MB
5th November 2005, 03:03 PM
How are you all? Golly, it's been a long time since I posted to the forum, but we have kept an eye on things and have been in touch with a few forum pals via PM.
By way of a start of an apology for not having posted since we arrived in NZ I thought I'd write this message, in two sections: a summary of
what we have been up to, then some observations on what has worked for us so far. I hope it is of some interest:
THE SUMMARY:
We are a family of three who had lived the last nine years in Seattle. My wife Vera is principal applicant, and she is a ballet teacher. I worked for years in a job in a big children's hospital, doing surgery editorial and graphics work. Our son Winston is three. When we were granted NZ PR, we sold our townhouse and left our jobs. We have no family or close contacts in NZ.
We arrived in Auckland on July 13th. To place the era for you this was about the same time as Diny and PB got to NZ, give or take.
We got help and kindness from the word go, as a chap we met on the airport-to-city shuttle offered us rooms in his family's home in Ponsonby if we needed them. We had booked a couple of bargain-rate weeks in an apartment hotel downtown, but we exchanged details -- he edits a NZ winter-sports mag and had been on our plane from Seattle -- and said we might well give him a call.
Our weeks in the hotel were v.valuable, as it was so handy for city banks, public transport, job hunting, and so on.
After a week or so settling in, Vera started meeting local dance people and I found a temp job doing production work at a research company in Ponsonby (similar skills to my Seattle job). The Ponsonby location dovetailed well, of course, with our new friend's housing offer, so in August we moved in. It was a big villa with a lovely atmosphere, and the family have for decades kept a running journal of life in the house: guests are encouraged to put entries in the diary, and old volumes were kept on a shelf above the washing-up rack! It was just the right kind of place for us at this stage: the family was American-Kiwi, dividing their time between NZ and Tacoma, WA.
I was kindly allowed to leave work on hour or two early three days a week so that Vera could do some ballet teaching downtown while I looked after Winston.
After about 5 weeks living in Ponsonby, enjoying the huge school sports fields that were literally outside our back gate and that hosted a long Maori rugby tournament that Winston enjoyed, we agreed with our hosts that it was time for us to find a new place as they had family beginning to arrive for the holiday period. So in mid-September we got online and quickly found a small rental cottage in Bayview, N.Shore City, on the edge of Manuka Reserve, an area of bush bordering a creek.
We moved there later that week, and it is where I am posting this from today. It suits us v.well: it is quiet and is on the doorstep of Glenfield
Coastal Walkway which provides great exercise for the three of us. There are good bus routes to Auckland and Takapuna.
I have been taken on permanently at the research company, on a half-time basis, and Vera is teaching a few hours and also has a local weekend job to help with the money for groceries.
OBSERVATIONS ON WHAT HAS WORKED FOR US SO FAR:
- First off I have to pay tribute to Winston, our 3-year-old son. He was two when we arrived and has moved home three times since July, but has kept his happy disposition and his routines intact throughout. Also, he is now going through toilet training and the new experience of being away from us for an hour or more at a time at a new kindy. His ability to adapt has helped us settle here immeasurably. I give him the credit, but our first observation about moving to a new country as a family is the value of trying hard to transfer Winston's routines and way of life. To our minds there is enough inevitable 'new-ness' in a move like this, and so it is proving v.valuable to focus consistently on keeping his settling-in as smooth as possible by keeping his structures, preferences and things intact as far as we can.
- Similarly, we have found it useful to have a fairly sharp idea of the one or two 'indispensables' that really keep us going and that we wanted to re-establish as soon as we could in NZ. E.g., it was important for me to get access to streaming Internet radio so that I could catch up on Danny Baker and Tommy Boyd's shows from the UK. For someone else it might be joining a sports team or relocating a certain brand of beer! Or whatever. Again: the migration experience itself is new and big enough, and identifying and fulfilling a couple of personal 'must haves' is a huge help. This isn't the time for willful, masochistic locking-away of absolutely everything that is familiar and valuable to us.
