[Babette & Andy]

Well, 3½ weeks ago we finally arrived in NZ :raebanana :raebanana , after almost 2 years of planning and LARGE doses of patience and faith that OUR turn would eventually arrive. During the process, this forum and it’s very helpful members and the wealth of knowledge that is possessed amongst us, was our lifeline. This during a time when our close friends and family were interested to a certain level, but quietly were probably wondering what on earth possessed us to consider moving to the other side of the world.

Well we’ve made it :raebanana and I would like share our experiences so far, hoping that our story might be of some interest and maybe even help some of you out there – as the many ‘success stories’ I’ve read over the past 2 years kept me going when patience was running low. I will try to keep it brief (it's still going to be a long one) and will group certain things for easy reference. If you think I may be able to give you further info about something, do feel free to send me a PM at any time.

Background
As there are so many ‘new’ forum members who’s names I don’t recognize and who are probably wondering ‘Who are these people?’ :- Hubby Andy is an IT Project Manager, me Babette a Dutch national who’s lived in the UK (Cheshire) for the past 17 years, two daughters Lianne (7 in May) and Amy (3). My dad (step-)mum, brother (17) and sister (21) emigrated from Holland to Nelson in Sep’03. Final sister is a Kiwi and will be joining us in NZ around October time. Andy’s family remains in the UK.

The Process part & time lines
With most of us only ever embarking on an emigration journey once in our lifetimes, we thought it best to involve some experts in the form of an emigration bureau. Much has been written on the forum about using agents, we believe that in hindsight (for our situation) it was the biggest waste of money (just under 2000pounds by the time we cancelled the contract). They told us nothing we couldn’t find on the NZIS site or indeed on this forum. Once you’ve read about the various VISA options, EOI requirements etc several times it does quickly start to make sense, and anything unsure about, well that’s what this forum is for. We submitted our EOI online in Sep’04, and were selected with 115 points and no job offer. It took till Jan’05 to receive the ITA, and that 4 month wait at times seemed like 4 years, first BIG test of patience. We collected all the required proof and medicals by the end of March submitted our ITA, had the dreaded interview with NZIS London (which lasted all of 10 minutes after many sleepless nights!) and by the end of April’05 we were in the proud possession of our Residency Visa’s !!

Selling up in the UK
The thing that really slowed us (and many fellow Brits) down, was selling our house. When do you put your house of for sale? Very good question. We didn’t until we had our PR (May’05), which was possibly not soon enough. No sooner were we on the market than the housing market in our area collapsed. Many viewings (through local estate agents) to start with, but then nothing for months. This was a big blow, as we had planned to be on our way before the start of next school year in Sep’05. We ended up advertising privately on www.buyitprivately.com which generated some interest and we ended up selling to ‘neighbours’ using this site and saving us an agents fee of 3750pounds (paid for the container!) Their offer was put to us just before Christmas, and we completed on 24th February (which honestly is starting to feel like a lifetime ago!)

Shipping our stuff / renting goods in the meantime
Researched shipping companies and obtained 3 quotes, see thread http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=5361 We decided to use www.GBLiners.co.uk with www.TheMovingCompany.co.nz at this end. So far we've been very happy with their service. A team of 3 men (lead by Doug) worked faster than you can imagine!! My biggest advise would be to start giving away / selling stuff ASAP to save yourself a lot of stress during the final busy months. We decided to let them pack all, as this way you don’t have to list every item in every box. Felt very emotional when they showed us all our belongings in OUR 20ft container, which is due in Auckland this Sunday 9th April (6 weeks). TMC estimate we should expect the container at our rental during Easter week.
We’d decided to buy new crockery and cutlery and have spent a lot of time at Briscoes and K-mart, local Warehouse didn’t impress us too much.
Found a good suggestion by Jubjub (Sally) to rent goods from www.DTR.co.nz (various locations) until our container arrives. Will give you a list of things we’ve rented:- Queen + 2 sgl beds, 4 side tables, 2 large + 2 small drawer units, 2 + 3 seater sofas, dining table + 6 chairs, TV unit + TV/DVD and a hover. You can rent for any length of time and can also rent all your white goods from them. We’ve rented for a month for a total of NZ$1000 Items were all delivered (short notice no problem) and assembled.

