Jodie
13th February 2006, 07:35 PM
Hi guys,
Just thought I'd pop in and say hi to see how you're all doing - glad to see that a lot of you are much closer to the move, if not already over here - good on ya! And good luck to everyone still in the process.
I thought I'd share our first 18 months in NZ with you - might help with some experiences some of you are or will be going through - might also give you another insight into the country so here goes!!
A quick update for newbies - Daz and I came out here on a working holiday visa in July 2004 with a view to finding somewhere to live and then finding work. We fell in love with Welly (despite it being my last choice of places to live after a visit out here 4 years before!), found a rental and started job hunting. Daz went to recruitment agencies while I rang around all of the web companies in the yellow pages and tried to sell myself! eeek! Pretty daunting but got a few leads, then I got a job with a young web company and we put in our EOI. 8 months later (yes, 8 MONTHS!! I was worried it was because of my minor medical conditon but it was just NZIS being incredibly slow!) we had our residency stamps (after I changed jobs, was made redundandant from that job and then found my 3rd job which has proved to be 3rd time lucky so far!). It seems that if you're already in the country with work visas (which we changed our WHVs to once we had jobs), they don't seem to think that you're desperate to get your residency, so take their time processing your application - Thanks NZIS! But it was worth the wait.
We had a great first year renting 2 houses in the Northern Suburbs of Welly and made some great friends (including people we bought our couches from out of the free ads paper!). We've done a lot of exploring and had both sets of parents come out to visit which was great. (Took a trip down to the south island with Daz's Mum which was fab - whale watching and helicopter trip over the glacier - absolutely fantastic!). Then in August we thought we'd start looking at houses to buy so kept an eye on the paper and went to a few open homes to see what was around, and in October we fell in love with a house and after a nail-biting tender process, it was ours on the 17th October! We moved in at the end of November and although theres loads of work to do (Daz is painting the kitchen as we speak after 3 weeks of having it all ripped out - I can't wait to get my kitchen cupboards and sink back in again!!), it's perfect for us and we're really happy. The house buying process over here is really easy, and you need to be a bit cheeky with the mortgage advisors too to get the best deal - I managed to knock BNZ down by 0.2% from their advertised rate which made quite a bit of difference - you just need to be cheeky enough to play a few of the big banks off against each other. (and I am! he he he! )
Our jobs are going well - very sociable which we love! We went away for a 'paid for' weekend to Greytown with Daz's work just before Christmas, and I've been up to Waiheke Island for a team building few days with a boozy Wednesday night fancy dress party, and then a treasure hunt in combi vans around the island on the Thursday. It was so much fun! Work itself is really relaxed too - even though we're really busy, we still managed to stop work at 4pm on Friday and all sit round on the couches for a bottle of wine and a few beers (which often goes on into the evening resulting in a recovery-mode Saturday morning!). Daz often does the same at his work and they get a team lunch bought for them every fortnight too. Work life over here seems to be really happy - our employers certainly seem to care about our well being much more than any in the UK ever did.
My brother arrived out here for a 6 week visit last week and he's fallen in love with the country too - he's off on a backpacker tour of NZ at the mo and texts me every day to tell me all the adventures he's been having - sailing and dolphin watching, kayaking, abseiling through the Waitomo caves, relaxing in natural pools and he's only been gone for 4 days!
I can honestly say neither Daz or I have had any regrets about the move out here. Sometimes I still can't quite believe that we're here even though it's been 18 months now. I sometimes find myself sat at my desk looking out over Mount Victoria with my friends from work around me chatting and having a laugh, the sky blue, knowing I've got a perfect house to go home to and I have to pinch myself to confirm that it's real. Every morning when we drive down the gorge, onto the motorway and see the harbour and city open up in front of us as we drive round the coner, and when we're stuck in traffic watching dolphins playing in the water alongside the motorway, we know that we made the right decision coming out here and all the stress of the immigration process and job hassles in the beginning pale into insignificance. And although I was really close to my Mum before we came out here (we used to talk on the phone 2 - 3 times a day!), I haven't felt homesick at all and haven't felt like our contact has been less. OK I can't call her from work at 3pm if something funny happens to share it with her (she wouldn't be best pleased at 3 o clock in the morning I'm sure!), I can give her a quick call before she leaves for work in the morning and have a quick chat, or I can email her instead. So although it's taken a bit of shifting, the same contact is still there and Daz and I have both sent more photos home for them to see what we've been up to than we ever did before.
Anyway I'll stop babbling on for now. I just wanted to share some of our experiences with you guys and hope it might help in whatever stage of the process you are at the moment. Don't forget that I'm still around if you have any questions or want any advice from Welly (which I can definately say is NOT the most boring city in the world!! :icon_evil: ).
