Is NZ your new home?

[ralf-nz]

Two very recent threads dealt with the topics Would you emigrate to NZ again, given the choice? (http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=34699) and Going home (http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=34697),


Another topic combining these two somehow is around the question whether New Zealand is, i.e. has become, your home. So Is NZ your new home?

[NAP]

Once again - a little on how you read the question - with the emphasis on the "new" - yes I would say NZ is my new home - but Ireland is for the moment still my home home as have lived there my entire life until Oct of last year!!
This does by no means, mean, I am not settled here and would not have moved here - just that Ireland is the Motherland I suppose!!

[victoria24]

very much so .... until it isnt

[Ally Bally Bee]

When I came here on my WHV I was never homesick.

I went back to the UK after almost 2 years here (had got my residency by then). The 18 months I was in the UK I was homesick for NZ.

Since I've been back (almost 5 years) I have never felt homesick. It's as if this was always meant to be home.

Disclaimer: I come from an Army family so spent the first 11 years of my life moving every 2 years (and in my first 7 years had lived in 3 countries - six of those in either Germany or Belgium).

[Familyofmonkeys]

This is actually a tricky question for me to answer when I think too much about it. Home for me is wherever my family (me, Mr monkey and the mini-monkeys) happen to be. We are happily getting on with our lives in New Zealand and we may never leave, but I couldn't say that this is 'home' any more than anywhere else I have lived in the past or would happen to live at a particular time in the future. Not sure if this actually makes sense to anyone else though. I guess coming from a family with a history of rather mixed nationality, I wasn't brought up to feel an overriding sense of loyalty to anywhere in particular. Thats not to say I don't feel any pride for the country I reside, but neither do I feel especially patriotic. I've never referred to the UK as 'back home' because we now live in NZ. In the same way, I never referred to my dad's house as 'home' when I packed up all my belongings and moved 5 hours away for Uni. I've also never felt any homesickness, although there are aspects about the different places we've lived in the past that I remember fondly in a nostalgic sort of way.

Maybe I'm over-analysing a simple question

[Carey]

For me NZ is our new home as a family.

However I have found I do subconsciously refer to Uk as home even though I don't think of it as home but as I lived there for over 40 years, the word hasn't just disappeared from my vocabulary when I'm talking about the UK.

[pleccy2000]

No, not for me. It's just the place I live. Surrey will always be home for me.

[mcacmartin]

It may have something to do with the fact that I am a military brat and spent a large portion of my life moving from one city to another and one country to another....but YES, New Zealand is now what I consider home. In fact, if you were to ask my husband he would likely say the same thing. He spent his whole living in the same place, but he loves it here and calls it home.

The west coast of Canada will always hold a special place in our hearts...we have friends and family there....but NZ is where we have chosen to settle and carry on with our lives. Our life is here, our children love it and we are settled. THIS is home.

[ColeyNZ]

I will say yes as well. Again, coming from Germany to the US (non-military family) and then having lived in Fiji, UK, Costa Rica & Mexico I will say that New Zealand is definitely home.

The only change I will say is that we have visited friends down in Takaka and I'm absolutely loving the Golden Bay. There is something about the area that is drawing me to look at maybe getting a little bach down there so that we can escape from Auckland when the we want.

[mattandjax]

a big yes! cant ever imagine living or even visiting Uk (unless we have to)