[Jo and Andy]

Just thought I would get people's opinions on their move.

Hopefully everyone will say it is wonderful, but useful to know the disappointments (if any).

Where were the rose tinted glasses?



Jo

[debnjohn]

This is a good question, Jo, thanks for asking it.
I'd be interested in peoples answers as well.
A lot of threads I read on this subject tend to be very pro or very against.

[Jo and Andy]

thought of doing a poll, but could not think of the categories, too open ended really.

Going through the am I looking at the whole move through tinted glasses thing.

[xanctus]

Is NZ what I hoped for? hmm yes...because
1. I want to be part of the developing/growing of NZ.
2. I hope that I can raise my children there.
3. I want to have more peacefull environment.

in contrarty of my excitement/hope number 3 is that I have read many racism issues towards asian immigrants. I know every country has its own highs and lows, but hopefully racism can be pushed down a lot more. :laugh
cheers

[SoCal Gal]

I will second Xantus. I can get used to the shopping things and other little daily stresses that I've vented on here before about, for that big picture, but in my "NZ as Eden" thoughts, it never crossed my mind about the racism. It was much, much more prevalent than I ever expected. Don't want to start anything up, but that is my honest opinion, and I truly live in a melting pot in CA, so encountering certain attitudes, remarks, etc. was pretty shocking. More like the 1950's, and not in a good way. That's my honest opinion.

[veronica]

Us over in NZ have now woken up so can have a go at answering that question.
NZ is pretty much as I expected. We have come over here on a LTBV and NZ is allowing Pete and I to do what we set out to do here which is to set up the two businesses, one of which I am sure will work and one that has a chance of working if we play it right.
Because we have lived in Australia we were aware of what it is like to live outside of England and prepared for the fact that there are differences hidden amongst the Englishness of the environment.
Overall I am more than happy to be here in our present situation, we have personal considerations in that one of our kids and our fosterdaughter and family are still in the UK, as are my mum and dad and they are elderly, that acts as a minus but we knew that before we left.

[Iain & Liz]

I dont think that we were prepared enough i mean we read all the books we could find all the videos and even the nz papers.
Talking to people on the phone and forums even nz's working in the uk.
but it changes when you are here.
it's not any cheaper ,the cost of living is higher for us anyway the wages are alot lower .
We expected it to be alot slower paced as my husband is a plumber and most days he does not have time for lunch and gets in an hour or two late every night.
the lack of family and friends is very hard! you don't know what you had until it's gone.
NZ is a beautiful island but to be honest it is just like parts of scotland and wales even kent.
some one asked me to list 10 things i love about NZ but i could not think of any real things i love about nz (chch ) i could list things that i dont love but i think that we have to give it time and perhaps we will love it.
we need to stop comparing it with the UK and chase our dreams.
we need tostop finding faults and just get on with it other wise i think that we will give up and go back to the uk.
it's an adventure at the moment and a pricy one at that!

[Carol]

Having read the recent "negative" thread started by Diny I am actually feeling a whole lot better about coming back to NZ after our months holiday back "home" in the UK.
I have come to the following conclusion:

Northumberland is always going to be my "home"
NZ is a place I am living at the moment.
I am always going to have to work very hard no matter where I live because I am a teacher and I love my job. I love it because I put so much into it therefore get so much out of it. No matter where I live this will be the case.
I love my independence here.......I dont have to visit anyone I dont want to - just because it is "the done thing" or whatever.
Counter to that I really really miss my full calender of family events coming up throughout the year to look forward to.

I love the shops and the choice in the UK
There is nothing to compare it with here - choice is lacking and prices are actually quite high. I am completely convinced we could live cheaper (weekly supermarket shop comparisons) in the UK
However the quality of the produce is much higher here.

I miss the quality of housing in the UK. I loved my friends double glazed windows and doors and how everything seemed to be so much more nicely "finished off". But the rooms in the houses did seem small and claustrophobic even compared to the space we have in the houses here.
The cost of housing in the UK is simply out of our reach now. Even if we sold both our current house and the rental we wouldnt have anywhere near enough cash to start again in the UK.

I LOVE the education that my kids are getting here. It is rounded and thorough. All my kids are very happy.
That said - none of them are needy in any major way - at either end of the ability spectrum. I think this is where most of the problems are in regard to dissatisfaction.

I have changed a lot since we got here. Become MUCh less materialistic and much more focussed on what is important in my life. Unfortunately - a lot of the things on that important list are still left in the UK - ie elderly parents - brother and his family - the feeling of "belonging" for which there is no answer to the problem other than - save up as much as you can to go back as regularly as you can for a holiday.

