Genesis

What do you think you will gain or benefit from by coming to NZ?

I ask because there is much to consider. I think most of us now know that NZ as a whole has heaps of BIG problems, domestic violence, drink culture (a bad one!), drink drive, terrible road casualties, the drug 'P', child abuse, general random violence..the list goes on.

We came out here in April 2005, somewhat niave about all the latter or just how much there was over here. However we left such a shite part of our 'shire that we found all things rosy in our little slice of NZ.

Inspite of all NZ's warts we have found a better life in every respect bar missing friends and family. We are better off, feel safer, work much less and our children are having a way better time than we know they would have in the crap park behind our house which was full of grafitti, broken bottles, yobby kids, drug dealers and the such like.

We have a beach 35 mins away, skiing 3 hours, white water rafting on our doorstep and more affordable things to do (especially as a family) than I have ever had available to me in my 49 years of life.

Our new life in NZ has been awesome mainly because our lives here (in every respect) in no way resemble what we left behind. We got totally new existences. We have so much space, everywhere, mountain views from the back garden, stuff that in middle England I would have had to drive 5 hours to reach rather than 15 minutes.

We have a fair bit of crime in Palmy, but somehow as someone else said...its here but not in your face like it was back in the old country.

What do you hope to gain by leaving the UK?

teambwr47

Very good post indeed.......

We came for the lifestyle and ability for my wife to be working close enough to home to allow her to have time with her family.....

The latter was i think key to our decision to come here after our look see trip and realising how possible it all was.

We lived in a lovely area of the Wye Valley in the UK but my wife's job only existed in the very heart of London meaning a 2 hour+ trip to work every day by car/train/tube or her staying in a flat we had close to St.Pauls which typically meant she'd work 12hr+ days.

We were never going to move to the south east so we looked elsewhere and NZ had what we wanted with much more thrown in.

We like you, know the problems but we feel safer and certainly happier here by a huge margin. We now live about 30mins max in traffic from my wife's office and we spend virtually every evening together as a family and the working day is sooo much shorter.

Add in all the things we've found to do locally and this place has us hooked..

This weekend my wifes been out in Clevedon with her boss and groom hacking polo ponies around the Ness Valley, I've raced around Pukekohe on a mates motorcycle, kids have been to a butterfly park, we all went to a polo match and we've meet yet more extremely friendly people.


UK v NZ........... no contest New Zealand wins.

garryhg

we came purely for the adventure,it was never a life long dream,in fact oh noticed job,applied,got interview,and we were all here within 12 weeks.....it all happened so fast that everyone back home were in shock,so were we .....

never said we were emigrating,just going on an exciting adventure and we will just see what happens.....

had a good life in scotland,lived in a lovely quiet little village....having a good life here,but do miss extended family....but who knows what tomorrow will bring,so you have to jump at every oportunity you can in life...and even if we do go back to scotland in the future,what an experience for us as a family.....and the kids can see there is more to life than 2 weeks in majorca in july...jacky

Wessa

This is a good post for us to watch, seeing as we are still in the uk.
So please be as honest as you can guys..

banshigirl

What an excellent post Jackie (karma given)

We are just about to start our adventure and I, personally can't wait.

happynz

...

Jude J

I have recently been thinking about this. My cousin was visiting us for a couple of days and said that she wished she was as brave as we had been moving out here. At the time I didn't see it as being brave, but I guess it was really. We hadn't done much research at all, had nowhere to live, didn't know a soul, didn't bring any stuff, didn't have much money, just our two kids aged 13 and 15.

We wanted the same as everyone else, adventure and something different for ourselves and our kids.
We certainly got it! My kids are now 5 years older, one is living with mates and at uni. The other is going to finish school at the end of the year by which time she will be 18.5 and is hoping to have enough savings to do her OE before coming back and starting uni.
We also had an interloper 3 years ago, a suprise baby that we are delighted with!
Although we did buy a house we have since sold it as the payments were so high. We have a little rental and plan to keep it that way. We have an oldish car each and no savings. But, I am happier than I have ever been. I enjoy my life and dont really give a toss about what I have or haven't got, I have everything I need right here.
Apart from my mum, dad, sisters and bestest friend in the whole world.

irnbru14

Cool! Fall into a similar boat (have I just mixed my metaphors there?) in that I took time off back in 2006 to see some of the USA, NZ and Aus, the plan was to take the 6 months out, get the slight restlessness and urge to do something different out of my system and then go home and maybe settle. It didn't quite work that way, for whatever reasons I never got NZ out of my thoughts when I got back, within a few months I had made contact with a few companies and then was offered a job here in Welly, said yes, then went throught the WTR visa process and here I am, having landed in October!

I am trying to have no pre-conceptions of what I want out of my time here, work is good so far, love living in Welly, people all seem friendly and started to make some new friends!

Just spent that last hour or so sitting out on my balcony in the sun, having been at the 20 Twenty cricket yesterday ($10 and sit out in the sunshine for a few hours!) can't do that in Edinburgh at this time of year!

Basically I have 2 and a bit years of a visa here, I just want to enjoy the lifestyle that it offers and try something different, no pressure really, if at anypoint I fancy a change I will and I can, if after 2 years I want to stay I will go for residency, just trying to enjoy what this offers me really and so far its been rather fun!!!

ned

Just doing my Colonial duty

garryhg

[QUOTE=banshigirl;5815440]What an excellent post Jackie (karma given)

We are just about to start our adventure and I, personally can't wait.[/QUOT

gl on your adventure,i hope its everything you wanted it to be....jacky

crap coffee

No Reasons (for me)...

The Irony of Fate? , I would think

My Dad decided to come to New Zealand (a climate similar to the UK and Kiwis are definitely the friendliest?) however Mum (originally) wanted to Settle in Vancouver, Canada

Dad won (at the end)

so I am here...


Both my parents seem to be happy enough spending their days here the same way that I do.

pascalr

I backpacked around South East Asia, Australia and NZ when I was a lot younger and more naive. I had the best time and loved working and travelling my way around oz and nz.

When I returned to the uk I decided it was somehow no longer for me and decided to try and settle in this part of the world. So here I am waiting for my nz citizenship before jumping the ditch to oz!

owen

Like crap coffee, mine was also fate.

Meant to be going to Canada, got distracted by NZ by visiting my sister who moved here 4 yrs ago. While on holiday here, got offered a job and came purely for the opportunity of the adventure. Don't think I will be spending the rest of my days here though, too much world - too little time.

And remember, every country has its problems. Utopia is difficult to find

CAN2NZ

We came because we wanted to. No real reason other than it looked like a interesting place to live. Not much interested in North Island though, except maybe Taranaki. I love living here on the South Island. We didn't come for the money, but hope that we will have enough.

wildbean

Witness Protection Programme