[daveandlisa]

hi every one

my name is lisa, my husband and i always said when our children are older we want to move away some where we can have a better quality of life.
now we feel that time as come,with things where we live in Britain getting so bad with crime,drugs,and out of control youngsters we want a better life for our children.
My husband attended a New Zealand seminar three weeks ago and was very interested in what he saw,especially when he was told that his proffesion was one of the long term skill shortages.
we then started getting more information about NZ and started to get excited.
Two weeks ago my eldest Daughter ws robbed at gun point and her boyfriend was hit over the head,that clinched it for us we have to move our yonger children away.

[vixxann]

welcome to the forum Dave and Lisa - you'll get loads of info and help here- it's great.

we all have our reasons for starting this adventure but I suppose there are a lot of similarities. Ultimately I am doing it for my childrens future too. (mine are 14, 12 and 5). We went to NZ last year for 3 weeks and I tried not to have rose tinted glasses on.. but.. I REALLY loved it and cannot wait to return permanently to bring my family up there. I know its not perfect and crime and problems occur there too but I believe its a question of balancing up all the factors in your life and seeing what has priority for you. (bit serious for a sunday morning this :o )

anyway - welcome to the mad house :D

[slider]

Hello, and welcome to the forum :)
Only you can answer that question as everyone's circumstances are, of course, unique to them. You will find a huge amount of information on this site (and the web as a whole) to aid you in making that decision. Also, many people suggest a visit to New Zealand first before taking the plunge.

I'm sure the incident with your daughter must have been horrific for you all - hope you're all recovering from the shock. There but for the grace of God.....

[IanW99]

...
We have started to do an EOI and have 130 points but after reading some comments on this forum about low wages and high taxes we are not sure whether to proceed because we don’t want to struggle financially. We have no idea of the cost of living out there. Please help! If anyone can give us some information we would be grateful.

Thank you.

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

There are plenty of threads on here regarding cost of living, just use the search facilities.

Sure there will be members who will offer an opinion, but first we would need more information regarding your financial position.

Ian

[JandM]

Hello and welcome.:)

[dusk]

Hello and welcome :)
the cost of living ultimately depends on what kind of salary you can get, as others have said inthe end it's a very personal decision, but there's tons of info on the forum about costs/locations etc etc
also if you have speific questions feel free to ask :)

[victoria24]

our view is that if cornwall isnt nice enough anymore then why not? youve got to work wherever you live in the world unless you're retiring somewhere so why not do it in a nicer environment and whichever way it pans out it'll be an experience for the whole family. we also look at it that if NZ doesnt work, the world is a big place and there will always be new adventures on the horizon but a return to the Uk is not one we would want to embark on.
we want a sportier more outdoor life for the kids and ourselves. i guess the last week of better weather brings it all home

[swissmissdesigner]

Hi Lisa and welcome...
The question is what is a better life for you?
You mention the crime in UK...
Based on statistic NZ has a very high crime as well, you may look it current statistic about that...
Although I feel save in NZ when I am there, but don't have this problem in California either.
I guess its depending of the area where live...

[Justine+Ben]

Hi Lisa,

I'm sorry to hear about your daughter, that's really scary. The whole 'feeling safe' issue is an interesting one and all to do with personal perceptions really, for example, when I lived in the UK, particularly in London, I never felt very safe walking around at night by myself or getting late night tubes/buses home - in fact I was sometimes followed home after work (even during normal commuter hours) and my friends/family were frequently robbed or pick-pocketed in inner London boroughs. I also had someone break into my London apartment while I was living there alone.

However, living in Canada and America I have felt much safer. The interesting thing is that the crime rate in the major US cities is probably a lot higher than Britain (particularly in L.A. where I was based for two years) plus, people are more likely to carry weapons etc. so in actual fact I may have been at more risk when I was in the states. We quite often heard about shootings on the freeways etc. in Southern California. When I was a primary teacher there, I sometimes had to keep the children inside all day because of gang-related shooting going on outside in the streets/neighbourhood.

I wonder what people's perceptions of safety in New Zealand are? To other forum members: do you walk home late at night and feel safe in your NZ city? Have any female forum members ever been followed home or anything similar? Do you hear about other people getting mugged or burgled? I wonder how it really compares to UK or elsewhere......I suppose to be fair we'd have to compare like with like, so a city in NZ to somewhere similar in the UK etc.

Best of luck with your decision and the move Lisa :)

Justine

[AndyR]

welcome to the forum!

[JandM]

The whole 'feeling safe' issue is ... all to do with personal perceptions really.This is right, of course. Our own feeling of security comes from within, and can't be directly affected by logic or statistics. Unfortunately, there's some research that shows that people who aren't confident show this by their actions and body-language, and are therefore more likely than other passers-by to be targeted by any criminals who happen to see them.

When you say 'followed home', are you talking about someone who spoke or made some other approach to you, so you knew they were taking a personal interest in you, or someone who was going the same way over quite a long distance so you felt uncomfortable?

[Justine+Ben]

JandM:
In the area where we lived in inner London (I won't actually name it as its not fair for me to attribute this to one region in particular or give it bad a rep), I would get a bus home from work at around 5pm and after getting off at the bus stop, I'd then have to walk the remaining few streets alone. One day a person walked very close behind me the entire way and kept purposefully bumping shoulders with me/walking into me etc. and muttering things to me. The next day this person was there again (perhaps by pure coincidence, I don't know) but they did it again and this happened a few times over a week and I felt the 'follower' was trying to find out where I lived or something. This could have been paranoia of course, but even if the person wasn't following me they were certainly messing with my head..... I think in London you just have to watch your back more.

I haven't had any experiences like this in Canada though...where I have felt very safe by comparison (even downtown at night and alone) :)

[Red Devil]

JandM:
One day a person walked very close behind me the entire way and kept purposefully bumping shoulders with me/walking into me etc. and muttering things to me.

... that's too close for my liking, I would've found a different route home!!!

[JandM]

Very odd and unpleasant. You were unlucky there.

[daveandlisa]

welcome to the forum Dave and Lisa - you'll get loads of info and help here- it's great.

we all have our reasons for starting this adventure but I suppose there are a lot of similarities. Ultimately I am doing it for my childrens future too. (mine are 14, 12 and 5). We went to NZ last year for 3 weeks and I tried not to have rose tinted glasses on.. but.. I REALLY loved it and cannot wait to return permanently to bring my family up there. I know its not perfect and crime and problems occur there too but I believe its a question of balancing up all the factors in your life and seeing what has priority for you. (bit serious for a sunday morning this :o )

anyway - welcome to the mad house :D

Thank you so much for your advice we have taken it on board hope you sell your house soon.keep in touch.