It's my five-year anniversary!!

[Adams Girl]

Good evening lovely forumites

Well this evening we’ve cracked open the champers and toasted five years that me and my daughter have been in beautiful Aotearoa. On Friday 12th October 2007 we (as well as my now ex-husband...) touched down. I had had a job offer from a bank to join them in an IT role so came here, claimed my contract and got a work permit. I socked in the EOI on the evening of my first day of work and got picked from the pool next time around, with 210 points. Having not left the country, I qualify to apply for a grant of citizenship right at the end of this year, assuming the DIA is open between xmas and new year.

I’ve not left this gorgeous country or wanted to in all that time, though we are planning a trip to England next June to see the rellies and rent a cottage near the seaside with them. To be honest, even though I’ve had the money to go overseas, there’s way too much to see here first.

Places I’ve been: Wellington (live in a suburb of Porirua) region pretty much all over including the Wairarapa, Auckland CBD and a few of the suburbs, up and down SH1 a few times, Taupo, Rotorua, Napier, Queenstown, Christchurch, Akaroa, Nelson, Picton, Blenheim. There’s way too much to see here before I could get motivated to go overseas except to see family.

Things I've done
Got divorced; got remarried to my soulmate and never happier!; started taking singing lessons and perform in 4 shows a year; got a total of 7 cats, yes we are the mad cat-people! ; gone to see an absolute ton of stage plays, musicals and bands; gone away for a ton of weekends away; jumped off the SkyTower; gone kayaking; swum in the sea; stroked a tuatara; hand-fed pukekos; changed jobs.

Things I love
The work-life balance; the fresh food and lower use of sugar; living on an island in the South Pacific; being isolated from the wars that much of the rest of the world’s politicians seem to think it’s a good idea to be involved in; the government sticking to immigration law and not letting just anyone in (I have emigrated to three countries and always done it above board, it ticks me off no end when people rely on celebrity to attempt to circumvent our laws); living in the most peaceful and least corrupt country in the world; living where the press is almost the most free in the world; not being in the USA anymore (before anyone starts, I was there for 12 years so it’s not like I didn’t give it a try); Maori culture; communities that really, honestly do give a crap about each other; being close to the sea and beaches; just taking off at weekends and not really caring where we end up; watching footie or cricket, depending on the season, from our deck year-round; having good friends close-by; bumping in to people I know pretty much every time I go out somewhere; the sheer friendliness of pretty much everyone; the relative closeness of lots of fantastic, beautiful places to go at much lower prices than you'd find in Europe; being within 40 minutes at peak time of the capital city; driving around a beautiful inlet with some rare wetlands every day; the coffee (even though I only have about one a month!); the can-do attitude of people here; the lengths we go to to protect the beautiful indigenous flora and fauna; you don't have to wait eons to get anything done; it's easy to find somewhere to stay when you show up unannounced ... the list goes on and on.

Things I’m not so keen on
Erm ... erm ... erm ... give up!

Mine's a Te Hana

[meggy]

That's so cool

[Kiwi_adventure]

fantastic post - here's to many more years of such happiness!

[JandM]

[James A]

By the time I reached the end of your post, I had a big happy smile on my face. Thanks Adams Girl.

[Civil Engineer]

Congratulations. Wish you many more happy moments.

[mikeandcaroline]

Sounds like you have found all the reasons we want to be there, so thank you for putting it into words so beautifully.

Congratulations on the 5 years and heres to the next celebration - Citizenship

[kiwieagle]

Wow! You've lived a lifetime in 5 years. Congratulations on doing it with such positivity.

[sophiedb]

Nice work!!

[MetalSoul]

Thank you for sharing