[JoanneB]

HI, hope i'm not posting out of turn here or in the wrong place, if i am feel free to chuck me out lol. I'm Jo, i live in Pakuranga, East Auckland and originally from Worthing, West Sussex. I'm married to Adrian (the kiwi half) and have 3 daughters, aged 4, 2 and 3 months. We moved out here in January 2004 and went first of all to Rotorua :wah - NOT a good experience for me and i was very homesick, compounded by a late miscarriage and no friends to cheer me up. We moved up to Auckland last year and it was the best move we could have done, i am unashamedly in love with Auckland :) There's so much to do and it's great for the kids in that there's so much to do out here; it used to be a struggle to think of things to do at the weekends but here you're spoilt for choice.

It's great to see this forum and lovely to see that everyone is so friendly ( am i allowed to say that i visited another uk/nz site ;) and found it so hostile and unwelcoming that i never wanted to go there again ?) I know i'm not strictly emigrating in that i did it 2 years ago lol but i am so intrigued by people that are brave enough to do it and i'm willing to answer any questions about the whole process.

Hope to get to know you all and good luck/congratulations on whatever stage of the process you're at xx jo xx

[K&CS]

Hi Jo

It's me - Kate from Babyworld who you've been talking to on the 'Raising a family abroad' forum. Great to see you. Confused the hell out of me actually because there's another Jo B who posts on here regularly, who just flew out to NZ a couple of weeks ago - I thought it was her update!!

Welcome to the forum - I really couldn't live without this site at the moment!

Kate x

[jubjub]

Hi jo think i saw your post on the other place, I just read over there though, its a bit mad!

We are in Pakuranga too, and have an 8 week old boy, see link in sig... whereabouts are u?

Welcome to the nice friendly forum ;) .

[Hannah]

hello Jo,

Welcome. Your experience will be invaluable to others on the forum - particularly in answering those questions where i just write the answer "i can't really say as i've only been here 3 months!!"

This is a very friendly and extremely helpful forum. i've found it invaluable!!!

hannah

[Marie P]

Hi Jo

We live very near to you too ,where is this marble maze , I have 3 kids [13 ,9 and 7 ] and am always on the look out for cheap entertainment :clap

Welcome to the forum .

Marie

[JoanneB]

:laugh Hi Kate! Sorry to have confused you! Hope all is going well for you!

Marie - The marble maze is in Lloyd Elsmore Park, next to Howick Historical Village; tip - buy big marbles - we bought 200 marbles from the $2 shop and they were too small *sigh* Kids loved it though.

Jubjub - we are near Cascades Road off the main Pakuranga highway - what about yourself?

Here's to nice friendly people, hoorah! :)

[Moorf]

Welcome,

We officially left Worthing in the mid-90's when we moved to Scotland, but spent a few months back there in a flat I still owned before we moved to NZ!! Heene Terrace! Small world.

Glad you've found your niche, often we don't start in the place we end up, good to see you are still loving NZ :nice1

Moorf

[jubjub]

We are on Gossamer Jo, so not that far away at all!

Did not know there was stuff like that marble run at Lloyd ellesmore, we have only been to the pool, not really explored any other bits yet (mind you Andrew is a bit young for it yet)

[JoanneB]

Hi Moorf, small world indeed! I grew up in sunny Lancing, lol! I never thought i would appreciate Worthing but i do miss it and hope to go back one day, if only to go to Rutherfords on the end of the pier ha ha ha!!!

Hope to chat more in the future, jo xx

[Diny]

Welcome to the forum - glad you find us alot friendlier than the other bunch !!!

This is going to get really confusing cos you have the exact same forum name as one of our long standing members. Far be it from me to suggest you change your 'handle' but I reckon you may get some confusing answers to your posts from time to time.

Good to know that you like Auck alot more than your original place. I agree that alot of us end up in completely different locations from where we started, we've been in the Manawatu for 7 months and are now ready to move on.

I'm sure you'll enjoy being part of this forum, look forward to your updates.

Diny

[Smiler]

Welcome Jo I think I've put bananas on your other thread.

Diny you are right I scooted in here coz thought I it was Jo's 1st update.:confused: Have you heard how she is getting on?

D x

[Diny]

Have seen her a couple of times since she arrived (lunch out last week and the speedway on Saturday). She's doing just fine, her container arrived this week so she's been manic !!!

I'm pretty sure she'll post as soon as the PC is unpacked.

Diny

[Smiler]

:nice1Thanks for letting me know. When you see her next say Hi from me please!

D x

[Moorf]

Hi Moorf, small world indeed! I grew up in sunny Lancing, lol! I never thought i would appreciate Worthing but i do miss it and hope to go back one day, if only to go to Rutherfords on the end of the pier ha ha ha!!!



Well, well... I had digs in Lancing when I worked at Link Miles!!! Digs were up in North Lancing in the hill... can't remember name of street! That's going back some!

Oh my god, Rutherfords!! Not a Benson's girl then? :laugh :laugh :laugh

My parents still live in Findon and my brother in Goring! Small world indeedy.. I'm always taking the mick out of the place, but it's got its good points.... I hear they are knocking down Teville Gate?!! :clap

[StevieD]

Yeah wait till the stick starts!! oops :laugh And yes it will be very confusing :yes

Welcome anyway, hope you get as much information and enjoyment from this site as we have.

Steve and Jan :cheers

[gil]

Hi Jo,
Welcome! Great to have someone else based in Auckland, that's where we're headed. We actaully have Howick in mind, but as I've gathered from others here, we may well change our minds on arrival! Anyway, be prepared for lots of questions!
Take care,
Gil

[JoanneB]

Hi everyone - i am in the process of changing my username, i'm so sorry to have caused any confusion with that username. Thanks for all the replies, looking forward to being a part of the site :)

Moorf - yes they are knocking down Teville Gate, can't believe there's a fellow Lancing-er on here!

ps new username will be JoanneB, hope that clears it up!