[Caroline and Dave]

Well under two weeks to go and I thought I had better update everyone on our progress.
Well I am usually a calm person who takes everything in my stride but even I am getting nervous now.
Despite months of waiting we still have not got PR.That has not stopped us getting on with everything,more on that in a moment.
We have been told that everything with our application is going fine and it is just the red tape that is delaying it. Because we are coming over on a business investment visa they are investigating us inside out.The NZ police checks we have to have are far more complex than the UK ones and so that people don't start panicing is only for investment visas.They then check our business out to make sure it is viable and will work in NZ which again we have been assured will be ok.
Well all this uncertainty certainly has not stopped our plans and the house building plan is going ahead strong.We have just approved our final specification for the house and we are now satisfied that we will have the house that will suit our every needs.I know we have yet to set foot in NZ yet but first impressions of the NZ people is brilliant. Everyone without exception so far has been so helpful.
We have now just purchased a car from a Toyota dealer and they cannot do enough for us. We have had Toyotas for the last 7 years and would not have another make now. We have allways maintained that we would never buy a new car but we have just gone and bought our first new car.We have allways been put off of buying new because of the thousands you lose just as soon as the car drives out of the showroom. We have allways bought a car of between 1 and 2 years old but this time we were made an offer we couldn't refuse.
The Toyota Corolla has just been stopped in production with the Auris replacing it .List price for the automatic estate is $34,000 plus on road preparation. We have just purchased a brand new one for $27,500 on the road which is $500 less than one we have seen advertised that is a year old.
So we are well pleased with that.They even offered to meet us at our Hotel with the car.
I would just like to say that I admire and support every single person that is making this move.Untill the time comes you just don't appreciate the tension and the complete life change that this type of move makes and once again I thank everyone on this forum for making our move that much easier.
By the way Marie P and Co ,Caroline is disappointed that she won't meet all you ladies on 30 March but we do not get into Auckland untill April 7th which is in the middle of Easter. We can't wait

Kindest regards

Dave and Caroline

Ps Good luck Stevie D we are thinking of you all

[jubjub]

Oooh, good luck with the trip, and hope the red tape untangles itself soon.

Dont worry about missing the night out, there will be another one!

I have to say, you are certainly very organised!

[Helsandfamily]

Best of luck guys, hope it goes smoothly from here on in, and look forward to the updates and pics of the house!

Safe journey :clap

[Sam B]

Good luck, it is such an anxious time, I defy anyone not to panic a bit! Hope your PR comes through OK. I found it nerve wracking trying to rent a house from the UK, God knows what state i'd have been in if I was building one!

[wiki]

Nice work on the car! I'm looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of a Toyota too. Best of luck for these final two weeks - and can't wait to hear how the house progresses.

[gil]

Every good wish coming your way Dave and Caroline, it is a strange time, something akin to dreaming through the whole event.

See you for the next AKL Girlie night, then, Caroline!

Have a great trip and look forward to meeting you soon,
Gil

[zardell]

Wishing you all the best on your final leg.

You have been an inspiration to many, showing them just how much you can achieve from 12,000miles away !

I hope that your new home is exactly as you wish it to be and that you have many more successes ahead.

Keep us all posted won't you.

Julie

xx

[Marie P]

Good Luck guys :nice1

Hope you have a great holiday with your family .

Best wishes for your last weeks .

Marie x

PS I will PM my phone number.

[Asli&Mark]

Hello Caroline and Dave,

I hope everything is going to be sorted out soon. at least you are ready to make the move the minute when the passports turns up. You have sorted the house and car. when are you exactly fying? and how about the cats? It is quite exciting. :raebanana

well good luck with everything

Asli

[Caroline and Dave]

