One year update
Nov 17th 2012, 4:23 am
#1
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 82
One year update
Cannot believe it has been a year since we arrived! These are my thoughts on our adventure so far...
This was always my idea and my lovely hubby was unsure. I worked as a community nurse for the NHS. I don't want to be deterimental about the NHS so all I can say is that I was very tired, working long hours and my workload was increasing. It was time for change....
I completed my nursing registration which was fairly expensive including two attempts at the ielts exam and signed up with an nursing recruitment.
Following a lengthy telephone interview I was lucky to secure a job in the area my hubby wanted The Bay of Plenty.
So we arrived with 2 suitcases and 10 days to find a place to live before I started work. This was the most stressful part for me. I was unwell with a cold and my hay fever kicked in straightaway. There were not many rentals available and I was anxious about starting work. Luckily my new boss lent us her house for a month as she was going away. This gave us some breathing space to find a place to live. We found a great house 10 minutes walk away from my work a couple of weeks later.
Work has been one huge learning curve. I'm a mental health nurse and have spent most of my career working in the community. I now work on a mental health ward with a lot of general nursing. Consequently I have been out of my comfort zone 80% of the time and in the first few months I regularly went home in tears. The team have been fantastic and I've had so many new opportunities to learn new skills in specialist areas including diabetes care,
wound care and palliative care.
We love living here and especially enjoy the climate. My hubby retired when we moved here and is having the time of his life! He enjoys walking, photography and fishing. We also have a small plot of garden with some friends so he is busy planting at the moment.
We have been lucky to have some great friends from all over the world. We really enjoy the social aspect of our friends bringing a plate and sharing food together. I particulary like the fact that our friends treat our home as their own and we all muck in together (especially when they wash up!)
Since moving here we've both become more active. I'm now part of a running team and have taken part in 4 events. These have been great ways of meeting people. We didn't have a car for the first 8 months so walked or caught the bus.
So what can I tell you about living here? These are simply my observations: It's not cheap and I'm not going to repeat what others have said about food prices just to add we buy what is in season. We only buy other stuff if we need it and then when the sales are on. I buy a lot of books online as it's cheaper.
NZ doesn't feel celebrity focused. The people I know don't have the latest phone and gadgets. It doesn't matter what you look like and barefoot is the way to go!
Shopping isn't a national past time here We are more likely to be doing stuff outside. I no longer spend my Saturday's in a shopping centre.
NZ is a incredibly beautiful country and the beaches never seem to be busy.
I moved here with my life reduced to a suitcase full of belongings. I learnt that you can have all the latest gadgets and a house full of stuff but the important things are the simple things ie having a roof over your head and a warm place to sleep.
My darling hubby was so reluctant to come here but now wouldn't move back
to the UK. I don't know what the future holds for us but right now we are happy.
Oh and I've just been offered a community job!
This was always my idea and my lovely hubby was unsure. I worked as a community nurse for the NHS. I don't want to be deterimental about the NHS so all I can say is that I was very tired, working long hours and my workload was increasing. It was time for change....
I completed my nursing registration which was fairly expensive including two attempts at the ielts exam and signed up with an nursing recruitment.
Following a lengthy telephone interview I was lucky to secure a job in the area my hubby wanted The Bay of Plenty.
So we arrived with 2 suitcases and 10 days to find a place to live before I started work. This was the most stressful part for me. I was unwell with a cold and my hay fever kicked in straightaway. There were not many rentals available and I was anxious about starting work. Luckily my new boss lent us her house for a month as she was going away. This gave us some breathing space to find a place to live. We found a great house 10 minutes walk away from my work a couple of weeks later.
Work has been one huge learning curve. I'm a mental health nurse and have spent most of my career working in the community. I now work on a mental health ward with a lot of general nursing. Consequently I have been out of my comfort zone 80% of the time and in the first few months I regularly went home in tears. The team have been fantastic and I've had so many new opportunities to learn new skills in specialist areas including diabetes care,
wound care and palliative care.
We love living here and especially enjoy the climate. My hubby retired when we moved here and is having the time of his life! He enjoys walking, photography and fishing. We also have a small plot of garden with some friends so he is busy planting at the moment.
We have been lucky to have some great friends from all over the world. We really enjoy the social aspect of our friends bringing a plate and sharing food together. I particulary like the fact that our friends treat our home as their own and we all muck in together (especially when they wash up!)
Since moving here we've both become more active. I'm now part of a running team and have taken part in 4 events. These have been great ways of meeting people. We didn't have a car for the first 8 months so walked or caught the bus.
So what can I tell you about living here? These are simply my observations: It's not cheap and I'm not going to repeat what others have said about food prices just to add we buy what is in season. We only buy other stuff if we need it and then when the sales are on. I buy a lot of books online as it's cheaper.
NZ doesn't feel celebrity focused. The people I know don't have the latest phone and gadgets. It doesn't matter what you look like and barefoot is the way to go!
Shopping isn't a national past time here We are more likely to be doing stuff outside. I no longer spend my Saturday's in a shopping centre.
NZ is a incredibly beautiful country and the beaches never seem to be busy.
I moved here with my life reduced to a suitcase full of belongings. I learnt that you can have all the latest gadgets and a house full of stuff but the important things are the simple things ie having a roof over your head and a warm place to sleep.
My darling hubby was so reluctant to come here but now wouldn't move back
to the UK. I don't know what the future holds for us but right now we are happy.
Oh and I've just been offered a community job!
Nov 17th 2012, 5:56 am
#2
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 696
Re: One year update
What a great update, sounds like the gamble paid off for you (plus hard graft).
Nov 23rd 2012, 8:21 pm
#4
Movin on
Joined: Apr 2012
Location: Christchurch
Posts: 193
Re: One year update
Fantastic!!! This is exactly the reason we want to come!
Nov 28th 2012, 10:56 am
#5
221b Baker Street
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: Miles from anywhere, Victoria, Australia.
Posts: 14,125
Re: One year update
to the OP: Glad to hear that things are going well for you. 
Dec 1st 2012, 5:27 am
#6
Forum Regular
Joined: Feb 2012
Location: North Island
Posts: 153
Re: One year update
great update, let us know how the community role go's