Saying goodbye & The Journey
With it all taking a bit longer that we thought it would, we had the opportunity to speak about our plans with friends, family and colleagues over a long time. We ended up having a great evening do, and have many treasured memories. Yes there were tears, saying goodbye knowing you’re not going to see people you care about for a long period of time is very hard. But we’re convinced we’re doing this for all the right reasons and with the wonderful technologies like web-cams, e-mail and telephone at hand, friends don’t have to become strangers.

We flew Singapore Airlines based on outstanding previous experiences. Booked direct on-line with them www.singaporeair.com for the best fares, with free amendments if needed, able to pre-book seats and meal requirements. Highly recommend them especially if traveling with children. Called them with regards to additional luggage allowance for migrants and was told 25kg plus 7kg hand luggage, however at check-in the lady said that as we had PR we were entitled to 40kg each!! We already had 5 suitcases but had I known that we would have brought more in the way of bedding, duvets, towels etc.

Treated ourselves to a wonderful stay at Singapore’s Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa Resort (www.shangri-la.com). We felt we deserved this big treat, not having had holiday for a long time, and setting us up for all things new once arrived in NZ. We had a wonderful time staying in one of the ground floor rooms with direct access to the garden & pool area. Lianne loved the kid’s club activities, and all of us spent hours in the wonderful warm water. We had visited S’pore a number of times before so purposely didn’t plan any activities, apart from the Night Safari to the Zoo. This was a most amazing experience (opens 7.30pm) which we would definitely do again (with or without children). Take a look at this link www.nightsafari.com.sg .

continued . . .

[Babette & Andy]

Arriving in NZ – initial accommodation & hire-car
We arrived in Auckland on 13th March, and having cleared customs with our many, many suitcases and bags we took a Supershuttle (kind of taxi but more like a mini-bus with a trailer) to the Motel we’d pre-booked. We had decided to stay in Howick (East Auckland) initially, as this is where Linda & Ali (forum members with 5yr old daughter who we’d met before they made the move some 14mths ago) live and we’d know some people straight away.

We’ pre-booked a family room for 2 weeks at the www.howickmotorlodge.co.nz. The owners, Dave & Mandy, migrated from the UK some 10 years ago. Great location (30min from airport), comfortable accommodation, good price, wonderful hospitality; basically a great start. We arranged for a hire-car through www.northpark.co.nz where Wendy also provided us with some very useful free AA maps. Keen to share a wealth of handy info with us, she dropped the car of a few hours after we spoke and offered a car seat free of charge as well. Be prepared that automatic cars tend to be the norm here, though we were lucky that a manual was available.

Accommodation longer term
By driving around the Howick area we had decided that we liked what we saw and wanted to stay in this region. The search for rental accommodation was fairly straight forward, though we did find there currently isn’t much available. Most high street estate agents have readily available rental lists (updated on a daily basis) that you can take away and decide to drive by before making a viewing appointment. Many agents are also on the web. Here a number that we found worthwhile looking at (some only for this region):- www.finda.co.nz/findarental/index.php ; www.starproperty.co.nz ; www.crockers.co.nz ; www.rweasternbeaches.co.nz ; www.trademe.co.nz ; www.propertymanager.co.nz ; www.allrealestate.co.nz ; www.barfoot.co.nz ; www.harveys.co.nz/home.html.

We found that the local (free) papers have many property ads of interest. This is how we found our agents, and the wonderful rental we’re currently in. We’ve ‘landed’ on the Bucklands Beach area, and have agreed to a 10 month contract for a delightful 3 bed property in which we’ve now been for 1½ week. We saw some properties that were in desperate need of some TLC, and in comparison we’ve found a real gem where we are. It may be of interest to some of you looking at living costs that we pay NZ$410 per week (excluding any bills). For the area where we are this seemed reasonable, for other parts of NZ this is probably quite high. The novelty of having the beach 2 minutes walk away has not worn of yet (will it ever?) and we go for walks along it every day after school.