Hello Caroline and Dave,

I hope everything is going to be sorted out soon. at least you are ready to make the move the minute when the passports turns up. You have sorted the house and car. when are you exactly fying? and how about the cats? It is quite exciting. :raebanana

well good luck with everything

Asli

Thankyou everyone for your kind replies.Asli and Mark,we are flying on Thurs 22nd March with a 3 day stopover in LA followed by a 2 week tour of NZ starting in Christchurch finally ending up in Auckland where we will say goodbye to the adult children (22 & 24) although Leila will be 25 on April 1st.
Time flys so fast.
Regarding the cats. They will not be coming over until March 08 when we cut our ties completely with the UK. As regards our Dalmatian. We have found a couple through the Dalmatian Society who have just lost their Dalmatian and will be taking Bonnie two days before we fly. It will be a good home for her. It is in a small village in the country. We shall sorely miss her but it is the right decision as she is 8 years old and quite nervous at times. The vet said it was a big risk to fly her over.The good thing is she now has acres of woods through a gate of her new home.Thankyou Julie for your very kind comments and Sal,its more like organised chaos at the moment.Look forward to seeing you all in Auckland at some point

Kindest regards

Dave and Caroline

[Asli&Mark]

Hello Dave and Caroline,

It is good that you have found a good home for your dalmatian as I know it is upsetting to give them to a charity. We are leaving our 3 cats to Mark's mum for 6 months till we sattle down. If we cannot catch you in Christchurch, enjoy your 2 weeks tour and please take lots of pictures and post them :nice1

[Caroline and Dave]

Well,
3 days to go before we leave and we have an annoncement to make.
WE HAVE PR.
We are so happy. This last two weeks have been so daunting. Each day going by and no news. But we stuck by our beliefs and we were rewarded this morning. Now we know how everyone else feels

Kindest regards

Dave and Caroline

[Sam B]

YIPPEE! Congratulations!! I don't know how you held your nerve!!

[zardell]

:raebanana :raebanana :raebanana


CONGRATULATIONS.


I remember the feeling well - good isn't it.

Julie

xx

[CjChris]

That is fabulous! contrats!!:clap

[jaycee]

Congratulations! As you say, it's about self-belief. Every obstacle you overcome adds to your confidence when meeting the next one. Wish you every success.

[speckythecky]

Excellent news, have a great new life

[Trigirl]

congratulations.i hope the move goes smoothly for you

[wiki]

Wonderful news! congrats to you both and best wishes for the future

[Marie P]

Fantastic news C and D :raebanana :raebanana

Best wishes for your last few days :nice1

Marie x

[Nettie]

YEAH! :raebanana :raebanana :raebanana

[Pip]

Congratulations - thats great news. It doesn't seem that long ago since our pub lunch in the UK and soon we will all be on this side of the world!

if we can help with anything in terms of the settling in process - drop us a pm!

Have a safe flight.

[Caroline and Dave]

Thanks everyone for your kind comments. Well we are off in a few hours time and still loads to do.
We will try and update you on our tour of New Zealand if we can find any internet cafes on the way . So it may be a time before you hear from us again.

kindest regards

Dave and Caroline

[Asli&Mark]

Hello Caroline and Dave,

Good luck, enjoy your trip, and hope to be able to meet in Chch next week. :raebanana
Keep us informed :)

Asli

[benandclare]

Well done guys, have a great time :yes :yes

[The Hodges]

Hey guys, hope we're not to late to offer you well wishes.

Enjoy your flight and see you soon. :nice1

[Caroline and Dave]

Hi all,
we are now in picton awaiting the ferry. this is just a brief message,full report later.
Well everyone is correct about la, avoid it like the plague. we had a two day stop there and had our suitcase broken into at la airport somewhere in the baggage area. They stole Dave's medication. we had to get it replaced in Nz.
Will have to sign off now

Dave and Caroline

[stu70]

Hi all,
we are now in picton awaiting the ferry. this is just a brief message,full report later.
Well everyone is correct about la, avoid it like the plague. we had a two day stop there and had our suitcase broken into at la airport somewhere in the baggage area. They stole Dave's medication. we had to get it replaced in Nz.
Will have to sign off now

Dave and Caroline

Good to hear you guys made it to NZ, sorry to hear about la issues. Not surprised though. That place is uncivilized to say the least and should be avoided at all costs. They treat you like crap and this is when you are paying them for the "service". Good luck

[KerryS]

Hi all,
we are now in picton awaiting the ferry. this is just a brief message,full report later.
Well everyone is correct about la, avoid it like the plague. we had a two day stop there and had our suitcase broken into at la airport somewhere in the baggage area. They stole Dave's medication. we had to get it replaced in Nz.
Will have to sign off now

Dave and Caroline

Are you sure this is correct? General advice is not to lock suitcases when flying through the US, and TSA can (and do) break open any that are locked. They may well have confiscated the medications too if they were not well labelled.

