a go, you have no ties, your parents are supportive, so give it a go, dont turn around in 10 years time and say 'if only'!!!

Re: Hello from a, "do we don't we?" girl
 

Hi,

Do it :thumbsup:
You only get one chance to have a varied and enjoyable life so why not have a bit of an adventure - what's the worst that can happen ?

I'm from the Norh West of England and wanted to do something like this for many years. The urge just got stronger and stronger then when the opportunity appeared we jumped at it and so glad we did as we're loving it here.....14 months on and I've no desire to return at all.
What exactly is your husband in to work wise and what jobs has he held / with which UK companies ?

Regards,

Re: Hello from a, "do we don't we?" girl
 

Friends of mine over there run a B&B occasionally from the front half of their large old rural house, which is fully self-contained with lounge, bathroom, double bedroom etc. However, they don't let it out that often. It's used mainly as a tax arrangement hand in hand with the wife's small business which she does from home. Apparently, it saves them a lot of money.

Don't ask me how the specifics work, and you'd need to take professional advice, but it might be something to consider.

Re: Hello from a, "do we don't we?" girl
 

I'm nearly 50 now, and we moved here three years ago, bringing teenage children and leaving parents behind ( some who only contacted me once a year, if I was lucky. - Divorce and step families; and forgotten children from first marriages. You get the picture )

I looked at it like this. I had possibly given half my life to the Northern Hemisphere and in some of that time despite the rich culture all around me I rarely visited it although I was working hard I was still living hand to mouth. So why not possibly give my remaining years to the Southern hemisphere and now money is a little easier, travel and explore this side of the Earth ?

Perhaps its my age but I am really enjoying the Peace and friendliness of NZ. I love my job, and am very appreciated. My kids ( this may not be of interest to you ) are enjoying very good schools and have some wonderful Kiwi friends and by extension ; lovely parents too.

We brought a cat with us, and that cost us a fortune but it was worth it. Horses , I would'nt like to think about the price of that but their are plenty of horses here waiting for you to love and care for, plus the odd Alpaca or goat.

Yes, you would leave your well established friends behind, but all of them would love to visit and they can all skype you. People of your age group over here are very welcoming and they get involved with their communities. They all have a 'can do' attitude to work, but you may find you still might not have that job you are trained for here but you can apply yourself anyway to what is on offer.

I wish you Good Luck. Please PM me , and visit if you are in my area

Re: Hello from a, "do we don't we?" girl
 

Hi there we are around the same ages as you two and our advice would be go for it. :thumbsup:
I am a firm believer in the saying "If you don't give it a go you will never know!" ;)

Re: Hello from a, "do we don't we?" girl
 

It sounds like you're in a very good position in life and have finally reached that crunch point where a big decision has to be made. It sounds like you've got a great set of strings to your bow and while I can't comment on how you'll do, because I'm not there yet, I suspect you'll do just fine. The prospect of emigrating both thrills and terrifies us but one of the biggest reasons we are giving it a shot is our answer to the following question: "If we go, live, see and do, and for any unforeseen reason find we want to return after a few years (which I really don't think we will) - is that regret going to be greater than the empty, dissatisfied, unfulfilled regret we'd feel if we reached the end of our days thinking 'if only we had dared'"

Re: Hello from a, "do we don't we?" girl
 

Thank-you so much for all the welcoming and positive replies. It's reassuring to hear from people who have transitioned successfully and from people the same age as us. I think our main concern is that the house and field we have now are amazing but they are increasingly under siege from business and industrial developments that are causing our home to lose value year on year not to mention the damage climate change is causing. If we don't move soon we'll be stuck and I just can't see how we can survive here the way the UK is going. If Scotland goes its own way it will be a major disaster for the economy of all the new countries and both of us would likely lose our jobs due to the cross border work we both do.

At least out in NZ the make do and mend culture seems to be accepted, even if it isn't by choice and more due to high costs, rather than ridiculed as it is here and we can grow our own food if we move to a warmer area.

