Holiday first?

[doherty4]

We've decided to make the move but still at an early stage. My OH thinks it would be wise to visit on holiday first before spending all the money on the visa (assuming we get a ITA). On the other hand I cant see the point in spending money that would be better spent on the visa!!

So a quick research question for you already in NZ:

Did you emigrate to NZ without having visited or did you have a research holiday before making the move?

All thoughts welcome

marc

EOI awaiting submission (after payday!!)

[Shones]

Would definitely recommend a visit first:- visit still can't give you a taste of what it would be like to live there - but I found it very different on my first visit to how I'd imagined it to be after my prelininary research - failing that read the forum assidiously (ALL the sections) to get an insiders view. The whole moving and visa process will cost an awful lot more than a "recce trip" if you decide you don't like it on first impressions.

[ralf-nz]

That is what I / we did:
Arriving as a tourist one early March, having job interviews etc., signing contract very early April, doing the medical, applying for WP, got it granted and started working mid to end of April.
House rented from end of July for family, family arrived late August, container with all our stuff early September.
PR only then applied and granted.
Still working in the same company; still living in the same house which I bought in the meantime.

This worked for me / us; other people will be different.
Consider what other relocations one already experienced: Within the same country but to different region or to another country; different (sub) cultures experienced, language etc.

[Mamee & Co]

We decided just to take the plunge and emigrate! I don't think that I would have been so brave had it not been for the internet and the amount of information/pictures and varying views that we found here and on other sites.

We have never been on a holiday that we have not enjoyed, plus we also know that being on holiday is going to be the same as living in a place. We decided we would rather have £5k plus to settle with rather than spend on a recce, although we did decide to take the first couple of months relatively easy when we got here and do some touristy things while starting gently on the job hunt.

What we have done though is made the effort to consider this as a life long move, with a commitment to two years before we make any decisions. We also agreed that if we did not settle where we arrived we would try other areas in NZ rather than deciding NZ was the problem.

So far, it is early days and we are still on a high. The information, particularly from those who chose not to be here, has helped us understand the country a bit more and be aware of things that might have been surprising (eg some of the prices, transport etc.)

I would say that it is a very personal decision. For us, so far, it has been the right one.

[girlwithanewf]

And here's what we did: my husband applied for a job and was invited for an interview. I was also invited to come along as well (I know, this really is not normal!) but decided not to as it is was a really mad time with my work and I also thought if he gets the job I will be going anyway. He got the job, we got a WTR (accredited employer talent visa, work visa for me, student visa for our child) and we came 6 months later. So he had been, I hadn't. I do know we would not have sold our house and come here without a job and I don't think we would have come without having visited first if we were coming on a permanent basis. Having said that we both have experience of having moved to various countries without ever having been there. And there are lots of people on this forum who have come without a prior visit who are happy and successful here.
Good luck with your decision, I don't think there is a right or wrong answer to that question.

[benandclare]

We came for our Honeymoon and decided that we wanted to live here

Celebrated out first wedding anniversary here

[RachieRoo]

We also just took the plunge! We decided that the money it would have cost us to come on a recce/holiday would just eat into our settling in money or it would take us another couple of years until we could afford to come for good. We were planning it for 2 years before we came, and have always said that we will definitely stay here for 2 years no matter how hard it is (Great minds think alike Mamee). We're now 4 months in, and we don't regret it. There have been a few surprises, but we've met other people who had been here before (in fact, they lived here for 8 months on a WHV) and they're still being surprised by a fair few things.

I don't think a holiday can compare to living here, but if you are also using it as a job seeking mission than it might well be worth the money. I was lucky to get a job before we came, so that will have made things more straight-forward (as well as not having kids to worry about).

[KatieBen]

We did a recce trip before we came - not to decide whether or not to emigrate, but to work out where in NZ we would settle best.

I spent the last 6 years in the UK moving around every 6 months so once we'd moved to NZ I really wanted to stay in one place and put down some roots and let my boys feel settled. One of the things we were worried about was the emigration failing because we picked the wrong initial area to go to (for example, from the internet and various forums I'd been looking at, I had Otago high on the list - when we visited, we scratched it off as completely not for us, though great to go on holiday we couldn't see ourselves living there).

We had some criteria we were looking for in a place to move (facilities for kids, transport links, shopping, schools, access to hiking/biking/swimming, internet availability, general "feel" to list a few of them) and every place we visited, we ranked according to how they scored in each category. When we'd done that, we did the 2 UK cities that we might have stayed in (Bristol / Bath) for good measure.

At the end of the trip there was one clear winner so that's where I applied for work. We've been here just over a year now, it's all gone very smoothly and I don't think we've really questioned the move at all. It's probably still honeymoon period for us but I've yet to have a really down day regarding the move and we've yet to experience the culture shock we were expecting to have to work through.

Each to their own though!

(PS for those that are interested: in order (I think!) 1) Nelson 2) Napier/Hastings 3) Christchurch 4) Wellington.... Bath was reasonably high up the list but lower than most NZ cities, Bristol came bottom and Auckland came second from last!)

[hosebergine]

we did the recce. It cost about £5k for three of us (2 adults one 3 yr old) and we had an amazing time. It gave us the chance to 'feel' the distance; weigh up the merits of Auckland and Wellington; understand a bit more about life here; meet forumites in person; suss out housing etc. For us it was money very well spent and helped us get clear in our own minds why we wanted to go, not to mention the huge benefit to our families who understood the lengths to which we had gone to research the move and were greatly reassured that we were thinking it through properly. Can't over-emphasise the latter point - they supported us in the move. It could have been so very different.

I have been very surprised at how much starting a new life here has cost. Everyone needs to feel comfortable with their decision to move - for us that meant a visit first to avoid a costly and emotionally draining mistake.

[April]

I've been to NZ many times, so already have a very good idea of what to expect, so I personally would always recommend visiting first. Over the years I have seen many people make the move without visiting who have eventually come to regret it and moved back to the UK. However, I also do know several people who didn't visit first and are very happily settled in NZ now. I guess really it comes down to what type of people you are and how easily you can adapt.

Words and pictures though don't give you a good enough idea of what it's really like.