and its been a bit up and down but must say mostly ups.

I was very dubious about this move, husband had been wanting out of the UK for many years, coming up with places like Turks and Caicos, never heard of it before but he had seen it on something and decided he liked the look of it and even got a bit of contracting work from a company out there. But after being told it was best to be in certain area's as an expat I decided it would not be a place for us. We then looked at Australia, husbands profession being in IT it looked a good bet to get there, husband unfortunately does not have a degree in that area so had to basically do a dissertation of his career to date in IT, with references, job specs, courses, do an online exam etc. then pay out for it to be accessed. 6mths and a couple of thousand pounds down husband decides he cannot work in a country with such stupid internet rules and said it was a no go. He then looked at USA as has paternal Grandmother and aunt there, but that didn't give him any rights to apply. Emigrating was put on hold, or so we thought. I booked a family holiday to Florida to do the whole Disney, Sea World thing before the kids got to big, spent all the savings we had and some more and off we went last June and had a really great time.

On our return husband had handed in his notice and was looking for work, he got chatting to a guy on FB, Chris (don't ask) who just happened to live in NZ in a small place called Pukerua Bay and he offered for husband to go over and stay and have a look round. Husband got offered a job in UK but decided he like the idea of looking around the Wellington area so took Chris up on his offer and told the UK job offer he was not able to start until the beginning of October. So off husband goes at the beginning of Sept for a 3 week stay. Three weeks turned into not coming back. He landed on a Tuesday had a mooch around local area on the Wednesday, went into Wellington on the Thursday, popped into an agency just to introduce himself in person, he had sent CV to them whilst in the UK, got a job interview for the Friday and was offered the job on the Saturday, got Works Visa on the Monday and started.

Myself and the kids came out in January and waited for the summer, kept being told it would be a couple of weeks, then told February but obviously they meant March. Apparently the worse summer for many years and all down to us Poms turning up obviously. (please note this is said tongue in cheek by the Kiwi's we have met and have become good friends with).
Must say the place we landed in is just lovely unfortunately cannot say the same for the rental.
As husband was over here before us, and basically just showed me pics from the internet and as it was summer (yeh right) thoughts of double glazing and heating, shall I say lack of it, didn't really come into it. The rental was less than my standards of clean, which aren't high I feel, and the carpets where gross and holes in the wall from tenants before the previous tenants (obviously hidden when hubby viewed). did not do anything to make me want to stay in the place. Luckily MIL had paid for us to stay in a Hotel in Wellington for 3 nights when we got here so managed to organise a cleaning company to go into rental and clean. When trying to get the money, or at least some of it back for the clean the rental agent was less than forth coming stating it was fine as it was as far as she was concerned. I think my comment "well obviously my standard of hygiene is higher than yours" got us off to a bad footing.
So we move in, house in UK fell through on exchange day before we flew over so had all the hassle of getting that up and marketed again without being in the country. Luckily for us inlaws helped out and the place sold again in 3 weeks. Process of selling whilst out of the country was only made worse by a leak in the downstairs toilet sink which was discovered by buyers surveyor. Pictures of flood and bad weather made things tricky for a while but in the end and 800 pounds later it was sorted and we exchanged and completed at the end if March. So the start of looking for somewhere that had heating and double glazing was on as really could not cope with the weeping windows and useless electric heaters.

We came over without having the Bluey's in the visa but approached the school who were very helpful. We advised that things were very close and we expected to have them before on just at the start of term. After speaking to the relevant dept Head Mistress said kids could be enrolled and that we had 2 weeks or so to show the visa's.
Happily visa's were issued on 14th February

Kids settled well into school, we had managed to get a friend contact before we came over for them so they had at least someone they knew, sort of, to help settle them in.

I managed to get a temp job, covering Chris (guy husband stayed with) whilst he was off Hobbit'ing, at the After School Care at the kids school, so this gave them more contact with children in the area and me contact with some parents. Chris's Hobbit'ing went more into full time so it was agreed that I would take on his role permanently and he would take on the reserve role, so I became the Assistant Supervisor, woot.

Husbands job has been a pain in the bum to be honest, its a start up company and the hours are long and often carry on at home but I suppose we shouldn't complain as it was the reason we got out here, and even 6mths on its a bone of contention but he enjoys the work.

Waiting for the container to turn up did cause a minor blow out from me, which took me completely by surprise, and still can't really explain why. Being in an unknown place, in a rental I didn't particularly like, not having your own stuff around and having to sit on camping chairs, sleep on a mattress on the floor and not being able to just walk into the living room and sit on a sofa and read is the only explanation for it. It wasn't as if people weren't helping us out, being friendly and kind and even having met some great people on here to ask questions and get advise from. I can honestly say we have been very fortunate in being in this community and having great BE people close by but it still got to me.

Having sold the house in the UK the need to be out of the rental and into our own home was the next priority, question was do we buy or do we look for a better rental and save the extra money rather than paying a mortgage. Then do we stay in the Bay of move out a bit. Wanting to have some animals meant buying would be a lot easier and meant we could do what we wanted with the property and just seemed to make it feel more "real" that we where here, could stay and make a life for the family.

After looking at a few, then deciding on a new build we started the process, husband got started on his 3D modelling to get things just right with the builder, unfortunately the Estate Agent was a bit of a nightmare and kept stating we couldn't move things, remove things, make the windows higher, despite the fact the build was only just starting and said we had to put everything through her and she would speak to the builder. Wasn't to happy about that so contacted the builder direct, yes without estate agents permission and got chatting. During this time another agent contacted us and told us about a house just down the road from the new build, lowed on the hill so scenery not quite as nice but 100k less. We went and looked and was hooked. Called the Solicitor, who was waiting on the go ahead for offer on the new build, and told her new build was off and we had found something else. After a nail biting Thursday night, Friday morning the purchase price and conditions were agreed. 15days later we were contracted to purchase the property and moved in the weekend of the 6th July, got the puppy and kitten on 9th July and now taking the time to unpack and set the house up as we would like it to become our home.

I feel we have been very very fortunate in the area we ended up in, with the community of the Bay area, with the BE people close by and those online. With all the support we have had from family back in the UK and people we have met here. I'm not well travelled, like a home life and spending time with the family, I personally was not unhappy in the UK but can't say I was happy just plodding along but I can say with hand on heart that this move, unexpected as it was has opened up more opportunities for us all. Who's to say if we had looked for it in the UK we might of found it but I don't think we could of afforded a detached 4 bedroom house, in a small friendly community close to a Bay and within 10-30mins drive of 5 beaches. Hill walks just outside the front door, views looking out onto the hills with sheep meandering around there.

I came with an open mind, do not compare things to the UK as we aren't there so what's the point, try to get involved it seems to work for us.

Great post Mrs F!

You seem to have covered most things, thorough as ever!

How long was your wait for the container once it landed? Ours is due on the 4th August, but we have no idea how long MAF and customs will take....

We hopefully move into our new place mid August...

Anna

Container was late arriving into Wellington by about 2 weeks.
arrived in Wellington 28th February
delivered 13th March
car took longer, note no one use VTNZ at Porirua they are useless, rip the car apart literally now my boot doesn't shut properly, the rubber seals on the doors keep needing to be reseated and various other minor problems caused by their "inspection"

Great post! it covers it all - the good the bad and the ugly. You seem to have tried to make the most of the experience. "camping" in your home for weeks on end is no fun - nothing like being able to curl up on the sofa in a bit of comfort and feeling settled. Best of all - I like how you have tried your hardest not to compare it to the UK!

I loved reading through your post & that despite the trials & tribulations, you are feeling very positive.