Moving to New Zealand From UK

We Started A New Life in New Zealand - May 2000 - Paul, Kay & Sophie share their Experience

We were living in Ashford, Kent at the time and had been thinking about living and working in New Zealand for a number of years, we felt that if we didn’t make the move now we would regret it later in life, thinking what if?

So New Year’s Eve 1999 around the time of the expected millennium bug we made the decision to go for it "A New Life in New Zealand". Our main reason for choosing to live New Zealand was for the clean green outside living and the excitement of a new adventure.

Paul came to New Zealand for 2 weeks to see what the work situation was like and to get a feel for the country.

Paul was working as a Network engineer, he went over to NZ that February for two weeks looking for work in New Zealand, (there was a demand for IT) and to get a feel for the country.

He registered with a number of the Recruitment Agencies prior to his departure; Initiative Business Consultants Ltd put Paul forward for an IT position with AFFCO.  In the mean time, I put our house on the market thinking that the house would be on the market for some time.. By the time Paul had come back we had a buyer. There was no turning back! So we got several quotes from removal companies. We decided to go with PSS International Removals. They were very efficient and made the move very easy. 

Paul had a bit of a knock back on the job front, but we decided to go for at least a months before we made a decision.

Paul had a very favourable response from his interviews with AFFCO but unfortunately we received an email informing us that a kiwi with the same qualifications had been offered the job (by law if there is a Kiwi that can do the job, they have to be offered the position first). We still decided to go for it and gave ourselves at least a month before making a definite decision. Luckily for us, just before we left for New Zealand , Paul was emailed by AFFCO asking him if he was still interested in the job as the guy who had taken the job had decided to go back to Wellington. But he would have to go through the whole interview process again along with other candidates. So nothing was still certain.....

We Settled Very Quickly and Found the New Zealander's Very Helpful.

On arrival in New Zealand we hired a car from Ace Car Hire they were very helpful and the service was very good. We hired a car for the first month and extended this to 3 months after Paul had accepted a job offer with AFFCO.

We then set up an account with ASB and transferred our money to New Zealand. We found ASB very helpful and they gave us very good advice!

We spent the first few weeks living in a motel before moving into a rental property, where we stayed for the first 3 months, before purchasing our first property, which we bought through Alan and Anne real estate agents who now own the Professionals in Browns Bay and Mairangi Bay.

Things have turned out really well for us now. I was very lucky to get my first job here within the first few months working as a graphic designer.

The climate in Auckland is much warmer than UK and the kiwis are very warm and hospitable people and we have made New Zealand our home and are now citizens. But we do miss our friends and family, especially at Christmas time. TAKE A LOOK AT CHRISTMAS KIWI STYLE.

There is a wide range of educational options on the North Shore

Our 9 year old daughter , settled in well , and very quickly picked up the kiwi accent. Schooling is very good especially on the North Shore, but you need to be in the right catchment area for some schools. You do have to pay for text books, and school donations are a little higher than in UK but you do get a very good education, which makes it worth while. I was very surprised one day to see the principal doing road patrol with the children and apparently, this is not uncommon.  We found it quite a refreshing attitude that everybody seems to work together as a team.

We definitely made the right decision in moving to New Zealand! We would have no hesitation in recommending the move.

It Seems Like A Lifetime Ago Since We First Arrived And A Lifestyle Change For the Better.

It seems a lifetime ago since we first arrived.  Life seems very different now. We have been blessed with beautiful summers here in Auckland and the climate suits us well.  Yes we do have a fair amount of rain but that is a plus, the land is very lush and green and we do have those beautiful clear blue skies in the winter.  The climate in Auckland is temperate, and we have long since thrown away those heavy winter coats.  Winter – what is winter?  Those cold blustery winds and cold winter frosts are long distant memories in our minds.

When we first emigrated to New Zealand we promised our daughter a pony, but not being horsey people ourselves, we delayed this promise as long as we could. 

We then thought about buying a property with some land, enough to graze a pony and make our daughter’s dream come true!  But on reflection we came to the conclusion that it would be a lonely life for a young teenager out in the wilderness not to mention a safety issue when riding her horse on her own. (Not to mention all the extra work required to maintain a large section of land, it just would not fit in with our city working life). 

