[ZEEland]

Hello everyone

I hope I have found the right place. My family and I shall be emigrating to New Zealand mid 2006. We are a family of 5 currently living in Hampshire, UK.

We are up to date with all the immigration gubbins. My concerns are those of will be accepted in NZ. I had heard the Kiwis hate all the incomers and I don't want to be made to feel unwelcome. Have read posts that Kiwis are friendly,that too is my beleif. It will be hard enough to have no family but no friends or no sincere friends would be unbearable. I want to be a stay at home mum but will this isolate me?

Great forum btw.

ZEEland
(Zoe & Lee)

[zardell]

Cant help you with your concerns about being made welcome in New Zealand (we are still in the U.K.) but I know that you will be made welcome on this forum. :yes
Julie n Steve

[David with a dream]

Hi Zoe and Lee :nice1
I'm sure you will find some kind words of advise and will also nodoubt make some new friends.
We had a few months in NZ this year and all the kiwi's we met where really friendly. One example of many. Our 3 year old cut his leg on the beach and like all 3 year olds you would have thought it was a brake! Any how Lesley set off back to the car with him to get a band aid when a kiwi lady with a small baby in a buggy came up to her and offered to let our wee man sit in the buggy while she carried her baby. How kind and thoughtful and one of the many reasons we hope to get back out to NZ one day. :clap
Anyhow welcome to the forum and good luck with your plans......David

[Smiler]

Hello Welcome to the forum, Zoe and Lee.:clap :clap


We've been here 7 weeks and visited in Feb for a month.

I've certainly not found any resentment by Kiwi's. 99.9% of the time everyone is helpful and very friendly. Have met 2 kiwi girls along with people from here and thats great. Not all brits at all.

Like David, acts of kindness abound. One lady walked me to the library when I was lost and another couple have delivered some stuff home that I got from Trademe. No charge and their suggestion. :nice1 There have been others too.

Good luck on your journey to NZ. Where are you heading for?


Deborah

[Charlosparky]

Still in UK here but i have a Kiwi mate who was in the UK a few years back. As soon as he heard i was thinking of the move he bent over backwards to help- even offering me a job which he knows i I may not want, just because he knows that the job offer would make the immigration process so much easier ;) . Cant be more helpful than that. I also asked him to compare NZ feelings with the racism/resentment stuff when he was over here, but he said if anything it was most pronounced between the kiwis and Maouris- not kiwis and immigrants.

Only one opinion i know but they all add up so you can make a picture.

Chris

[sizzlingbadger]

Welcome to the forum :clap

We've found kiwis very friendly and always love to lend a hand. Having been in our own house for 4 months we've got a huge network of kiwi friends, some of whom we can rely on for babysitting if we get stuck. Nothing like that happened in the uk and I was a very isolated mum.

Good Luck, I'm sure you and the kids will love it here.

[ZEEland]

We hope to be heading for the Marlborough area. Jobs are not an issue so this makes it a viable area for us to live in, that or Northland way but we hear that it is mainly maori up there and housing not too great, we have a company in the UK that will continue to run. We have come in via the investor category, early retirement you could say, but also for our children to have a better childhood. They go to good private schools at present but this does nothing to protect them from the terrible influences that abound.

[Voice]

Hi and welcome.

We live in a predominantly Maori area and have found nothing but kindness since we arrived almost 8 months ago. Housing in NZ is very different from that in the UK wherever you choose to settle, so you will probably want to spend some time looking around first.

My children also went to small independent schools in the Uk but have settled and are achieving well in the local high schools.

Good luck with the immigration process :)

[David with a dream]

Hi Again, we will be in Nelson area early in 2007 to activate our visa and reccy the area for possible relocation. You never know we may bump into each other :cheers .............David

[ZEEland]

Thank you Voice. It is first-hand experience like yours that I really appreciate, it's what makes these forums so valuable. I could read glossy magazines and travelogues until the cows come home but nothing compares to on-the-ground feedback.

David we would be very pleased to meet you and any others who are in the Marlborough area when/if we get there mid 2006.

To all others thank you for your warm welcome. I see there is a secret area (Lounge), I did not see this area until today. Very entertaining. Is it a member only club?!!!

[jubjub]

To all others thank you for your warm welcome. I see there is a secret area (Lounge), I did not see this area until today. Very entertaining. Is it a member only club?!!!



Nope, not secret, you just dont get to see it unless you are a member and logged in.... :p

Welcome anyway!

We have not had any anti-immigrant experiences as yet, hubby is taking a bit of a teasing at work for the moment as Scotland are playing the All Blacks at the weekend, but its all in good fun.

As for stay at home mum, cant answer that one quite yet (give me till next weekend!), but the antenatal group were friendly, and there seems to be plenty of coffee groups around for those with younger children, you dont say how old yours are? but I guess you would get to meet quite a few folks at the school if they are older.

Not working does limit your chances for meeting folks, but what I would say to that is any invites you get, take them, go along and chat to folks, you never know who you will meet, and if you dont like them, you dont have to go back!

[Diny]

Zoe & Lee

Welcome to the forum - here's hoping your immigration process runs smoothly. It's only natural to have a certain amount of worries and concerns - this is no small adventure you're embarking on.

As for being accepted over here - I can't see that you'll have any problems. NZ is so multi-cultural. Speaking from experience I can tell you that I've found NZ to be no better or worse than any other country I've been to. There's some really friendly, top notch folks over here - and there's a fair share of ratbags and scum too. Treat people the way you would like to be treated and cut abit of slack in all directions during the settling in period and I just know you'll be fine.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Diny

[edmundt]

Hi, my family and I stayed at a number of Kiwis' families for a total of 5 months previously and I am really overwhelmed by their friendliness and openess. Seriously, where on earth do you find complete strangers who said "Help yourselves to the house while I am away" on the first day of stay. During my travels there, I also did not meet any sort of unpleasant incidents in the usual places that locals frequent. Perhaps, I was fortunate.

[Hannah]

Hi Zoe and Lee,

Welcome!!

I agree with comments here, We've been in New Plymouth just 3 weeks ago and people here are very friendly and kind, kiwi and British alike. We haven't had that 'in your face' experience that some of the "Living in.." type books talk about (where your neighbours knock on your door all the time and there is a BBQ everyday - a sort of Ramsay Street lifestyle). It's like our street in the UK, you say hello to your neighbours and stop for a chat now and then with those you have something common in (e.g. kids at same school). People are willing to help though, offering help if they think you could do with it, and are not afraid to ask for help if they need it to.