[Paul]

Been lurking on here for some time now and although neither of us have been to NZ we still can't get the idea of emigrating out of our heads! Its something we just come back to every time something like the London bombings happens or we have a bad experience with some little "oik" with no respect and you just think - what does the future hold for us and in paticular our little 7 month old?

C'mon share what made you finally takle the plunge away from comfy jobs and houses and start again across the other side of the world!?

Thanks

[Bailers]

The kids really - my wife and I believe it will be a better place to bring them up, not too happy about bringing them up in London. Crime, politics, general lack of respect , just kinda had it with this place. Oh did I mention and the kids. They will have grandparents close by in Auckland.

Cheers

Mark

[Bubbles]

Sorry, didn't mean to submit

[K&CS]

We just fell in love with the place after a xmas visit to the South Island - had honestly not considered emigrating before - thought we were perfectly happy with what we had.

After considering for over a year, something just clicked and we decided to go for it (not an easy decision as my mother is not well and has relied on me a lot in the past - she is now moving down south to be near my brother). Being pregnant at the time also made me think about what a better life it would be for the baby and our other 2 kids who just loved the place. Difficult to explain - just a gut feeling that it was something we had to do - even if it doesn't work out!

Kate

[Timbo]

It is something that we have been talking about for years, but never got round to taking action on.
We considered Aus after a visit there but since researching and visiting NZ, there is no comparison in our eyes. NZ it is. It helps that our 2 sons are grown up and flown the nest, so we dont have to worry about schooling and taking them away from friends etc.
There is not one single thing that triggered the urge to emigrate, just a passion to try something new and different.

[Bubbles]

The reason for doing this now. It's something we've always wanted to do. I think the main one for us now is if we don't give it a real go now we'll miss the boat and be too scared to try it later. We feel it's time for a change of scenary and a big new challenge. Possibly a bit of midlife crisis thrown in too. :laugh

Its been on the cards for some 21 yrs now. We were both fresh out of our apprenticeships and all set to go to NZ after the wedding, then Mr winky done his bit and we decided to stay for the grandparents sake. :roll:
4 kids later ( Yes, I said 4. From 20yrs to 12yrs ) and them being old enough to understand the reasons for the move and young enough to appreciate it, it's finally time to go. Our parents have been great about the whole thing, so far. :nice1. It's quite odd when I think that when we go, our eldest will be as old as we were when we originally hatched the plan

John

[Paul]

Thanks for replies - keep them coming, very interesting to read that children feature so heavily in most peoples reasoning!

For me I want to make sure it is right for the wife and myself also as it is somewhere we would all need to be happy to make it work in my opinion.

We are currently moving house within the UK to see if this is what we need and who knows a new house and new(ish) area could make us more settled, but who knows?!

Thanks again

[Cardiff Irons]

Five days of continuous rain, wind and cold weather at the beginning of June.

[Cardiff Irons]

Oh, plus the mid-life crisis! :mrgreen:

Where abouts in Essex you from Paul? Spent a good portion of my life living there.

[Smiler]

Paul et all

What made us do it? Masses really including

We want a different standard/different pace of life that isn't possible here in 'label' britain.

All the stuff people moan about here, crime, property prices etc etc.

My son is nearly 21 and has flown the nest too so no kiddy worries just the 'heartache' of leaving him.

Wanting to have a BIG new challenge, experience change, to travel and do new stuff before we get to old/scared to do IT.

AND THE FACT THAT WE JUST CAN :nice1

Deborah

[Bruckner]

We're doing it for our 6 month old twins. We knew we didn't want to stay in New York City once they came along and with Australia being too hard to get into, we decided on New Zealand and applied. When they're older, we want the kids to have an outdoor lifestyle and the type of freedom to roam they could never have here. The same for us to some extent.

Emily

[ruthyroo]

1. Having an adventure - though we soon learned that adventures can go either way, positive and negative.
2. Time of life - both eminently qualified and no kids yet, so pretty much free to work and travel and earn a decent income wherever we go
3. Can't say it was anything negative about the UK / Scotland. We had a great life there too, so I can't subscribe to the UK bashing that goes on sometimes. Bad things / people happen everywhere - I guess they are easier to avoid in NZ simply because there are fewer people.
4. Nz in particular because there is a shortage in both our occupations, which made getting visas / permits much easier. In retrospect Oz would have been good as well, maybe better in some respects. Also we had never visited NZ before and were keen to explore the South Pacific (and having just returned from a week in the Cook Islands that has been a big plus!)

