Lou, is there anything around that you could rent in the meantime that's less than a 6-month lease? I'm thinking of a holiday let or maybe you could do a deal with a small hotel for B & B. You might get a special rate for a long term booking, but there's always the concern about whether they'd take dogs. I'd suggest borrowing a caravan from friends and parking it somewhere, but would you all be under one another's feet, especially with little ones? If you decide to go with relatives is there a kennels available nearby where you could board your pooch yet still be near enough to collect her for walks and cuddles?
Alternatively, as Nicky says, get on a plane and get yourselves to NZ. That'll give you the opportunity to scout out the lie of the land and have a little holiday before you settle down somewhere. It would be a gamble but not one that hasn't been made before by umpteen other people. You're obviously in with a good chance of PR or INZ wouldn't be holding your passports. The added bonus of actually being in NZ would be that you could actively search for a job in person. You're much more likely to pick up something while you're there than by applying from the UK. Once you have a job offer and notify INZ, that should give your PR application a bit of a boost.
As for the upset of leaving everyone behind, that's going to come whether you go now or leave it until later. Leaving it until later means that you'll have longer to fret about it, so maybe go for the quick kill and get it over and done with.
Good luck with your decision making.
__________________
Mother Bear 
|