School & nursery
Having spent our first Sunday having a BBQ (what else!) at Ali & Linda’s (Marie P & family where there too leading to a wonderful NW mini meet) they mentioned where their daughter goes to school. We decided to take a look the following day and quickly found ourself having a chat with the principal before his deputy gladly showed us around the whole school including classrooms. Had a wonderful feeling to it (most kids barefoot as expected!) – Lianne wanted to stay there and then. We enrolled her on the Tuesday, got her uniform sorted and she started on the Wednesday! Much has already been written about the differences in ethos here opposed to other countries, do feel free to PM me if you want to know anything specific. Schools do have a strict zoning system, but at this school they are a bit more relaxed about it, so I imagine other schools may be too. Lianne is doing great, still a bit weary in the morning of all the new faces saying good morning to her, but comes out with a huge smile each day (barefoot!) and overall seems to love it.

Our youngest attended a private day nursery in the UK 3 days a week. Again things are very different here, with the focus being much more on letting children be children a lot longer (they don’t start school till the day they turn 5), and letting them do a lot of self exploring for those first years. This opposed the structured pre-school approach with writing etc we were accustomed to in the UK. Have discovered there are Private Day Centres, Kindergartens and Playcentre options to consider. Would be happy to PM any of you with my findings about the differences so far. Amy’s loving the local playcentre, at the end of our road, where I’ve spent this morning with her making an aeroplane out of an old fruit box and have just put our paint covered clothes in the wash! Great fun, and a good place to start building up some social contacts.

Employment
There are plenty of opportunities (IT) out there, and this has been Andy's first week of seriously applying himself to finding employment. He took the ferry from Half Moon Bay into Auckland CBD earlier on, to meet with an agency who are putting him forward for a role. With the start of the new financial year, many companies are currently setting their recruitment budgets. I’m sure he’ll be successful soon.

So here we are . . . . :yes
Feeling pretty good about how all has gone. Am missing my close friends like mad though, and have found myself in tears when writing e-mails to them. This was bound to happen, hope that in time this will become a bit better. Buying cheap phone cards (calling the UK for 1p a minute) helps, though time difference takes some getting used to. Children are working through it in their own ways – Amy by being as difficult as possible one minute and adorable the next, Lianne by being a bit more clingy than usual.

Hope I haven’t bored you all to tears with this super long update, but it was well overdue and hopefully will provide some useful info to some of you. We’ve had Broadband installed yesterday so it’s a lot easier for me to log-on now. If I can be of assistance to any of you, do feel free to PM me. A BIG thank you to all of you who have supported us during our rollercoaster ride which is the emigration process – you know who you are

In the meantime, thanks for reading and I’ll provide further updates once in a while and hope to meet many of you our NZ meets. Good luck and best wishes.

Babette & family :nice1

[Delson]

Great Post!! Glad it's going well for you all. :clap We can't wait until July when we come for our "reccy" visit & OH's interview.

Sonia

[Singel]

Babette, thanks for sharing with us on the ups and downs of your emigrating journey to NZ :clap
Brilliant post :nice1
Look forward to meet your family soon :cheers

[zardell]

:clap :clap :clap

I have to say, that was one of the most wonderful posts I have ever read.

Thank you so much for taking the time out to write it Babette.

The links and the information you provided are invaluable - thank you.

Its good to hear that you have settled in your new home and that things are going well for you.

Isn't it wonderful how easily the children seem to adapt? You are not the only 'forumite' who has said that their kids love their new schools/kindy and it must be a big weight off your minds to know that your children are settled and happy.

Hope everything goes well for Andy on the job front......I'm sure you'll have no worries on that score.

Do keep us up to date - you know what a nosey lot we NW Meeters are (LOL) and PICCIES, we must have PICCIES. ;)

Take care,

Julie 'n Steve

xx

[Nienke]

No, you haven't bored me to tears! Loved reading your post and thank you for all the very useful info, as I'm going to settle in Auckland in a couple of weeks time as well.
Hope to meet you there one day!