HTH

[Miffy]

We wanted a better work / life balance and an overall better quality if life.

We also wanted to live somewhere 'with mountains' as we both love that kind of life style and all the related sports.

We had thought about Canada but it just didn't click.

One summer evening after some very nice wine in Sep 04 we talked about visiting our kiwi friends who has just moved back to NZ.
Ian went on the web to look at NZ sites and on a whim found a company in his industry and sent off his CV (we've got nothing to loose).
Two days later we got a reply asking when we could interview and the rollercoster started :mrgreen:

[zsj]

Some friends came back from a trip to the BoP in the easter and raved about it. My husband is a lapsed American (been away from US more or less permanently since 1979) and always hankered after his outdoors, old fashioned upbringing there but I didn't want to move to what I know as the modern America. So he picked on NZ as being the next best thing.

August bank holiday weekend fed up of his moaning about the job and life and lack of opportunities in UK, I told him to get off his backside and do something so he sent an email off to a company and hey presto, couple of months later a job offer and 2 months after that we were here. It was really a case of me daring him to do something and stop moaning so once he did it, I could hardly turn around and say no could I?!

All the things about better quality of life, upbringing for kids etc, that all came after!! To justify the rather rash decision!

The funny thing was I was never for it, not really, had visited a few times before as a teenager and always considered it the end of the earth but as an adult I like that! And I like it for my kids too. And now I love it, really really feel at home, don't have heaps of friends or anything you know (only been here 6 months) but just feel at peace with everything around me and very lucky to be here and have this feeling.

So a good move then! Good luck with your decision.

[DLW]

Hi,

We Visited NZ 11 years ago and did all the touristy things. A trip to NZ always seems to stay with you, more than any other type of holiday experience. On our trip 11 years ago, we stayed at a place called 'The Buffalo Lodge' in the Coromandel. I know you think I'm going off on a tangent, and I am a little, but bear with me!. :? It's the home of 2 Artists, 1 of Swedish decent (I think!), who had lived all over the world, anyway he was a bit of a hippy :cool and obviously fond of the aromatic cigarettes!!!! and as we were leaving he asked us if we thought we might come to NZ to live. At that time it was just a holiday, so we weren't thinking of that and his reply was "New Zealand's good for the soul!" We thought Yeah right! and put it down to those ciggies. But people here do seem on the whole happier, even though recent surveys have put Average Joe as not having very much spare cash, he's happy with his lot.

There isn't any pressure to keep up with the Jones' (well not here in the BOP, don't know about Auckland). We also felt that the incidences of voilent crime seemed to be on the increase, not just because of the TV and Newspaper reports, we were hearing on a weekly basis of happenings in our local area. Our children were on a 'red alert' often due to strangers approaching their school friends. Our children were at an age were we thought it would be still Ok to move them, and hoped that we wouldn't be scarring them for life! So we took the "We can always come back" attitude!

We have had our ups & downs, it's a very stressfull process, and at the commencement of it all you think that the hard work is just getting here, when really that's when it starts!. The most stressfull times in your life are meant to be bereavement, divorce, change of job, moving house etc. Well in my humble opinion, you have all this rolled into one, you leave people behind who you know you probably will never see again, you 'divorce' your long term friends (I mean you still keep in touch, but it's not the same as seeing them regularly), you start new jobs, move house. I can't imagine anything any more stressfull.

But the thing is, as long as you do it all with the attitude - let's do and see how it works out, and all agree that you wouldn't feel like you would 'lose face' by returning then you may always regret not doing it and that may be worse!

Good Luck on your descision :nice1
DLW

[Paul]

Oh, plus the mid-life crisis! :mrgreen:

Where abouts in Essex you from Paul? Spent a good portion of my life living there.

Fairly close to sunny Southend on Sea!

[Carol]

We wanted to give our kids a better than average life.




