Itchy feet

[Itchy feet]

Hello all,

You have a great forum here.

Kids are in bed, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to introduce myself properly.I posted under locations/properties asking for opinions on Pegasus town near Christchurch, if anyone has heard of it?

Anyway, we are in Halifax, west yorkshire, UK. Hubby is a yorkshire boy, I'm a London girl, but have lived in various countries around the world.Yorkshire has beautiful countryside & we have a big children's museum (Eureka) within walking distance, but we want more!

Having waited over 3 years for our twin girls , they are the centre of our universe and we want beaches/swimming,windsurfing, climbing, snowboarding, class sizes of 25 & a relaxed, safe environment for them. We think NZ, Christchurch area is the place for us .

We looked at Kelowna in Canada, which offers alot of the above,but when we visited we got a very materialistic,' keeping up with the joneses' (or whatever the Canadian equivalent is!) vibe (for want of a better word), so NZ has risen to the top of our list.

Hubby has a teaching degree & is going back into teaching (IT) and I am going back to Occupational Therapy (healthcare), so hopefully all will go smoothly - just the lack of recent experience & our age (both in our 40's) going against us.

But I am a born optimist!

Anyone who replies, would you mind letting me know whether you are using or have used professional assistance to gain your visa - we are still undecided.

Thanks.

[KiwiHopeful]

Let me be the first to say, Welcome!

As you may have already seen, I've recently arrived in Chch myself, and I am also a teacher.

We've had a great time so far with our 2 sons--2 1/2 and 5 next month. There seems to be a park on every corner here. There are at least 4 playgrounds within a 15 minute (or so) walk from our house. There's a science museum minutes away, too--but we're saving that for a rainy day. We were out to Orana Wildlife Park yesterday. As we drove out there yesterday, literally every single pitch was covered with kids playing football or rugby. A lot of places--banks, restaurants, shops--have special kids areas for them to play while you conduct your business.

The only downside we've found so far is that childcare is difficult to find in Chch. We find an acceptable one down the road from us--literally about 100 yards away--but the really nice ones have ridiculously long waiting lists.

I could go on, but I won't ... Overall, we've loved it here so far!

And, BTW, we did not use any professional help filing our paperwork. I just came here when I had questions. I found the hardest part of the whole process was gathering up all our supporting documents.

[selchie]

Welcome, ItchyFeet.

We did not use a service, though we inquired at Malcom Pacific. They would have charged us $9000US (not counting NZIS fees), so we figured we'd give it a try on our own. The work I did was not worth $9000, and I'm glad we saved the money. As KiwiHopeful wrote, most of the work is making sure you have all the needed documents.

Good luck!

[Itchy feet]

I enjoyed reading your blog Kiwihopeful and loved looking at the pics. Your boys are lovely . My girls were very excited to see the aquarium & would like to play with the boys! Your experience of NZ thus far is just what we were hoping for, so that is encouraging. Good luck in your new life!

And Selchie, thanks for the input. You have both confirmed my gut feeling, but occassionally I have a panic & think we might mess it up if we do it ourselves!