British Expats - 8 years today .

Well @ 5,20 pm today we landed at Dunedin airport in 2005 , :) enjoyed every day of this challenge , family are all happy and well settled and have our countryside home, are life in uk would have been so so different if we had of stayed , yes. I miss my family , but what we have created here in NZ is far more than if we had of stayed .

My home county of Dorset is stunning and beautiful and I miss it dearly the purbecks and it's coves and villages are firmly embedded in my mind and memories , in NZ we have made more memories and some places like central otago are firmly embedded in my memory and like the purbecks , they are favourites of ours.

Our daughter who was 8 when we came out is now 16 and about to head back to poole after 5 years since the last time we all went back , Martha had asked to return to visit my mum and dad , they are not to good of health and nearly 80 , so this will probably be her last time she sees them alive , so she is going back for 3 weeks with her boyfriend , staying with relies and planning trips to London and places we used to go as a family. I am a bit jealous as I would have loved to have gone to.

If my dear old dad makes 80 next April I will do a surprise visit for that occasion .
My wife and I have gained awesome well payed jobs at corrections , and enjoy the challenges that come our way each day , we have found a good work life balance , we live out of town and have peace and quiet , we could not have afforded a place like this in dorset , so have achieved some of our goals in life.

Our 22 year old goddaughter came to stay feb this year and with the awesome summer we had down here , we took her and showed her as much of South Island as we could in 4 weeks she was here .

my in laws visit every Christmas since we moved here and it's always a pleasure to see them and have the here . My bro in law and wife live in invercargil and have been here in NZ nearly as long as us.

So after 8 years would we go back ? Hell no! Is there any thing for us in uk ? Not really , do we regret any thing from moving here ? Hell no.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and if I had it back then would I do anything different ! Yes I would have probably looked into things about NZ more.

Apart from that we have loved every minute of living here , met made many new friends and seen some awesome things and places , NZ is still raw and rugged and behind in places , but that's why we love it.

Here's to more wonderful times and adventures .

Life is not a rehearsal , we are only here for a short time and none of us know how long for ? If you want different things out of your lives and want change and challenges , then look no further and come and enjoy.

Nige, Karla and Martha who flew south from Poole Dorset may 2005 to Dunedin NZ today @ 5,20 pm .