[Do B Brief]

Well what a dilema!!

My family left Wellington nearly a year ago and now we want to come back!

Since returning to the UK within a month we realized why we left in the first place but decided to invest in th UK housing market.

Now our house is just about sold and we are waiting to see if my old job is still available.

We paid for our worldly goods to be shipped out (Pickfords) but we never actually saw them as they had cocked up our paperwork. They were held up at customs in Hastings and then Wellington.

So we packed the stuff we bought in NZ and added to our container in customs and shipped it back to the UK.

Now unpacked we are ready do shove it all back into a container - phew.

We have work permits/visas etc (valid until July 07) and had received ITA but declined gracefully before returning.

So now we have to do this all over again - why? I don't really know.

The wife should have a better chance of intergration now the kids are more independant and also we will not live amongst the hills (she doesn't drive).

So has anyone else been this mad? Or where we mad in the first place?

It has been a while since my last post as I spend 2.5 hours driving to/from work so I guess I am looking forward to a more relaxed way of life.

See you Wellington based members at your meetings when we get sorted.

[Helsandfamily]

Hi,

Can't help as only visited NZ on holiday and we are currently applying for ITA, but I read your story when you posted originally, and found it quite inspirational, and was sorry to hear that you were coming back as it hadn't worked out.

Guess what I am trying to say is Good luck with it again! :yes

Hels

[stu70]

Life is just a bunch of events tied together by our actions and sometimes without them (yeah I am fatalist). And there is never a recipe book for "how to make decisions in life", and thank God for that. So do what you think is best for your family even if it means going back and forth a few more times as long as you think it is good for you.

And again anything we do is not for ever, its only for life!! Good luck

:cheers

[TonyOne]

Myself and my wife went to Auckland on working holiday visa in 2003/2004, we loved it there, stayed the year in Auckland (plus travelled around both Islands for 3 months). After our year was up we booked our flights and arrived home in Ireland in December. We regretted coming back after 5 minutes.

We decided there and then to start the process of going back, we sent in our EOI, followed by the application, did all the usual stuff (medicals, police check etc). In the mean time we had our first child and included him on our application. We received our resident visas last May and since then we have been having doubts about going. Hopefully I will head out in April and they will join me in May. I keep thinking that we have it so easy here that we shouldn't move because we might struggle financially in NZ, but then if we don't go back we will always wonder what if. So we are determined to give it 2 years out there if we do go.

[pleccy2000]

I just read your old post: http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?p=64717#post64717

You seem like you were pleased to be home again? Whats changed?

[K&CS]

I remember you well. I read your post about returning to Blighty the day before we flew out here. As Pleccy above says, you seemed very pleased to be back in Britain and were adament that NZ wasn't for you, so it's a real surprise to hear you're returning again.

I know a couple of people here who have returned after going home, or trying a different country (one who has returned 3 times). I don't think it's that unusual - costly though!

Good luck to you and I hope it works out for you this time.

[wilson182]

[QUOTE=Do B Brief]

We have work permits/visas etc (valid until July 07) and had received ITA but declined gracefully before returning.

QUOTE]

Are these your original work permits? Don't they expire when you leave NZ?

I have read about a couple of families on this forum who have faced the same dilema, Good Luck in you decision.:)

[roddixon]

I moved to NZ with my first wife in 1981-lived in New Plymouth/took out citizenship-we returned to the UK 10 years later with three kids.
To cut a long story short-I divorced and re-married and had a daughter(my three sons from my first marriage have always lived with me)
Two years ago I took my sons back to NZ for a few weeks to show them their "homeland" and the place blew me(and them)away !!!!!!!
When I returned to the UK I realised that NZ has so much to offer.
So; 15 years after first leaving, we are returning later this year to live.
I'm a Senior Manager with a major engineering corporation and my wife is a Headteacher-we are both on great salaries that we will not get anywhere near in NZ..............I lie in bed at night thinking we must be mad to give up such financial security-then I think about the clean air(you really do notice the difference);the space;the slower pace of life;the outdoor lifestyle;the lack of stress in peoples everday lives;being able to swap my standard overpriced house here in the UK for a detached family home with land-and think it has to be a better bet for my family.
Sure I'm nervous-hell I could retire early on a company pension in 7 years time-but my philosophy(for what it's worth)is that you you can't buy time.
Sure you can earn better salaries in the UK-but to earn it you have to load up on hours or load up on stress-or in our case both!!!!!
I need to breath clean air...........................and to have the time to really appreciate what really matters in life.

