Fooferfish

Well its six weeks to go, we cant wait, i know you should't wish time away !!! But !

We went to a party near where we are moving to and met all the locals, have been offered every thing from cattle to sheep to dogs and pony rides for the daughter, bloody awesome.

I suppose we were lucky in the first place in 05 when we moved here, we had been through negitive equity back late 80s in UK and lost heaps, moved and got heaps back, so we used it to fund our next part of our lives in NZ, my wife got to choose what she wanted to do and graduated last year as a counsellor and has just got her Practising licence, that was wondeful to watch her graduate, makes all the hard work worth while, we did not have a plan of any sort, just chilled out and went woth the flow of things, i have always wanted a career, professional type of work and this year i joined the Department of Corrections as a Prison Officer and TBH its the best job i have ever had, its bloody awesome, so this year we have both got new jobs, sold the house and about to move to the country side away from nieghbours, and into what we hope will be our next faze of our lives in NZ, its been a long hard slog, well not that much but, its been a long time coming, and as ive said before i am no proffessor, graduate, i have some trade quals, and great work ethics, and for a basic guy like me, i think we have done very well, we came here with an open mind and have just done our best, with what we have and what we do, i have never been one for flash houses or cars, and not that much into material possessions, just like to see and do things that can bring us great memories in the future, this next place will be an andventure for us all as we have never lived in the Wop wops, and the house is bigger than we ever had before, so all new and great chance to test ourselves again, and its not like we are moving to the other side of the world ay !!Been there done that !

MY theory on life is like a record is playing music and whilst the music is playing we should dance to it . So we are dancing hard !!!!

So for those of you who are doing this move to NZ, believe in yourselves, its tough and the first 2 years are the worse or hardest, come with an open mind, leave UK theory behind, anything is possible, its a great place to bring up kids, if you want it, go for it.

Nige

Fooferfish

Its nearly here !!!!!!! went out to measure up curtains on Sunday at our new house, bloody hell it was awesome, the country side, OMG, we are soooooo wanting to move in, 18th Dec its coming closer yippeeee, cant wait to sit on the deck and have a cold beer, and celabrate our move, have been looking at the pictures of the hall before they converted it, bloody amazing, also been looking for the old pictures, of the old school house that stood on the site on 1863, we are going to collect as many as we can as the place has some history.

Roll on 18th.

spankysparkle

SOSOSO happy or you Fooferfish!!
whoop-whoop! only 17 sleeps to go and then you will live your dream. Well done :0)
don't forget the pics!

strawbie

lovely positive post Nige!! You sound so happy. Its abit depressing on here sometimes, which is why I havent been on for so long really, everyones different and i think if you are positive and strong as a family then that goes a long way! I'm pretty sure my hubby and 3 children will make NZ our home when the time comes, though I'm anticipating rocky patches!!

Fooferfish

One more week to go yyyyyyyyyyyyyiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiipppppppppppppeeeeeee eeeeee

BEVS

I am looking forward to the pics of this. I remain so really very pleased for you and yours, as I have followed your journey from the beginning.

Fooferfish

Hey Marion, fello Dorsetonian, i will get onto it asap went to mates near by our new place last night for a BBQ and before we did BBQ he took me shootinf for rabbits on his 80acre farm, i think i know what i want next, gun licence is on the way, and he has offered to take me Deer hunting, i think i am getting more Kiwi fied every day got to get one of those cheqered shirts next and some stubbies to wear

Will try and do some town pics and the next country place shots, 3 more sleeps to go.

Fooferfish

Well we are in the new house, picked the in laws up from airport on Tuesday and our daughter told them " we have a surprise for you when we get home ?" and we also told them i had to pick up some paperwork from a collegue, but when we pulled into the driveway, our daughter said to them " we are home now" you should have seen the look on their faces it was a picture

Well the house move went well and thanks to George and others who helped us do the move oursleves, George drove the truck as he has a HT licence, and worked like a Trojan, Cheers George, youre a legend, at least our house was flat to move into ay ?

First night i was knackered and guess what at 4.30am next moring we were awoken by the glorious sound of our rooster, and then the dawn chorus, then the cows, and then the magpies lol lol lol so i got up at 5 am

The house used to be a village hall, and was converted 9 years ago to a 4 bed 220m2 awsome insulated house, its huge, gas hot water and cooking, bloody awesome, 1 acre of gardens we can add loads of native plants to, a huge double garage workshop, i ride on mower, chooks, ducks, Blue herons nesting in the trees, and wild life all around, we are now 30 mins from Dunedin ina warmer climate, nearer to the prison for me, wife now has new job with company car, so all good to drive to town for free, the extra wages she will get will pay the new small mortgage, so still got the same income coming in, this year has been fantastic, and wiuht the rellies here for Chritsmas it will be BBQ on the dick and turkey as well. We have had the nieghbours around on our first night and they brought us roast dinner country folk are awesome.

Well heres some pics, will do more once we have really settled in.

spankysparkle

oh WOW! it's like being on holiday! your new home is great and I absolutely LOVE the property

well done & congrats!

MnB

Big smile on my face & watery eyes!!! so pleased for you, you sound so happy & content with everything. House & gardens brilliant, ta for posting pics. Hope you have a very happy holidays celebrating on your dick.!!
B x

Psychopandy

loving it!! More, More

Fooferfish

So you see those of you who are still stuck in the Mother ship ( uk ) it is achievable TBH its a dream come true for us, had to think about bringing our 12 year old daughter away again from friends in town and another new school !! but she has addapted realy well and the new school bus stops outside the house and drops them home, so she will meet new friends who will probably have horses arrghh tha'll be the next thing and thier first 2 days at school are at a camp in the wops down the road from us, to do team building and meet new kids. We back in Poole Dorset would have loved to have lived in one of those quaint villages, thatched roof, chocolate box cottages, but you had to be seriously rich to own one, so coming to NZ was a great move, each to thier own, but for us the place has every thing we require from it, the first 2 years are the hardest i recon, and now we have stepped up again to another challenge, living country stye, the locals are so nice and welcoming, and the good thing is my wifes boss lives close by and knows all the locals, just got to make the effort. to meet more of them.

So for now i ma doing maintenance on the place, you know the loose window catches, change door locks, not that you ned them out here, they used to leave the place unlocked every day but thats the South island for you, also got to rearrange the fires flue as who ever installed it, did it wrong and at least i know how they should go, loose handles on cupboards ect ect, but not a problem for me, just mowed the 1 acre of lawn, need some sheep i recon.

But things are all good, few weeks off work, to get it all sorted, the house inside is techniiqually only 9 years old, so still in awesome shape, just need to redecorate.in the colours we want, but most of it is neutral, so all good, it also feels like we have been here for years, so thats a good thing.

Will post some more pics soon

george toni

nice one nigel, nice one indeed!

Place looks bigger in the photos than I remember and it was f.@@#ing big when I was there!

Glad it's all going well and it must be great having people to visit and rooms to spare.

TBH I enjoyed the moving day as it was nice to be a part of your new life in your new home and when we are 20 years older it will defo be a barbi story to tell.

all the best

george and family

Fooferfish

Yes mate a big thanks to you for that hard graft day, i was completely buggered after that haul of furniture, must be getting older ? or its the new job, with no manual work Will text you soon for that BBQ day on the dick, have agreat Christmas day xxx

BEVS

That's a lovely looking home you have there Nige. Well deserved .

More pics when you have time .

Meanwhile

Hope you have a Very Merry first Christmas & New Year in your new house with all your family.