[victoria24]

have noticed that when we tell people we're emigrating, they never ever ask why we are leaving the uk or what we dont like about our current life!
funny eh?

[M-Squared]

Aah this is a very important tool of transition... you find out who your real friends are. And bloomin' quick!!! I'm actually better friends with people I was at uni with, 20 years ago (yes I feel old :p ) than those I was apparently fabbo friends with just a couple of years ago.

Home is where you make it.

Friends are transitory if you move.

:) :)

[hosebergine]

My great uncle's first question was "what are the bad things about New Zealand" which I thought was very deep and pretty shrewd. I think he was making sure we'd really thought it through........

[M-Squared]

^^ Did you answer "sorry, can't think of any"? :D

[victoria24]

dont get me wrong, theres plenty i like about the uk but then plenty in the last 5 years that dont fit me anymore...
its almost as if by not asking, that there is an unspoken understanding of the downsides of the uk.

[cherieb]

The usual reply when I say "I'm emigrating", "oh, where?, "NZ" is "WOW!". Makes me sure I'm making the right choice. I work with an international bunch too!

[L00pback]

I find that most people say "wow... I'm jealous. I wish I was doing that."

Which my usually reply is "well theres nothing stopping you" - but I only say this to people I wouldn't mind bumping into :D

The conversation then rapidly turns into "Well if you don't do it now you'll only look back in ten years time and regret it...."

Soon followed by "The UK has nothing to offer you and the kids anymore."

This last statement isn't true though as the UK does have a lot going for it, its just that people have lost sight of the things that made it great.

Alan

[Kalla]

actually, I agree with last post.

Uk is still great in many ways although also dependant on where you live within in the UK.
we always said (and still do) that if we don't get accepted to NZ or if something goes wrong, we would still be very happy to have a nice life in the UK and just make the most of what we've got.

No reason why you can't have an outdoorsy, sporty, adverture kindof lifestyle in the UK - life is what you make it.

Ok we are also immigrating so feeling slighly like a hypocrite - however, we are not originally from the UK so I guess in part, we are still finding out what's best for us and haven't found a place that we can call 'home' yet - still searching and hoping New Zealand is this place for us. But I would just say that we are not moving to 'get away' from the UK, for us, it's more like what can we find out there/lets have an adventure/lets go live somewhere different!

[hosebergine]

Great point JK&A - we're treating it as a big adventure with our kids - before they get too embarassed to walk down the street with us as all teenagers do ;)

[JandM]

we always said (and still do) that if we don't get accepted to NZ or if something goes wrong, we would still be very happy to have a nice life in the UK and just make the most of what we've got.Absolutely right. We've just had lunch in the garden, looking at bees buzzing around the blossom that's just coming out, and said how we'll be happy however things turn out, move, or not move. (Although we hope to get to NZ for the company of the family in due course if we can.)

[NZ Hopeful]

JandM when do you plan to move?

The few people I have mentioned it to have looked at me like I have 2 heads, it's a weird place where I live though, most people are born here then just wait around to die, they have no aspiration to see anywhere else in the world. Don't get me wrong, it's an ok place to bring up the kids but there is a distinct lack of ambition. :uhoh

Mind you, that could be my accent making them look at me funny...:exit

[dylan]

When we have told people like the bank, friendly people behind the post office counter, chatting when we pick the kids up from school etc., we usually get "oh we're thinking of that too". I'm astonished at how many people would do what all we are doing.:nice1

[Janey]

I agree with Marion it is suprising after being here 6 months who has kept contact and who hasn't and I mean family in that as well. quite a few people were jealous others thought we were mad!

[wolfysmith]

A big adventure is the right attitude both places have good and bad in them. But i sometimes wish that i could be content with what we have now i.e nice home lovely family, we live in a nice area.Most other people are content with this. But instead i want to go and turn our world upside down and have another advenure in NZ. The truth is i don't think i will ever settle i think i will spend my life yearning for a new adventure when the old one becomes mundane. Its all good fun.

[victoria24]

life is a journey not a destination....

[Philip10]

The usual reply when I say "I'm emigrating", "oh, where?, "NZ" is "WOW!". Makes me sure I'm making the right choice. I work with an international bunch too!

:clap

[JandM]

JandM when do you plan to move?We can't yet, because I'm needed by my frail 88-year-old mother, whose only child I am. With our son and his family in NZ, we're pulled both ways, that's all there is to it, so we're trying to make the best of things.