StevieD
20th April 2008, 02:46 PM
We have been here for over a year now, bit late on the thread, but not sure how to approach it. I thought as I had reached my 3000th post I would celebrate that fact with a 12 month update. Oh how I wish the Lounge posts counted I would have doubled my tally :nice1
I could just do a chronological list of places been to/things done, but that is already documented on other threads on here.
When we first arrived, it was the end of a very stressful period in our lives or so we thought. We still had some amazing stress to come that was out of our control.
I think some mention must be made of Kim39 and his family, without who's help we would have been well and truly up the creek. We had spent a bit of time together back in the UK at the NZ NW meets and we didn't live too far apart. They collected us from the airport and showed us quite a bit of the locality and were our first introduction to this wonderful land. As our bad luck would have it (and theirs!) our house sale hit a lot of problems and we ended up staying longer than was expected, and it was a very stressful time. So, Kim, Elaine, Nicola and Hayley, you know the story,thank you all, it is still appreciated.
It seems that Cambridge was destined to be our home. It was the very first place that we were taken to (for a dental appointment for one of Kim's girls!) and we sat and had a coffee in the main street, little did we think as we sat there that we would end up living in the town. I can't say that we were overly impressed at the time because we were not taking too much notice (and were still jet lagged) and fully expected to be in Wellington or Auckland, as it was, Jan ended up getting a job here and the rest as they say, is history. We got the kids sorted in school and found a rental.
I started to look for work. and it took longer than expected soo I took a job just to get NZ experience and to get out in to the job market. Not the best of things but it put food on the table and kept us going, and it was an eye opener for me to get first hand experience of the NZ job scene.
I didn't intend staying and told the manager in the first week, it just wasn't me to be honest, not even my line of work, but he appreciated the help I was giving because they had a big project in Waikato that needed completing.
That job finished and I got a call from an earlier interview to tell me I could have the job, in my field of work and it provided a big pay increase. I took up the position and we felt comfortable enough with NZ to consider buying our own home. We now have a nice 4 bed home and we love it.
We suffered the usual stresses and strains that a move to the other end of the earth brings, but we came in to this experience with our eyes wide open (thanks to this forum). It hasn't always been easy, but we feel settled here.
It is a beautiful country. We feel a lot healthier, the kids do more sport than they have ever done in the past, the school is great for them. They have the chance to be challenged whereas in their last school in the UK, we were told that our son couldn't progress any further than the level he was at with one year to go, he had been taught to the maximum level for the junior school. Here? They put him in extra maths and science programmes run by the university of Waikato, he is challenged and is thriving. Likewise Louisa, who has dyspraxia. They have addressed it and worked around it with more than acceptable solutions. We are now going forward and enjoying our lives here. We have a good social circle and are doing some of the things that all the glossy brochures tell you about NZ. It has been an awfully long, hot summer - drought even!
To brighten up the winter, as well as all the winter sports that our environment invites you to take part in, there are the kids football and netball seasons to look forward to. We have the promise of a trip back to UK for a wedding and to see our families as an added bonus
So there it is, sure there is a heap more stuff to say, but one thing is for certain, we like what we see and we are in it for the long term. But, you can never say never because you just don't know what the future throws up at you. But for the time being, we are very happy with our situation down here.
All the best
Steve, Jan, Kieran and Louisa
I could just do a chronological list of places been to/things done, but that is already documented on other threads on here.
When we first arrived, it was the end of a very stressful period in our lives or so we thought. We still had some amazing stress to come that was out of our control.
I think some mention must be made of Kim39 and his family, without who's help we would have been well and truly up the creek. We had spent a bit of time together back in the UK at the NZ NW meets and we didn't live too far apart. They collected us from the airport and showed us quite a bit of the locality and were our first introduction to this wonderful land. As our bad luck would have it (and theirs!) our house sale hit a lot of problems and we ended up staying longer than was expected, and it was a very stressful time. So, Kim, Elaine, Nicola and Hayley, you know the story,thank you all, it is still appreciated.
It seems that Cambridge was destined to be our home. It was the very first place that we were taken to (for a dental appointment for one of Kim's girls!) and we sat and had a coffee in the main street, little did we think as we sat there that we would end up living in the town. I can't say that we were overly impressed at the time because we were not taking too much notice (and were still jet lagged) and fully expected to be in Wellington or Auckland, as it was, Jan ended up getting a job here and the rest as they say, is history. We got the kids sorted in school and found a rental.
I started to look for work. and it took longer than expected soo I took a job just to get NZ experience and to get out in to the job market. Not the best of things but it put food on the table and kept us going, and it was an eye opener for me to get first hand experience of the NZ job scene.
I didn't intend staying and told the manager in the first week, it just wasn't me to be honest, not even my line of work, but he appreciated the help I was giving because they had a big project in Waikato that needed completing.
That job finished and I got a call from an earlier interview to tell me I could have the job, in my field of work and it provided a big pay increase. I took up the position and we felt comfortable enough with NZ to consider buying our own home. We now have a nice 4 bed home and we love it.
We suffered the usual stresses and strains that a move to the other end of the earth brings, but we came in to this experience with our eyes wide open (thanks to this forum). It hasn't always been easy, but we feel settled here.
It is a beautiful country. We feel a lot healthier, the kids do more sport than they have ever done in the past, the school is great for them. They have the chance to be challenged whereas in their last school in the UK, we were told that our son couldn't progress any further than the level he was at with one year to go, he had been taught to the maximum level for the junior school. Here? They put him in extra maths and science programmes run by the university of Waikato, he is challenged and is thriving. Likewise Louisa, who has dyspraxia. They have addressed it and worked around it with more than acceptable solutions. We are now going forward and enjoying our lives here. We have a good social circle and are doing some of the things that all the glossy brochures tell you about NZ. It has been an awfully long, hot summer - drought even!
To brighten up the winter, as well as all the winter sports that our environment invites you to take part in, there are the kids football and netball seasons to look forward to. We have the promise of a trip back to UK for a wedding and to see our families as an added bonus
So there it is, sure there is a heap more stuff to say, but one thing is for certain, we like what we see and we are in it for the long term. But, you can never say never because you just don't know what the future throws up at you. But for the time being, we are very happy with our situation down here.
All the best
Steve, Jan, Kieran and Louisa