Week 1
 

Hello everyone,

I have been in New Zealand for precisely one week now. Today I did lots of little adminey things and am now set up with a bank account, phone and the medical stuff.

I am having (what I hope) are usual wobbles about was this the right thing to do. I'm 29 and have been planning this for a couple of years now but basically arrived with enough money to last a few weeks before I start work at the end of this month (I'm a nurse). I'm on a working holiday visa for now but am completely happy with extending this or altering it to a work visa depending on how things go.

I have this horrible fear that I'm too old to have done it this way and should have been putting energy into saving for a mortgage and a house back home. I left a job that I really liked basically because moving to NZ has always been something I wanted to do and I needed to make it happen or else the niggle would never go away. I'm also a little afraid that I won't make friends as Timaru is very small but I am getting out there and trying.

Anyway balanced with all the fears is a healthy optimism. I've been brave, I've made the jump and I am living in a nice house for a decent price. I know you all have been where I am so this is just my airing my fears at you because you do.

I'll update again in a few weeks :)

Re: Week 1
 

welcome Laura.

sure things will fall into place more for you when you start work and meet more people. take the next couple of weeks looking around and seeing if there are any local clubs you could join and enjoy.

keep posting and sure others will come up with some good suggestions, not sure if anyone on here lives near you but get yourself around the forum and someone might pop up

Re: Week 1
 

29 too old?? Pah!
Welcome Laura, I hope NZ is everything you hoped and even if it isn't, it's far better than to have done it than wish you had.
Good luck!

Re: Week 1
 

Give yourself a chance. You've yet to start your job. When your job starts that will be a new routine to adapt to. Your thoughts and feelings are swirling around right now. You've also 'lost' your old routine. Coming from an unusually hot summer in Britain to the chilly south island in the winter is part of the culture shock too. There's an element of grieving for what you once had, even if you chose to make a change.

Once everything settles in a few months time you will know what your feelings are. OK, you already know but just go with it.

You might make arrangements to stay longer or go home with some great memories.

One day in the future you might see a vacancy in your industry elsewhere either UK or NZ that sparks your interest.

BTW my husband and are were mid forties when we turned up in 2011. So, I wondered if we were to embedded in our routine to relocate to NZ. That didn't dawn on properly until we got to NZ.

You've got the rest of your life for mortgage etc. The way I look at it is these years of my life would have gone by no matter where I was.

Re: Week 1
 

Hi Laura. 29 is a great age to make a move. Wish you all the luck for you're future. Keep us posted of how you get on. Xx

Re: Week 1
 

Hi
Im 38 and my partner is 39 and we leave here in a few weeks, your never too old.. I cannot wait to get on the plane

Re: Week 1
 

I came over at 51 :)

Re: Week 1
 

Bloody kids...;)

Re: Week 1
 

I believe that if you want something enough - go grab it with both hands & do it!,

You've done it Congrats!!!

When you are an old gal, you can say I did "it" ....rather than thinking; what If I had done "it"

No regrets....just look forward to your new adventure! Let it take you wherever you want.....could be this way...could be that...;)

Re: Week 1
 

Well said. :thumbsup:

Re: Week 1
 

Hi Laura,
We have been in Timaru for almost exactly a year now and have loved every minute. It is quite small and takes a bit of getting used to but I am sure you will be fine. My wife is a District Nurse and works out of Woollcombe St. She has made a larger circle of friends than me mainly through her profession. As for your age I am 53 so no way are you to old. Get out there get involved the people are great and really friendly.

Re: Week 1
 

Good Luck and I look forward to hearing updates. I'm sure you'll make loads of friends via work and any hobbies you have.

As for your age it's a big regret of mine and husbands that we didn't go to NZ when we were younger. At the ages of 27 and 31 we could have jumped the good ship UK and sailed over to NZ to live. We let the frail state of our parents and feelings of duty towards them persuade us to stay in the UK and simply move a long way north instead.

Having read reports on here of what it's like to emigrate I think we went through all the things that emigrants do when we moved northwards. We've had a great life here and I'd never have owned the house or had the lifestyle we have if we had stayed south but our NZ niggle never went away and where we are now is not the area and friendly place it was when we moved in.

Trying to address our niggle and come out to NZ now we're 46 and 50 is proving almost impossible and we're at the point of shelving the dream and spending our old age sighing, coming to sad acceptance that we can't afford to make it happen and wishing we'd moved when we were younger.

Re: Week 1
 

Hi there. This is a hard one to deal with. We came over here because the NZ, better life, niggle was there for years. The thing is we came too late. We're returning to the UK next year. If we had come here when we were younger it would have been easier in many ways. It's bitter sweet really. I don't know wether the disappointment of not being able to try is worse than trying and it still not working. Maybe they are the same. :confused: I feel as if I've opened up a can of worms that can't be shut now. :thumbdown:

If you had come here and it didn't work would you beagle to shelve your feelings about the whole thing? I really feel for you. :(.

Sorry if I haven't helped the situation. I know what I want to say but just can't explain it in words! :)

Re: Week 1
 

If we'd come as younger people and it hadn't worked and we'd returned to the UK it wouldn't have made a long term difference to us, we didn't have the things to give up and potentially lose forever then that we do now. As a couple we're normally very good at taking ownership of our choices and viewing the results with a certain equanimity and acceptance.

We'd have lived with the results of moving to NZ in the same way that we have lived with our move north. We reviewed after 5 and 10 years to see if we wanted to move south again or not. We now choose to stay in the north, where we'd rather not be in any more, in exchange for having the house, scenery, land and horse lifestyle we have. If we moved south to the area we like (West Sussex, although if 'fracked' it might not be the place it is now) we couldn't afford to have even one horse and would have to move to a small, terraced two bed rather than our large, 3-bed detached house.

If we moved out to NZ now and ended up needing to move back to the UK, leaving our horses behind to goodness knows who, to live in a house we hate in an area we don't like and with me unable to work I'd be utterly, utterly miserable and unable to reconcile choosing to take that risk and then having to try and live with that outcome.

You haven't made it worse, I know exactly what you're trying to say.

In my case our visit out at the start of 2014 will settle things for us I hope.

Hopefully we've reassured LauraNotts that she's chosen to do the right thing by trying it now and that she isn't too old to do it. Sorry for hijacking your thread a bit Laura.

Re: Week 1
 

Gosh you would be giving up a lot in England. I don't want to hijack Laura's thread either. :D when you visit next year, if you come to Auckland give me a shout and we can meet for a cuppa if you like. Have a good chat. :D