[Kim39]

Jeeze Babette, haven't you anything else better to do than bore us all to tears with this long drawn out post:uhoh ......only joking, you know me;)

Glad to hear you have finally arrived and settled in nicely by all accounts. Will let you settle down for a few more weeks and we'll sort a date out to meet up,ok?
In the meantime enjoy all that you have been waiting for these last 2 years, and WELCOME TO NZ:clap


Kim

[Smiler]

Hi Babette

We were wondering how you were doing and it is great to read a postive post. You seem to have done so much in a couple of weeks.:clap:clap

Glad to hear you are settling in so well, good luck to Andy on the job hunt.


D x x & G xx x

PS don't worry about the tears, just let them flow. It still gets to me (and others) but it is better to let them out. I just never phone when I'm crying. :o

[Marie P]

Babette ...lovely post ...wishing you and Andy and the girls all the luck in the world.

We will be nearby tomorrow morning 10am Lloyd Elsinore park ....Joe is playing football [he is 10 tomorrow too ].

Marie and Co x

[bpk]

Congratulation for this step, and thanks for your great post. Wish you all the best

[StevieD]

Fab post Babette - very informative and efficient as per usual! Regards to the girls and good luck to Andy in his job hunt.

Steve, Jan, Kieran and Louisa XX

[firstkings]

Great post! Thank you.

It is good to here "success" stories. As someone else said, the links ae invaluable. The up-to-date cost of living estimate is great.

Cheers

David

[marcia]

Wonderful post babette, glad to hear you are getting sorted. Can't wait to get out there ourselves, like you said you really have to have patience!!

lots od love

marcia, Kev and the boys

[Charlosparky]

Well done on getting to NZ after such a log wait. It is another of those great posts we need to read when in need of some inspiration( and in need of useful links :D ). Good luck :nice1

[Billy]

Hello, I am interested in the 1p/min phonecards. We've not found any that cheap. Can you let us know some details? Many thanks. Billy

[Miggy]

Fantastic post Babette very informative for us especially the flight and house sale info. I may PM you if thats OK for more background info on the buyitprivately.com site. We have had 9 viewings so far but no offer as yet - estate agents are not living up to their promises - do I sound surprised!!!

[Babette & Andy]

Good morning all!

Wow I feel honoured that so many have read my epitaph! Thanks for all the nice messages, they mean a lot.

The phonecard we've 'found' at a local dairy (= corner shop) is called 'Talk 'n' $ave' and is powered by Compass. It has the following webaddress on the back: www.compassphonecards.co.nz and generally costs of calling to the UK have been 3.2cents per minute including GST. Hope this helps.

Miggy - The buy it privately site is straight forward to use, we went for the portal package, uploaded some photo's and then provided a further link to additional photo's on photobucket. Best of luck - look forward to seeing you out here!

Nienke - let me know when you get here - where are you heading for? Veel geluk deze komende weken / maanden.

Kim - you cheeky sod :p would be lovely to see you guys. Do let us know if ever you're up this way. How are Nic & Hayley doing? Is Elaine enjoying her job, and whatabout you???

Anyway, we're of to Pakuranga for some retail therapy and exploring what's on offer there. To make you in the UK feel better - it's raining very heavily today!

Babette

[zardell]

To make you in the UK feel better - it's raining very heavily today!
Babette


Yep, you're right.....that does make me feel better. :D

Happy shopping....

Julie

xx

[Diny]

Babette !!! What a wonderful post. Certianly sounds like you're taking the bull by the horns - good on you.

Looking forward to catching up. You're the last of the very original NW crew to make it over here - remember that meeting back in October 2004?

Will hope to catch up with you before the Ruapehu weekend - PM me your number will you. I'm off to UK in a couple of weeks but I'm sure we can work something out.

Great to have you here.

Diny

[katandbob]

Babette ...lovely post ...wishing you and Andy and the girls all the luck in the world.

We will be nearby tomorrow morning 10am Lloyd Elsinore park ....Joe is playing football [he is 10 tomorrow too ].

Marie and Co x

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE :clap :clap :clap

[Simon & Emily]

Great post Babette - it's so nice to hear that people make it without too many problems.

