seems like it's been a week of dramatic turnarounds in the immigration stakes.
I can quite understand how you feel, Shell. Any adventure is all the better when it's shared with someone else and that someone else is your best friend. It would have been ideal to have the 2 of you (well, 4, actually) setting of for pastures new, but looks like it's not to be. So, what's to do about it? That's quite a big subject.
Perhaps a good thing before you hit NZ would be to book up accommodation ahead in Auckland for just a few days so that you've got somewhere to aim for and somewhere you can unwind after the trip and sleep off any jetlag. I guess the first thing you need to concentrate on is getting a job if you haven't already found one prior to arriving. Once you have one you will at least know where you'll be heading for. If it's Hamilton, you'll have a ready-made clique of friends from here to lean on who can take you by the hand and lead you...........God only knows where
. If you are heading to Palmerston North you have a house there (although I don't know the current situation with that) which would possibly give you a base. You have the choice of either working from a base or touring around various places to look for work.
Before you set out for NZ, I think I'd be scanning online job agents (see NZ Website List on here) and newspaper ads to see if you can get any job interviews lined up. You could also look through Yellow Pages to see if there are any companies similar to that which you're working in now. Then give them a ring or drop them an email to ask if they have any vacancies in your line, mentioning that you're coming to NZ imminently. They might ask if you already have a WP, but that's daft because you need a job offer before you can apply for one. This is just a tactic used by some companies to try to put you off.
If you landed in NZ without a job to go to it might be an idea to tour around the various places you have in mind to settle and buy the local papers (after finding out which days they run job adverts). Make a little holiday out of it. How would you be with driving a campervan? Wouldn't need to be too big for just you and Haydn. That would give you the freedom to roam around at will. Alternatively you could hire a car and stay at motels or holiday parks where there are cabins.
If you don't want to look for work in Auckland, Hamilton might be a good option as it's a city, unlike the Hawkes Bay area and jobs could be more plentiful. I believe you've already contacted New Life NZ, so I guess it's up to you whether you progress further with them. Until you find a job your life won't have any sense of direction so, once you do find one, you should find other things fall into place then. You'll know where you're going to settle and can progress things like finding somewhere to live and researching childcare options.
At the moment it's a bit difficult for us to guide you in a definite way because we (like you) haven't a clue where you're heading, so this is what I would suggest (and it is only a suggestion):
Prebook accommodation in or around Auckland for when you first arrive to give you time to readjust and collect your thoughts.
Get a NZ mobile phone number so that you can call friends from this forum who may volunteer to give out their numbers if you beat them around the head with a cricket bat and, most importantly, potential employers and job agents can keep in touch with you wherever you are. Maintaining contact with people in NZ will prevent you feeling cut off and alone.
If you want to get out of Auckland, the nearest place would be Hamilton and I'm sure you'd get a lot of advice about the area and some friendly faces to help you along. Hamilton is your safety net at the moment and, being fairly central is a good starting point. You know people and you have contacts there .
Start your job search a.s.a.p. because, once you come up with an offer, your life will start to take shape. You'll meet people at your new company and who knows where that will lead once you mention you're looking for somewhere to stay and someone to take care of Haydn.
Apart from all this, I would point out that there are resettlement services available that help to ease folks into their new lives in NZ, but, of course, you'd need to know where you were going first so that you could be put in touch with someone in the relevant area. And they cost.
I don't think you need to plan beyond that because life has a habit of sweeping one along once the wheels are set in motion. Don't clutter your thoughts with too much detail and just focus on one step at a time. It's no good having a fantastic plan all laid out before you reach NZ because fate has a habit of taking the steering wheel out of your hands somewhere along the line. Just plan for the first week and then go with the flow. The upshot will be that you'll come out of this a lot stronger and more confident in your own abilities.
Missvee made a similar move with only her daughter for company and felt a bit isolated as well as having problems with the care of her daughter while she was working. Unfortunately, being a nurse working shifts, it doesn't allow for much socialising and it would be more difficult to find childcare to cover unsociable hours, so that was a bit of a disadvantage. Justnozi also went to NZ completely on her own, but we haven't heard from her for quite a while so can't comment on how she's doing.
You know we're here for you if you want to talk things over, so see how you feel about my sketch of a plan and come back so we can fine tune it. Hope I haven't rambled too much and confused you more than ever.
