Migrant Stories

Moving to Paradise

Caron: I first started my love affair with New Zealand way back in 1985 when I was lucky enough to arrive in Nelson at the tender age of 18years old having never even been on board an aeroplane. 23 years later and not a moment too soon I am delighted to be back with a residence permit in my passport along with my husband Paul and two boys Daniel and Joe.

I had always left a piece of my heart in sunny Nelson and never dreamed I would be lucky enough to come back to live and work here, however after ten minutes of arriving on our first family holiday to NZ two years ago, my husband and boys were also smitten.
Although the journey ahead was long, hard, expensive and not recommended for the faint hearted, it is totally worth it in every way.

In short it took us a full year from first applying to the NZ immigration to arriving in Nelson and our beautiful new home.

We chose to apply to move to NZ for many reasons - as mentioned I had lived here in the eighties and totally loved it so knew what the country had to offer, but it became clear to us after having two children and the eldest starting Comprehensive school that for us the UK was rapidly losing its appeal, not only as a place to bring up the kids, but also for us to live and work. We were not having any balance, Paul working 60-70 hr weeks, and the penny dropped when we totaled up how much each year we were spending “escaping” the rat race. My total salary and more went on time away, so for us it was time to decide to carry on like that or move away and start a new life. Although our lifestyle to many seemed fancy and we seemed to “have it all”, to us it was not how we wanted to live anymore.

Many family members and friends were very supportive but some could not understand how we could leave everything we had worked hard to build up and how could we leave our family. THIS is the hardest thing - we totally did not prepare ourselves for the pain of leaving and swept it to one side until the last month or so when it was impossible to ignore.

It is by far the biggest down side of moving so far away and be prepared if you are thinking of moving for the emotional farewells, possible upset and anger, unless you are a robot believe me you will be affected.

Having said all that of course we are here and did not let that stop us, we had to think of our own lifestyle and top of the list was the boys.

On the plus side we now have a wonderful place for those very same friends and family to visit us whenever they like.

New Zealand offered us a beautiful place to live and work, with world class scenery, friendly laid back people, small population, excellent schools, consistent sunny climate, amazing food and wine, and it really gives us a wow factor every morning as we awake to the stunning views of the Tasman Sea.

The boys started school this week. We were very fortunate to get them in the same school, one being 10years and the eldest 12years, this you would never get in the UK.

The school has plenty of space and only 82 pupils in total. The best thing was being told the only rules of uniform were, bring a sun hat and togs (trunks) every day!!:)You can guess how delighted they are and can not wait to get there.

We have found the whole experience from deciding to move to actually arriving one heck of a roller coaster ride, expect the unexpected, but never give up. It really is worth it to stay the course! We were very impressed with how easy we found it to buy a house, get a mortgage, and get the kids into school - so different from our experiences of cancelling our UK life.

Every step of the transition from a NZ professional was a delight, we did our research but found talking to the right person was always well worth the call. This continues to be the way since we arrive. Be aware, up tight stressed UK residents, you will need to learn how to take it easier, trust people, be patient, smile more and accept the genuine KIWI hospitality.

Seek out the professionals you will need and let them help you in your quest for a new life. There is an excellent company here called Migrate2nelson who have a range of professionals who will help you through all the issues you will face in migrating to your new country.

The medicals can take months to be checked and be aware your BMI is very important. There is a lot of information you will need to supply and I would recommend wasting no time in ensuring you have it all.

Waiting for the Immigration New Zealand decision is agony - your life in someone else’s hands. We did spend the last year wishing the weeks and days away, waiting for decisions not only from the immigration, medical officer and police, but selling the house and then buying in NZ, selling two businesses in the UK. It is very challenging, however as I look out to the ocean it is all a faint memory and I would not hesitate in doing it all again to be here.

In my opinion New Zealand is for many people who are looking for a more balanced life, a better place to bring up a family and has many opportunities you would never find in the UK.

I am not sure NZ is for everyone as some people love the fast paced city life, shopping malls, pub life….this is not a material country and you are not judged on how much you earn and what car you drive, that’s not to say there aren’t some awesome properties, flash pads and stunning boutiques.

In summary, do not underestimate the stunning beauty of this amazing country. You will be rewarded each and every day knowing you are somewhere very special.

