blandford

Well hubby has been here three months and was lucky enough to stay with friends while he started his new job. My daughter and I followed on and have been here a month. What a whirlwind it has been. We took possession of the house that we had bought two weeks ago and two days later the contents of our container arrived. Well at least most of it, someone either in the UK or here has managed to loose three boxes and we are still awaiting delivery of the last few items that had to follow in a shared container as we couldn't fit everything of ours in a 40 foot container!

My horse arrives out of quarantine Saturday and the three dogs follow in October.

We are very very lucky as we knew the area pretty well and have good friends here already. So already there is lots of socialising and we have even been on a skiing weekend too. Our 5yo daughter has settled in really well at school and has joined local swimming and tennis lessons so life is non-stop!

It's lovely now to be able to enjoy life and tackle the garden as the first few weeks were crazy with sorting out bank accounts, buying a car, insurance, gas, electricity, drivers licence, removals companies, etc etc.

Still spend most of my time in shock in the supermarket at the prices and I know everyone says you have to stop comparing to the UK prices but it is difficult.

So - so far so good, bring on the summer! Haven't had time to feel homesick yet but I know it will hit hard soon.

Sue

Seems you've hit the ground running.

Glad that everything looks like it is slotting into place for you.

MrsFychan

sounds very busy, lets hope it slows down a bit for you all now.

pippalonghorn

welcome to New Zealand. Sound like you have made a good start! Long may it continue.

BEVS

Crikey. That does sound like a right whirlwind. Fair play to you.

Pics of horse and dogs would be lovely to see.

Does the horse fly out ? I don't mean like Pegasus.

lisamct

That just made me spit my tea out all over my laptop

Pothy

Welcome to NZ Blandford - fellow horse lover. Was fascinated to see you have brought your horse and what made you decide to bring him/her? Would be interested to know your take on owning a horse in NZ compared to UK? For a start where does everyone ride? I can count the number of times on one hand that I have seen people riding on the roads so where do they all go! In the UK we used to ride on the country roads, through bridle paths and on farmland - it was fantastic! I am also disappointed with dog walking areas too here in NZ!

I have never stopped comparing the prices between here and the UK and I've been here 6 years - I know a rip off when I see one. Surely NZ is nearer to China than the UK is so that "it's so far to transport goods" doesn't wash with me!

Look forward to hearing more about your horse and dogs - my two passions in life but still think UK is the best place in the world for horses and dogs!

Hazelnut

Sounds like all is going to plan, probably a bit of a chaotic one but it sounds positive. As someone else who's thinking of bringing their horse if they move out to NZ I'll watch your updates with interest.

I'm another keen Happy Hacker and I've been warned that riding outside an arena isn't possible in most areas, let us know how it goes for you. I have 50km of off road trails behind the house we currently live in so I've been a bit spoilt recently.

blandford

Re the horse riding - we chose the house we bought with the riding available very much in mind. The riding here is amazing, all the road verges are so wide and I have met lots of new friends with horses so we all ride together and we are allowed on the local farmer's land too so we can go for miles and miles up the big hills.

Re - the dogs, our property has 5 acres so they don't need much walking by the time they have chased each other round there! They are flying over at the moment and can't wait to collect them out of quarantine.

I am very very lucky that I have brought my horse with us but as my hubby knew - it may the make or break as regards to homesickness and happiness here so he agreed that my horse could come too.

BEVS

Quite right too. We do so love our animals.

Catchafire

Hi and welcome to NZ. Awesome you have brought your horse! My wife has two horses and drives Clydesdales as her work.

We have plenty of information on shipping dog/cats, but never horses!

If you have a moment, do you think you could let us know how that works?

blandford

to ship a horse from the UK - 3 weeks quarantine in the UK usually near Newmarket and then 2 weeks quarantine here. They require a lot of blood tests etc and IRT deal with all the paperwork. All transport goes through IRT in England and IRT handle it here. Very expensive but for me it was worth it. My horse coped with the flight no problem at all but he is very laid back!

Catchafire

Fantastic! Awesome hill country for you to get lost in!

Pothy

Hi Hazlenut - NZ is quite disappointing with regards to riding unless you are lucky like Blandford and have a horse friendly land owner close by. I can honestly say that I can count the number of times on one hand I have seen people out riding in 6 years! There are huge grass verges but the speed limit is still 100km on all rural roads so not much fun. The other problem with NZ is there isn't the network of country roads and I think I worked out that to do a road circuit from where I lived (not that I would way too dangerous) it was something like 44km's! My neighbour was a dairy farmer which means small electric fenced paddocks with all the gates electrified! Having said that if you take your time and really search there are areas where you can ride but a lot of people have to truck there.

Catchafire

My wife has joined the local trail riding club, but we also live in rural location. So she has lots of riding options, straight out of the paddock. From vineyards to high country.

All depends on where you live I guess.