According to the TSA website: “If you decide to lock your checked baggage and TSA cannot open your checked baggage through other means, then the locks may have to be broken.” The TSA additionally states they are not liable for damage to locked bags, which must be opened for security purposes.

There are TSA recognized locks available, which the TSA has the ability to open and is supposed to re-lock them after screening. These locks are removed about 25% of the time. If the lock is cut you may obtain a new one at no cost, but there is a catch-22 - you must return the cut lock to get a replacement. No cut lock, no replacement. And you often don't get it back...

Can you tell I've been through this a lot?!

Sorry you experienced this. Hope you are enjoying NZ more!

[sizzlingbadger]

Excellent to hear that you've arrived in NZ :raebanana

Sorry about the LA experience, hope things improve from there :clap

Hubby had an experience when he went to claim his case off the baggage carousel, he found it unlocked an opened. Straight away he called a security guy over with a sniffer dog and said he wasn't having anything to do with what was in there as he'd just removed it, luckily they found nothing. You really can't be too careful and I always make sure my cases are locked before travelling, even the hand luggage.

[The Hodges]

Hey guys

Glad to hear that you've arrived. You should have our contact details - if not pm us and we'll resend them to you.

See you in Auckland - and make it quick it is nice and sunny here, not like last week.

[Caroline and Dave]

Are you sure this is correct? General advice is not to lock suitcases when flying through the US, and TSA can (and do) break open any that are locked. They may well have confiscated the medications too if they were not well labelled.

According to the TSA website: “If you decide to lock your checked baggage and TSA cannot open your checked baggage through other means, then the locks may have to be broken.” The TSA additionally states they are not liable for damage to locked bags, which must be opened for security purposes.

There are TSA recognized locks available, which the TSA has the ability to open and is supposed to re-lock them after screening. These locks are removed about 25% of the time. If the lock is cut you may obtain a new one at no cost, but there is a catch-22 - you must return the cut lock to get a replacement. No cut lock, no replacement. And you often don't get it back...

Can you tell I've been through this a lot?!

Sorry you experienced this. Hope you are enjoying NZ more!
Hi kerry,
They have a new scheme now where you go to the xray machine and they let you know if they want to search your case. they cleared my case. when christchurch airport rang la re this they were told they had sacked 24 staff in baggage that weekend as theft was an epidemic there..they have promised that they are sorting it out and know they have a major problem .all my meds were in approved bags

enjoying rotorua now

Dave and Caroline

[KerryS]

Hi kerry,
They have a new scheme now where you go to the xray machine and they let you know if they want to search your case. they cleared my case. when christchurch airport rang la re this they were told they had sacked 24 staff in baggage that weekend as theft was an epidemic there..they have promised that they are sorting it out and know they have a major problem .all my meds were in approved bags

enjoying rotorua now

Dave and Caroline

Definitely not good then! Hope Rotorua isn't too smelly for you!

[Croft]

Hi kerry,
They have a new scheme now where you go to the xray machine and they let you know if they want to search your case. they cleared my case. when christchurch airport rang la re this they were told they had sacked 24 staff in baggage that weekend as theft was an epidemic there..they have promised that they are sorting it out and know they have a major problem .all my meds were in approved bags

enjoying rotorua now

Dave and Caroline

I was shocked to hear of your experiences, though not particularly surprised. Traditionally US Airports seem to have paid bottom dollar for their security, never seemed as professional as UK airports.

I had a quick google after reading your post, and it appears you're in good company - Paris Hilton also had property stolen at LAX.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=local&id=5142882

Seems they're really cracking down tough.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_5510296

[Caroline and Dave]

