[upnorthkyosa]

Hello Everyone!

My wife and I have been thinking about moving to another for a few years and we have finally decided that NZ is the place to be! We've done a lot of research into your country (as well as others) and we really like what we see! Our time table to arrive on your shores is approximately two years and we are particularly interested in the Canterbury region.

Anyway, I'd like to take a little time to say hello and introduce myself. My name is John. I'm 30 years old and I live in Superior, Wisconsin in the USA. I teach science at the high school level, specializing in the subjects of physics, geology, and biology. Six years ago I married a woman who has a wonderful sense of adventure and during that time, we've had two children...Olivia - who is 4 and Charlie - who is 20 months.

I grew up in the State of Minnesota, the "land of 10,000 lakes" so fishing is in my blood and I've been doing it since I was two. My Dad started bringing me hunting with him when I was five and I learned to shoot shortly afterward. I've had a myriad of outdoor experiences out here, a few of which have included guiding trips into our local wilderness area.

I am also very interested in the martial arts. My handle includes the word "kyosa" which is Korean for teacher...and since I am "upnorth" it just seemed to fit. I've been practicing martial arts for 20 years and for the last 10, I've been doing Tang Soo Do. This is a large part of my life as it helps me acheive my goal of lifelong fitness.

Anyway, I'm really excited for a change of pace and New Zealand sure looks like paradise to me! I hope to learn as much as I can about NZ from people who actually live there and, hopefully, make a few connections.

See you around the BB!

upnorthkyosa

[auskiwi]

Welcome to the forum John! I'm a teacher too - trained in NZ, taught there for 5 years, lived in the U.S for the last ten years and now moving home to NZ with my U.S husband (who also has a great sense of adventure!) and our three girls (Lily, 9, Maddy 7 and Ruby, 6).

Feel free to ask any q's and I will do my best to assist!

Amy.

[Melza7]

Come to Christchurch, it is gorgeous here!! Great people, weather, site-seeing, food, wine, reasonable house prices compared to North Island.
Good luck with the move!

[Moorf]

Welcome John :cheers , we're in Canterbury and love it too. :nice1

Moorf

[Nienke]

Welcome to the forum John! :cheers

[wilson182]

Hey Welcome

Whilst in England hubby and I got to brown and white belt in Jujitsu, then I tore my ACL and couldnt really keep up any more.

Also in Canterbury and Love it.

Debs

[K&CS]

Hi and welcome to the forum. We're in Christchurch too. I have friends here who are from Wisconsin - what they particularly love here is the weather, compared with the extremes in their home town. Good luck with your plans.

Kate

[toesonthenose]

Aloha Kyosa!
You do know that Packers vs. Vikings may not be on TV in NZ right? I have family in the U.P. and drove through Superior 2 years ago. Welcome to the forum!
Shaun

[upnorthkyosa]

Come to Christchurch, it is gorgeous here!! Great people, weather, site-seeing, food, wine, reasonable house prices compared to North Island.
Good luck with the move!

Christchurch is where we are interested in settling. Our only concern is to whether or not we can find jobs. We've seen lots of pics of CHCH and we absolutely love what we see!

[upnorthkyosa]

Hi and welcome to the forum. We're in Christchurch too. I have friends here who are from Wisconsin - what they particularly love here is the weather, compared with the extremes in their home town. Good luck with your plans.

Kate

Ah yes, the weather. Now that is a topic of conversation up here! We certainly are the land of extremes, with temps getting as high as 100 F in the summer and -40 F in winter. I won't miss that when we move. Although, I will miss ice fishing...

[upnorthkyosa]

Aloha Kyosa!
You do know that Packers vs. Vikings may not be on TV in NZ right? I have family in the U.P. and drove through Superior 2 years ago. Welcome to the forum!
Shaun

We are sooooo not sports fans. Those guys get paid way to much and I won't watch out of principle. When we move, however, I think I will do as much as I can to learn about cricket and rugby though.

Go All Blacks!!!

[Diny]

We are sooooo not sports fans. Those guys get paid way to much and I won't watch out of principle.


Yay hay !!!! I like you already !!!!!!

Diny

[xanctus]

well hello cheese head guys...sorry use that nick name. We used to live Milwaukee, WI for 6 years before we moved here last july.
Sorry never been to Superior... :D

You already liking the rugby??

[Angie and Mick]

Hi

Welcome to the forum, good look with all your plans. :cheers

[Melza7]

Look at job site.
www.jobstuff.co.nz and www.seek.co.nz

[DrPhred]

Hello from your neighbors in Minnesota!

I think the hardest part of leaving Minnesota will be leaving that Big Lake you live by.

[upnorthkyosa]

Hello from your neighbors in Minnesota!

I think the hardest part of leaving Minnesota will be leaving that Big Lake you live by.

Absolutely. Living by Lake Superior is something I will remember for the rest of my life. It is truly magnificent and I can't say enough about it.

However, I remind myself that there are alot of beautiful places in this world. And home can be by any of them...

[Georgia USA]

Yaaay!! It's very good to learn of more folks that are moving! That makes our decision-making seem that much less crazy (we are anticipating being told that by friends and family of course). Good luck with the move, we hope to do the same within the next year or two also, pending NZIS etc.