Good luck guys!
Jodie
Just thought I'd pop in and say hi to see how you're all doing - glad to see that a lot of you are much closer to the move, if not already over here - good on ya! And good luck to everyone still in the process.
I thought I'd share our first 18 months in NZ with you - might help with some experiences some of you are or will be going through - might also give you another insight into the country so here goes!!
A quick update for newbies - Daz and I came out here on a working holiday visa in July 2004 with a view to finding somewhere to live and then finding work. We fell in love with Welly (despite it being my last choice of places to live after a visit out here 4 years before!), found a rental and started job hunting. Daz went to recruitment agencies while I rang around all of the web companies in the yellow pages and tried to sell myself! eeek! Pretty daunting but got a few leads, then I got a job with a young web company and we put in our EOI. 8 months later (yes, 8 MONTHS!! I was worried it was because of my minor medical conditon but it was just NZIS being incredibly slow!) we had our residency stamps (after I changed jobs, was made redundandant from that job and then found my 3rd job which has proved to be 3rd time lucky so far!). It seems that if you're already in the country with work visas (which we changed our WHVs to once we had jobs), they don't seem to think that you're desperate to get your residency, so take their time processing your application - Thanks NZIS! But it was worth the wait.
We had a great first year renting 2 houses in the Northern Suburbs of Welly and made some great friends (including people we bought our couches from out of the free ads paper!). We've done a lot of exploring and had both sets of parents come out to visit which was great. (Took a trip down to the south island with Daz's Mum which was fab - whale watching and helicopter trip over the glacier - absolutely fantastic!). Then in August we thought we'd start looking at houses to buy so kept an eye on the paper and went to a few open homes to see what was around, and in October we fell in love with a house and after a nail-biting tender process, it was ours on the 17th October! We moved in at the end of November and although theres loads of work to do (Daz is painting the kitchen as we speak after 3 weeks of having it all ripped out - I can't wait to get my kitchen cupboards and sink back in again!!), it's perfect for us and we're really happy. The house buying process over here is really easy, and you need to be a bit cheeky with the mortgage advisors too to get the best deal - I managed to knock BNZ down by 0.2% from their advertised rate which made quite a bit of difference - you just need to be cheeky enough to play a few of the big banks off against each other. (and I am! he he he! )
Our jobs are going well - very sociable which we love! We went away for a 'paid for' weekend to Greytown with Daz's work just before Christmas, and I've been up to Waiheke Island for a team building few days with a boozy Wednesday night fancy dress party, and then a treasure hunt in combi vans around the island on the Thursday. It was so much fun! Work itself is really relaxed too - even though we're really busy, we still managed to stop work at 4pm on Friday and all sit round on the couches for a bottle of wine and a few beers (which often goes on into the evening resulting in a recovery-mode Saturday morning!). Daz often does the same at his work and they get a team lunch bought for them every fortnight too. Work life over here seems to be really happy - our employers certainly seem to care about our well being much more than any in the UK ever did.
My brother arrived out here for a 6 week visit last week and he's fallen in love with the country too - he's off on a backpacker tour of NZ at the mo and texts me every day to tell me all the adventures he's been having - sailing and dolphin watching, kayaking, abseiling through the Waitomo caves, relaxing in natural pools and he's only been gone for 4 days!
I can honestly say neither Daz or I have had any regrets about the move out here. Sometimes I still can't quite believe that we're here even though it's been 18 months now. I sometimes find myself sat at my desk looking out over Mount Victoria with my friends from work around me chatting and having a laugh, the sky blue, knowing I've got a perfect house to go home to and I have to pinch myself to confirm that it's real. Every morning when we drive down the gorge, onto the motorway and see the harbour and city open up in front of us as we drive round the coner, and when we're stuck in traffic watching dolphins playing in the water alongside the motorway, we know that we made the right decision coming out here and all the stress of the immigration process and job hassles in the beginning pale into insignificance. And although I was really close to my Mum before we came out here (we used to talk on the phone 2 - 3 times a day!), I haven't felt homesick at all and haven't felt like our contact has been less. OK I can't call her from work at 3pm if something funny happens to share it with her (she wouldn't be best pleased at 3 o clock in the morning I'm sure!), I can give her a quick call before she leaves for work in the morning and have a quick chat, or I can email her instead. So although it's taken a bit of shifting, the same contact is still there and Daz and I have both sent more photos home for them to see what we've been up to than we ever did before.
Anyway I'll stop babbling on for now. I just wanted to share some of our experiences with you guys and hope it might help in whatever stage of the process you are at the moment. Don't forget that I'm still around if you have any questions or want any advice from Welly (which I can definately say is NOT the most boring city in the world!! :icon_evil: ).
Good luck guys!
Jodie