[Cardiff Irons]

Been reading this forum for a few days and decided to post at last - mainly because our EOI has now been selected! :clap :clap

Suddenly things seem a little bit more exciting and daunting in equal measure. It's only a month ago that we began to seriously think about emigrating (June 5th to be precise, after 4 days of continuous rain and me saying to my wife "there must be something better than this!" to which she immediately replied "what about New Zealand?").

Anyway, I look forward to getting to know some of you and I'm sure I'll be asking lots and lots of questions.

Time for some celebrating. Cheers! :cheers

[Paul and Linda]

Nice one, like your attitude, we were planning a holiday to South Africa and then realised that we'd have to come back 1 month later, poorer and still living in the rain and smog.

Great time to apply also, when we did it last year it took about 4 months from apllication to selection then another 4 to ITA.

Going off my trolley now cos it's been 14 months and were still only just selling our house!

Any ideas where you want to go and what you want to do.


PS WELCOME TO THE COLLEGE OF IMMIGRATION, where you will learn something every day, the fees are free and your classmates are loonies.....I mean friendly :laugh

Cheers
Paul

[Smiler]

Hi Cardiff Irons

Welcome :yes to the roller coaster ride that has started with your EOI. :cheers

Like Paul says, you will learn so much on here and then find that you actually know something to give back too!!

It's been a steep learning curve so far for us.

Why NZ? have you been before? Any idea when and where?

Deborah

[Hannah-NL]

Welcome to the forum Cardiff, great people and great advise to be found on here. Wishing you good luck with your plans!!

Hannah-NL

p.s. Ehrm dont want to be a negativo, but they always tell me it rains lots in New Zealand too, hence those green hills ;)

[Cardiff Irons]

Nice one, like your attitude, we were planning a holiday to South Africa and then realised that we'd have to come back 1 month later, poorer and still living in the rain and smog.

Great time to apply also, when we did it last year it took about 4 months from apllication to selection then another 4 to ITA.

Going off my trolley now cos it's been 14 months and were still only just selling our house!

Any ideas where you want to go and what you want to do.


PS WELCOME TO THE COLLEGE OF IMMIGRATION, where you will learn something every day, the fees are free and your classmates are loonies.....I mean friendly :laugh

Cheers
PaulHi Paul, thanks for the reply. Yes, I've been reading about your house selling woes - are things sorted now? Blimey, 4 months for your EOI to go through - you must have been climbing walls!

We're strongly drawn to the Bay of Plenty area, as we have friends who moved out there several years back. At the moment, we run a training consultancy but for the EOI I've leant very much on my degree in Building Surveying in which I had a lot of experience before getting "fed up with it". My role at the current time is Operations Manager of the business but I'm not too sure how portable my skills would be. I may well go down the track of getting a job in the surveying/building arena whilst looking at other options.

My wife, Gil, is an excellent business trainer currently working with some high profile UK organisations and, again, I'm not sure what the demand for that type of skill is in NZ (these are some of the questions I'll be asking).

What about you guys? What are you looking to do when you get over there and are the timescales any clearer for you now?

[Cardiff Irons]

Hi Cardiff Irons

Welcome :yes to the roller coaster ride that has started with your EOI. :cheers

Like Paul says, you will learn so much on here and then find that you actually know something to give back too!!

It's been a steep learning curve so far for us.

Why NZ? have you been before? Any idea when and where?

DeborahHi Deborah. Well, NZ because my wife has (evidently) had a serious interest in it since our friends moved out there some time back. They are located in the Bay of Plenty area, so we're keen to consider that as an option. Not been yet, but planning an exploratory visit in October/November (funds permitting :roll: ).

[Cardiff Irons]

Welcome to the forum Cardiff, great people and great advise to be found on here. Wishing you good luck with your plans!!

Hannah-NL

p.s. Ehrm dont want to be a negativo, but they always tell me it rains lots in New Zealand too, hence those green hills ;)Hi Hannah - thanks for the good wishes. I've already learnt a lot in the last few days of visiting the forum.

And....nowhere rains as much as Cardiff!!! :smile

[Hannah-NL]

So did you send it over to Holland for today? :laugh Good for the garden tho ;)

[Anita & Marco]

Hi Cardiff,

Welcome in the club!!!!!
Funny to read indeed that you decided after a few days of rain. One of my biggest worries with this emigration process to NZ is that the climate is not what I would like the best, but hopefully all the other positive sides will make me forget about it.

Good luck with the process.
Anita

[Diny]

Welcome to the forum and good luck with the whole immigration process.

It's a blooming massive headache !!!!!!!!!

Keep us posted.

