no recce anyone?

[originalname]

Hi
when we first started looking at nz we could have managed the cost of the recce more easily, now years later and with two young kids and one income we'd really, really struggle with the cost.
Can we afford not to have a recce?
Who's not had a recce and it worked out OK?

[victoria24]

i had a recce but made it productive by lining up interviews. as did gorstsmit

[dilanium]

I never did a recce. But then I initially came on a student visa.

[ralf-nz]

I came here on a recce ... and stayed; family followed several months later.

[Mamee & Co]

We didn't have a recce...just did lots of research, joined a forum, hunted the web and went to an expo.

Landed in a new country having sold everything up, chose Christchurch for the weather (and the fact that it had fewer pink spots on the geonet map than Wellington...Auckland was too hot and humid...and wanted lots of job ops)

Despite the pink spots appearing on the Geonet map, after just over a year here we are happy with our choice. Everything is working out for us.

[smith2182]

Hi,
We have 2 young children and we managed to have a 2 week recce (without kids mind - Grandparents came into their own) and we didn't stop for the whole 2 weeks. Meeting with prospective employers, schools, looking at houses, making contacts, finding our way around etc. It was absolutely invaluable and when we were there (Welly) we didn't treat it as a holiday we went with the thought 'could we live here'? If you can afford it - I would definately recommend it. It obviously worked out cheaper as we didn't take the kids (3 and 4 years old at the time) and we could devote the whole 2 weeks to sorting things out. We had all appointments etc set up before we left the UK. Missed the kids dreadfully but it was well worth it.
Hope this helps
Nicky

[Georgebulldog]

We were the same, when we first thought about it we had no children, when the opportunity came up to go we had one & one on the way so no recce for us, saying that we never even talked about coming first to see what we thought just went on someones word that it was a great place & they didn't lie

[YouMeAndThree]

Initially we planned to come for a quick recce, but one set of Grandparents were most unhelpful. However, in the end our move to NZ was pretty quick so we wouldn't have had time to fit it in . OH flew over in advance to take up a job offer and I followed with three young children a month later. Almost 3 years down the line and we certainly have no regrets.

And for the record - that particular set of parents/grandparents continue to be most unhelpful. Thankfully they are now the other side of the world

[victoria24]

And for the record - that particular set of parents/grandparents continue to be most unhelpful. Thankfully they are now the other side of the world

[Dave in NZ]

We have now been here four and a half years and we came over without a recce and we have settled in so well but everyones different so what applied to us may not apply to someone else.
It all started off with our cleaner who was a kiwi and through her and a lot of research we came over. We had a three week tour of New Zealand to start then stayed after the three weeks. We were determined it was going to work so we got our PR ,even bought some land and a car before we even set foot in the country but i wouldnt reccomend that to everyone, we just had very good contacts here. Next stop citizenship