Two weeks in....

After all the farewells and the very long flight we are finally here....in the winter! Although the temperatures are above freezing the cold southerlies from the antarctic can make the wind chill quite severe.

After viewing many properties all over the city we have finally found a house in the hills overlooking Wellington Harbour to rent...sounds great but in reality with the topography of wellington 75% of the houses fall into this category :o)

We knew that the houses did not have heating, but we didn’t appreciate how cold the houses get....and as a result another layer of clothing is worn at all times with a fan heater in each room. Lets hope the reported high power bills are not that bad!

Everywhere we go, we are greeted with warm welcomes....the people hear are so generous and friendly. We have been given a TV, air bed, blankets and even a surfboard while we wait for our furniture which at the moment is somewhere in the Indian Ocean.

Theresa has started her student life well, finishing her homework on time and enjoying a 4 day week, while I am making some progress on the job front, while waiting for my application to be reviewed. In the meantime I have a new project of converting a Nissan Van into a Camper van which will keep me occupied for a little while :o)

We have started the Kiwi lifestyle by going for walks in the hills and joining a gym.....everywhere we go we see people running, cycling and walking. So plenty of motivation for us!!!
One of the walks is a “City to the Sea” finishing at a beach cafe near the surfing beach. The sign inside the cafe records that last time an Orca was sighted only a couple of months ago......I think I need to improve my surfing quickly to avoid being fish food.

So the summary for the first 2 weeks is:

- A big cafe culture
- Everyone is exercising, healthy and very friendly
- Houses are cold!!!

“The baggage allowance is what?!?!”

It finally came: the last day at work! After 3 months of wrapping up everything all that was required was the final farewell email to many friends and colleagues and the return of phone, laptop and security badge. Free phone calls are no longer after 8 years!!!

Rather than turning left out of the office gates, it was right turn to the airport to start a brief holiday in Spain before leaving for NZ....a nice start to unemployment ;o) En-route to the airport, I picked up my daughter in her birthday present; Rosie, a bright red Ford Ka car. She drove her first car for part of the way with her ‘L‘ plates attached. Slightly nervous with “Dad” in the passenger seat providing “guidance in her driving” we managed to get to the airport safe and sound only for Becca to hand the keys over to a parking attendant. I am sure she threatened him to look after Rosie while she was away.



Spain was a good opportunity to catch our breaths before the long flight to NZ a week later. All the planning and deadlines were now over, it was time to relax. It was great to do very little apart from sit in the sun, wine and dine. At 40 degrees in the shade on some days we are actually started to look forward to the 11 degrees in Wellington.

Now back in the UK for a brief moment we are now packing and repacking what feels like the whole house packed into two suitcases. The 43Kg baggage allowance seems very small! All I need to do is keep on eye on Theresa sneaking the heavy items into my suitcase and using my allowance. Lets just hope the bathroom scales were accurate!!!

All that is left to do is the farewell party....after saying goodbye to majority of the family earlier in the week it’s just the remaining family and friends at a small local venue. The following day and we are off.......cant wait

Although we will be missing Becca’s birthday, we have already started planning her month out in Wellington during August...Lets just hope our furniture gets there before she does :o)

“No worries mate”

Finally we have the visa! The final hurdle is now complete and all that is left is a small holiday in Spain to recuperate which was planned months before New Zealand but has turned out to be a timely break.

Even this final hurdle presented challenges.....British bureaucracy was in full swing when we paid £70 for the police check to be completed in 2 days, and then found out after we posted all the documents there is a backlog of over a week and they cant guarantee “2 days”. This, coupled with the bank informing us that they couldn’t print 3 months of bank statements because they don’t keep them electronically almost led us to despair when we started to realise that Spain trip with friends was in jeopardy.

In the end with 80% of the required documents in hand we tried our luck at the NZ embassy in London. After explaining our trials and tribulations in getting all the documents together, the response received was “No worries mate, if we need anything else we’ll give you a call, it normally takes two weeks but we should get it back to by next week”. Brilliant, what a refreshing change we thought and true to their word, one week later the visa was ready.

The only thing to do now is watch the money markets on the internet trying to choose the best rate to transfer money to our NZ Bank account. While it’s not the most exciting thing to do, every cent change in the rate is the equivalent to 2 weeks rent so timing is every thing.

So, for the next 2 weeks life is in a suitcase, living with very generous friends and family and starting the farewells...oh and Theresa’s birthday ;o)

What a week....

