Do it!!

DioneB · Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2004 12:07 am Post subject: Do it!!

Hi

I’ve been reading this forum for a few months now and think its brilliant, its informative, entertaining and has made me want to go to NZ more than ever.

I thought I would share my story for all those with families who are planning to emigrate. I’m 37 and although I’ve spent over half my life in the UK, I consider myself a kiwi. I was born in the UK and in the mid 70’s my parents decided to emigrate. They’d wanted to go when they first married in the early 60’s but were under pressure by their families not to. My Dad was a dental mechanic and had a successful practice in Corby, Northamptonshire. However, Corby was a steel town and in the 70’s when the steel industry took a dive, it became a ghost town. My parents started to look again at emigrating and were considering Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, they decided on New Zealand. I remember a trip to London to visit NZ House, I had the day off school and we made a special day of it. We went to Madame Tussauds and, as an 8 year old, I had my Bay City Roller handbag searched – London was very IRA wary at the time – my Mum was horrified.

Mum and Dad both wanted to go to Dunedin as they’d heard it was like Scotland. All our family holidays had been spent walking in Scotland though I’d always been envious of friends who got to go to beaches in Spain instead of being dragged up another mountain! You had to have a job offer in those days, and Dad put an ad in the New Zealand Dental Journal. I remember he got a phone call one evening from a practice in Tauranga offereing a him a job. He accepted and the plan was to go there for 6 months or so and then head down to Dunedin. As an 8 year old, I didn’t fully comprehend the fact that we were going to the other side of the world, and that we would be leaving friends and family behind. With the lack of info around we didn’t really know what life in NZ would be like, there were no ‘Life Down Under’ programmes on TV, no travel programmes, no ‘LOTR’ movies and no internet with wonderful forums like this to help you in your research. My class did a project on NZ before we left, my classmates probably new more about NZ at the end of it than most of the adult population.

We left the UK in Oct 1975 and had a couple of days in LA on our way out, we went to Disneyland which was wonderful and arrived in Auckland on a sunny spring afternoon. I remember being very smart in my little trouser suit and clutching my ever present Bay City Roller bag. My Dad’s new boss and his two kids drove up from Tauranga to pick us up. The kids, 12 and 7 arrived with bare feet which we were all shocked by. We stayed with them for the first week – it was fantastic – they had a swimming pool!! My little pommie feet soon got used to running around without shoes on and having endless prickles pulled out of them (the worst thing about NZ lawns). Dad settled into his job and we moved into a motel that Mum agreed to manage for six months while we looked for a house to buy.

Mum and Dad had always wanted to have some land and I’d always been horse obsessed. They bought 25 acres and instead of building bought an old villa which they had moved out to the land. They cut it in half, stick it on the back of two trucks, move it out and stick it back together again – instant house! Everyone around us was either farming or as farms were being subdivided, moving into orcharding, the early days of kiwifruit or citrus. Neither Mum or Dad wanted something that was going to be full time work in itself, so they planted Radiata Pine trees on 20 acres and kept the rest for grazing and garden. Mum has a two acre garden which is her pride and joy. Pine trees are planted and then you can pretty much leave them except for pruning every few years – the idea is that in 25-30 years you fell them and sell the timber. I got a horse for my 10th birthday and was over the moon.

I had a wonderful time growing up in NZ, I was outside all the time, bikes, horses, the beach. My best friend lived across the road, at 12 we would go camping down at our creek. I’d go and stay with her family up at Whangamata in their bach in the holidays and we’d be swimming every day. I went to a small local primary school – there were two classrooms and we had ‘calf-club’ day a fantastic rural thing where you get to raise a calf or lamb for three months and then ‘show’ them at school on the day.

At 19 I left NZ to come back to the UK to study, the idea being I went home at the end of my four years. However, I finished, met a guy, stayed, broke-up, planned to go back, met someone else, also a kiwi who had just arrived and ended up staying 17 years! We’ve been back on holidays most years and have always said that we want go go home but not yet, both our families are in Tauranga. Our last trip home was in August 2003, and we both decided that we’re ready to go home. We have two boys, 6 and 2 and we both want for them the sort of childhoods we had. I know things are different in 2004 than they were growing up in the 70’s but NZ is still a fantastic place for kids and adults!

I long to be away from the constant lure of Playstation, and Fox Kids. I want to teach my kids to ride, though both boys are more interested in motorbikes than horses. I want to be able to have a BBQ on the spur of the moment, I want to be able to pick up decent fish and chips and go and eat them on the beach, I want to sit in Hot Pools on a winter evening…

We’re now planning to head back to NZ in Sept this year and will settle in Auckland, probably the North Shore. Although I think of NZ as home, I know that after 17 years in London, it will be a culture shock and that there will be people and loads of things I miss like crazy. But now with cheaper flights, email, cheap phone calls, internet shopping, digital photos etc, all those people and things you miss can feel that much closer and be accessible even from 12000 miles away.

It is only now that I can fully appreciate what a huge step it was for my parents to emigrate back in the 70s. Having spent time reading this forum, it has made me appreciate much more the sacrifice and gamble they were making, with no internet and easy the access to information there is today, it really was going into the unknown. I am so grateful to them though for making the move, it was, and still is, a fantstic place to grow up.

