New Family Category applicants

[BarbraB]

Hi BarbraB
Are you in NZ yet. Not heard from anyone for a while. We have settled in. Had a lovely Christmas with all the family. If your still on the site let me know how things are going.

Hi lavalamp
Sorry I haven't replied to your messages I've only just seen them!
We are still in the UK but the good news is we are in the process of selling our house. We are hoping to fly out late May / early June fingers crossed! We have decided to go with PSS so glad to hear your experience was a good one. Whilst the house has been on the market we have had a good de- cluttering and drastically reduced the volume of "stuff" we plan to bring. I shall let you know when we have booked our flights! So excited now it's all happening, we were getting a bit disheartened when the house took a while to sell but it's coming together now.

[lavalamp]

Hi BarbraB
Good to hear from you and that you will be on the move May/June. It can be a bit frustrating selling your house. Ours fell through 3 times but everything worked out in the end.
We are both loving it here. Seeing the grandchildren nearly every day makes a big difference. We have been to cricket matches, football, shows, the beach. The weather has been wonderful and the kiwi's are so friendly they make you welcome everywhere. Had a bit of a drought but had rain yesterday, first time in months. So glad we made the move.
We had no trouble with PSS, just a little dent in the fridge, not worth claiming for. The guys both ends who did the packing and unpacking were great.
We arrived in June, but after the English winters it was'nt that bad here. Just coming into Autumn now and it was 24 degrees today.
Let me know when you have your dates. So glad everything is now moving.

[BarbraB]

Hi Lavalamp - House contracts exchanged today! Shippers coming on the 27th April and flights booked for the 2nd June!
We are staying with a friend for a few weeks to sell the car, sort 'bits' and see friends before we go. It seems to have taken forever but it will be just 18 months from EOI and us flying out. The bulk of that time was getting the house sold. Visa was approved in 6-7 months. Hope all going still well for you?

[lavalamp]

Hi Lavalamp - House contracts exchanged today! Shippers coming on the 27th April and flights booked for the 2nd June!
We are staying with a friend for a few weeks to sell the car, sort 'bits' and see friends before we go. It seems to have taken forever but it will be just 18 months from EOI and us flying out. The bulk of that time was getting the house sold. Visa was approved in 6-7 months. Hope all going still well for you?

Hi BarbraB
Good to hear from you. Like you I have only just seen your post. You will be in NZ now. We arrived in NZ June 2nd last year and we have loved every minute since. See the girls and grand-children daily. Had trips to Australia and going to Fiji in August. We have done a lot of walking seeing sites and cycling.
Whereabouts in NZ are you looking to settle?
We have been in our house in Havelock North, Hawkes Bay for 10 months now. Had some heating installed, been decorating and doing the garden. Still cannot get over the cost of paint though.
I have joined the local lawn bowling club and have made lots of friends. Everyone is really nice, quite a lot of English players too.
Let me know how you are doing are where you are going to settle. The wait is definitely worth it. Enjoy.

[BarbraB]

Hi Lavalamp
We arrived on the 3rd June after spending a few weeks with a friend. We've stayed with our son in Auckland for a while and bought a car and sorted all the usual stuff, IRD etc. We've loved every minute since we arrived! We've rented a house for 12 months in Orewa about 30 mins north of Auckland. We'll then decide where to settle. The house prices in Auckland are eye watering!

You sound to have settled in very well and enjoying the Kiwi life. We have visited Australia, Sydney and Melbourne when we have been here before but certainly plan another visit soon. Fiji is definitely on our "to visit" list once we are a bit more settled. We are visiting friends in Taurangua in September.

One sour note however, is that our shipping that was delivered on Saturday has a few breakages and we still have a few boxes to unpack. Plus our superking mattress is missing! The base and head board have arrived but not the mattress. How you can lose something that size is beyond me!
We were so looking forward to sleeping in our own comfy bed having not seen it for 4 months! NZ Vanlines seem to have no idea where it is and are checking with PSS to see if it was shipped at all! All I know is it left our house in the UK fully wrapped and labelled! So a very disappointing shipping experience so far but no regrets about the move!

[lavalamp]

Hi BarbraB
Glad you arrived safely and are enjoying life in NZ So far. Sorry to hear about your shipping. How can you lose a mattress. All our shipping was packed in the container at our house and then the container was sealed at the house and went straight to the docks for shipment. When it arrived here NZ Vanlines asked us to check the seal was intact and then unpacked it all. We had a small dent on the fridge /freezer but can live with that. So don't know how they lose things.

We enjoyed Fiji and the weather was fantastic. Looking at Vietnam for the next adventure.

Really enjoying life here though. Go walking every day and down to the beach with the grandkids and this is winter. Would be shut in the house in the UK and not venturing out until spring.

We have some great neighbours, mostly kiwi's but a couple from Sunderland and some from Yorkshire.
The house prices in Auckland are worse than London. It's ridiculous. Are you looking to settle there eventually near your son.

Our son in law has taken us to rugby and to see the local football team, the Magpies. I think my husband is just getting his head round the rugby league rules here.
Anyway keep in touch with your new experiences and I hope you enjoy living here as much as we do. Definitely glad we made the move and was well worth the wait.

[BarbraB]

Hi there - We didn't bring a container full. So that's how the mattress was "lost". Apparently the delivery guys put it to one side as they packed the van than forgot to load it! When they arrived here to deliver it they seemed to have completely forgotten what they had done with it! It was apparently found days later where it was left propped against the wall. So the thorough search that was made was not so thorough after all! As we were advised it may not have left the UK we bought a new one so now we have 2!

We are loving it here, we've been to the NZ film festival in Auckland. Car and travel shows and generally spending time out and about outside exploring the area. As you say it's winter and we are out and about on the beach etc. Better weather than the UK summer some days! It's lovely seeing our son so often. The people are lovely and friendly and the pace of life so good. Orewa is lovely but I doubt we'll settle here it's far too expensive but we'll enjoy our time whilst we're here. We'll probably settle south of Aucklnad where it's a bit cheaper but your not far away. There's a lot of new building there and that appeals to us.

We've just booked a trip to great barrier island for November. We're flying over there in a small plane that my husband says has "Wright Brothers" written on the side! He's such a comedian!

We also have the scenic train from Auckland to Wellington on the "to do soon" list. We went to Wellington a few years ago, when we were touring the North Island in a hire car and flew back to Auckland from there. The train sounds very relaxing and fun.