[WhiskeyClone]

Hi everyone, what a great forum! I'm pleased to find one so active.

I have decided to take a one-year 'working holiday' in New Zealand in a year or so, and I'm beginning my research process (and my money-saving process) now.

I love Canada but I do not want to live the rest of my life in Winnipeg. It has its charms, but the prairie life is not terribly interesting to me and I have a hard time identifying with the culture here. Other guys my age (mid twenties) all seem to have similar goals and lifestyles: get a high-paying job you don't particularly like, get married, buy a big house in the suburbs, try and 'get away from it all' every weekend by going snowmobling or ATVing. Just doesn't appeal to me.

I live a happy, active life but I am tired of the brutal winters here. The ground is covered in snow and ice for 5-6 months of the year, temperatures range from -20C to -40C... everyone seems to go into hibernation and mild depression, I just don't want to spend half of my life in this stale, frozen environment.

Living expenses are great here, but big houses, toys and cars are not important to me. Right now I am single, untethered by children, free and willing to roam the planet.

So I am going to try out New Zealand for a year, and if it suits me, I will begin the immigration process. I'm an engineering surveyor / CAD draftsman, which seems to be a marketable skill pretty much everywhere.

Glad to have found this place.

-David

[Mrs Pony]

welcome and good luck! Sounds a lot like America...

Brandon went on a working holiday as well... Never stopped talking about it when he came back to the States. He "suckered" me into going there for the honeymoon and I was sold as soon as I got off the plane.

[JandM]

Hello, and welcome to the forum.:)

[mgbridges]

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

Anneliese

[slider]

Hello, and welcome to the forum :)

[cani]

Hello and welcome(:Dhave you thought of BC?)

[Leanne]

Hello my fellow Winnipeger! Fancy meeting you here. I really don't understand your problem with the winter weather here. :roll The forum is great and you'll get tons of info here. If you need anything, you can give a call or we can meet up somewhere. But only until September, because I'm outta here! :exit

[WhiskeyClone]

Hello and welcome(:Dhave you thought of BC?)

Yes I have. Actually I lived in Invermere for a year. Definitely liked it and if I am going to live in Canada long-term it will be in BC.

[kanatakiwi]

Welcome from another Canuck. Give NZ a try on the one year visa, you will likely fall in love with it. BC is great too (as I am here visiting right now and loving the summer weather!)

[dusk]

hello and best of luck with your plans :)

[Kiwi-In-Texas]

Hello and welcome.

[Sovenok]

Hello David,
Canada is a great country for me - there lives my favorite star Avril Lavigne. I would like to live there only for being closer to her :)
However, we have the same problems with climate in Russia. I really hate cold winters, it seems to me like a sinister place, I'm depressed and exausted in winters. In fact, cold weather lasts all the 9 months per year.
I hope u will find NZ a suitable place for living :cheers

[WhiskeyClone]

Haha, it seems Russians are the only others who know the kind of winter I am talking about. Thanks for the good wishes.

[AndyR]

welcome to the forum! I don't blame you for trying to escape from a -20 winter!