We do have nieces and nephews but we rarely see them now and they never contact us, it's always the other way around except for my one niece who I'll miss as I do see her once a year but she has said she'll skype and would love to visit us out there one day if we move. There's some guilt at the thought of leaving our siblings to cope with ailing parents but both sets of parents are so supportive that I don't think we can put our plans on hold due to that. We already live hundreds of miles from all our relatives and see them rarely.

I think Tiger Mama has given husband and I a helping hand on our pros and cons list with, 'If we go, live, see and do, and for any unforeseen reason find we want to return after a few years (which I really don't think we will) - is that regret going to be greater than the empty, dissatisfied, unfulfilled regret we'd feel if we reached the end of our days thinking 'if only we had dared'.

I do wonder if it's a chance for me to leave the rat race and start doing something different too. The stories of endless months of unemployment and soul destroying rejections are a bit scary though.

Re: Hello from a, "do we don't we?" girl
 

I see from your first post that you mention you both get 150 points.Is that with just a main applicant and the other as a partner or have you added all your points together?
I don't understand why you would lose your jobs if Scotland goes on its own. Have you looked at the process and looked at what sort of licence your husband would have to obtain to carry on working in the trade he is in. I think he will need to get NZ Registered. There are a few people on here that know the ins and outs on how that works.

Re: Hello from a, "do we don't we?" girl
 

Ive asked Hazelnut the question about what hubby's actual job and skills are and what he's been doing in the UK.
I'm an electrical engineer from UK, now working in Wellington and can offer the benefit of my experience and whether or not a person needs registration etc.

Re: Hello from a, "do we don't we?" girl
 

That's kind. Perhaps you could share about 233311 Electrical Engineer here please for the benefit of anyone else looking in . The business of the Washington Accord etc does appear here from time to time. Would be good to have a first hand account.

Per NZIS ref 233311 Electrial Engineering which is on shortage here in NZ.
For all else electrical , assessment, registration & licensing with the EWRB is a requirement.

Re: Hello from a, "do we don't we?" girl
 

Thanks for the generous offers of help, you're all really kind. I'll pin husband to the PC chair and get him to look through the links given. :rofl:

It would be great if he could chat to you escapedtonz but he doesn't really use forums. Would it be OK for me to ask for an e-mail address for him to use to chat to you? I'm not sure of the netiquette here :unsure: I think he would have to an NZ registration process for but he's down to do an electrical engineering course here that should make it a lot easier for him to register to do electrical installations in NZ. Looking at the link his main career is as an electronics engineer (UNIT GROUP 2334 ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS) but his degree is a joint one and he's done some electrical work during his careerer. He currently works as a senior design engineer where he manages projects and tends to be dropped in to ones that have hit problems to analyse what's going on, get the team working together if need be and sort out any underlying problems with the basic design. He's currently OK to do electrical work in the UK due to his qualifications and professional registration but I don't think that's enough if we moved abroad.

Both of us work for companies that are owned or heavily supported by companies in other EU countries. There's already been hints from management that if the UK fractures they'll just pull the plug on the UK branches and put the work elsewhere as it will be too much expense and worry to try and sort out the resulting issues. I know it's a complicated issue and don't really want to get into a debate about it but we do have concerns about it in the back of our minds.

The 150 points comes from filling a form for Skilled Migrant category with him as main applicant and then gaining additional points for my qualifications and experience. It does seem to vary between 135 and 150 depending on which boxes I tick as the vocabulary confuses me a little on the various immigration websites as they seem to use different vocabulary when classifying jobs.

Re: Hello from a, "do we don't we?" girl
 

Hi,
Thanks for the additional info.
Would be better if your hubby used the forum as the information would benefit others, however if he's not happy to do this then of course we can exchange emails.
If that is the case just send me a PM (personal message) and I can reply with my email address.
Regards,