Stormer999

I made a list of why I want out of the UK and into NZ. It's on this pc and I visit it sometimes........nothing has changed (both lists may have grown). Any pangs I get are just the natural feeling that I am missing something, they will decline with time.

Persephone

Hard to tell as I think most of us don't post everything about our lives and reasons on here.
I did leave for an adventure as I'm not sure how else I would describe it - it's not your typical migrant story As such I cannot really relate to those who were desperate to leave the UK or to come to NZ. I can understand but I did not feel that urge My life was actually very similar in both countries. For me, it was a case of give it a go, nothing to lose. My plans were to return to the UK if it all went pear shaped!

But yes you can never predict exactly how you'll feel when you live in a different country

Snap Shot

I agree with Dannigirl and Persephone.

Especially Dannigirl's remark regarding how honest some people are about their reasons for emigrating. I don't say that to make anyone's hackles rise, either.

Some people don't so much emigrate as run away from what's gone wrong with their life. Re-invent themselves. A fresh start ? Nothing wrong with that. I just wonder why the fresh start was needed and how honest they are being with themselves. Especially when they expect the fresh start to carry them through with little or no effort from themselves. Like on those relocate to a different country programmes on t.v.

When my husband said simply, 'we could sell this house and buy one in New Zealand outright and live mortgage free. We both get jobs and have more disposable income'.

I didn't do much more than shrug my shoulders and say, 'ok'. As far as I'm concerned, all I really did was move house. (He has history in NZ since emigrating with his family from Britain in the 1960's which I don't have. I told him this might come between us. That was yet something else he wasn't prepared to entertain.)

If it worked, I didn't want to miss out ! My husband wouldn't really entertain the idea of it not working. Kiwi's returning to NZ. What can I say

Suffice to say, he's had a steep learning curve !

If the only thing that would stop him griping about moving to NZ was to move to NZ then that explains why I agreed. Did I do it to teach him a lesson ? Me ? Surely not !

I didn't want to be the, 'bad guy' for saying no. I didn't want a sour atmosphere between us (for months, drifting into years) until I eventually told him to go to New Zealand, or anywhere, just go. Preferably via the divorce lawyers office.

Emotional blackmail. Nah, surely not. I hadn't heard the expression, 'the emotional gun' until recently. I have been known to say, in the heat of the moment, 'the next time you hold the emotional gun to my head, I will tell you to pull the effing trigger'.

kodachrome

I'm wondering now was this the intent of this thread... A consensus based on this thread paints an incredibly bleak view of immigration to NZ..

Tom1983

Oh I was over the moon to leave the UK and my goodness, going back would mean going back to the problems I wanted to get away from.

I think for us, it's because of the changes to our lifes that is what is making us consider returning. Also, the recent legislation changes etc. We've been here 21 months, we know cost of living is expensive but we get by. But when you see items of importance that change, then sometimes you have to put personal issues aside and think what is best for everyone, not for you, not not for family, but for everyone.

You can never predict what the future holds for you and if something changes for the negative, you have to deal with it. I'm sure there'll be plenty of pros an cons when the 1st November comes and d-day hits for us whether to apply or not to apply.

dannigirl

Too true about not posting everything about our lives, especially our own personal baggage. Like Snapshot's husband I have had a rather steep learning curve coming back. I definitely had personal baggage coming back to NZ (not that i particularly realised at the time). I've realised that my family is quite dysfunctional - not in a bad or abusive way, but there are things I definitely don't like about it i.e my brother is of the harden up or eff off camp! I now realise I quite living away from them!

Our day to day lives are very similar too (blimmin' children impeding our social life mostly ) but there are, as ever, pros and cons to each country.

I wasn't trying to have a dig at anyone in particular, just that there seems to be an awful amount of people out for the "adventure". So...my confession is....I really felt NZ would give us a better lifestyle for our young family, and it has hands down. But the cost of that IMHO is less exposure to "the world", potentially growing up insular, parochial, thinking NZ is the best country in the world and not being open minded. I was probably quite like this . I've now seen the light, and I don't mean to criticise anyone raising children in NZ at all, or other peoples' choices, but for us we think raising our children back in the UK is what we will do, mostly because of our close relationships with family over there (and before mentioned reasons and some others).

Jan n Neil

My great job over here, the weather, my lovely home and garden, and our four dogs, all makes me stay here. There are new friends I would miss a lot if I left.

All the above in no particular order.

Neil says he stays in NZ cos I'm here.

Simple

Jan

PS we live near Christchurch and it hasn't been easy emotionally, but loads of stuff is not easy..... in loads of countries

shelloid

We're better off financially, have a better house and big garden, have good friends, good jobs.
We were ready to move away from London and it was getting to the depressing stage where OH just could not get work, so we thought we'd give NZ a go and luckily we both love it. It's also given us a change enough to change or life style to a slightly more outdoors-y one.....I just don't know if moving somewhere else in the UK would have given us that mentality change.