Dont think I've answered the question all that well - but now the jet lag is starting to wear off (thank god!) I am just seeing things a little clearer.....
:nice1

Carol

[Moorf]

NZ is pretty much everything we expected with the exception of:-

- Income: We did the sums before we made the commitment to live here, so I don't know how we got it so wrong, or perhaps it's just that we haven't adjusted our life and spending, either way we're alot worse off than we were in the UK. Having said that we were spoiled with our UK income so our adjustment may be greater than others plus Warren took a job here that he knew he'd enjoy rather than one that would pay him more.

Income isn't reason enough for us to consider returning to the UK, we'll just find a way around it and once I get a part-time job things will greatly improve (it's amazing how just a small salary of, say, $500 a month for part-time can make life so much easier.)

- Chch City: I like it alot. I didn't at first because I had an image of a very British town (as it's so often quoted as being) so my rose tinted specs got fogged up. It does have some lovely parks and is very green but quaint English it ain't!!

- Housing: After spending months searching on RealEnz etc before we arrived I had the impression that the houses were cheap and lovely! Hmm, not cheap and mostly not lovely. House hunting was probably the most depressing thing we had to do here whereas I thought it would be the most enjoyable :?

BUT:-

The scenery is so much more amazing than I could have imagined.

The locals are friendly and helpful.

The local services are great (libraries, docs, etc) and efficient.

The pace of life is alot slower and laid back.

There is alot more scope for enterprise and entrepreneurship.

[veronica]

With the houses we are all commenting on the poorer quality of NZ to 'WHAT WE ARE USED TO'. and the comment comes up about how much cheaper they are here. (We've bought 2 big houses (1 very solid and 1 that is rented out until we can demolish it, believe me it needs it)on a total of 1/2 acre 1 1/2 kilometres from the city centre for less than we will sell our house in the UK for.) That money difference can be used to get whatever house you buy up to the standard of the ones you are used to, in terms of heating, insulation and double glazing and you still should have some change from the value to value ratio.

[Carol]

Cant really say we'v ehad the same experience Veronica.......for a start we had to sellup 8 years ago and brough a pittance of a deposit with us - so struggled for a long time in a smaller house than we had been used to with a bigger mortgage.
All a recipe for depression and homesickness for me.
Even now - with a rental under our belt as an investment - the house we are currently in isnt anything like the one we left. Although it DOES have ducted air heating which is an absolute DREAM compared to the last one which had to have a number of electric heaters switching on and off at alarming regularity to keep the electricity costs down.



Maybe one day........we WILL have the house of our dreams... :?

[Tara Sage]

Hi There!!

Well all I can say is we Love it!!!

We are actually better off than we ever were in England, we had credit cards and HP etc.....

Now we have our mortage and that's it we have two nice cars a gorgeous house, we eat well and don't forget the wine, we also have money left over at the end of the month.

All in all it was a great move for us we love the country the people etc...

I think we have settled so well because we don't compare everything to England we just live life as it is and it is going fine.

What a fantastic country!

:nice1 ;) :yes :yes :yes

[Dave & Sandra]

I must say that I was a bit daunted when I first arrived. Dave had bought the house - which I OK'd and it is a lovely house, but with a lot of work to be done. A lot of that work has now been done - just the kitchen remains to be built and fitted out. The present kitchen is absolutely dire :no and the garden needs to be sorted out. It is still mainly weeds at the moment. I don't think I've ever worked so hard in my life over the 4 months that I've been here. Dave is also working full time while building the kitchen, so he is kn*ckered by the end of the weekend.

It was cold when I arrived and we had no heating apart from the wood-burner, which was good for heating upstairs and immediately around it and the water but not much else. Our bedroom is downstairs and I was getting into bed fully-clothed some nights. The heat pump has made a huge difference, although it had turned warmer by the time they were installed - waiting to see how they are in the winter. :hopeso It also made a big difference getting some furniture around us. We didn't bring any from the UK as most of it was old and tired anyway. But we are managing to furnish second hand and getting some good bargains and are now quite comfortable. We now have a five bedroomed house with a massive garden which would have cost the earth in the UK, but was relatively cheap here.