Lisa & Ricardo
Georgia, U.S.A

[negirl]

Hio there, we've been here in Ashburton for 7 months now. We came from the Cornhusker State, Nebraska. I'm a Brit married to an American lived in his home State for 16 yrs. As a Brit I can honestly say I do not miss the extremes of the midwest weather at all. It's so much nicer here. The hard winter we've just had here & even being without electricity for 3+ days was a doddle :)
Jan

[Tate6]

Wow! I could not believe seeing someone from Superior on here!!

I live in Minong! I was born in Superior and go there a couple times a month to shop! As you know, Minong is NOT a metropolis! I have been trying to convince my hubby to move to NZ for almost 3 years now. I HATE the winters here!! I love fall, but we only get about a week of it here.
I work at Northwood School as a Paraprofessional.
We have 4 children. Two boys, 16 and 14, and two girls, 6 and 3. My hubby is now into the idea of moving. We are in our late 30's. He works at LP in Hayward as a supervisor. They make OSB and now siding. He also works as an electrician on the side.
Our dilemma now is whether to wait until our oldest son graduates, or both sons graduate. Our eldest is not keen on moving. Our second son would love the adventure of it but he is huge into his sports. He plays football, basketball and baseball in school. He would not have any of those over there. So he is now on the fence about moving.
Then there is the housing market! We do not live on a lake but near all of the lakes. None of the lake houses are selling here. The taxes have gone through the roof on those houses. My sister has had her house on a lake in Gordon (about 12 miles from me) for sale for almost 4 years, off and on. She also wants to move to NZ when her youngest son graduates in 3 years. She took a trip there 2 years ago. My parents have had their lakehome for sale for 2 years and just now have a promising sale pending, only after dropping the price $89,000.
We do not have our house for sale yet as we want to have a job prospect for hubby before we take that step. I don't know how smart that is with the houses not selling. We would need that money to move.
Anyway, what are your plans for your move? And job prospects? Does your wife work?
Welcome to the forum, neighbor!! You will find tons of info here and great people willing to help.
Terry

[Bruckner]

Welcome to the forum both Terry and Kyosa!

Emily

[upnorthkyosa]

Wow! I could not believe seeing someone from Superior on here!!

Great minds think alike!

I live in Minong! I was born in Superior and go there a couple times a month to shop! As you know, Minong is NOT a metropolis! I have been trying to convince my hubby to move to NZ for almost 3 years now. I HATE the winters here!! I love fall, but we only get about a week of it here.

I actually like the weather in this region. I grew up in MN and the distinct seasons are something I'm going to miss over there.

I work at Northwood School as a Paraprofessional. We have 4 children. Two boys, 16 and 14, and two girls, 6 and 3. My hubby is now into the idea of moving. We are in our late 30's. He works at LP in Hayward as a supervisor. They make OSB and now siding. He also works as an electrician on the side.

My wife and I are teachers. I am a high school science teacher and my wife teaches special education. I am 30 years old and my wife is 28. We both have our Masters degree in education plus some. We have two children, a five year old girl and a 2 year old boy. Our hope is to raise them up to be good kiwi-kids.

Our dilemma now is whether to wait until our oldest son graduates, or both sons graduate. Our eldest is not keen on moving. Our second son would love the adventure of it but he is huge into his sports. He plays football, basketball and baseball in school. He would not have any of those over there. So he is now on the fence about moving.

That makes things really difficult. I'm sure school, friends, and all of the connections they have made are very important for them. Whenever you decide to move, just remember to tell them that the world is filled with beautiful places and beautiful people. There is always something new over the next rise...

Then there is the housing market! We do not live on a lake but near all of the lakes. None of the lake houses are selling here. The taxes have gone through the roof on those houses. My sister has had her house on a lake in Gordon (about 12 miles from me) for sale for almost 4 years, off and on. She also wants to move to NZ when her youngest son graduates in 3 years. She took a trip there 2 years ago. My parents have had their lakehome for sale for 2 years and just now have a promising sale pending, only after dropping the price $89,000. We do not have our house for sale yet as we want to have a job prospect for hubby before we take that step. I don't know how smart that is with the houses not selling. We would need that money to move.

Ah yes, the housing market. We know all about this up here too. Thankfully, houses tend to be moving a little faster, however. When we get closer to moving, my wife and I are going to put our house up nice and early so that we can make sure we get it sold in time. If we have to live in an apartment for a little while, oh well.

The economic situation up here is reason enough for us to move our family.

Anyway, what are your plans for your move? And job prospects? Does your wife work?

We are looking to move sooner rather then later. The soonest we could do it in is one year. Although, ideally, we should wait two. Both of us work and both of us have skills that are in high demand everywhere in NZ. Our hope is to have at least one job offer when we move.

Thanks for the Welcome!

John

[Kiwi-In-Texas]

Howdy and welcome to the forum..
It is good too see so many Americans on this forum.
I am a New Zealand citizen and my husband is a native born Texan.
We will be applying for PR for my husband under the Partnership Category
in July 2007. We are presently living in the Dallas area and will be glad to
move out of this large metropolitan area.
We intend to buy a house in the Kapiti Coast area on our return to NZ. I lived
in this area for many years before relocating to Texas.
I have no doubt we will have lots of questions to put to this forum
as we procede with our application for PR for my husband.
My husband is a cabinet maker by trade and I am sure he will
have no trouble finding work once we are settled.

Cheers,
Suzanne and Ron.