We got it.
:nice1

[Paul]

Thanks all - some interesting points there

Ruthyroo agree with your anti UK bashing point - can't say we have a bad life here at all but just wonder if our life is filled with lots of material things and that is why we are feeling "unsettled" for want of a better word

Guess I'll keep lurking here and picking up lots of info in preparation for whatever may happen! This place is great!

:nice1

[veronica]

hello Paul, lots of us Essex bods on the forum. with us it was a 3 pronged attack. One daughter with an Oz passport was considering moving there, other daughter had backpacked round the world and loved NZ and has every intention of moving here and then Pete was made redundant and couldn't get a job in Essex. So it seemed a logical step to take.

[adamsat]

Fairly close to sunny Southend on Sea!

Part of our last day in the UK was spent walking from Southend (Priory Road), where I'd handed in my company car, to Lisa's mum's house near Tarpots corner (10 miles but we thought it would help settle our nerves). Seems like a lifetime ago now but was only 6 weeks :yes

For us it was a combination of:

Wanting to live in NZ after being here on holiday
Wanting to give the children a better lifestyle
Wanting a change from the job I'd been doing for 20 years
Not wanting to regret not giving it a go in 20 years
Going now before we got too old
Going now before the children got too old
Having a mid-life crisis and needing an adventure
Having wild trout and salmon fishing on the doorstep (this could be higher on the list than it's wise to admit ;) )

[clarabell]

[quote="Paul"
We are currently moving house within the UK to see if this is what we need and who knows a new house and new(ish) area could make us more settled, but who knows?!
[/quote]

Hi, think this is a very sensible idea. We considered Canada originally, but like some else said, it just didnt feel right. We thought our itchy feet might be cured by moving in this country, which we looked into, but it never felt 'enough'!

As soon as we thought about NZ, it felt right. Lifestyle properties are so much cheaper out there, we are keen organic gardeners and out there we can afford so much more land to realise our dream of owning a few live stock to rear for food. Keeping bees and chickens, having a paddock. We feel our children will thrive in the lifestyle NZ can offer us.

Hope you make the right decision for you, and good luck with it all.

[Paul]

Part of our last day in the UK was spent walking from Southend (Priory Road), where I'd handed in my company car, to Lisa's mum's house near Tarpots corner (10 miles but we thought it would help settle our nerves). Seems like a lifetime ago now but was only 6 weeks :yes

That's some walk! We are moving to Benfleet near Boyce Hill golf course hopefully. Wife's mother also lives very near Tarpots - small world

Good luck with the fishing!!

[Paul]

As soon as we thought about NZ, it felt right. Lifestyle properties are so much cheaper out there, we are keen organic gardeners and out there we can afford so much more land to realise our dream of owning a few live stock to rear for food. Keeping bees and chickens, having a paddock. We feel our children will thrive in the lifestyle NZ can offer us.

Hope you make the right decision for you, and good luck with it all.

Yes the lifestyle property and all that goes with it is the carrot for me I think!! You can keep your bees though!!!

Most people seem to have said their children thrive out there at school and in general life - we definitely want that for our little girl

[clarabell]

Yes the lifestyle property and all that goes with it is the carrot for me I think!!


Nice pun!

We are going to NZ for the first time in Dec :mrgreen:
We dont feel we can decided for definate without going out there. From the research weve done, it looks like the place for us, we just want to make sure. Maybe a holiday out there would affirm it in your minds if its the right place for you too.
Emmigrating is a very exciting thought isnt it?? :yes :nice1 :exit

[Debbie]

Hi Paul,
Your thread has made me think long and hard about our intended move. We would like to be in Auckland next yr we have never been to NZ before. We plan a job hunting trip prior to our move but this will be our first time to NZ.
I felt I should have some profound reason for leaving our very good life in the UK. After all we have 2 healthy kids with access to good schools, we live in a lovley little Kent town and my OH has a well paid job only 15 min drive away from home. We have a great life in the UK but we don't feel fulfilled. A bit like your planned move, we moved from Bucks to Kent 4 yrs ago now but we just feel that our life in thte UK is in a cul-da- sac (sp).
We haven't told our families of our plans yet, (doing that this week whilst visiting them so keep your fingers crossed for me) and I do worry that they will take it badly or that we will seem ungrateful for what we have but (rambel over with) we are going and going now

BECAUSE WE CAN.