It's difficult to say how we are managing financially as so much of our monthly income is going into the house. I do know that we are just about coping. Had $64 left over at the end of this month :yes There's still about another $13,000 to be spent on finishing the kitchen which will have to be transferred from the UK, but the exchange rate is so awful that I'm delaying as long as possible. Dave is earning half of what he was earning in the UK but is on a very good salary by NZ standards. We have bought 2 cars and we don't have a mortgage. We couldn't actually afford to pay a mortgage. I still have't got a job yet - which would make a big difference. Went to an employment agency yesterday and was advised that I would have more chance temping than trying to find a full-time job. That would get my foot in the door. Admin/accounts jobs will not be easy to find for somebody without PR. Too much hassle for for the company employing you.

Having said all of that, we love NZ. When we force ourselves to get away from the house and have some R&R we have really enjoyed getting out there and seeing some of this country. We travelled up to Taupo and had a great day out just enjoying the scenery and the sheer beauty of the place. On Monday, which was a Public Holiday in this area, Wellington Anniversary day, we went to a nearby town about 40 kms away for a meal. We were driving along and Dave said 'God this traffic is awful' :laugh We saw about 10 cars on the drive there and back. Compare that to a Bank Holiday in the UK. We didn't even bother going over the doorstep on BH's in the UK. It's not a lot of fun being parked on the M6 for a few hours. We love NZ people - they have been so helpful and given us sound advice about renovating the house.

The supermarkets are fine and the quality of the meat and veg is very high. It doesn't bother me that I can't get UK brands in the shops and I think the Cadbury's chocolate is OK. :laugh It's been a long time since I've had to think about what I'm spending and if I didn't smoke :no and Dave didn't drink so much :no we would be even better off. But the cost of living is high in comparison to wages. When we came on holidays we were thinking of prices in terms of UK exchange rate, but you soon learn you can't do that on an NZ salary.

I don't know how I will feel when I eventually get out into the work place. I don't have daily contact with Kiwis in a work situation, so my life is a little artificial as compared to the UK right now. Although I'm happy not working I must admit. But if we want to save and be able to have holidays away etc. I will have to go and do it, plus it may be a condition of our PR, if that ever moves on at all from Selection. :wah But Dave is happy in his job after 8 months there and wouldn't dream of ever returning to the UK.

I used to hate driving in the UK and dreaded finding places to park. I have never been a confident driver anyway. Now it's so easy - I'm happy to drive anywhere and thank goodness for diagonal parking.

Anyway - I've just about written a book. It's the first time I've written about how I feel living here. There's loads I could add, but I don't want to bore everybody to death.

For us it was the right move. :nice1

[Moorf]

Great post Sandra - not boring at all.. I agree pretty much with all you have said - and it must be a great help having no mortgage!

:clap

[SoCal Gal]

I really, really enjoyed your post, Sandra, and wish you all the best with the kitchen! I think we are bringing the cabinets with us, it has been crazy getting the kitchen upgraded, the tiny, tiny sink will have to work for now, but I have dreams still ;-)
All the best to everyone! :cool

[RoadRunner]

Definitely a great post! :clap

[Dave & Sandra]

Maybe it's changed our luck after me saying nothing is happening. Our status has changed to 'Payment Received' today and I've seen posts that indicate that usually means the ITA is on its way. :hopeso :yes

We'll have to visit SoCalGal when you finally get here. They sure do eat money these NZ houses.

[MB]

Dave and Sandra - here's to you getting the ITA pack v.soon! :nice1

Cheers,
Matt.

[veronica]

Hiya Carol, 8 years ago when you came over the UK housing market was in a down turn, a lot of people were in a negative equity situation. Now the market is in a high position and for people who bought 15 years ago as we did the value has trebled. While this wouldn't help us when buying a house in the UK as they have all gone up at the same rate it does give us a good stake here. Most people who coming to NZ now who have owned their house for even a couple of years would be stand to make a good profit on it that they can invest in property and improvements here.

[Carol]

I know Veronica.....looking back we did everything absolutely wrong as far as finances were concerned....

No wonder we are still struggling eh? :wah :wah :wah :wah

[Diny]

Very good post Sandra .... a level headed unbiased opinion .... keep it coming :nice1

Fingers crossed the 'golden envelope' lands in your mail box soon :hopeso

Diny

[Jo and Andy]

Thanks for the posts so far.

Iain and Liz. I feel I will agree with the prepared enough, i keep trying to find more and more information to arm myself with, but know it is actually being there that will make the difference.

Being a plumber, a sought after profession is obviously reflected in the amount of work your husband is doing, and must be busy putting all the heat pumps in for everyone. Good to be busy, but hope he gets a rest too.
I worry about the lack of family, but feel I am making friends over this forum for our move, and will try and make friends through work, (I will try and find something part time).