- In Ponsonby I had to walk to and from work, a total of about an hour a day. It was a blessing in disguise. EXERCISE is a real must, if only because migration is a classic, classic example of the kind of period when it is so easy to find good excuses NOT to exercise at a time when we need it MOST. So, we found enforced exercise (we have no car) a real boon.
- Auckland: our experience has been one of many instances of little kindnesses and welcomes. It's true that we have not made close friends yet, and I can see how Auckland has the reputation of being a busy place where everyone has somewhere to go, but I think that it is an unfair stretch to call it an unfriendly place. It is a lovely city, especially when the sun is out, but it is a big, working city of shopping and suburbs as well as one in which the scenery is terrific (Rangitoto, Mt. Victoria, One Tree Hill park, etc.) We rely on public transport, working three part-time job between the two of us: we have a toddler to travel with, and we find the transport system good. It is not wonderful yet, but it gets us where we need to go with B/B+ punctuality at a fairly reasonable cost. Auckland, for sure, isn't an obviously touchy-feely town but it is down to earth and, in its way, compassionate and human. We like it.
- For a family coming to NZ, I think it's important to come over with as many savings as possible: very preferably at least 5-figure savings. It's probably
not impossible to make a go of it with less, but for the average family there are quite a few set-up costs even if the family is reasonably thrifty: job-hunting, getting a phone line and Web access, buying bus passes or a vehicle, affording rent/utility bonds, and so on, add up quickly, as does the mix of day-to-day 'nickel-and-dime' expenses. This is probably also true for singles or couples, but having a child heightens the need for speed in terms of investing money in finding a job, buying a phone for emergencies, etc. And that is from a family (us) that is not all that afraid to 'make do' (e.g., we were happy to be seen picking up household bits and pieces that had been put out for the city's household-stuff-collection week!)
- Auckland/N.Shore weather: we arrived in late winter and our first month fairly often saw warm, sunny days in the 17-20C range. Spring was cooler -- chilly at times -- and a few weeks ago a system locked in that gave us three weeks of violently changeable conditions: at least once we had hail, gales, thunder, sun and heavy cloud within a few hours! But a fortnight ago it started to get very much warmer. I'm writing this on the patio on a sunny Saturday afternoon with a warm breeze and a forecasted high of 22C. There is often a sub-tropical lacing to the weather here that shows itself in the short-but-heavy showers which feel a little as though they are being pushed down from above, and in the closeness of the heat we get here.
- There is a mix of what you might call N.American and Brit influences here. Real-estate dealings seem more in line with W.Coast-US practices in their straightforwardness, for example, as are many road markings and signage, but there are very many echoes of British culture too. Small example: bus-travel pricing structures seem British, in that they seem slightly on the high end of reasonable, but still okay... there are no Seattle-like bus features such as free transfer chits that allow you to hop on any other bus for free for the couple of hours after paying your first fare. Groceries are Brit-influenced, too, with lots of sausage rolls, meat pies, cheap 'Basics' plain-wrap goods, basically UK-style baked beans, etc. Which brings us to beer: this doesn't really seem a microbrew culture, unlike the Pacific Northwest or California. The big brewers do a few specialty-style six-packs which are at the high end of their prices, but mostly there is 4-5%-proof NZ/Oz brands such as Steinlager, VB, Lion Red, NZ Lager, Fosters, and the like. But it's fine.
- Getting work: if you have a good job lined up here, great. But we had to find work asap. Personally, when I had to do the cold-calling 'gissa-job' bit, I
found it a source of strength to remind myself that I was in good company, past and present, and that v.many people have had to stand at front doors and knock and introduce themselves to employers who haven't invited 'em! Taking a deep breath and starting to look and interact is a bit taxing at first, but it has to be done, and the history of migration is shot through with efforts, awkward-nesses, rejections and job-clinchings like this. It's a way of getting a foothold and of growing.
- Finally: we have tried to relax and have fun and some beers throughout all the effort. It has been vital to find family time, and time for each other :-), and to have a laugh when we've done daft things like pronounce place-names really appallingly in front of others who then crack up at our attempts. Also we have met a few forum people who have all been great!
I'll stop for now, but please let me know if you'd like more. In the meantime, all, best wishes with your plans & applications!