JaneRiley

see my last post - I think the saying is 'fonder' not stronger! and yes, Dannigirl, I think a lot of people think NZ will be like home with sun and people playing sport all day and growing their own veg. Someone I met did say that to me. I expected some nirvana of an eco-friendly green and pleasant land. Naive idiot! hey ho!

Persephone

Families can be a pain in the arse sometimes

I didn't take it as a dig at anyone and certainly not at me. However I was aware my post could come across that way and deliberately tried to make it less so. I do agree that very few people would come all this way just for 'adventure' in its own right. There is usually something else driving it whether that be a better life, a more outdoors life, a job opportunity or for various reasons they want to leave the UK. Some are pushed and some are pulled to NZ.
My adventure could well have failed but it did not and we are now married. You could say I came for relationship reasons [via a Peruvian holiday romance!] or you could describe it as a two year long bout of insanity where I decided to do something totally out of character

pixiewink

Got no money to go home!

shocked kiwi

Well I'm a kiwi with british grandparents, grew up in chch, lived and worked in the uk for 10 years and then came back to NZ. I was in chch for all the earthquakes and it was heartbreaking to see what happened especially to Sumner and Redcliffs (where I grew up) but at the same time is was an experience that not many people in the world get to have and it makes you look at the world differently that's for sure ( I can't abide any b.s now) Both my primary school and my high school have been closed forever.

I came back to Nz as the cost of living used to be way cheaper here than the uk and europe and easy to buy a house if you wanted etc. Within the last 5-10 years or so that's changed big time and the wages have stayed the same and have not risen to meet the cost of living.I miss being able to travel easily as the uk seems to be in the centre of everything whereas nz is isolated. There are so many places I want to travel to again and yet flying 30 hours with 3 stopovers is unappealing. In the Uk one plane ride and you are in africa or india. I never understood how so many brits had never travelled. It's in the blood, the wonderlust that kiwis have - maybe because of the isolation!

In a global world it's not fair to be having to pay for everything in kiwi dollars - so much better to be earning uk dollars. Mobile phone usage is very expensive in nz and it costs you $35 for every doctors visit,and that's not including the drugs and then they start you off on the lowest dose for what you need and they then say "you can come back it this drug doesn't work and then we will try a stronger drug" so then you have to pay another $35 . The doctors should not make money out of illness I don't reckon.And the dentist is very expensive. Try buying a house in Auckland where the average house price in Auckland is approx $600k, so you need $200k for the deposit.(100 thousand pounds)

Bo-Jangles

Unappealing, yes, very much so. We were extremely well travelled in the UK and have been across the globe and back, dozens of times, but I make you right, the very thought of that 30 hour journey fills me with absolute dread.

The cost of getting out of NZ is the ultimate limiting factor for us and we simply can no longer afford the lifestyle we were accustomed to.

Kuandika

To be honest there seemed little point in hanging on to the mines when demand had dropped and cheaper coal could be imported. It would have been like churning out millions of gas mantles!
I live in Mexico but have family in NZ which I think is a great place to be.
Bear in mind there is NO Utopia.
One point you didn't mention was the relentless demands/threats/insistence on laws being changed on the part of one aggressive religion.
Any criticism never fails to bring accusations of "Racism" and "Xenophobia' which have now become threadbare. In the last sixty years people from all over the world have settled in Britain, enjoyed the freedoms and its culture and even added to the latter.
ONE group alone has remained totally apart and ungrateful, constantly simmering as they try to impose change on their hosts, frequently informing us how much they dislike our culture, yet taking full advantage of it having escaped their own repressive regimes.
I began to find I was gradually becoming increasingly angry about this and felt the need to get away.
I predict that there will be street violence in a few years.
Only 2 weeks ago a friend walking home in Victoria, London, was following a group of four young people, two of which were girls rather poorly dressed for the chill evening. A band of young Muslims rushed on them shouting at them to go away and change since this was an area "under Sharia law".
Can you imagine any similarly-minded people even THINKING of behaving in such a way in the Middle East?

Tom1983

Right, I can safely say these jokers that do this are just attention seekers

I used to live near a place called Leyton and one day the Standard and a few other reporters produced a story about this converted Muslim putting sharia law controlled zone posters up. It was quite funny at the time

Well football day came and off the wife and I go to meet a few of our friends as we were playing Leyton Orient that day. As it was quite a nice mild January, the beers were flowing outside the pub in this so called controlled zone. My wife and I (not even engaged at the time) were holding hands on route

Now there must have been a large group of football fans outside mizing whilst the beers were flowing. No bother at all - the locals were finding it quite funny, saying you'll annoy **** (forgotten his name). It wasn't surprising that he did come out shouting at the fans to stop drinking outside and shouted at non married people who were holding hands, even shouted at women who weren't covered. When he got soaked with ale, beer and lager, it was one of the funniest things you'll ever see. Even the muslims were finding it funny when he walked back to his trough soaking wet

All it is, is attention seeking. Sharia Law despite what Tommy clueless Robinson says, will never ever be bought into England (although I do agree with their methods to punish kiddy fiddlers). They can say whatever they like, it'll never ever happen

Made up for a 4-0 defeat at Brisbane Road