3 year post!
Hey everyone
It’s hard to believe that we’ve been out here 3 years today. Admittedly, I stopped being a regular of this site coincidently around... 3 years ago too, but thought I would post as I’ve benefitted from so many others posting at different intervals. I hope this helps.
It’s certainly been a journey for us and as a family we’ve changed a lot from coming out. When my wife and I came out in 2009 our son was just 9 months old. We planned to end up in CHC and tour the country, but gladly in hindsight we did a U-turn and decided to stay in Auckland (no disrespect to CHC!)
We pretty much squatted in an unfurnished 2 bedroom unit for the first three months whilst we waited for our container to arrive, surviving just on garage sale furniture and an old sofa bed! Sadly, four weeks after our container was delivered we had a house fire when a new oil heater exploded on us! We were all ok, but our contents were toast!
Sadly the fire put our house-hunting on pause whilst we re-sourced our house contents. Probably much like a lot of migrants 2/3 years ago we saw the GBP rate drop from 2.8 down to 2.0 which impacted our housing options :’( -but despite of all this we liked NZ culture a lot and wanted to settle.
We bought our house in May 2010 in Birkenhead, Auckland. This made us felt a lot more settled and a trip back to the UK gave us closure that we had made the right decision to stay out here for the foreseeable future.
So… cue to 2012. Why are we still here?
For us, we feel there is a real sense of freedom out here. We still have the same commitments that we had in the UK, such as a mortgage etc, but the culture is a lot more relaxed. Perhaps that’s because you can’t help but feel dwarfed by the power of nature and I think that has a big orientation to people’s attitudes of something greater, vaster and unpredictable compared to the unchanging of the UK. Personally, I think the culture is something you can’t put a price on, but NZ certainly isn’t for everyone.
Big shocks for me when we came out were the urban landscape compared to the UK. Auckland definitely has a cosmopolitan beat to it which is certainly different to the UK, but doesn’t feel like you’re a million miles away. I had a preconception that NZ would have the vast footpaths, bridleways and country lanes much like Sussex and was shocked to find the sprawl reaching out for miles with no escapism! I definitely struggled adjusting to this but now find more peace and solitude visiting the vast coastline or plugging in to REAL coffee culture.
Dislikes?
Family and old friends are still missed, although not too much of a pull to make us want to move back. Kiwi drivers have an element of lawlessness about them which makes the roads a dangerous place! Other than that, flight prices and not being able to pop back for a long weekend.
The Now..
I definitely see life in the UK differently after being here for 3 years. The prospect of living in a semi in a town / city back in the UK seems now terrifying, without the ability to have any real diversity or uniqueness. Don’t get me wrong, I love the UK; its summer’s, accessibility to culture and general feeling of connectedness. But the reality of sustaining a normal British lifestyle vs the Kiwi lifestyle seems to be increasingly diverse and I’d rather stay this side and try to go back for a few weeks to visit!
The Future
I love Auckland, but could definitely seeing us moving to a quieter city possibly in the South Island; a bit quieter, a bit cheaper and a bit more space! I also think the weather wouldn’t be too dissimilar or if not better…
To Close
I would say that any journey where you live in another country would never be a wasted experience. Moving here has definitely been an amazing journey and it still feels as if we are settling. I would say that to make a long term success in NZ that you need to be at a comfortable place with yourself; i.e. if you are moving here because you a disgruntled with the UK then you’ll likely be disappointed. Similarly, if you’re looking to ‘discover’ yourself through an ever-changing and vibrant culture you’ll also be dissatisfied. But those who are quietly solid will most likely do well.
Regardless of both sides to the coin - you’ll never know if you don’t give it a try!
God bless!
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Originally Posted by doowrehsij