Emily

[willsken]

That was a great read. Really helps when people are willing to share their experiences. Thank you. :D

[Trigirl]

Hi Babette,

Being a site newbie I hadn't seen your progress to date but wanted to say thank you for the brilliant post. Loads of great info and your happiness to be there spills over into everything you write. I wish you, Andy, Amy and Lianne all the best with your new lives in NZ.

Mandy

[katandbob]

Originally Posted by Babette & Andy
To make you in the UK feel better - it's raining very heavily today!
Babette

Yep, you're right.....that does make me feel better. :D

Happy shopping....

Julie

xx

But she didnt mention that we had sunshine interupted by down pours and HAIL STONES!...all in around an hour...well that was in MingMing...duno about Julies area ;)

we have had a good run of sunny spells this last week but it looks awful for next week :( probably a typical rainy cold easter BH

hope you enjoyed your shopping trip!

all the best.......dont forget to post pics of the area - please :)

[StevieD]

Just to make you feel better Babette, it is Sunday morning and there are hailstones bouncing off the lawn, complete cloud cover, that lovely "grey" you only seem to get in the UK, and windy too :(

Stevie

[starkhorn]

That was a great post, many thanks. We are just about to submit our ITA and so we are planning our first few weeks in New Zealand so this post was brillant. Trying to find a serviced appartement or motel with kitchen for the first couple of weeks so thanks for the links.

The links alone are invaluable, especially the real estate ones. As I'm also in IT as well, to hear that IT skills are in demand is encouraging as well.

Half Moon Bay sounds lovely!

Many thanks!

Cheers
Brendan

[Juniper]

oh i don't know that you have the monopoly on the wet easter - we've had a lot of hail in california over the last month! :-P pretty strange year, sunny winter and stormy spring...

[Diny]

oh i don't know that you have the monopoly on the wet easter

No I don't think so either. Wait until you've experienced weather in NZ - there's a reason it's so green you know.

Diny

[voth30]

Hi Barbette and Andy,

Great post and I am glad you made it to NZ. I am also glad you like Singapore and I remember that I was supposed to be your tour guide there but look like we are now both in the Land of the Long White Cloud.


Vincent

[Paul & Rach]

Babette

thank you for a great post. Your situation in the UK is almost exactly like ours with regard to the house sale, job type, when you wanted to leave etc.... except that we are a year behind you....

A really informative and positive post and much appreciated

Paul

[smitjo]

Thanks for the fantastic post :nice1

We can't wait to get there now :raebanana :raebanana only six months to go!!

[Cardiff Irons]

Brilliant post :nice1. As we're hoping to move to Howick ourselves, I can't believe how helpful this will be for us. Thank you so much.:clap

[carina]

Hi Babette

Just wanted to say "what a wonderful post" , thanks so much for sharing your experiences, which are invaluable to someone like me, who is just starting off. So glad you and your family have settled in well to NZ.

Best of luck

Carina

[Babette & Andy]

Hi all

Thanks so much for all the kind words! I'm so glad that my long update has provided some interesting info for some of you, that was my intention when I was writing it :nice1 Anyway, time for an update and some bits of info I missed out.

We're into our 7th week in NZ and on one hand it seems like yesterday that we arrived bleary eyed at AKL and on the other it seems like we've been here for ages and ages. We'd just started into something called a routine, when school broke up for the Easter 2 week break.

Container arrived!
Our container arrived in AKL on 9th of April (only 6 weeks since leaving UK, used GB Liners in UK with The Moving Company at this end), got a call on the 10th stating could they deliver on 12th!! We may sound silly, but we asked them to delay for a week as we'd made all sorts of plans for the remainder of that week. Arranged for our rental furniture to be picked up the day before, and the girls & I spent the night at Ali & Linda Jax's.

