KD17
28th April 2007, 08:52 PM
We all come here for different reasons and have our own aspirations, our was generally for the quality of life and better life style.
We are mostly from the UK, but spent many years in the Isle of Man prior to moving to Wellington and lived in other places prior to that.
It took us almost 2.5 years going through our immigration process and postponed our arrival date a few times to finally arrive here early February (with some friends & family thinking we never would !!) During that 2.5 years we did as much research as we possibly could, we wanted to know all the bad points, because if we could live with those, the good, of course, would be a blessing. After such a long time, I (Debby) felt like I was waiting to go home.
I was not disappointed when I stepped off that plane, as that is exactly how it felt, and still feels. Even though we had not been anywhere near NZ before, everything seemed familiar to us which has helped us settle in so quickly.
Wellington has a lovely serene feeling about it and, as many have said before, definately has the big town feel rather than a city. We think the shopping has lots to offer but we don't crave after anything, we are happy to try all the new brands & produce and discover some local "delights"
We have embraced the NZ way of life with all it's faults & failings. There are things we could complain about, but that's not what we've come here for and besides, anywhere you live is never perfect. We have lived by the philisophy of "accepting the things you absolutely cannot change" for many years, and NZ is no different.
We have met some wonderful people, Kiwi's and ex-pats from all over the world who have all made us feel very welcome and if we are not invited somewhere, we are sending the invites ourselves and making a good social life. Keith has joined a local hockey club (his passion sport) and I have joined a yoga club and am now going out to give my Crystal/Dowsing parties (which I used to do in the IOM and UK)
We feel that we have been very fortunate with many things. With our jobs; I landed a good job at an international telecom company and Keith, who has dreamed of joining the police force most of his life took a civilian job at the army camp (he has 22 years serving in the Air Force behind him) while he was waiting to go through the police recruitment process and had his interview day lined up when he was asked to join the Army as a serving member of the armed forces... so he's now going through that process. The job they have offered him is a static position in Trentham, Wellington for the next 6 years, so he would not need to go off to any war zones or other postings (so we believe) and we get all the military benefits.
Our rental: Although not the prettiest place in the world, the location is absolutely stunning, we are on private rural land overlooking mountains, the inlet, and a local wildlife reserve. Our nearest physical neighbours (3 other people) are 100 yds or so away, although we regularly have various birds, rabbits, horses, cows etc., very close by. Keith calls this place Snow Whites Cabin :)
So far our personal observations of those we have met who either do not like NZ or cannot settle is due to the NZ salary. You will not get rich here!! NZ salaries are based on the NZ way of life, if you were on a high wage in the UK, you won't match it here - (unless you are exceptionally fortunately). Our combined basic salary when Keith gets into the Army will be around $120k (before taxes) which we understand is good by NZ standards.
We know that we are also lucky not to have the responsibility of our children being with us, so we only have ourselves to please, so in that regard our view is that of a regular couple. I've heard it is more difficult when you have young children, but we can't speak from experience with that.
All in all our first 12 weeks seems like we've been here years, we love being here, but maybe we have those rose tinted glasses on or maybe we just won't let ourselves be brought down by negative situations which are out of our control.
I hope all you newbies enjoy the Kiwi life as we do.
Keith & Debby
We are mostly from the UK, but spent many years in the Isle of Man prior to moving to Wellington and lived in other places prior to that.
It took us almost 2.5 years going through our immigration process and postponed our arrival date a few times to finally arrive here early February (with some friends & family thinking we never would !!) During that 2.5 years we did as much research as we possibly could, we wanted to know all the bad points, because if we could live with those, the good, of course, would be a blessing. After such a long time, I (Debby) felt like I was waiting to go home.
I was not disappointed when I stepped off that plane, as that is exactly how it felt, and still feels. Even though we had not been anywhere near NZ before, everything seemed familiar to us which has helped us settle in so quickly.
Wellington has a lovely serene feeling about it and, as many have said before, definately has the big town feel rather than a city. We think the shopping has lots to offer but we don't crave after anything, we are happy to try all the new brands & produce and discover some local "delights"
We have embraced the NZ way of life with all it's faults & failings. There are things we could complain about, but that's not what we've come here for and besides, anywhere you live is never perfect. We have lived by the philisophy of "accepting the things you absolutely cannot change" for many years, and NZ is no different.
We have met some wonderful people, Kiwi's and ex-pats from all over the world who have all made us feel very welcome and if we are not invited somewhere, we are sending the invites ourselves and making a good social life. Keith has joined a local hockey club (his passion sport) and I have joined a yoga club and am now going out to give my Crystal/Dowsing parties (which I used to do in the IOM and UK)
We feel that we have been very fortunate with many things. With our jobs; I landed a good job at an international telecom company and Keith, who has dreamed of joining the police force most of his life took a civilian job at the army camp (he has 22 years serving in the Air Force behind him) while he was waiting to go through the police recruitment process and had his interview day lined up when he was asked to join the Army as a serving member of the armed forces... so he's now going through that process. The job they have offered him is a static position in Trentham, Wellington for the next 6 years, so he would not need to go off to any war zones or other postings (so we believe) and we get all the military benefits.
Our rental: Although not the prettiest place in the world, the location is absolutely stunning, we are on private rural land overlooking mountains, the inlet, and a local wildlife reserve. Our nearest physical neighbours (3 other people) are 100 yds or so away, although we regularly have various birds, rabbits, horses, cows etc., very close by. Keith calls this place Snow Whites Cabin :)
So far our personal observations of those we have met who either do not like NZ or cannot settle is due to the NZ salary. You will not get rich here!! NZ salaries are based on the NZ way of life, if you were on a high wage in the UK, you won't match it here - (unless you are exceptionally fortunately). Our combined basic salary when Keith gets into the Army will be around $120k (before taxes) which we understand is good by NZ standards.
We know that we are also lucky not to have the responsibility of our children being with us, so we only have ourselves to please, so in that regard our view is that of a regular couple. I've heard it is more difficult when you have young children, but we can't speak from experience with that.
All in all our first 12 weeks seems like we've been here years, we love being here, but maybe we have those rose tinted glasses on or maybe we just won't let ourselves be brought down by negative situations which are out of our control.
I hope all you newbies enjoy the Kiwi life as we do.
Keith & Debby