The few days before leaving....20 days after getting here
I have been putting this post off for awhile now, and finally have the time to sit down in front of the computer.
I guess we should start with all the kinds of excitement/stress that can happen when trying to move to New Zealand - sell a house, have movers pack the house (snowed the day they arrived, driveway is a hill), sell off the cars, get your dog's paperwork in order, weighing luggage and discover the day the Crown wants to get paid...that security of your last remaining visa card has been compromised.
The few Days before getting here (Stressful Parts) -
1.) Well we sold our house...did not get what we wanted so the OH was basically not a happy wife...and you know what they say about happy wife. However after hearing/reading about others, the OH has become very happy. Check...offer accepted!
2.) Sold off our Toyota Matrix XRS 6 speed and a lesson learned. Before the person that actually bought the car, one potential buyer took car out for drive. After his test drive... all I could smell for 4 days was burnt clutch. Fortunately the clutch was in good working order...but I think some of the km/life in it... got burnt away.
Check one car sold!
3.) Nov 23th - Moving day!!!! Mover arrived to a day in which 1 inch of wet'ish snow fell. Normally this would not be a problem, but our driveway was up a hill with a 45% turn in it. To add to this...was the first snow of the year, I had given the snow-blower to my folks and had no sand to put on the driveway. After hacking through 6" of frozen sand at the DOT..got sand on driveway, packing starts. At the end of the day Boss guy calls says to bring truck back to main base....to which I said your are ******* crazy if you think you will get that truck back up the driveway tomorrow, they are calling for snow/freezing rain.
Check...house packed!
4.) Nov 24th - Start packing boxes onto truck....arranged sanding of the driveway so the truck will get down driveway and not slide off into the forest at the corner.
Check...truck is packed and made it down the driveway!
5.) Nov 25th - Closing day for house...12pm comes and go, no money in account. Talk to lawyer...it seems the people buying our house have yet to get the money from the selling of their house. WTH, we are in a chain...I didn't know we would be in a chain. 4pm ...money is in the bank account. Big check....house sold and money in bank!
6.) Nov 26,27, 28th - OH has to take ATLS course and write test. Start to live out of suitcase.
Check - OH finishes and passes ATLS!
7.) Nov 29th - Cancel one of the 2 Visa cards ...seems to be the one the we gave Crown to use for payment. Talk about timing...we canceled it at about 10am.....Crown tried to charge to it at 10:40am same day. Also, the previous night before the OH online bank account got frozen due to a question she could not answer (lol did she have to pick a ***** of a teacher's last name to try and spell 30yrs later...as the question). Discover the rules have changed for transferring money from Canada to NZ and some bank forms must be filled out. At this point we had no cell phone, and only checking email in the evening..due to running around all day.
8.) Nov 30th - We go to our local branch get the security for online banking straighten out, get forms for money transfer filled and faxed. Call Visa (from bank) to arrange for the large charge (Crown Movers) on the one remaining Visa we have. Visa Security informs us that some attempted charges have been made on the Visa (no one ever mentioned these attempted charges 2 weeks ago)...they are going to freeze the card! Bank employee gets on phone and arranges for the Crown Movers charge to be allowed (which is going to be charged at any moment, knowing the exact amount). Charge goes on...Visa card is disabled and we now have no visa card (did not plan for this).
Check..Check and Check!
9.) Dec 1st- Sold off 1998 Corolla. Drive down to Halifax drop dog off at PetsGo. - Check
The not so stressful and 20 days begin here. Worried a little about luggage weight. Weigh thingy we purchased, was bang on with amounts (I suggest everyone get one). Funny the night before leaving...all you could hear in our room was the sound of zippers and beeping as we moved things around to meet luggage allowances.
1.) Dec 2nd - Mom, Dad, Aunt and Uncle....see us off..sniff sniff.
2.) Dec 4th - We land in Auckland go through Customs.....We are here! Get on plane to Wellington ....land again, wow 24C and sunny...yeah!
3.) Dec 5-8th - OH is doing some orientation with NZ Locums. Get to meet some other doctors from UK, Scotland and US.
4.) Dec 9th - We leave Wellington and arrive in Whangarei (pick up a car provided by DHB)...drive to Dargaville, get to house rental...finally, no living out of the suitcases. Dogs paperwork arrives just in time for her leaving Canada on Dec 10th. Spend the day shopping for groceries and some items at The Warehouse (actually we are still discovering things we should get). Go to clinic to meet with OH fellow co-workers (most of them she worked with in 04-05). We are renting a house and are fortunate that the owner just kept the internet, phone and Sky in their name and will give us the monthly statements. That makes it so much easier to start feeling settled in.
Ops forgot to mention seeing the Prime Minister of NZ in rl...42yrs living in Canada, never saw the PM in real life....heck not even the Premier of New Brunswick (I think they hide from the public).
5.) Dec 10th - Staff Christmas party...nice and warm have a beer on the patio deck. Dog lands in Auckland and is taken care of by PetHaven.
6.) Dec 11-12th - Looked at cars (many taken out for test drive) in Whangarei, find 2 we really like. One 2008 Mazda 2 (18,000km) and 2006 Honda Jazz (36,000km)....couldn't pass them up and we decided to get them both. We did not expect to find something so fast..they are proving to be very good on fuel. Filled the Honda up and cost $70.00 bucks to fill...not bad considering the guy beside me in the Holden was $126.00 bucks...made me fell better (save some for the rest of us). Filled the Mazda up yesterday....$60.00 from empty. So far we are very happy with them.
I recommend them to anyone...I am really loving the Jazz.
Finally, got a computer (brought over parts in the suitcase) together. Funny....I had to go to the computer store for a few parts. Felt strange having to ask for a few things, ie screws. Checked with Crown on where the house container is...it is suppose to arrive Jan 13th...good lord that is way sooner then we expected. Have started to prepare to look at houses in the area..looking online etc.
Overall it has been great since we got here, enjoying the warm weather, the town, OH is enjoying work, and enjoying the food. Things are pretty much how we expected them to be, some things have changed a little since 04-05.
So far we are enjoying every minute of it...
Sorry for such a long post...I am not use to making this kind of post.
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Hope you enjoy your first Christmas in NZ and hope it is one of many! 
You made it! Thanks for telling your story and have great holidays!
Originally Posted by Toonster