TMC guys arrived at 8.30am the following morning and worked flat-out till around 2pm. They unloaded all out of the container, taking instruction from us what to put in which area. The container then left after which they started to re-assemble dismantled pieces of furniture. Amazingly they turned up without a toolbox so we were very lucky that it was easy to locate our own one with the necessary screw drivers and allenkeys! They left when we were happy that they had done all we needed them to do (for info: 10 days later we called them to collect empty boxes and packaging material, they arrived promptly later the same day we called). No breakages, some surprises when unwrapping, some items in boxes / cupboards where we didn't expect them but overal BRILLIANT to be re-united with all our belongings. We've spent the last 2 weeks finding a home for all our stuff and are grinning like big cheshire cats when looking around our rental which now feels like home :nice1

Car
Forgot to mention in previous posting that we got ourself a car in the 3rd week here. Neither Andy nor I are really 'car people', so where do you start? Spent alot of time on the net, looking at NZ Autotrader but didn't really get very far. Weren't sure what make we wanted but did want to try for a manual rather than automatic (which is the norm here). We'd established that virtually every car dealership seems to be located on (or near) the Great South Road (which goes on for ever and ever!) On the way to one we decided to stop at Moyes (www.moyes.co.nz) where we ended up buying a Vauxhall / Holden Zafira, 3yrs old, manual :yes 95,000km for just under NZ$16,000 We're really pleased with it, love all the space and extra seats in the boot. Recommend this dealership.

So what else has been happening? Have been meeting with Ali, Linda & Lucy regularly. The girls love playing together and we've spent many impromptu visit to Bucklands Beach together (No the novelty of it being 3 min walk away hasn't worn of yet). Met Sal (JubJub) & baby Andrew for coffee in Pakuranga. Had a day 'off' (i.e. no kids nor hubby) in the City where I went to the stage show of Dirty Dancing - it was great!! Last weekend we went for dinner at Ivy & Tony's in Wattle Cove - lovely time had by all. School's started again, daycentre & playcentre too.

And . . .
today Andy accepted a joboffer :cheers working as an IT Project Manager in the NZ office of an OZ fire & alarm company. Great salary (similar to UK!) and ok holiday entitlement (20 days) - TIP: don't simply accept what's offered, ask for what you really want and they may surprise you! Looks like he'll be of to Sydney (alright for some) on the 15th to start some company training, before starting for real. Will keep you posted how things work out.

This weekend Lianne turns 7, so have invited some peope round. Strange not to see some faces from back home, but we'll make up for it with new found friends and neighbours. Yes, we are missing our close friends, still find it hard to end an e-mail to them without bursting in to tears. When Andy's started work I'll be starting to (finally) put a BLOG together. Still not figured out how to post photo's on the forum.

So, there it is. We're here, we're living it, we're great!! Feel to PM with any questions.

Hugs to you all out there and best of luck with your adventures!!

Babette, Andy, Lianne & Amy

[Smiler]

Hi Babette, Andy and girls

Thank you for another good post. We just wanted to say WELL DONE Andy on the job offer. :nice1 Seems ages since we meet you at Welly airport!

Happy Birthday Lianne too. images/smilies/rae%27s_dancing_banana.gifimages/smilies/rae%27s_dancing_banana.gif

D&G
PS I can really understand how you feel. I struggle not to blub on IM or skype chat, am just thankful I don't use a webcam. :o

[Marie P]

Well done Andy :nice1

Another great post ...Thanks Babette .

Sorry I wasn't up for a long chat yesterday ,feel even worse today ,I'm sure I'll be ok for the weekend .

Take care ,

Marie x

[katandbob]

Hi Babette,

glad things are still going great for you guys :raebanana to Andy for the Job....wow fancy going to AUS for training...do you get to go too ;)

We'll look forward to seeing your blog link once you have set it up, and seeing pics of your house, etc.

Happy birthday to Lianne, hope she has a great day :raebanana

all the best

Kat

[willsken]

Thanks for the update. Very very useful. Keep it coming! :nice1

[David with a dream]

A fantastic post :clap a BIG well done from us up here in North Yorkshire...Look forward to read more of your adventures.....Our very best wishes...........David

[jess]

Great, informative posts!!!! Just catching up since we were arrivingin NZ as you were starting this thread. But lots of good information. Thanks for taking the time to include all the details that are so helpful.

