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The Story of our move to NZ

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markjowen
  1/19/2016 08:46 EST

Hi all,
A few years back, my family & I moved from the Netherlands to my home country, New Zealand (my wife and daughters are Dutch).
It was quite a stressful, tiring operation, with lots of gotchas and "wish we knew about that" moments. Arriving in NZ was different for my wife and kids than it was for me. For them it was all new. They had to adjust to the "silly little things" that the kiwis did. For me, it was also an adjustment. I had been out of NZ for 12 years. Being back was odd.

Lately I've been toying with the idea of writing about what we went through. Would people be interested in reading about that?

I want to write it from a personal perspective, but also include useful information and resources.

Please let me know if this is something that would be of interest to you.

Thanks

freddh
  1/19/2016 09:18 EST

Oh yeah, this would be very useful as my family and I are making plans to retire in New Zealand. Your perspective would be very welcome and useful.

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markjowen
  1/19/2016 10:08 EST

Thanks heaps for your feedback. Here's a first blog post that I've written http://movingcontinentswithease

I'm looking at working out a "story plan" that outlines each area that we had to tackle. I'll start writing as blog posts, but would ultimately look at packaging it into an ebook with proper formatting, etc.

Have a look at what I've written. Would love to hear your feedback.

freddh
  1/19/2016 16:54 EST

Maybe I'm dense, but I did not see a link to your post. Please provide.
Doc

Rookoo
  1/19/2016 17:34 EST

Please advise on the fact that in order to retire to NZ one must meet a extremely large income requirement.
Grazie

markjowen
  1/19/2016 18:41 EST

Hi

Sorry, I actually gave a wrong link.

It should be: http://movingcontinentsesily.wordpress.com. (It's just a basic site, with no frills at the moment.)

The first blog post is a bit of an introduction

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markjowen
  1/19/2016 18:43 EST

Hi,

I'm not sure of the answer exactly, but this mght help:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/before-you-go/11192243/Retiring-to-New-Zealand-what-you-need-to-know.html

freddh
  1/19/2016 19:31 EST

Met and approved, if directing towards me. However there does exists a facial criteria directly from the Immigration people. Its concise, direct and offers several methods and criteria for the purpose of immigrating.
Doc

Rookoo
  1/19/2016 20:02 EST

Yank w/o $1 Million in assets... Is excluded from retiring in NZ, this is my understanding.
Thanks for all and any clarification.
Rock

freddh
  1/19/2016 21:22 EST

Yes, that is but one criteria. For anyone interested in immigration to NZ this the website with every category. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/?utm_source=newzealandnow.govt.nz&utm_medium=referral
Cheers,

Doc

Rookoo
  1/20/2016 17:28 EST

Thanks Doc... Fact that I am now 58 years of age and review of immigration criteria says no way???

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britton71
  6/5/2016 17:55 EST

Mark,

My family is thinking about moving to New Zealand. We have 2 children and would love to hear your experience. I am not sure how difficult it is to get a job, find a house, etc so any helpful hints would be greatly appreciated.

markjowen
  6/5/2016 23:10 EST

Hi there, where are you living at the moment?

markjowen
  6/9/2016 03:41 EST

Hi

Here's a bit of a ramble with regards our experiences. I don't want to bore anyone one, so it's not the full story. Let me know if you would like to read more.

When we moved our oldest was 3 and a half years old, and the youngest was 4 months.

We did have 2 things in our favour - 1) I am a NZer; and 2) My Dutch wife is a doctor, and the Netherlands is one of the countries where, if doctor wants to move to NZ, doesn't have to retrain/requalify.

Having said that, it was hard work. We did not know if my wife would get a permit to live and work in NZ (that was still a legal requirement), she had to get very high scores in an English Proficiency test, and we weren't at all sure where we were going to live...

We prepared our children the best way we could. Lot's of explaining, looking at the map, talking about the trip, etc. Of course you never really know if there is more you could do.

Initially we were going for good, but then, after many, many nights of poring over spreadsheets, we decided that we could only afford three years there. So then it was trying to work out what we would do with furnishings, etc:
a. Put in storage here, and then buy new in NZ, and then sell before we came back; or
b. Take with us.
If we choose a. we would save on the cost of shipping everything to NZ., but would cost us a lot in storage in the Netherland. Option b. would mean the cost of shipping, but nothing for storage in NL. We choose for b. because we also felt that it provided some stability for the kids to see familiar items.

The flight itself was challenging. Just imagine telling your kids that they need to sit still in the same seat for 23 hours. Our 4 month old went into a cot,of course, but that is also not without problems. The cots are usually the ones that attach to a wall, in front of the front row seats in a plane. Lots of leg room, you think, Which is definitely an advantage, this is also quite close to the toilets, kitchen, etc, so you get a lot of foot traffic, which can be disturbing for your child. What we did find, was that eventually our 4mo did fall asleep, but then we hit turbulence, and baby had to come out of the cot and get strapped to a parent. Then the "fasten seat belt" sign would go off, so baby went back to the cot, only to be pulled out again 4 minutes later when the "fasten seat belts" sign went back on. Not fun for baby, and not fun for the parents who had not slept for the last 17 hours. When we arrived in NZ I realised that I had never seen a baby with bags under its eyes.

That's just a short ramble. I'm not sure if that is too much detail, or not enough. If you would like me to write more, let me know.

Cheers

Cheers

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