JohnM
15th May 2006, 12:50 PM
Hey Mates,
I just got back from the brutal 30 hour return journey from NZ. I went by myself, am American, saw four cities/regions, and was looking at jobs, housing, immigration, etc. I'm single with no family, and have a profession on the long term and critical shortage lists. I had an interview in Nelson (applied over the internet and they waited for me to be in country - still waiting to hear), spent four days there, had a car, and looked at quite a bit of the "top of the south". I then flew via Wellington to Napier, had a car and spent 4 days there. Then drove to Gisborne for one night, drove through the Gorge road to Tauranga, spent three days in the Bay of Penty, flew to Auckland and left.
I can't stress enough how helpful people were to me in NZ -everywhere I went. from the American - Mark - in Nelson who met me for beers and dinner and we spent 3 hours talking about his and my experiences, to an old man on the beach in Golden Bay,who had just finished his homestay in Tauranga and was taking a break, to the motel owners, to the UK immigrant/developer in Napier who invited me to his $1.4 M home overlooking the pacific, without even seeing me, to the real estate agent who showed me houses in Nelson, to the real estate agent who called me out of the blue because the UK guy had asked him to help me - this agent recommended an American immigration lawyer who was in town, to the said immigration lawyer who talked to me for 45 minutes on the phone, never once mentioning any kind of payment and who recommended I just sell up and move over (and by the way Americans can get 2 extensions on thier visitors visa which totals 90 days you can stay there until you get a job - I did not know this), to another guy in Napier who said he would shop my CV around, to the bank tellers, servers in restaurants, flight attendants, winery personnel, to strangers on the street who always said hello and made eye contact, rental car agents, etc, etc. etc,. I was blown away by total stragers sometimes, and everyone was generally interested and positive. thank you to all of these people and probably some I have left out.
I took more than 100 digital pictures and an hour and a half of video, kept a written journal, had a great time and did not want to come back home.
this was the trip to make the decision to move to NZ - and the answer is....YES. However, I have 2 houses to sell here in a bad market, so I cannot go soon. But I will be determined to go at some point. And I will just move over, with no job, and take my chances. I have decided though, with my job skills (software/business analyst), I will probaly need to go to Wellington first (even though I didn't see it, but not a bad start, eh?). I did not see much opportunity in the other cities I visited.
Hope this helps someone thinking about it - it was my 2nd trip, and confirmed my "suspicions", haha.
I've left a lot out, but if you have questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Cheers, cheers!
John
I just got back from the brutal 30 hour return journey from NZ. I went by myself, am American, saw four cities/regions, and was looking at jobs, housing, immigration, etc. I'm single with no family, and have a profession on the long term and critical shortage lists. I had an interview in Nelson (applied over the internet and they waited for me to be in country - still waiting to hear), spent four days there, had a car, and looked at quite a bit of the "top of the south". I then flew via Wellington to Napier, had a car and spent 4 days there. Then drove to Gisborne for one night, drove through the Gorge road to Tauranga, spent three days in the Bay of Penty, flew to Auckland and left.
I can't stress enough how helpful people were to me in NZ -everywhere I went. from the American - Mark - in Nelson who met me for beers and dinner and we spent 3 hours talking about his and my experiences, to an old man on the beach in Golden Bay,who had just finished his homestay in Tauranga and was taking a break, to the motel owners, to the UK immigrant/developer in Napier who invited me to his $1.4 M home overlooking the pacific, without even seeing me, to the real estate agent who showed me houses in Nelson, to the real estate agent who called me out of the blue because the UK guy had asked him to help me - this agent recommended an American immigration lawyer who was in town, to the said immigration lawyer who talked to me for 45 minutes on the phone, never once mentioning any kind of payment and who recommended I just sell up and move over (and by the way Americans can get 2 extensions on thier visitors visa which totals 90 days you can stay there until you get a job - I did not know this), to another guy in Napier who said he would shop my CV around, to the bank tellers, servers in restaurants, flight attendants, winery personnel, to strangers on the street who always said hello and made eye contact, rental car agents, etc, etc. etc,. I was blown away by total stragers sometimes, and everyone was generally interested and positive. thank you to all of these people and probably some I have left out.
I took more than 100 digital pictures and an hour and a half of video, kept a written journal, had a great time and did not want to come back home.
this was the trip to make the decision to move to NZ - and the answer is....YES. However, I have 2 houses to sell here in a bad market, so I cannot go soon. But I will be determined to go at some point. And I will just move over, with no job, and take my chances. I have decided though, with my job skills (software/business analyst), I will probaly need to go to Wellington first (even though I didn't see it, but not a bad start, eh?). I did not see much opportunity in the other cities I visited.
Hope this helps someone thinking about it - it was my 2nd trip, and confirmed my "suspicions", haha.
I've left a lot out, but if you have questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Cheers, cheers!
John