J

[StevieD]

Hey guys = many congrats on the job! Hope you really can settle now ,but you seem to be doing OK.
Will be meeting up in the Salt Cellar later today with Diny, KatandBob, Marcia and Kev and Zardell (not sure Steve is going?) so we will be in your old stomping ground. And.... the valuers have been, got a good idea what we are doing now so things actually starting to move along nicely :nice1

See you soon

Steve and Jan

[Kim39]

Have left a message on your moby and PM'd you. Well done on the last 7 weeks, and congratulations on Andy's position. Jeeze off to Oz eh;)


Kim

[marcia]

Another great post Babette, glad to hear things are settling down for you at last and Andy has his job now.

Have a great birthday party this weekend, and we look forward to meeting up again sometime hopefully in the non too distant future!!

[Miggy]

Great post Babette and well done to Andy with the Job. I'm in the same field of work so will be tapping him for info!! Looks like we've sold the house so all hell has broke loose the last week or so and things are manic - could be in NZ as soon as end of of June :-)

[Babette & Andy]

Sorry :o it's taken me so long to log-on since my last update, we seem to be busy with, well, getting on with our new lives really. Have read entries from time to time and have many threads to 'reply' to: - Jo B back in the UK, Diny returned from trip to UK, Kim's update (we've still not spoken with each other!), thanks to Sally for organising AKL meet recently, good luck wishes to Kat and Bob, and Marcia & family, getting in touch with Miggy (will send PM later) etc etc Anyway, our days are so full will all sorts I just don't seem to get round to catching up on the forum as much as I used to. Good or Bad? Good I suppose because we're living our dream. Bad though as this forum has been there for us when we needed it so I can't just abandon my cyber pals!

Not that much more to report though since last update in early May. Andy is slowly settling into his new job, difficult after being at home for the past 8months to get his mind back into workmode. Getting to know a new company, colleagues and ways of doing things isn't easy either, and not to forget getting up early (6.10am) each morning to catch the bus is a novelty too. He seems ok though, but guess it's going to take a while to see if this job & company are for him. At least he's getting his first NZ work experience. Time and time again we realise how lucky we are with having PR status opposed to Work to Residency, no added pressure this way.

Lianne's 'survived' her 7th birthday without close friends and family, and loved being made a fuss of by Linda, Ali & Lucy Jax and Marie P and family - thanks guys, meant a lot. Followed by a b'day party with some school friends, and with a little persuasion she's slowly starting to make some friends (had a friend over yesterday, which she really enjoyed and brought out her old mad self again). Her argument has been:- What do I need to make new friends for, I've got Grace, Anna etc etc in England . . . Not easy when she says that as homesickness to my close friends is still the hardest part of this whole move for me :(

Have given Amy's nursery notice that she'll be leaving them in 2 weeks time. She really hasn't settled there, opposed to going to playcentre which she (and I) love. Have enroled her at a different daycare centre for one day a week though, so will have to see how that works out. Has a far better feel to it though. At playcentre she's a different child, confident, happy and looks like she's been there for years. This morning the 4 year old boys even asked if she wanted to play with them! This is a major thing as they're really engrosed in their own 'boy' imaginary games and don't usually invite ' strangers'. She was really in her element and running around like a lunatic - currently fast asleep!

And me? Good days, bad days. This will take a while I'm sure. Hate the cold in the evening / mornings in the house, though my fire lighting skills are improving. Hate not seeing my friends on a regular basis - though have started to make some new ones. Love the beauty around me, the unusual sounding birds. Hate cockroaches . . . Love the planning of weekend trips to unknown places, planning of first skiing trip with kids in July.

Anyway, will leave it there - many threads to catch up on. Still haven't put a blogsite together, but have got a photobucket site going - if you're interested please send me a PM and I'll send you the link and password.

Good luck & best wishes to you all out there :nice1

Babette

[Diny]

Great post - have sent a PM.

Diny

[K&CS]

Glad all's going well, Babette. I know what you mean about time flying and missing friends, but we'll all get there in the end. Hope the new day care works out well.

Kate x

[StevieD]

Good post Babette, nice to see your update.

Steve, Jan and kids XX

[marcia]

Great to read your updates Babette.