We have a lot in the UK and a great oppertunity to go to NZ with the points currently as they are. We feel very lucky to have the choice and we are taking it.
The oppertunities for change for us in the UK mean making sacrifices we are not prepared for.
My OH would have to go and get a job in London if we wanted to improve our finances. We don't want that for so many reasons.
There is no where in the UK that we would want to live that offers the outdoor life and enviroment we want for our children and yet still has available work for us.
The financial freedom of not having a mortgage to worry about means we can afford to take risks and look at either stepping back from work a little or follow our dream of working for ourselves. We could never do this in the UK because our financial commitments would never allow it.

The UK has been good to us, we hope that NZ will enable us to be good to ourselves.

:cool
sorry for the long post Debbie

[Bubbles]

Nice post Debbie

:clap

[Paul]

Great post Debbie! Glad we are not the only ones who cannot place a specific reason on why we are even considering it!

Best of luck to you as you tell your folks. We have already broached (sp?) the idea with both of our parents and they are very supportive although if it actually happens I guess that is when reality kicks in especially with only one grandchild! It helps that my parents spend 4/5 months a year in Oz already so they wouldn't actually be that far away in reality

[T-R3xx]

Nice post, Debbie!

If I took your post and did a FIND for all the U.K.'s and REPLACE with U.S.'s, it very well could have been written by my wife or myself. We are very happy where we are (once you get used to -20 in the winter and occational severe weather and tornados in the summer) and do not have a single compelling reason to move. A good part of it IS the 'adventure' of it all.

A bunch of like-minded lunatic all moving to the same place... ;)

:cheers

Pearce

[dee]

Hi, my husband works with a kiwi who was always going on how great NZ was and that we should go over to his folks for a holiday. I was unsure because I felt if NZ was that great what was he doing over here! Anyway we went over in March with our 6 year old twin girls. We stayed just north of Auckland and had the most fantastic time, the girls loved it, especially being allowed to walk round like the kiwi kids with no shoes on. Our friends Dad owns a construction company and as my husband is a site engineer he offered him a job. We took the opportunity to look round a few schools and estate agents just in case we decided to take up the offer. The schools appear much more laid back and the children do not seem to have as much pressure on them as ours. The school we really liked put more emphasise on the children learning through home and life experience than loads of homework. After talking to quite a few Brits over there they all said the same thing that their children were getting a better lifestyle than they were in the UK. When we got home we decided to apply for residency and at present are getting all our documents ready to send in with our ITA. Being able to offer our children a better lifestyle and being able to afford to live by the sea helped towards our final decision. House prices have risen so much we could never afford to have a place here like we could in NZ. Don't get me wrong I know its not going to be all roses but if we don't take this opportunity to change our lives we might be here in ten years time thinking "what if". If it all fails then at least we can say we tried and had a great time doing so. You only have one life!

[selchie]

We have visited NZ twice, and loved it both times. The people seemed much more relaxed, and the level of civility was higher. We chatted more with friendly Kiwi strangers than ever with Californians. The smaller population may help with civility, and I definitely like the idea of fewer people. The Kiwi attitude toward the quality of life is more in keeping with ours than in much of CA, though we have holed ourselves up in a very relaxed corner of the state.

The cities seemed to be cleaner, safer and friendlier than in the US. I realize that there are probably filthy, unsafe and unfriendly areas in NZ cities, but I didn't feel as though my danger sensors needed to be on high alert even when walking down a back street in Welly at night. And we were never panhandled in NZ.

We are also attracted to NZ's socio-political climate. It is more liberal than the US, which appeals to us old left-of-centers. The small population also seems to contribute to a more democratic feel to NZ - people seem to be more involved in what is happening politically, and seem to be more rational about it. The current conservative trend of the US is worrisome to us, and we'd rather skedaddle while the skedaddling is good. I think that is the factor which has tipped the scale for us, because we do have a lovely home and good friends here in CA which will be difficult to leave.