donnaf

Thanks Spackster and Beachcomber - as you can tell we are very happy

cherry

and you throw a mean barby,see you at the next one in march

donnaf

Thanks Cherry, i was up your way last week but didn't have your address handy or I would have popped in - how's things?

JAJ

Maybe they'd like to have the option to return to the UK sometime in the future?

vander

That’s right… Hopefully we can return to Britain (or another EU country) someday.

Donna – thanks for your post. It sounds like the grass is really greener over there!? We want to migrate because of everything you described – being able to spend more time outside (although I’m still not sure how often this is possible given the weather?), we want to live among people who are not focused on consumerism, where my kids won’t feel like they have to keep up with commercialisation to fit in, and where they can go to the grocery store in their pyjamas and no one will look twice (my 4 year old is really excited about that one!).

While growing up in San Diego, I spent a lot of time outside and at the beach (and a lot of time at bbq’s as well I suppose); I never thought of those things as key contributors to a happy childhood, but I guess they were in the sense that they formed the basis for the community that surrounded me. I want to recreate a piece of that for my kids without the traffic, gun control problems, over priced housing, overpopulation, etc. that we would encounter if we went back there to raise them as their grandparents wish!

One of our particular problems is we have a large school debt (US$150,000) which we aren’t able to defer any longer. If we went back to the States to a non-socialised medicine system, Mike (who is a Physio) could make a significantly higher income (£38-40k), but at the cost of a seemingly non-existent work/life balance – something we’ve only realised after enjoying flexible working hours, 25 holidays, and the shorter working week in the UK.

If we go to NZ, we’ll be putting ourselves at an even greater financial disadvantage, (he’d make around £17k and I’d make £5-15k less than here) but it sounds like the quality of life is like nothing we’ve experienced thus far. I guess this is what I still need to confirm -- and we don’t really have the option of travelling over there to see for ourselves in the near future -- whether NZ is really worth it and will we even be able to afford to live there?

Another option would be to stay in the UK, where Mike is making around £26k, but the seemingly permanent grey skies and the weather that prevent us from getting out as much as we’d like are big contributors for us seeking a break from it here – at least for a while.

As I write the raw numbers the answer seems clear – but that will mean accepting the fact that the US government really has us by the balls since we were unfortunate enough to need their school loans to get through University…

donnaf

It sounds like a really difficult decision - I wish you all the luck in the world.
Re coming over to see if you like it here - I think that works for some people and not for others. We did come and to be honest I don't think we saw much that we didn't expect - we would probably have been better investing the money in the move but at the time it was something I needed to do. Danny would have been happy to emigrate without having had a recce first. Strangely enough when we did come on our recce I said I didn't want to live in Wellington and here we are! We are happy here but it is still early days, we haven't had a winter here yet, we aren't juggling the school run with work for another couple of weeks but my gut feeling is that we've made the right move.
I hope it works out for you too

poppets

Hi Vander
we met the Paladin Clan to (hello Dave & family hope you are all well)
just thought i would add to Donna's views (hi Donna) as we have been here nearly a year so have gone through a dreaded winter.
firstly we live on the kapiti coast , about 45 mins - 1 hr north of welly, so the weather isn't quite as windy & a bit warmer than the city.
To be honest the weather in the UK prevented me from doing stuff more than the weather here. yes it rains sideways at times but it ok , we go for a walk on the beach in our wellies when its that bad. i often walk in the rain just put on my raincoat , stick on my baseball cap & i'm off.
i fiund last winter not as cold as uk winters, i remember spending Jan 06 in a Uk school playground & i was freezing my nuts off when it was 3 degrees, just doesn't get that cold here, & when the sun shines on a beautiful winters day you can feel the strength of the sun on your face. no hats , gloves or scarfs used by us last winter. it does get cold indoore cos of the whole not much heating thing , but i love snuggling under a blanket with my hotwater bottle & hot chocolate being toastie. Saying that we are moving next week to a house that has a real woodburning fire thing in it so i'll let you know what thats like this winter.
we had never been to NZ before when we came to live & we love it , its a lot less stress for us. we too have taken an income drop, we survive on one average income, but we cope & its not too bad, hubby has 2 hrs a day more with the kids here than back in uk , & that includes driving into Welly everyday where as he used to commute into london from Herts. hubby probably earnt in the uk 3x more than what he does here, but he is definatley less stressed & we are all enjoying our life here
good luck xx

ps should add that we have a mortgage or will do next week!!

