[ratrace]

Hi
What an excellent forum, I only joined last week, and have found out loads of info.
Me & hubby have only just decided that a move to NZ might be a good idea, but there's loads to think about, so its very early days.
We'd be interested to know how many of you moved to NZ without actually visiting it first ???

Bev

[speckythecky]

Welcome to the forum,

Feel free to ask any questions you want, someone here will be able to answer your questions.

Quite a lot of forumites have moved to NZ without visiting first so you would not be the first.

If you would like to meet up with a group of like minded people who are in the process of moving, we have a meet arranged for April 28th at the Muscrat Manor, near Warrington. Just off M6 near Thewall viaduct (J21 signposted Irlam). You will see pub as you exit M'way.

Easy enough to find, if you have sat nav the post code is WA3 6DR.

hope to see you all there

[dipaul07]

Hello there Ratrace

Just thought I would say hi and welcome to the forum, many of us are trying to move to NZ without ever visiting, if you can come to the northwest meet it would be great for you to meet people in the same position and to make new friends, so hope to see you there,

all the best

Dipaul07

[LesleyS]

Hello Ratrace, welcome to the forum - We are new too (and from West Yorkshire incidentally) My OH is currently on a 4 week reccie in NZ checking out some locations and potential job prospects - I had to stay home and babysit the 14 year old daughter and dog sadly:wah

A word of warning, THIS SITE IS ADDICTIVE :laugh

[pinkpiggy]

Hi Bev, welcome to the forum from another Yorkshire lass, currently living in Scotland.

I'm sure you'll find answers to your questions on the forum either by doing a search using the search facility above or by asking the rest of us. We're all happy to help where we can.

[Belmont Babes]

Love your name. Welcome to the forum...yes it's great and yes very addictive. We have not visited NZ yet but do know a few people who live there. Whether we visit or not depends on timescale and budget :)

[wiki]

And hello from East Yorkshire - we might just about have enough folk for a Yorkshire meet now-abouts!

My OH has never been to NZ and is going purely on my recommendation... it can be done, but I'd advise you have a contingency plan (and funds) if you find you don't like it.

Have fun - and any questions, please don't hesitate to ask

Amy

[Andy-Dee]

The n-west meet on the 28th will have at least three families just back from their recce missions - so should get a balanced view of what we all think of it.
You'd be very welcome.

[Cardy]

Hi there we were from Doncaster till a year ago . we came here with out visiting with no friends and no job. got plenty of friends now and had plenty of jobs , some things take some getting used to but the kids settled in straight away and love it. Give us a pm if you want to ask any questions

Cardy and Bev:yes

[marcia]

Hello and welcome from another west yorkshire family who have managed to escape the 'ratrace'!!

We did a months reccy trip before moving out here, and for us it was well worth it, kev got his job offer, and we made a lot of friendswho have been great helping us settle now we are here for good. Personally i couldn't 'up sticks' and move 3 kids to the other side of the world without having been there first. It all depends on your own circumstances, and personality too i think!

Good luck, and definately go to the NW meets if you can, its a brillant opportunity to meet like minded people, have a natter anout new Zealalnd for hours on wend without peoples eyes glazing over in boredom, and if you are as lucky as we were make some friends who will be a great support system to you when you get over here.

[StevieD]

Welcome guys, yes, we moved without having visited, only been here just over a week so can't really offer any advice to people, there are far more qualified people on here to do that. But what I can say is we are throroughly enjoying the experience, it is different, the air is clean and I don't have any intentions of returning to the "rat race!"

Good luck

Steve, Jan, Kieran and Louisa

[ratrace]

Thanks for all your replies - what a friendly bunch you all are ! We will certainly try and get to the meet, it's a good opportunity to find out more.

[Sam B]

We moved here in January without having been here before - although we did a lot of research. I felt quite lost at first, but I am beginning to settle now, the kids and my partner J are very happy.

[jackie m]

:yes we moved over here in September last year having never visited, we did do a bit of research well alot actually. But we still found it hard to start with with 2 children now 5 & 2 but each day gets easier, I definately feel this is home now. Yes you do miss family but with broadband & web cams they don't seem that far away. I just wanted my chidren to have a life like I did when I was small. So far so good. I find everyone so friendly aswell you cannot walk down the street with out a good morning or hello from someone you have never met before which I think is lovely. But good luck & hope all goes well for the future just go with your heart.:)

[K&CS]

Hi there

We're from Yorkshire too - been here just over a year. Used to live in Leeds, so know Calverley. We had visited before and just knew it was a place we could live - don't know why - just knew Chch was the place for us. Lots of people have not visited and still loved it - others have been disappointed. Having said that, plenty of people have visited but found that living somewhere and holidaying somewhere are completely different. There is no right or wrong.

Good luck with it all!

Kate x

[holland]

Hello,

We are going this year, and haven't visited New Zealand before...aghhhhhh!

jade x