[Gumbygreeneye]

Hi all,

Another bloomin' update.

I may have said before that the emigration process was generally easy for us and we planned well and the sun was in the east and a young virgin was pickn daisies in the west.

We thought on the day of departure that we would leave plenty of time to get to the airport. I even asked my parents to arrive at 4pm to take us to the airport (knowing full well they would arrive at least 20m minutes later.. whih they did).

On the M25 were south bound as I'd heard about a lot of trouble on the North side. Pootled along till we hit a complete standstill... FOR THREE HOURS. Some diesel driver tanker had spilt diesel all across four lanes and they have a three hour operation to open up the road. Did he not know we were emigrating??? People were chatting in the verges and some even having picnics. Suffice to say mum really pulled out all the stops after we got out.. now imagine this.. a small Indian woman driving a car right up behind the steerin wheel so she can see over the top.... at 100 mph.. yes its dangerous, but we had a plane to catch. After leaving at 4.30pm, we got there at 9pm. The only saving grace was the fact that Eva Air's computer had gone down and 60 people were still to check in.

Now for Eva. I do not travel business class usually. I am a 6 foot bloke who usually gets hellish cramps in cattle class. The bleats of pain usually can get an air-waitress to help me on occasion. Eva's business class was 500 quid more than some people economy. Both of us flew for 2100 pounds. It is not as good as other business class so please don't compare, but in the price range was cheaper than ANZ economy. It was marvellous.. the seats were comfy and went flat (thouh slopingm was not a problem). The service was fantastic and even though we did take some valium we were not tired at the end of the trip.

The stop over in Taipei for 25 hours was great fun. The Ambassodor hotel had an S-class merc pick us up and we went to the night market and the 101 buidling. Even bought fresh clothes to change into. Couldn't fault any of this.

Arrived in NZ and "Genuine Vehicle Imports" picked us up and took us to their warehouse. Lots of different vehicles to chose. Craig Hogg was the chap who talked through the cars with us helping us to refine our choice. No hard sell whatsoever. Even gave us a loan car while oursis being prepared and the AA man is coming. Our first choice was the Mazda Familia, but we ended up with a Subaru Legacy Grand Wagon fora little more with only 30000 miles for 3 grand ish.

Anyway wpuld recommend all of the above.. will write later but internet time is running out.

Thanks once again to you all and I hope to actually meet some of you at some point

Thought about a private reg plate.. how about "Kwak !" fora doctor?

KJ and Nadine

[Diny]

Another great update .... I particularly found the bit about you describing your mum as a 'small Indian woman deiving right up behind the steering wheel'. Why do ladies of a certain age do this, my mum isn't particularly short but she drives with her knees hard up against the steering column leaving about an 8" gap between steering wheel and back of seat.

Anyway - sounds like the rest of the journey went well and everything is 'so far so good'. Hope everything continues to go well for you - keep us posted.

Welcome to NZ !!

Diny

[southparkers]

Hi Gumby,
Glad to here you got there ok, Eva Air sounds great ,we were thinking of ANZ Premium Economy stopping off at friends in LA, but at that price i will have to rethink.
Whats the baggage allowance, as that was another reason for going ANZ .
Hope you enjoy Napier and your new job.

April

[jo-and-jeff]

What a nerve-wracking experience! I'm glad to hear that you made it okay -- good luck settling in, and with your new job.

Jo

and a young virgin was pickn daisies in the west.Where on earth did you find one of those??? ;)

[Smiler]

Good to hear you arrived safely eventually, what a nerve wracking start!

Look forward to hearing more updates as soon as you find some more coins for the slot. :nice1

[Nienke]

Welcome to New Zealand!!! :cheers

[Xaviera]

A pleasure to welcome you to New Zealand. :)

[Gumbygreeneye]

As my internet time in the hotel is limited I apologise for the abnudnance of spelink mystykes in the last post.

Medical council meeting went well and she saw us despite being an hour early.

The ASB Bank activation lasted about 2 hours with all the useful information she gave us. Had a credit card with them and car insurance as I'm due to pick it up tonight.

Seems very natural bein here. No culture shock so far. However is very early days.. or daze?

Not long left on the post but will give you more details later.

By the way, the virgins are available for Virgins'r'us and the luggage allowance was 30 kilos though we were quite a bit over.

Cheers,

KJ and Nadine

[Cardiff Irons]

Nice one Gumby. Good luck with all the settling in stuff.:nice1

And no need to pretend the bad spelling is because you were in a hurry ;).

Did you haggle with the car price? Just curious as I'm tempted to do as you did, but wonder whether in return for them picking you up from the airport, courtesy cars, more virgins etc. one feels less inclined to negotiate.

Cheers


Steve

[gil]

Great post gumbygreeneye! Glad to hear you're settling in, like the sound iof the car!
Take care,
Gil

[pinkpiggy]

Fantastic post gumby. Pleased to hear you arrive safe and sound and are enjoying your first few days in New Zealand.

[zardell]

Hi KJ and Nadine.

Wonderful updates as per usual - you know you have set yourself a standard to uphold now, don't you ?

Very glad to hear that your journey (minus the trip to the airport) was a comfortable one and that you arrived safely.

Couple of questions if I may - the 30K luggage allowance. I'm presuming that was per person? And is that a standard allowance or a special 'migrant' allowance that you have to request?

Secondly, Steve (OH) would like the address of Virgins 'r' Us......... ;)

Looking forward to your next installment.

Julie

xx

[Oregonkiwi]

Thanks for the great update!