Steve

[spudulike]

Well what a dilema!!

My family left Wellington nearly a year ago and now we want to come back!

Since returning to the UK within a month we realized why we left in the first place but decided to invest in th UK housing market.

Now our house is just about sold and we are waiting to see if my old job is still available.

We paid for our worldly goods to be shipped out (Pickfords) but we never actually saw them as they had cocked up our paperwork. They were held up at customs in Hastings and then Wellington.

So we packed the stuff we bought in NZ and added to our container in customs and shipped it back to the UK.

Now unpacked we are ready do shove it all back into a container - phew.

We have work permits/visas etc (valid until July 07) and had received ITA but declined gracefully before returning.

So now we have to do this all over again - why? I don't really know.

The wife should have a better chance of intergration now the kids are more independant and also we will not live amongst the hills (she doesn't drive).

So has anyone else been this mad? Or where we mad in the first place?

It has been a while since my last post as I spend 2.5 hours driving to/from work so I guess I am looking forward to a more relaxed way of life.

See you Wellington based members at your meetings when we get sorted.

Are you planning on living somewhere other than Welly?

This is your original post from when you left;
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=5327

Many of the reasons you gave for leaving also seem to be why you are leaving the UK.... :confused: You also posted a few weeks in saying how pleased you were to be home - but now say you realised within the month you'd made a mistake.

I also am moving back from NZ to the UK but not because I hate it here - I really don't. But you sounded as though you really disliked much of what NZ had to offer including the weather, you felt there was nothing to do, not to mention the money it cost. I'm a little concerned that time away has maybe put the rose tinted glasses back on?

I'm really not trying to be critical although I appreciate it may sound that way, :o I'm just curious (nosey) as to what has changed in you all that makes you feel you can now enjoy what NZ has to offer. I know many people have 2 or 3 trips back and forth before settling - we can't afford to do that but will be lucky enough to qualify for our IRRV if we decide to come back when we're old and grey :D

I really hope that NZ works out for you this time around and that your lives have evolved in such a way that it provides what you are searching for.

Good luck,

L :)

[Hannah]

