Helen & John
13th July 2006, 06:00 PM
Hi all,
We arrived in Palmerston North safe and sound on 27th February. The kids coped with the flight really well, we were totally impressed, in fact when we stopped in LA to refuel 3 people came up to us and commented on how good the kids had been, (and if you knew my 3 kids, then this was a great achievement by them, cos they cannot sit still for 2 minutes!)
We stayed at the Pavilion Motel in Palmerston and John and Carole who run it were absolutely fantastic, they took us out and showed us around, took my washing and dryed it for me. In fact Carole has become a good friend of mine, or surogate mum as she says lol! We have found a really nice rental house and the kids absolutely love school, they cannot get over having a big adventure playground with slides and monkey bars etc in the playground. They have all made new friends and have already started with a kiwi accent.
John settled into work fantastically making friends and even getting a payrise in his first 3 months! I have got a part-time job at the university and start a week on Monday which is cool.
Palmerston is a really beautiful place, our house has views of the hills and i still love to sit on the porch in the morning with my coffee and look out at them. We are only 15 mintues to the beach and 2 hours to the mountains with awesome (Knew I would be able to get the must used kiwi word ever in somewhere!) views and skiing.
I can honestly say this is the best move we have made. Immigration here have been fantastic and were very quick to change the visas in our passports, (we had condition section 18a, meaning John had to take up his job offer and stay in the job for 3 months, for us to get our permanent residence), so we are now offical permanent residents.
Anybody who hits any hurdles or feels stressed over the process, I can honestly say from my point of view, it is all worth it. Keep your head up high, keep believing and you will get to where you want to be. We certainly have and all the sleepless nights, stress and worry were definitely worth it.
Best get off now and finish making tea, but will post again soon.
Big Hi to everyone and speak soon. By the way Diny it was good to see you still putting the world to right lol!!! :laugh
Helen
We arrived in Palmerston North safe and sound on 27th February. The kids coped with the flight really well, we were totally impressed, in fact when we stopped in LA to refuel 3 people came up to us and commented on how good the kids had been, (and if you knew my 3 kids, then this was a great achievement by them, cos they cannot sit still for 2 minutes!)
We stayed at the Pavilion Motel in Palmerston and John and Carole who run it were absolutely fantastic, they took us out and showed us around, took my washing and dryed it for me. In fact Carole has become a good friend of mine, or surogate mum as she says lol! We have found a really nice rental house and the kids absolutely love school, they cannot get over having a big adventure playground with slides and monkey bars etc in the playground. They have all made new friends and have already started with a kiwi accent.
John settled into work fantastically making friends and even getting a payrise in his first 3 months! I have got a part-time job at the university and start a week on Monday which is cool.
Palmerston is a really beautiful place, our house has views of the hills and i still love to sit on the porch in the morning with my coffee and look out at them. We are only 15 mintues to the beach and 2 hours to the mountains with awesome (Knew I would be able to get the must used kiwi word ever in somewhere!) views and skiing.
I can honestly say this is the best move we have made. Immigration here have been fantastic and were very quick to change the visas in our passports, (we had condition section 18a, meaning John had to take up his job offer and stay in the job for 3 months, for us to get our permanent residence), so we are now offical permanent residents.
Anybody who hits any hurdles or feels stressed over the process, I can honestly say from my point of view, it is all worth it. Keep your head up high, keep believing and you will get to where you want to be. We certainly have and all the sleepless nights, stress and worry were definitely worth it.
Best get off now and finish making tea, but will post again soon.
Big Hi to everyone and speak soon. By the way Diny it was good to see you still putting the world to right lol!!! :laugh
Helen