Caron Proctor Feb 2009

The German Family

‘’New Zealand?…..are you mad, that is the other side of the world!’’, was my response when my husband put it to me that we should consider a move overseas. My husband Paul and I were both working for a large company and had done so for the last 25 years when my husband, who I confess may have become slightly institutionalized, decided that we should up sticks and move. He had discovered New Zealand (and particularly Nelson) back in the 80’s when he came to visit family friends. Paul liked it so much with its unending beauty and laid back lifestyle that he convinced me to come and see for myself. I appeased him by agreeing to come for a year (of course 5 years on and we couldn’t be happier with our choice).
On February 1st 2004 we arrived first into Auckland and the hustle and bustle of a large airport then jumped aboard a propeller jet and took off for the South Island. We passed over the most beautiful landscape and I tried to imagine what it would have felt like arriving by boat over a hundred years ago from an industrialized Britain to this land of immense splendor with its snow capped mountains, blue seas and green rolling hills. I had not experienced such clear cut colour before. I knew at this point that I had given my children the best gift a parent could give.
We arrived into Nelson Airport which was refreshingly small after London and without the tedious security procedures and unending queues to deal with. We felt like true pioneers when we arrived because it was such a huge decision to leave our family and friends, people you have history with to suddenly arrive at a place where you knew virtually no one. The first year came and went as if on a long holiday. We felt the need to race around seeing everything and were surprised at how this country had managed to stay free from the commercialization of the rest of the world. Such unspoilt beauty. We realized that Nelson was the best kept secret.
We had arrived with a 2 year old daughter called Hannah and an unborn child Rory who was born in Nelson 2 months after our arrival. Through our children we quickly got to meet lots of people and everyone was incredibly welcoming. Our life here bears no resemblance to the life we left behind, where we had made the decision to have children knowing we would have to put them straight into childcare because our busy London lifestyles enforced our working hours. Here I feel that life at last has slowed down enough for me to smell the roses. I am very involved in the lives of my children and feel so happy to see them play freely on the beach, how lovely for them to take the big open beaches for granted.
Perhaps the hardest thing raising children on the other side of the world was being separated from our parents/grandparents so last year we started sponsorship for my mother. She moved out in February this year and within the first month bought a lovely house close to the city. We now feel very settled as a family with Nanna being able to share our dream here.
In short, coming to Nelson has been the most rewarding experience of our lives. We look back fondly on Britain and we will always be British, however we like to think of ourselves in the same light as our pioneering forefathers, we also came here to give our family the opportunities that no longer exist in our home country.

Moving from Slovenia

'Why New Zealand, why Nelson?' are the most common questions, when they ask us about our story and our home country, Slovenia.

When I was a little girl, I was playing with my sister's world globe and I put my little finger on the other side of the world. I think it started then, because I always kept in my mind that special place, that I saw years ago - green, small and far away. When I was growing up they taught us a lot about almost every country in the world, but New Zealand was somehow always left out. Maybe that is why it started to interest me even more and why I started to discover it by myself, first with books and online. Sina knew that he wanted to discover and experience something far away from home, as his dream was owning a small boat and he loves fishing and the nearness of the sea.
When we met, we soon started to share those dreams. The wish was to come to New Zealand two years earlier, but for this step you need a little bit more than just airline tickets. We wanted to make it right, but because we couldn't make it that time, we tried to forget about our dreams and just move on with our careers. Later we had great jobs and we enjoyed our lives, but something was missing and we didn't want to admit that.

I guess it was just one ordinary day, maybe the weather was bad or I had a really hard day at work, but I remembered one email that attracted my attention, the subject was »New Zealand wants you!«. I wanted to delete it at first, because I was trying so hard not to think about all this, but I stopped for a while - I didn't open it, I just started to daydream again. It was an email from the Immigration Office in New Zealand, promoting the New Zealand Opportunities Expo in London one month later. I forwarded this email to Sina, putting »I think we should go..« above.

We didn't know what to expect, but we were ready for potential interviews. Soon we realised that people with special skills were needed and for us, working in Human Resources and Hospitality, there was less interest. We ended talking over a coffee, going through impressions once again. When we went back, they were closing, just 20min left, but we went in anyway, what can we loose, right? Sina started to talk to a team from Napier and I saw one more stand open, where I met Bruce from Bayleys Nelson. We had such an open, friendly and relaxed talk that I still cannot forget it. In a few words he described his every day life in Nelson, beauty and life style, showing me the street and his favourite coffee place and later we exchanged emails with no expectations. Sina experienced something very similar, and both of these experiences made a great impact on us. When we came out on the street we looked at each other, screamed 'Yeees!' and a decision was made. Nothing concrete happened, but the warm feeling and positive energy they gave us, was something we needed.

We told the news to our parents, friends, we left our jobs and threw a big farewell party in our hometown. We didn't know at that stage where we were going and for how long, but we did the hardest thing – made a decision to leave it all behind and discover something, which was for a long time deep in our hearts.

After travelling around New Zealand, we arrived in Nelson on a rainy day, but we loved it! Next morning the sun came out, we met Bruce Farquhar again for a coffee and our job opportunity followed that very day as a result of his contacts. We went throught the migration process with NZIC (part of migrate2nelson) and after a couple of weeks they notified us we could stay and work in New Zealand. Yeeees!

We came with no expectations, because we like it that way, but Nelson is definitely the place to be, just like Bruce said, and every day that is proven even more!

We are living our dreams on the other side of the world, have new friends, favourite coffee, shops, excellent sea view every day and beautiful sunny weather all the time! We are discovering new activities and new challanges and I also hope we will soon find a small boat for us ?! We sre lucky to have our dear family and friends supporting us with our decission, first visit is already booked for December and hopefully the others will follow?.

It is hard to find the right words to describe it, that's why we are living it now!

Alja & Sinisa