Hiya Dave,
you probably remember me - i sent you a couple of lengthy PM's just after you returned to UK. We did our original six month trip to NZ around the same time you did, although not such a big jump (we didnt' sell house or ship furniture, as we always planned to return to UK after 6 mths). However, we did apply for PR to give ourself the choice of returning. You may have worked out from recent postings that we're going back to NZ later in January. I already knew I wanted to stay in NZ, and my other half has come round to the idea since getting back to UK (he takes longer to make life changing decisions than me!!!)
You post has given hubby and me a lot of food for discussion tonight, and got us really thinking about our early days/months in NZ. We felt like you, in those early months, that NZ was just after our money (endless immigration costs, schooling, health etc....even though living there and applying for PR was OUR choice!!!). We were under incredible stress as a family after we arrived - from the larger issues such as not having a job and worrying about money down to the smaller things like not knowing how much a postage stamp costs, or what colour lid semi-skimmed milk has. For the first few weeks, maybe even months, i counted the days down until i was returning to the UK. The disorientation and sometimes despair in those early weeks is something I just can't describe. I'm a happy go lucky person who rarely 'sweats the small stuff' and I, unlike many, had already been to NZ once before...and yet I felt like an alien!
By the time I left 7 months later....I loved NZ. I had made friends, I loved my job, I knew my way around....I had relaxed. I realised at that point that I felt more at 'home' in NZ than i ever had in the UK. Taranaki felt like home and i desperately didn't want to come home. Anyway, we returned to the UK and now, 7 months later, we are going back to what i feel is my second home. It's taken my other half a while to decide going back is the right thing to do, and i've had some issues to deal with also since coming back (sick relative).
Unlike you, we never came back to the uk 'remembering why we left', as we didn't go to NZ because we hated the UK - we're happy with the UK (helped by the fact that we don't watch the news or read the Daily Mail). We were looking for an adventure (we certainly got that) and neither of us really went there with PR as our mission. We applied for it as we felt we might as well keep our options open. I still love the UK, I love the area I live in, I love my friends and my life here, but I love NZ too and am looking forward to returning.
Another long post - but really I'm trying to say that I truly understand where you are coming from in returning. The stress you must have been under in terms of applying for jobs, applying for residency (or not), your furniture, being ripped off by an agent, finding schools, finding friends, etc etc. is horrendous. It's so easy to be unable to see beyond the hassle and the frustration. I remember reading once on this forum that it doesn't matter how great the scenery etc. is you will not be able to appreciate it if you can't see beyond financial worry and insecurity.
Dave, if you come back this time you will have a lot of that stress and hassle behind you. You'll have to apply for PR, but you know the system now. Avoid agents, use the forum and your experience, and you'll breeze through it. You will know so much more, and will approach things with experience and understanding. We know that this time we return we are almost 'going home' - same place, same employer, same schools for the kids, same mates waiting for us, etc. Please just be sure that you are going back for New Zealand's sake - not because you have got back to the UK and 'remembered why you left'. And remember that you are a different person now - you know NZ's pitfalls ... including the dreaded Christco's hampers ads!!!! I doubt the stress you endure this time will ever be as awful as the first time!!

Good luck mate, I'll let you know how it goes after we return (I was an avid reader of your posts when you first went as you got there before me ... maybe I can return the favour with some 'life in NZ second time around' posts!)

As you yourself said 'it's only money spent and experience gained'

Hannah

[Tia Maria]

Do B Brief wrote:
So now we have to do this all over again - why? I don't really know

My guess would be, that like a lot of us, you've got 'serial mover' syndrome (you might have caught this thread a while back http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9086&page=1&pp=10)

IMHO the way to make this restlessness work for you is to make sure with each move you progress or gain more understanding on what really makes you content.

Do B Brief wrote:
Since returning to the UK within a month we realized why we left in the first place

Did you maybe return to a very similar life, same area, job etc? If that's the case I would try to avoid returning to the exact same life you had in Wellington and repeating what happened in the UK.

Hannah wrote:
We were under incredible stress as a family after we arrived - from the larger issues such as not having a job and worrying about money down to the smaller things like not knowing how much a postage stamp costs, or what colour lid semi-skimmed milk has.

How true! The fact that you will have familiarity when you return should make everything a lot less stressfull. It also gives you a greater chance of making it work this time and hopefully the ability to work out what went wrong before, so you don't make the same mistakes again.

Wish you all the best, hopefully 2007 will be the year that everything slots into place!

Cheers

Tia

[Do B Brief]

Thanks for your comments and concerns everyone. I guess we just like challenges in life I think. It was when we moved into our UK house after returning from NZ and being surrounded by our furniture.

We just didn't give it enough time basically. We had the option of a return flight at the time and brought it forward and yes, we gave up easily.

After this second attempt we will not be able to afford to live back in the UK so if it fails this time we're well and truly stuffed.

I think Hannah has hit the nail on the head about our pending return knowing what and who to seek and being wiser.

I feel we can get off the plane and we know exactly what to do, where to go etc. How people operate, where to and not to shop, what to avoid and budget for things that we take for granted here in the UK.

As for my work permit, I am hoping for my old job back as I have kept in touch with them and they have shown great interest. Even offers from one or two other companies though for that I would have to have my work permit amended.

We have work visas too which will aid in access back in or failing that, visiting friends which theoretically I would not be lying.

We know what to do know and where we want to be looking at living. The wife knows what she wants to do now and this time make it work.

Anyway, the story shall continue and I will keep you updated. Good luck everyone who is trying, tried and got there.