Diny

[Cardiff Irons]

Hi Cardiff,

Welcome in the club!!!!!
Funny to read indeed that you decided after a few days of rain. One of my biggest worries with this emigration process to NZ is that the climate is not what I would like the best, but hopefully all the other positive sides will make me forget about it.

Good luck with the process.
AnitaThanks Anita. Probably should have added that it rained non-stop for 4 days AND it was cold and windy as well. Not quite what you expect in the British Summer although my expectations have changed in recent years :mrgreen:

By the way, we had a lovely time in Holland this year. Week's camping (if you can call luxury caravan camping :eek ) at a site near Den Haag. Wonderful place and it even had a big theme park attached to the campsite! Kids loved it (and that includes me ;) )

[wayne]

Rain!!! you havent experienced rain until you have lived in NZ its not so green for nothing,
Welcome aboard the mid life crisis club :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :roll: :(

[Cardiff Irons]

Welcome to the forum and good luck with the whole immigration process.

It's a blooming massive headache !!!!!!!!!

Keep us posted.

DinyHi Diny and thanks. Blimey, flights booked for the 16th - you're practically there!!! Good luck.

So, massive headache accepted, do you think it's worth the struggle?

[Cardiff Irons]

Rain!!! you havent experienced rain until you have lived in NZ its not so green for nothing,
Welcome aboard the mid life crisis club :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :roll: :(Stop it wayne, you're beginning to make me wobble!

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind rain and one of the things I love about Wales is the green and lush environment (originally from London which was very different). It's the "cold, windy and allegedly Summer" bits added in that make me yearn for something else.

mid life crisis - I reckon you've got it about right mate :yes

[Paul and Linda]

Diny, I'm going out for a meal with my entire family on Saturday the 16th (my birthday) so I'll raise a toast to you and yours as you soar through the atmos.

Paul

[Paul and Linda]

Hi Cardiff, my Great Grandfather used his team of horses to dig out the docks at Cardiff, although I storngly suspect that my Grandfather's claim that he did it all by himself is somewhat far fetched! :laugh

I'm a technical manager on a chemical site at the moment, looking after the lab staff, the process and the environmental monitoring and reporting. I'll be looking for something similar or lab based to start me off.

Linda works with adults with learning difficulties and we have had some feedback already that her skills would be valued and pay reasonably well.

Our main driver for going is the kids Thomas (7) and Jonathan (5 in october). We think we are still headed for wellington as there have been plenty of jobs advertised there, but i guess we'll make our minds up in the first few weeks after arriving, maybe have a good drive around.

[Timbo]

Hi Cardiffirons, and a very warm welcome aboard.
If you check out some very recent posts, you will see that the rain has hit some parts of NZ with a vengeance in the last few days. I expect it is warm rain though. :laugh

[Cardiff Irons]

Hi Cardiffirons, and a very warm welcome aboard.
If you check out some very recent posts, you will see that the rain has hit some parts of NZ with a vengeance in the last few days. I expect it is warm rain though. :laughThanks Timbo. Warm rain will do me, no problem.

I see you're looking to move to Tauranga. That's an area we're keen on as well. I keep checking the webcam of Tauranga harbour - one of these days I might even check it when it isn't the middle of the night over there as I'm sure it'll be more interesting! :eek

[Timbo]

Not that I am obsessed you understand. But I check out those webcams quite frequently as well. I have yet to see more than 4 people in the frame at any given time, in the Bayfair shopping centre.
The one looking out over the main beach at the Mount is the best one.

[Marie P]

Hiya Cardiff .....welcome ....we are leaning towards Tauranga too .....

Marie x

[Cardiff Irons]

Hiya Cardiff .....welcome ....we are leaning towards Tauranga too .....

Marie xHi Marie and thanks for the welcome. I see that you've already had your interview. Did all go OK and, if so, what are your plans for taking the plunge?

And is that right you got your ITA the day after your EOI was approved? :eek

[Marie P]

hiya ....yes it was ....knock on the door the day after ...big parcel ....

Well still not heard if we have our WTR [hubby is electrician,so we wont get PR ],but we put the house on the market this week .

So its just wait and see what happens really .

Good luck :nice1

Marie x

[Cardiff Irons]

hiya ....yes it was ....knock on the door the day after ...big parcel ....

Well still not heard if we have our WTR [hubby is electrician,so we wont get PR ],but we put the house on the market this week .

So its just wait and see what happens really .

Good luck :nice1

Marie xWell, good luck to you too Marie :nice1

I dunno, all this banter about the rain yesterday and then today we have bombs going off all over London. My wife is currently in London working (very near the Russell Street explosion) and my daughter was on her way to London on a school trip (fortunately the coach has now turned back). Got a feeling the UK is in meltdown and it's certainly not the place I want my kids to grow up in anymore.