Batty

Hi Vander. I'm not a British citizen either - I'm Irish (British Isles ) - and lived for 7 years in London. No matter what people say about the weather here and we live in Auckland where there's lots of rain, you just don't get that flat grey sky. Even if it's cloudy it's not uniform, if you know what I mean. I'd suggest making a list of pluses and minues for moving here or not and see where you go from there. As other people have said, the opinions on here are completely subjective and depend on loads of different factors such as whether or not you have children (we don't), mortgage or not (we do - sort of cancels out the no children ), homesickness (nope) and lots of things that will only apply to you. I'd never visited before I came here although I'm married to a Kiwi (he hadn't been home in nearly 13 years) and I don't think it would have made any difference if I had. Without the benefit of information learned from forums like this I wouldn't have known to take off my 'holdiay specs' so the reality of actually living here could have come as a rude awakening.

I wish you the best of luck - I love it here and couldn't imagine living anywhere else now but that's just my opinion

cathynclive

Thanks Donnaf

We've only just joined this website and we're hoping to come out to NZ at the end of May. We were hoping to come for a visit first but unfortunately that hasn't been possible so when we come it'll be for good I don't know whether we're being very brave or very stupid at the mo, but reading your post has made me feel a lot better. The life you describe is exactly what we want.

Cheers

donnaf

Hi cathynclive,
where are you planning to live when you get here? Have you got jobs etc lined up? Have you got kids?
Sorry, dead nosey, I know but just interested
Good luck

cathynclive

Hi Donna,

Yes Clive has just had a written job offer and we're hoping to go to Taupo. They want him to start work on 30th June provided we get our visas and medicals sorted out.

We've got 4 kids, the oldest 2 (aged 19 and 16) want to stay here as they're both settled with their jobs, friends etc. I'll be heartbroken to leave them behind but respect that they have their own lives to lead.

The younger 2 are aged 7 and 6 and will be coming with us. My son (7 year old) is obsessed with computers and play station games and I want a better quality of life for him than that.

I hate the cold and the snow, which is the main pull for me. Christmas day on the beach really appeals.

We're terrified and excited at the same time. I'm dreading the medical - i'm sure it'll be fine but there's always the "what if they find something wrong...?"

There are so many things that we don't know the answers to. This website is great as we're getting an idea of what it's really like - and we realise that we're not the only mad ones who sell up and head to the other side of the world.

74NZ

I lived in Wisconsin Dells for 12 months, had an awesome time. Bloody cold winters though

donnaf

Taupo is beautiful - Danny wanted to live there but we were too limited job wise but it will definitely be where we have our first holiday. We went on a helicopter ride while we there and it was one of the most amazing things we've done. Our kids are 10, 8 and 3 and I can honestly say that I think this will be life changing for them. We brought the X Box with us in our luggage as we thought it would give the kids something to do while we were getting sorted out but it is still in the bubble wrap in the bottom of the wardrobe, they haven't even asked for it.
Winnie who posts here has 2 daughters who are 18 or 19, one came to NZ, went back to the UK then returned to NZ and the other is in the UK, Karonious also has grown up sons in the UK. You never know, once they come to visit they might change their minds
We've found this site so valuable, I think one of the reasons we have settled so quickly has been the support we have had from people since arriving here particularly Poppets, Boopy and Wilma and Co so it is worthwhile finding out who is going to be local to you and keeping in touch with them.
You never know we miht get the chance to meet up when we come on our holidays

cathynclive

That sounds great. We won't know anyone out there when we arrive. Another thing that really appeals is the fact that everyone appears to be friendly and welcoming, and I keep hearing that New Zealanders are the friendliest people on the planet. We've lived in the same town most of our lives, we see the same people in the street every day and none of them speak to each other. We say hello to all our neighbours but that's all and we've lived in this house for over 16 years! Maybe it's just southerners that are like that over here (we live near Brighton).

I love the idea of a community spirit and the kids having friends over.

As for my older 2, my eldest says he'll come out when his girlfriend finishes uni in 2 years. My daughter has just started a hairdressing course and loves it. She did actually say that she'd come out when she finishes it but shes not happy about us coming out at the mo. I'm sure she'll come round though - hopefully.

donnaf

Hi Cathy,
start a thread to find out who is near you - we also organised a get together for a couple of weeks after we arrived to put names to faces and to meet people.
People are friendly and you'll meet mums at the school too, our school seems to do a lot to bring families together, although I must admit with the exception of a couple of people most of our friends are British Expats!
Beth had a sleepover after being in school about a week and Daniel has been over to friends and has had friends over - I think sleepovers are more a girl thing?
I'm sure you're daughter will come round - is there no chance she could transfer nd complete her course here?