Cheers,
Matt, Vera and Winston.
By way of a start of an apology for not having posted since we arrived in NZ I thought I'd write this message, in two sections: a summary of
what we have been up to, then some observations on what has worked for us so far. I hope it is of some interest:
THE SUMMARY:
We are a family of three who had lived the last nine years in Seattle. My wife Vera is principal applicant, and she is a ballet teacher. I worked for years in a job in a big children's hospital, doing surgery editorial and graphics work. Our son Winston is three. When we were granted NZ PR, we sold our townhouse and left our jobs. We have no family or close contacts in NZ.
We arrived in Auckland on July 13th. To place the era for you this was about the same time as Diny and PB got to NZ, give or take.
We got help and kindness from the word go, as a chap we met on the airport-to-city shuttle offered us rooms in his family's home in Ponsonby if we needed them. We had booked a couple of bargain-rate weeks in an apartment hotel downtown, but we exchanged details -- he edits a NZ winter-sports mag and had been on our plane from Seattle -- and said we might well give him a call.
Our weeks in the hotel were v.valuable, as it was so handy for city banks, public transport, job hunting, and so on.
After a week or so settling in, Vera started meeting local dance people and I found a temp job doing production work at a research company in Ponsonby (similar skills to my Seattle job). The Ponsonby location dovetailed well, of course, with our new friend's housing offer, so in August we moved in. It was a big villa with a lovely atmosphere, and the family have for decades kept a running journal of life in the house: guests are encouraged to put entries in the diary, and old volumes were kept on a shelf above the washing-up rack! It was just the right kind of place for us at this stage: the family was American-Kiwi, dividing their time between NZ and Tacoma, WA.
I was kindly allowed to leave work on hour or two early three days a week so that Vera could do some ballet teaching downtown while I looked after Winston.
After about 5 weeks living in Ponsonby, enjoying the huge school sports fields that were literally outside our back gate and that hosted a long Maori rugby tournament that Winston enjoyed, we agreed with our hosts that it was time for us to find a new place as they had family beginning to arrive for the holiday period. So in mid-September we got online and quickly found a small rental cottage in Bayview, N.Shore City, on the edge of Manuka Reserve, an area of bush bordering a creek.
We moved there later that week, and it is where I am posting this from today. It suits us v.well: it is quiet and is on the doorstep of Glenfield
Coastal Walkway which provides great exercise for the three of us. There are good bus routes to Auckland and Takapuna.
I have been taken on permanently at the research company, on a half-time basis, and Vera is teaching a few hours and also has a local weekend job to help with the money for groceries.
OBSERVATIONS ON WHAT HAS WORKED FOR US SO FAR:
- First off I have to pay tribute to Winston, our 3-year-old son. He was two when we arrived and has moved home three times since July, but has kept his happy disposition and his routines intact throughout. Also, he is now going through toilet training and the new experience of being away from us for an hour or more at a time at a new kindy. His ability to adapt has helped us settle here immeasurably. I give him the credit, but our first observation about moving to a new country as a family is the value of trying hard to transfer Winston's routines and way of life. To our minds there is enough inevitable 'new-ness' in a move like this, and so it is proving v.valuable to focus consistently on keeping his settling-in as smooth as possible by keeping his structures, preferences and things intact as far as we can.
- Similarly, we have found it useful to have a fairly sharp idea of the one or two 'indispensables' that really keep us going and that we wanted to re-establish as soon as we could in NZ. E.g., it was important for me to get access to streaming Internet radio so that I could catch up on Danny Baker and Tommy Boyd's shows from the UK. For someone else it might be joining a sports team or relocating a certain brand of beer! Or whatever. Again: the migration experience itself is new and big enough, and identifying and fulfilling a couple of personal 'must haves' is a huge help. This isn't the time for willful, masochistic locking-away of absolutely everything that is familiar and valuable to us.
- In Ponsonby I had to walk to and from work, a total of about an hour a day. It was a blessing in disguise. EXERCISE is a real must, if only because migration is a classic, classic example of the kind of period when it is so easy to find good excuses NOT to exercise at a time when we need it MOST. So, we found enforced exercise (we have no car) a real boon.
