scoobydoo
14th April 2007, 09:54 PM
Hi!
Well we have been in the land of the Kiwis for 3, coming on 4 months – so here is a brief snapshot of things here. :uhoh
Right decision?
We totally made the right decision. Totally. :nice1 We left the mothership a few years ago, and after that decided ages ago to make somewhere else our permanent home, not ungrateful to the mothership, just exploring new possibilities for the family. From a list NZ kept coming up as the place to be and now we really don’t think we’ll move again. We have found our home. NZ is not Utopia / Paradise. If you’re looking for that it’s going to take way longer than simply waiting to be selected. It’s not an improved, cleaner, more innocent version of where you are from. It’s a different Country, and that is that.
Previous knowledge?
Nil. Never even been here. But we did our homework and this site helped alot. We made ourselves concentrate on the negatives after our initial decision, and by that we mean warts and all. But since that still didn’t sway us we began to realise we were getting on a plane.
Paperwork
Did it all ourselves with advice from here. Agents seemed to be an enigma, and we thought ‘if they were peddling promises for a product at home – would we buy? No!’ so we just thought – ok, if we have the goods for the skilled route – why not just treat the paperwork as a task we would do AT work? Then rather than something to fear – it became a challenge, something to work at – just like work! We kept a diary, good days and bad. On the bad days it helped to read through how far we had come. We also noticed a pattern, so when things looked bleak we told ourselves it couldn’t last. :laugh
Getting here
With a baby we found Cathay Pacific fantastic. The staff playing games with our baby (3 – 4 at once sometimes) was just superb. :nice1
First few days
Everything is sooo different. Put it this way – even the rain felt warm…. Honeymoon period.
Culture shock
We have experienced that before, so thankfully knew the signs. This time we hit lucky.
Work
Great. Amazing facilities.
Cost of living
Jury is still out, but first impressions are some things are way over priced, but most are really cheap. Old adage of ‘Avoid tourist traps – live like the locals’ .
Promise to post more, but for now just going to put out the cat, underneath the clear starry sky (except tonight it’s raining….)
Scooby
Well we have been in the land of the Kiwis for 3, coming on 4 months – so here is a brief snapshot of things here. :uhoh
Right decision?
We totally made the right decision. Totally. :nice1 We left the mothership a few years ago, and after that decided ages ago to make somewhere else our permanent home, not ungrateful to the mothership, just exploring new possibilities for the family. From a list NZ kept coming up as the place to be and now we really don’t think we’ll move again. We have found our home. NZ is not Utopia / Paradise. If you’re looking for that it’s going to take way longer than simply waiting to be selected. It’s not an improved, cleaner, more innocent version of where you are from. It’s a different Country, and that is that.
Previous knowledge?
Nil. Never even been here. But we did our homework and this site helped alot. We made ourselves concentrate on the negatives after our initial decision, and by that we mean warts and all. But since that still didn’t sway us we began to realise we were getting on a plane.
Paperwork
Did it all ourselves with advice from here. Agents seemed to be an enigma, and we thought ‘if they were peddling promises for a product at home – would we buy? No!’ so we just thought – ok, if we have the goods for the skilled route – why not just treat the paperwork as a task we would do AT work? Then rather than something to fear – it became a challenge, something to work at – just like work! We kept a diary, good days and bad. On the bad days it helped to read through how far we had come. We also noticed a pattern, so when things looked bleak we told ourselves it couldn’t last. :laugh
Getting here
With a baby we found Cathay Pacific fantastic. The staff playing games with our baby (3 – 4 at once sometimes) was just superb. :nice1
First few days
Everything is sooo different. Put it this way – even the rain felt warm…. Honeymoon period.
Culture shock
We have experienced that before, so thankfully knew the signs. This time we hit lucky.
Work
Great. Amazing facilities.
Cost of living
Jury is still out, but first impressions are some things are way over priced, but most are really cheap. Old adage of ‘Avoid tourist traps – live like the locals’ .
Promise to post more, but for now just going to put out the cat, underneath the clear starry sky (except tonight it’s raining….)
Scooby