Good luck to all of you who are hoping to go!

Dione Nice One

veronica · Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2004 3:25 am Post subject:

That was a really lovely email Clapping

thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Like you I have had a split life although mine has been between australia and England.
Our kids are now grown up and the eldest who has an Oz passport is now living in NZ and the younger one is hoping to go out there in a couple of years as she wants to pay off her uni debts before leaving. Unfortunately for her she doesn't have dual nationality (mistake on my part) so she will have to follow the normal channels. Pete and I have got a LTBV so are keeping our fingers crossed

that the business is successful and we can get pm that way.
When I read through this forum I am sometimes surprised by the naivity of the questions and hopes and othertimes relieved by the depth of peoples perceptions. We will be arriving in chch on the 16th May so we haven't got long before we find out if our own perceptions are on line or way out. I've no doubt we will have a few surprises both ways. Will let people know how we get on.

karltsmith · Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2004 10:33 am Post subject:

Hi Dione,

Great story with some great insights. I suppose for all of us who have done it (migrated) and in my case done it twice you grow up with a bit of a split loyalty between the two countries. Its always a struggle mentally i think more than phyically as you are torn between what you want for you and your childrens future and what you are leaving behind especially family! The internet and cheap phone calls help tremendously though! Have a safe journey out...look forward to meeting you at some stage!

dan-ish · Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2004 8:27 pm Post subject: Stuck!

Hey Guys,

Lovely story, Dione. Sounds very much to me like you want the same kind of life that I want for my children (when they come along! Hmmm

). I remember when I was younger we used to play out in the gardens and generally be more active than kids seem to be now with PS2's and too much telly.

I hear what you are saying about divided loyalties. My Mum is Danish and moved to England when she was about 18. She obviously got married, had babies etc and as a result was kind of 'stuck' in the UK because that is where her family and career now is. Family is undoubtedly the stumbling block that most will hit when wanting to move to New Zealand (or elsewhere). However, it is getting cheaper to fly and as many people have said with Videophones, the Internet and cheap worldwide calls, the family don't seem so far away.

Good luck with the move, Dione.

Dan-ish Razz

Donna · Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2004 9:48 am Post subject:

Hi DioneB

I just wanted to thank you for your brilliant message!!!!

Do you work in sales or pr for NZ because if I didn't want to go before I definitely do now....

Your message pretty much sums up our reasons for leaving the UK (the playstation - well go on then it's raining so you might as well)! and the reasons for moving to NZ. We are just on the edge of making that BIG DECISION and saying yes to a job in Chch and making the move. Like everybody else has already said the stumbling block is always going to be leaving family behind but even our families have told us to go for it!! They want, like we do, the best for our 2 boys (6 and 4 years) and that includes "deciding to have a BBQ at the last minute, eating real fish and chips by the seaside," living the outside life. It might be the other side of the world and obviously we will miss family and they'll miss us but I'm sure they will be happy for us when they see pictures of us happily living the dream - playing on the beach instead of stuck indoors playing ps!

Tate6 · Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2004 1:52 am Post subject:

Dione-
What a writer you are! You could write a book about the subject! I would buy it! It really does hit the head on the nail for most of our reasons for wanting to get to NZ.
I grew up in Northern Wisconsin, USA, as have my children. We live in a rural area and I and my children spend the summer (all 6 weeks of it! Laughing

)outside, swimming, fishing, BBQ-ing. But although I love life here, the crime is outrageous. It used to be that you could escape it by moving to the country, which is what my father did for us. But now, horrible crimes are everywhere! And I know NZ has crime also, but nothing like in the US. And what better climate for all of the outdoor activities!! We have two boys-13 and 11, and two girls-3 and 1. The oldest boy is also into PS2. My younger son is so active outdoors. As is my 3 year old. I know this will be a better life. We are hoping to be out there this Nov. if all goes as planned. We will start in Auckland, as that is where the job is and then move to Nelson when my hubby gets his job.
My dad is not thrilled about it and as it gets closer and becomes more of a reality, he will become more vocal. But my mom is very open to it. In fact, she is looking forward to coming out there to get away from WI winters! My sister is planning a trip in Oct. and will probably move there when her youngest son graduates. Child custody issues with her ex-hubby. So I am not anticipating too much resistance in the long run. My husband's family will soon be retiring and will come and visit, as these are their only grandkids and grandpa will love to have somewhere new to hunt.
It will, of course, be hard at times,but so much better.
Thanks for your reinforcement of that!!
Terry

Gran · Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2004 5:45 pm Post subject: Do it!!

Hi Dione
Goodonya, I have been checking this site for a while, its nice to see what the young people think about emigrating these days. We did it in the 60s. New Zealand turned us down so we went to Perth, stayed there for 6 years, we sort of liked it apart from the heat, flies, fires, oh and the earthquake 7.2 on the richter scale. Then we had an opportunity to come to NZ, YEY. We have never looked back.
We are more townies than Diones folks, and stayed the whole time in Auckland but you certainly dont have to go far for the seaside and the bush etc We now have 6 lovely New Zealand Grandchildren and we have retired to the Hibiscus Coast, 300 mtrs from the beach and we still love it. We have never been back to England, I think it will be changed too much from the England we knew in the 60s. Wink