Genuine Vehicle Imports sound good, here's the link for anyone who's interested
http://www.genuinevehicleimports.co.nz/index.asp

[willsken]

Hi Gumby

Great to hear you arrived safe and well. Sound like the journey wasn't too bad either (apart from the M25) :)

[Gumbygreeneye]

Hello again,

Thanks for the cool replies.

First agenda is to answer a few questions from earlier.

1. Luggage allowance for each person with Eva was 30kg. My hand luggage alone was 12kilos! We were 65kilos in total including my PRS guitar, but there was no way I was leaving that in the crate.

2. Speeling mysytkes were because I WAS in a rush as I take the Engrish languge vet serously.

3. Virgins'r'us is an exclusive club that only people who send me free whisky will get! :cheers

4. Genuine Vehicle Imports - they picked you up from the airport, but at no point are you actually obliged to buy a car there and then. In fact, we hadn't even organised to activate our bank accounts till the next day. After helping us top get a car more suited to our needs (I pretty good at not getting oversold too), they actually gave us a courtesy car till they sorted out a service, tidied up certain aspects of the car we specified and put in a 2 hour valet. They also found a small potential fault in the car not picked up ny the AA chap that they are sorting out for "free". The sales chap emplyed no hard sell and said that they prefer to treat people the way they want to be treated themselves. The AA check (over and above the usual AA inspected list which means little) showed the car to be in excellent conditiion.
Little differences to the UK is the fact that the guy lent us a courtesy car,filled it with petrol himself and said we didn't need to bother refilling it on return. Things seem a little more trusting here. If the car is a lemon, I promise I will still let you know. The chaps there really did go through small print too and definitely sold the appropriate warranty for the car. Upselling the car did not seem their tack.

5. Buying my Garmin sat nat in the UK really helped finding our way around here. I bought maps for it over the net for MZ and added them to my gadget.
I can't tell you how easy it was having already entered the important addresses.

6. Another tip is to do your IRD application form in the UK andput it in an envelope ready to be delivered the day you arrrive.

7. As you know, we are a mixed race couple and so Nadine (English) has learnt to make curries etc from childhood but also from my mum. Now we're off to find the equivalent of Green Street in London to pick up spices before we head to Napier.

I cannot keep saying enough how nice it has been to have you guys on tap to listen and advise and would advice all you casual surfers to start writing. The returns you'll get in confidence even if you ask the same questions as before will be immense.

I'll speak you soon!

KJ and Nadine

[Oregonkiwi]

thanks for another informative update!

re #6, I just want to let people know that, if you want to, you can get your IRD number before you arrive in NZ
http://www.ird.govt.nz/how-to/irdnumbers/

Enjoy Napier!

[kiwidebs]

Welcome to NZ KJ and Nadine. Hope the car doesn't turn out to be a lemon :no. I look forward to your updates as you guys settle in.

[urban78]

Glad to see you arrived safe and sound in NZ Gumby :) I had already heard pretty good reviews on Eva's business class as well.

About Genuine Vehicle Imports, they are absolutely great and we might end up getting a car from them in the next couple of days. My partner and I have been shopping around for a car in the last couple of weeks and visited them today (they were recommended by a migrant friend). We spoke to the GM, Shane, who appeared to be very helpful. As another poster said, no hard sell at all. We had emailed them a couple of days before with our maximum budget and we saw the 2 cars on site they had emailed us about. I went for a test drive and had a chat with him about the vehicle. While test driving, we had a talk about their services and he was saying that indeed whilst they pick you up from the airport, there's no obligation to purchase a car from them. He said it was just part of their service. They've only been around for 6 months or so and although most of their business comes from kiwis, they are getting more and more enquiries from migrants :nice1

What's great is that the cost of the car includes registration, the Warrant Of Fitness (On Road Costs) and 12 months warranty. the WOF and registration can end up being a bit costly on top of the cost of the car :roll

Jen :)

[Cardiff Irons]

Now we're off to find the equivalent of Green Street in London to pick up spices before we head to Napier.Where are you from Gumby? I was born and brought up within walking distance of Green Street.

Thanks for the update on the cars, sound like it's worth a whirl.:nice1

[coxy]

Kia Ora KJ and Nadine! Welcome to NZ.

Glad to hear the journey all went OK, and well done on getting a car sorted so quickly.

But the bit I really picked up from your posts was this:
7. As you know, we are a mixed race couple and so Nadine (English) has learnt to make curries etc from childhood but also from my mum. Now we're off to find the equivalent of Green Street in London to pick up spices before we head to Napier.

because last time we were there, there were no decent curry places within an hour of Napier (we used to drive to Mr India in Taupo to get a fix). So expect guests! :nice1

BTW, I was going to put my guitar in the container. Is that a bit risky then? It's in a hard case. I thought as long as I loosened the strings off a bit it would be fine? Having just spent £200 on it though (and I did get the new amp :) ), now I'm having second thoughts....

See you soon,
Coxy

[Gumbygreeneye]

Just another update..

To Cardiff Irons, Green street is just where the Indians tend to shop for their usual spices and stuff. I was in fact born in Nottingham but have travelled a lot in the first 10 years of my life settling eventually in Dartford in Kent for the last 20 years.

To Coxy.. I really wouldn't consider sending your guitar by crate. Imagine going through the tropics with high humidity on the neck of a guitar. Allow a little luggage space or get close friend to bring it on their visit.

Drove 400 km in the Grandwagon and the car was perfect. The All wheel drive really made a difference on the hills.

Rental hunting at the moment and due to start work Monday though the surgery have been letting me use their internet a lot!

Also people here have been extremely friendly.. our calender is booked solid for a week ahead already. A random guy in the restaurant gave us his card to call if we got lonely!

Up for all meets an curry nights when you arrive.

See you soon,

KJ and Nadine :cheers