yick pie eater

I initially went to NZ when i was on my OE in 2006 then took my current girlfriend out there on holiday in 2008. We decided to leave teaching and give it a go working over there on a work/travel visa in 2009, we did 12 months in Palmerston North, my girlfriend was not taking to the rural lifestyle and then she had a berevement in the family, making her go home. I stayed for another six weeks or so and then heading back to the UK and did a Masters degree in Manchester. After 12 months of looking for work I am now wanting to come back, was offered a job in Christchurch but after the recent quakes and my other half not wanting to go it is makng me miserable. I suppose I am a bit of a ping pong pom...

Pom_Chch

Yep I see what you mean. My uncle has never left the country and never had a passport. He doesn't want to leave his home town, even going for a weekend away in the UK is too much out of his comfort zone! I wonder what makes us all so different...

Snap Shot

I understand what you mean. I've also seen the word spelled,'speshul' to give it the meaning you meant, i.e. I'm special, I'm different, I'm better than the rest. That's no dig at special needs people. That's a tongue in cheek dig at people who think of themselves as different and therefore better.

Snap Shot

Then some people emigrate, settle and continue to do the same thing over and over again until they pop their clogs....just in a different country. How long can change last until it normalises and becomes mundane all over again ? Things only seem different during the settling process which is different for everyone. The relief of leaving things you didn't like behind you only lasts so long, until, as I said, local conditions normalise themselves.

People who emigrate can't stay permanently in their first (unstable, unhappy ?) months of arrival. Jobs change, kids grow up i.e. the stuff of change that makes all lives move on.

Pom_Chch

Not necessarily. For some people the relief will be short lived but others it will be permanent. My aunt and uncle went over to NZ as young adults and are still there now 40 years later with 2 grown up kids. Yes they have now normalised to local conditions as you say and they very much prefer it there to the UK.

love30stm

I wouldnt call Palmerston North a rural lifestyle??

yick pie eater

I suppose living in London and then Manchester you would consider Palmy to be rural, certainly not a great deal going on.

Whereas Auckland, Welly, Christchurch would have been better. I really like NZ, different cities for different reasons.

yick pie eater

I would think some things would be long term, I am unemployed and have been for two years since returning to the UK, in that time I have been offered jobs overseas but not taken them, that would be beneficial long term, the climate is better in NZ, the lifestyle is better for kids, less crime, more opportunity.

On thr flip side i agree you still need to get up and go to work wherever you are i the world and pay the bills...

love30stm

yes i guess so, Palmy seems more exiting than Wangas

scrubbedexpat094

Me.

Snap Shot

Sorry you're unemployed. I was unemployed for a year in Wanganui, NZ.

JaneRiley

That rings true also. I think we are normalising at the moment and didn't realise the extent to which we had normalised in NZ - which is probably why we are missing it. The jury is still out on our return. We are having a 'big talk' at the weekend...last time we did that we ended up buying the wrong sort of lawnmower so wish us luck

Snap Shot

Good luck Jane. Wrong sort of lawnmower I really did smile when I read that. We purchased a petrol lawnmower when the motor in our electric one died.

Hope the big talk ends in agreement. As far as I was concerned all I was doing when we moved to NZ was move house. Hopefully the 'exit strategy' should we ever leave NZ will be the same as how we left Britain.

ellenarosemary

With regard to your furniture, if its nice stuff and you like it and dont think you want to replace it - take it. Otherwise leave it behind and start again. Also its less than 2 months, ours being packed 24-26th oct and arriving mid december, so less than 8 weeks.

Good luck on whatever you decide - live your own life.

JaneRiley

When we shipped our first container it took 16 weeks as it went to Australia for 3 weeks - never found out why! We think it was waiting for a new ship to get it to NZ.