Hi all,

We have now moved into our rental for the next two months in Albany,Auckland and so far we are loving it.I have now got the internet connected and will now be able to catch up on the hundreds of posts we have missed.
We arrived in Christchurch on the 27th March and was surprised to find it deserted.It was like a ghost town.You would think you were in a country town in the UK.
From there we ventured to Mount Cook territory on our way to Queenstown.
We loved Queenstown but only had time to go on a jet boat which was a great experience before heading off to Milford Sound.
Unfortunately we had the most terrible weather there and it was a very rough boat ride. However it was not too dissapointing as on the way back there had been so much rain that the waterfalls were amazing.
After two nights in Queenstown we stopped overnight at Franz Josef Glacier then onto Picton for the ferry to Wellington. It was on this ferry that the Captain announced over the tannoy that they had been given a warning of a possible Tsunami approaching and to be prepared for further information. But ha added that it would only be about a metre high and the we would probably not feel it. This had everyone worrying but it never happened and it only affected the Solomon Islands which was bad enough.
After a night in Wellington we went on to rotorura via Lake Taupo.
Well we must have been put in the most smelliest hotel they could find as it was worse in the rooms than outside. We saw the Maori Village and Hangi feast.Sheep shearing at the Aggrodome and a helicopter ride to hells gate where we landed and explored the geysers. I would reccomend that to anyone.After a couple of days there we went to Auckland via the glowworm caves which were fantastic.
In Auckland the two kids jumped off the Skytower before we said goodbye to them and they left to fly to Hong Kong.
This was when we realised that we were now about to start the rest of our lifes in New Zealand. We had had a whistle stop tour of NZ but we now know where we want to return to .
We found the south Island to be totally different to the North.
Apart from the major cities we found the South to be deserted, a haven for those wanting peace and tranquility.
We have been in Auckland nearly three weeks now and have realised this is where we want to be. Once our house is built in Dairy flats we will have the rural peace yet only 5 minutes drive from a major town. For those of you who have been to Albany we find it amazing how one minute you are in a very well established and growing town and then straight away you are in beautiful Countryside.We have the best of both worlds here.
As yet we have not found any mad drivers apart from in the car parks where it is a bit like dodgem cars. On the whole we love the food and find the food in the fruit shops/grocers etc excellent.We even like the Pak'nsave in Albany although we have been told it is one of the better ones.
We find the people very friendly and put themselves out to help you.
We were looking for furniture to put in our rental and we asked this man for the best place to go ,Not only did he tell us he took us there and got us a huge discount and then would not accept anything for saving us hundreds of dollars. This would never happen in the UK.
He has now invited us to a meal with his wife.
Well I had better sign off now and will update this thread

Kindest regards


Dave and Caroline

[Trigirl]

glad you enjoyed your trip round NZ. good thing you realised you wanted to be in auckland seeing as thats where you are building a house ;)

[olivia]

sounds like you've been really busy. glad you like it so far. it's always a bit of a leap of faith when you make such a big move especially when you've not been to nz before.
how's your house coming along?

Olivia & Steve

[Caroline and Dave]

Well, in 4 hours time Caroline will be landing at Auckland airport to start the next part in our complicated life.
This is the first time we have been apart for any length of time in 17 years but it will be worth it.
For those who do not know we are selling our business in the Uk and starting again in NZ. We still have a fair way to go before we are fully in NZ but we will all be over by 30th April 08.
Caroline's 2 adult children have got college places and will be starting in Feb 08 and July 08.
Our relationship is very strong and this split will make it even stronger. Although we are so far away we will be in constant touch thanks to todays modern technology and when you read this Caroline I want you to know that I am missing you already and I love you very much and want the whole world to know what a special and caring person you are.
I can't wait for October 1st when I will be in NZ for 3 months.
On other matters, the house plans are still with the council and should be improved for work to start Sept/Oct.
We are busy thinning down the stuff we want to put in our container as although we are having a 40 ft high cube we are still over the limit although we have been told that any access can be sent at a special rate as a part load. We are trying to condense this now.
I will try to add more information for you all but now that the brains is 12,000 miles away, i have to double think everything in order to keep our business ticking over although the 2 youngsters are a great help.
Thanks everyone for all the kind pms we have had and we really do appreciate them and will continue to help in whatever way I can.

Ps. I do promise to update my blog ASAP

Kindest regards

Dave and Caroline

[The Hodges]

Hi Dave,

Good to read an update from you. I can't imagine how difficult it is to separated so far and so long, but it'll all be worth it in the end.

I think Clare has sent Caroline an email, so we'll catch up with each other at some point, but needless to say, she won't be alone.

All the best and see you soon.

and p.s. please do update the blog - I keep on checking it, but you're still a while behind. I assume that you've be busy.