- Auckland: our experience has been one of many instances of little kindnesses and welcomes. It's true that we have not made close friends yet, and I can see how Auckland has the reputation of being a busy place where everyone has somewhere to go, but I think that it is an unfair stretch to call it an unfriendly place. It is a lovely city, especially when the sun is out, but it is a big, working city of shopping and suburbs as well as one in which the scenery is terrific (Rangitoto, Mt. Victoria, One Tree Hill park, etc.) We rely on public transport, working three part-time job between the two of us: we have a toddler to travel with, and we find the transport system good. It is not wonderful yet, but it gets us where we need to go with B/B+ punctuality at a fairly reasonable cost. Auckland, for sure, isn't an obviously touchy-feely town but it is down to earth and, in its way, compassionate and human. We like it.
- For a family coming to NZ, I think it's important to come over with as many savings as possible: very preferably at least 5-figure savings. It's probably
not impossible to make a go of it with less, but for the average family there are quite a few set-up costs even if the family is reasonably thrifty: job-hunting, getting a phone line and Web access, buying bus passes or a vehicle, affording rent/utility bonds, and so on, add up quickly, as does the mix of day-to-day 'nickel-and-dime' expenses. This is probably also true for singles or couples, but having a child heightens the need for speed in terms of investing money in finding a job, buying a phone for emergencies, etc. And that is from a family (us) that is not all that afraid to 'make do' (e.g., we were happy to be seen picking up household bits and pieces that had been put out for the city's household-stuff-collection week!)
- Auckland/N.Shore weather: we arrived in late winter and our first month fairly often saw warm, sunny days in the 17-20C range. Spring was cooler -- chilly at times -- and a few weeks ago a system locked in that gave us three weeks of violently changeable conditions: at least once we had hail, gales, thunder, sun and heavy cloud within a few hours! But a fortnight ago it started to get very much warmer. I'm writing this on the patio on a sunny Saturday afternoon with a warm breeze and a forecasted high of 22C. There is often a sub-tropical lacing to the weather here that shows itself in the short-but-heavy showers which feel a little as though they are being pushed down from above, and in the closeness of the heat we get here.
- There is a mix of what you might call N.American and Brit influences here. Real-estate dealings seem more in line with W.Coast-US practices in their straightforwardness, for example, as are many road markings and signage, but there are very many echoes of British culture too. Small example: bus-travel pricing structures seem British, in that they seem slightly on the high end of reasonable, but still okay... there are no Seattle-like bus features such as free transfer chits that allow you to hop on any other bus for free for the couple of hours after paying your first fare. Groceries are Brit-influenced, too, with lots of sausage rolls, meat pies, cheap 'Basics' plain-wrap goods, basically UK-style baked beans, etc. Which brings us to beer: this doesn't really seem a microbrew culture, unlike the Pacific Northwest or California. The big brewers do a few specialty-style six-packs which are at the high end of their prices, but mostly there is 4-5%-proof NZ/Oz brands such as Steinlager, VB, Lion Red, NZ Lager, Fosters, and the like. But it's fine.
- Getting work: if you have a good job lined up here, great. But we had to find work asap. Personally, when I had to do the cold-calling 'gissa-job' bit, I
found it a source of strength to remind myself that I was in good company, past and present, and that v.many people have had to stand at front doors and knock and introduce themselves to employers who haven't invited 'em! Taking a deep breath and starting to look and interact is a bit taxing at first, but it has to be done, and the history of migration is shot through with efforts, awkward-nesses, rejections and job-clinchings like this. It's a way of getting a foothold and of growing.
- Finally: we have tried to relax and have fun and some beers throughout all the effort. It has been vital to find family time, and time for each other :-), and to have a laugh when we've done daft things like pronounce place-names really appallingly in front of others who then crack up at our attempts. Also we have met a few forum people who have all been great!
I'll stop for now, but please let me know if you'd like more. In the meantime, all, best wishes with your plans & applications!
Cheers,
Matt, Vera and Winston.