16th June

A little while since our last update, as you can imagine trying to do everything in such a short space of time certain level of prioritisation was required.

So, the process of obtaining a student visa is as follows:

Apply to the University
Get the offer a place
Complete a medical
Get a Police certificate
Pay the University fees
Get a receipt
Complete a Student Visa application form and hand in all of the above.

Straight forward you may think? Typically this process takes on average 3 months; we had to do it in 1 month, so everything parallel!!!

At each stage everyone wanted a document e.g. passport, that the other department wanted. So a lot of ping pong between organisations, calculations of deadlines etc…along with a certain bank deciding to give £3500 of our money to someone else and not the University and then denying any such thing. Tears and broken nails were a plenty! I never imagined that my Commando training would be brought into use in terms of nerves of steel….and no not scaring the life of the bank manager with my 1000 yard stare ;o)

There were a few smiles along the way though, one included a self diagnosis of a hole in the lung on the x-ray and not realising that it was the pelvis, biology was not a strong point at school :o)

We are now in the final stages with the light at the end of the tunnel with only the last hurdle to go…. the Visa!!!

Our lovely house is no longer ours, and we are people “with no fixed abode”
Our flights are booked and now we are starting our farewells to all….time is really passing very quickly now.

What is awaiting us ahead is Theresa’s first day at School with her new schoolbag, my first day of surfing at Lyall bay and a couple of weeks break; and the search for yet another new home.

On the horizon, is the Kiwi & Wallaby Rugby game in September at the Westpac stadium (affectionately known as the cake tin). My daughter’s month long holiday in Wellington on her first big solo trip around the world…..she will be covered in labels of “if found please return to xxx”


The next post will hopefully be “We got the Visa” fingers crossed….if not plan B go anyway as tourists until February’s University intake for me :o)

The first hurdle of many completed !

The first hurdle has now been achieved: we have received the first offer on our application, and with only a 2% chance of not getting a student visa all should be ok. It’s still a tight deadline with about a week’s flexibility so this will be an interesting couple of weeks of waiting for the emails and envelopes in the post and waiting.

Finally the surfboards are packed for the move…fragile stickers everywhere and while UK surfing is no more for me, I can’t help looking at the swell charts and web cams on a daily basis for a good wave www.magicseaweed.com. On a positive note, Lyall Bay is only 18 minutes away from the Universities in Wellington. Checking the swell charts in Wellington, they show the surf is 10 times bigger than in the UK ….. err I think a few more lessons maybe be required otherwise I feel I will expire before my visa!!!

The wife’s tin can has been sold…. a few tears were had as a dodgy car dealer drove off into the distance with an “Arthur Daley” grin on his face. That only leaves my beloved car to go :o(

Removals are now arranged….with all the rules and regulations we need to jet wash everything bikes, clean camping equipment, boots along with a good covering of strong detergent to kill any bacteria…I am sure that drinking our remaining bottles of wine will help; the tax on alcohol makes it too expensive to bring with us, what a shame ;o)

Next week we will technically homeless after selling the house, so for the next 6 weeks our life will be in 2 suitcases. As it is Winter in NZ tough choices will need to be made in clothing options for some – high heels or trainers, I know my preference ;o)

Working to a deadline....

Hi All

Our original plan was to move over before Christmas and start as international students in February 2010

Last week my wife found out there is an opportunity for her to start her studies in mid-July this year….Brilliant!! OK, so how do we do this in such a short space of time????

In short, we both would become international students and hope to find a job afterwards and eventually getting permanent residency.

Looking at all the checklists they all start out from 18 months…we have less than 2 months :o) We are in the process of planning and implementing as fast as we can.

So in 8 weeks we have to do….

• Sell House – done but technically homeless for a month…Good job we have really good friends and family.
• Plan removals
• Sell my beloved Audi TT and the wife’s Vauxhall Tigra (affectionately called the tin can)
• Apply to Universities
• Get Visa’s – oh such a minefield
• Sort out medicals
• Go on holiday to Spain on last working day (already planned)
• Pack suitcase with clothes for 8 weeks while waiting for shipping container….summer clothes for Spain and winter clothes for NZ….how much is the baggage allowance again???
• Book flights
• Transfer money to NZ bank account
• Find a place to live in NZ
• Sort out tax implications back in the UK etc
• And continuing working and handing over all the projects

• Say goodbye to all and enjoy the long journey ahead


So why New Zealand? .....

One year on...

New updates will follow so watch this space...New Zealand is on the horizon