So we went for next best thing and found a house just opposite a pony club; we felt we would have the best of both worlds, our daughter would be happy and so would we; we would not solely responsible for maintaining the land. 

We needed to find Temporary Accommodation Whilst We Waited for our house to be Built.

We put our house on the market, and quickly found a buyer for our property who wanted to move in within a few weeks and as the house that we had purchased wasn't yet completely built, so we had to find temporary accommodation for about 3 week's.

We looked around for motels to stay in or temporary accommodation and just could not find anything suitable, as we wanted to take a few home comforts and lots of luggage. We were really lucky to find accommodation and not too far away from where we had lived on the North Shore. The home stay was based in the lower part of the hosts own home. Completely separate with its own entry. It was very comfortable with 3 bedrooms with a communal area. We were really pleased to find the place as we were giving up hope of finding anything suitable and within our price range. It was almost like home. We would recommend this holiday accommodation to travelers to the North Shore and is only about 5 mins to the beaches and about 20 mins to the city.

It was a complete Lifestyle Change - We Still Enjoy our New Lifestyle and have no regrets!

So we moved from beautiful sea views, beach walks and water sports and café’s to a very different life in the country.  We had a local Malt House Pub only 10 minutes walk away, (very important to us poms!) 

It was a good move. The village life was very pleasant. The members of the pony club very friendly; Working Bee days were regularly arranged and we all helped out and do our bit, and it was marvelous socially, For us our change of environment was the right move at the time, and only 20 minutes drive from the city ....... and 15 minutes drive from beautiful beaches.

As our circumstances changed, our daughter grew out of horses, we went for yet another lifestyle change.

Like everything there comes a time in your life when your lifestyle outlook changes and we have yet again moved to an enitrely different location in the lovely area of Milford in Auckland, minutes from the beaches, shopping, restuarants and entertainment.

I had joined an artclub and discovered a love of art. I enjoyed my new hobby so much, I wanted to create my own Art Gallery and invite local artists to exhibit their work. A dream of a lifetime.

We found the perfect home that would allow us to live on the upper floor and turn some of the lower area in an Art Gallery. The house needed a little love and attention and after a year we have achieved our dream. I say our because, Paul is also very much involved and helps out at the monthly Open Evenings, and enjoys the social side, when we hold special Open Nights before opening the monthly exhibition to the public an evening where you can also meet with the exhibiting artists. We have found there isn't a shortage by any means of talented artists. New Zealanders are very created..

I work 5 days a week and meet locals and tourists alike, either wishing to buy a piece of New Zealand or just to take in the amazing art and talent.

Our venture has been a success and have yet again, met amazing, friendly people who have also become great friends.

You can find our more about our Art Gallery on our Facebook Page

Have we ever thought about moving Back to UK ?

Have we ever thought about coming back?  Yes once.  We lost a very close member of our family and could not afford, at short notice, for all of us to go back for the funeral.  It makes you feel quite useless being out here in such circumstances.  We did nearly go back.  But woke up one morning to see beautiful sea views and clear skies and found that the sun was beginning to shine once again. But it is a good thing to discuss such things through first, as when it does happen emotion takes over and you don’t see things so clearly.

We Wanted To Help Others Following The Same Dreams As Ourselves And Decided to Create New Zealand Travel And Migration DVD's - So that You Can See What this Beautiful Country Has to Offer.

During our time here in New Zealand, we have travelled throughout the north and south island of New Zealand, my line of work is working with graphics and I have used those skills as well as my design background to create a DVD of beautiful photos, music and video clips taking you on a remarkable and memorable journey. 

Each time we watch the DVD it still holds the same magic of experiencing these wonderful sights for the first time.

Paul and I can remember when we were looking at moving out here and searching for any kind of information on New Zealand, trying to paint a picture in our minds, this is why we decided to share our album with those people who are interested and have an interest in the New Zealand way of life..

We have also included other useful travel and living information which would help future migrants in making their decision to make this very big step and move their whole life to the other side of the world.

We have gathered together information from experts in areas that we felt would have of considerable benefit to have known before moving to New Zealand and produced the "A New Zealand Lifestyle DVD" and have since created others. Click to view complete List

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