Hannah
2nd April 2007, 06:54 PM
Hi All,
Finally got fingers to keyboard and have a few mins spare to update on where we're up to! Can't believe how busy we've been since we got here...really have not stopped at all. Children settled into school (including a new BOYS high school for my son - he was dreading it..."No Girls!!!!"....but absolutely loving it now). My daughter is back in the lovely school she was in when we lived here before, and loving it too.
My job is working out great, other half has found work too. Salaries are a third of what we earned in the UK, but to be honest I don't care. When we came back into New Plymouth I felt like I'd arrived 'home' and I haven't looked back since. I can't say we've cut down our costs or said goodbye to consumerism in order to save money, as we were never really into spending in the UK (one of the reasons NZ feels so 'right' to me). We used to be able to save, and we don't now. However, we only really ever saved to go on holiday - and now we feel like we are ON holiday all the time. We're happy with the hours we work (unlike our experience when we lived here before, where we seemed to work ALL the time) and that's a large reason for the drop in salary. Our jobs are less stressful, and consequently our lives are less stressful.
We've bought a house but don't move in for a while yet. Living in rental, with my boxes around me, is more unsettling than I thought it would be. We have no real routine in our lives yet - often going for a walk on the beach instead of turning up at where we were meant to be. Work and school is the only structure in our lives - sounds nice, but its getting to me a bit now. I'll be glad when we move in to our house, unpack and just settle into a 'normal' life.
Every day I marvel at the fact that I'm here - how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful place with such lovely people. I still have to pinch myself sometimes to remind myself i'm here! Just a few months ago I thought I'd never come back (remember my 'staying in the Uk...for now' post???). It took my other half a while to decide coming back to NZ was an option...the stress of relocating our stuff was a huge headache for him (I'd have happily thrown the 'stuff' in the bin!) but we got here. And now it feels like i've never been anywhere else.
So for me it's not a case of the things i like or don't like about NZ, about how it compares to UK, or whatever I've traded off or gained. I just FEEL like this is the right place for me, for us, and I KNOW that coming back here was the right thing to do. I don't think about the UK, about what I 'left behind' - I've moved on and I'm loving every minute of it. Coming here for 6 months, going back to the UK for a bit, and then making the decision to return worked really well. Back in the UK we all had time to reflect and appreciate what we really missed about NZ...and what we'd do differently if we lived there again (e.g. choose less stressful, lower paid jobs). It wasn't a cheap option, but in retrospect worth every penny.
Apologies to those I haven't yet made contact with who live in NP, or those who I made brief contact with and then didn't contact again. We haven't sat still since we got here - the weather is good and we're just getting out there and seeing yet more of what this wonderful place has to offer. I hope to be in contact when life settles and that weird 'holiday' feel wears off.
For those still on the journey, all the best. And to those on the forum who have given me such good advice and feedback over the last couple of years - a big thank you.
And, do you know, when I say 'back home' - I mean 'my rental house', not the UK!!!! Guess I really did 'come home'!!!
Cheers all,
hannah
Finally got fingers to keyboard and have a few mins spare to update on where we're up to! Can't believe how busy we've been since we got here...really have not stopped at all. Children settled into school (including a new BOYS high school for my son - he was dreading it..."No Girls!!!!"....but absolutely loving it now). My daughter is back in the lovely school she was in when we lived here before, and loving it too.
My job is working out great, other half has found work too. Salaries are a third of what we earned in the UK, but to be honest I don't care. When we came back into New Plymouth I felt like I'd arrived 'home' and I haven't looked back since. I can't say we've cut down our costs or said goodbye to consumerism in order to save money, as we were never really into spending in the UK (one of the reasons NZ feels so 'right' to me). We used to be able to save, and we don't now. However, we only really ever saved to go on holiday - and now we feel like we are ON holiday all the time. We're happy with the hours we work (unlike our experience when we lived here before, where we seemed to work ALL the time) and that's a large reason for the drop in salary. Our jobs are less stressful, and consequently our lives are less stressful.
We've bought a house but don't move in for a while yet. Living in rental, with my boxes around me, is more unsettling than I thought it would be. We have no real routine in our lives yet - often going for a walk on the beach instead of turning up at where we were meant to be. Work and school is the only structure in our lives - sounds nice, but its getting to me a bit now. I'll be glad when we move in to our house, unpack and just settle into a 'normal' life.
Every day I marvel at the fact that I'm here - how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful place with such lovely people. I still have to pinch myself sometimes to remind myself i'm here! Just a few months ago I thought I'd never come back (remember my 'staying in the Uk...for now' post???). It took my other half a while to decide coming back to NZ was an option...the stress of relocating our stuff was a huge headache for him (I'd have happily thrown the 'stuff' in the bin!) but we got here. And now it feels like i've never been anywhere else.
So for me it's not a case of the things i like or don't like about NZ, about how it compares to UK, or whatever I've traded off or gained. I just FEEL like this is the right place for me, for us, and I KNOW that coming back here was the right thing to do. I don't think about the UK, about what I 'left behind' - I've moved on and I'm loving every minute of it. Coming here for 6 months, going back to the UK for a bit, and then making the decision to return worked really well. Back in the UK we all had time to reflect and appreciate what we really missed about NZ...and what we'd do differently if we lived there again (e.g. choose less stressful, lower paid jobs). It wasn't a cheap option, but in retrospect worth every penny.
Apologies to those I haven't yet made contact with who live in NP, or those who I made brief contact with and then didn't contact again. We haven't sat still since we got here - the weather is good and we're just getting out there and seeing yet more of what this wonderful place has to offer. I hope to be in contact when life settles and that weird 'holiday' feel wears off.
For those still on the journey, all the best. And to those on the forum who have given me such good advice and feedback over the last couple of years - a big thank you.
And, do you know, when I say 'back home' - I mean 'my rental house', not the UK!!!! Guess I really did 'come home'!!!
Cheers all,
hannah