It must be difficult to stop comparing, but it is my aim not too, (probably will take a while though).
Thanks for the reply

Carol,
Really interesting post, especially since you have just been home, was it difficult to go back.

I will follow your advice and start a visit home fund, The kids being happy is wonderful, how old are they?, They always seem to settle better and that should make it easier on everyone else as you say.


Moorf
I keep thinking about the finances, must start making some actual written down plans, I keep thinking it will like going back in time, to when I checked the bank account everyweek and put the impulse buys back on the shelves. Keeping track of what I spend rather than just getting it, which should be a good thing, and I am trying to start now.

Te housing thread has helped a lot, as it prepares you with a list of what to look at, but understand that I will see a lot of dandelions before I find the perfect rose, as you did.


Venornica,

Our hopes are that we will be able to be mostly mortage free, with the profit from our house here,

As I said all information useful, nothing boring, and thanks all

[lindajax]

Hi All,

Its very early days for us yet just 4 weeks and we haven't started work ( NEXT TUES :wah ) but all the signs are good :nice1

We seem to have found a decent palce to live, sorted Lucy's nursery and school for October, jobs, car etc.

I haven't quite sused the way banking works - not used to charges and swapping and changing cash form one accounto another ( Smart banking I believe) but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

The ferry thing has been a bit dissappointing - the times are such that Ali would have to go in work late for a few days then early for others in order to be able to sort Lucy out in Nusery and fit in with my shifts (7- 3.30 and 2.30-11pm) so thats been a downer - probably have to buy another car.

There are some run down areas but some gorgeous ones but most are somehwere in the middle and thats fine.

Our standard of living - can't comment yet until the NZ Dollars are coming in.

Our mental states - I am generally more relaxed - I obviously have my moments of annoyance or frustration usually at something petty, which I think is normal .

Things do seem less of a hassle or stress and people do seem helpful and nice - there's the odd ignorant person but - thats life.

To Top Off We Love It So Far!!! GlAd We Did It , Would Do It Again, NO GOING BACK!!!!

Love
Lindaxxxx

[sarahw]

To answer your question in short - WE LOVE IT!!!! :mrgreen: Its much exceeded our expectations so far.

We've only been here 3 weeks but we're just having such a ball. Things aren't exactly as we'd expected - especially not for Ian in his job & not for me in how I expected people to react to me studying full-time.

Ian's job has been a real culture shock for him - he went in on his first day all suited & booted as he would for any Surveying job in London - the lads on site took one look at him & gave him such a ribbing - they all wear shorts & t-shirts to work! On your first day that's pretty embarassing - but the fact that he only had suits for the first week until he could get to the shops was worse as he kept getting the mickey taken out of him. He also went in to work & couldn't believe how they all break for tea & lunch & just sit around & chat (that was a really nice social plus! -he's made so many new friends in his first week & found out so much information).

He came home complaining on his 3rd day that he didn't have enough work - in UK they'd just dump all the work on you & not give you a proper initiation & expect you to get on with it & learn the job through doing it - here they're really taking things slowly which is frustrating for him but now he's realised the pace at which things work he's settling in quite well.

He also came home at 4.30 on Friday night - not knowing what to do with himself as he is usually at work until 6.30 - by 6.30 we were down the pub having had 3 glasses of wine & were suitably relaxed!!!

I've felt I've had negative reactions to the fact that I don't have a job & am a full-time student. When people have asked what I do I've told them what job I used to do - Manager for Sales Operations, but taking a year or 2 out to study my degree I just get an 'Oh' and a confused look. Having said that I've never not worked in the UK so don't know what kind of response I'd have had there!

But the lifestyle is great - people certainly work to live & its been such a great experience so far - topped off today by visiting several beaches & seeing so many people out enjoying themselves in the great weather - nowhere else we'd rather be at the moment!

[Moorf]

Sarah - Woz had exactly the same with work outfits!! He went in suited up and they are all in tee's and shorts, a couple of the guys even walk around the office barefoot!

There is free beer, soft drinks and crisps in the "smoko room" and mid-morning and mid-afternoon they stop for 20-30 mins for tea breaks!

It's so nice to see Woz happy at work - he really does love the pace here too!

:cheers

[veronica]

A lot of the kids walk around the schools barefoot too

[Carol]

A lot of the kids walk around the schools barefoot too

so do their teachers! ;-)
C

[Arlevien]

Oh man,.. I will start work on Tues and am planning to suit up!.. But its safer to dress over than to dress down on the first day aint it?

Our time at the moment is a bit hectic with the settling down, but we are loving it. We are here for life!!