new member addicted to nz

[heidi]

It gets under your skin! I've been 5 times and every attempt to make a life there work out has failed but still I have hope (crazy huh?!)

I look around my Canadian wilderness here and I think the landscape looks all wrong. I miss NZ trees (whats left of them), I miss the smell of the mud in the paddocks, I miss nz small towns, flowers in winter, the damp cold winter mornings even...

..so I got husband to admit to feeling a 5 out of 10 about moving back (well that is progress!) and yesterday he even submitted his cv to a (perfect) job I found for him in our favorite nz city. It seems that immigrating is easier than when we went 7 yrs ago, every thing I research seems to point to a green light and yes yes yes try again---which is a terrible lure for an addicted to nz person!

I am also terrified because if for some reason he was actually offered this job then we would be in a panic! Our house is no where near ready to be put on the market, we haven't yet submitted and EOI, we are encumbered with a north american lifesytle full of junk (that I'd love to dump)....and husband would have to climb up from his 5 out of 10 position in a hurry. I don't think I could forgive him if he turned this job down...so in a way I am hoping that this all perfect position in the perfect place doesn't work out so I don't have to face potential dissapointment (ok even crazier huh?!)

Okay that's me rant for the day! I love this site and read voraciously every single post (more food for the addict --lol)

[MotherBear]

An official to MoveToNZ, Heidi. You've come to the right place if you're addicted to NZ. After 5 visits there I guess you have a pretty good idea of whether you like the place or not.

Hope you can convince your husband to make the move. Good luck to him with the job application (I think ). Perhaps you'd better make a start on gettng the wheels in motion - just in case.

Originally Posted by heidi

I I miss NZ trees (whats left of them), I miss the smell of the mud in the paddocks, I miss nz small towns, flowers in winter, the damp cold winter mornings even...

I'm curious, don't you have these things in Canada then?

[Glenda]

Hi Heidi,

I fully understand your addiction to NZ, even if Mother Bear cannot appreciate the subtle differences between the mud and cold damp mornings here to anywhere else in the world.

It is mid to late spring now and the days are warm, skin lightly tanning, plenty of plants in flower, there is the heady scent of orange blossom up here in Northland, the odd cricket is chirping, and no doubt the cicadas will follow shortly. Having said that, I hope I am not driving you even more crazy!

It seems you know where you belong, you just need courage to take the moose (sorry, 'bull') by the horns and go forth, and have faith in believing that everything will be all right in the end.

Good luck with the husband's job application; if he get's it - don't panic, try to see it as a challenge!

[Dawn]

I too understand your comments, I love the smell of the earth, the rain and the seasons.

I really hope you manage to sort out some bliss because being in a constant state of wanting something you don't have is agony isn't it?

Wishing you happiness

[ebianca]

I love the smell of the earth, the rain and the seasons

Glad you have said that Dawn- I have said before to my OH about liking the smell of the rain and he just laughed at me saying the rain doesn't smell.

Glad i'm not on my own.

[ebianca]

Sorry for hi-jacking the thread.

Welcome to the madhouse Heidi.

I hope you manage to persuade OH to make the move- if you love the place so much i'm sur eyou will have no trouble 'selling' it to him.

I hope if you take the plunge that it works out well for you this time around.

Beth

[MotherBear]

Originally Posted by Dawn

I too understand your comments, I love the smell of the earth, the rain and the seasons.

I didn't say I didn't appreciate those things nor understand them. I do, but I just thought things like mud and trees and cold, damp winter mornings were to be found in Canada, too.

*MB, slinking off to sniff some sand and inspect the Omani trees. Rarely have cold, damp winter morning so will have to pass on that one*.

[heidi]

(laughing) Glenda! your description of Spring in Northland did start to well up the ol' tears! You guys don't know how good it feels (or maybe you do!) to find others who appreciate those weird subtle differences of the smell of rain or mud! :-)

I had an odd experience in a garden centre here, there was an over-powering smell of nz (a damp musky green smell ?) , I couldn't tell where it was coming from and went around sniffing all the plants and mulches hoping to find out what it was so I could buy a truckload of it! I have never smelled that anywhere else except in nz (maybe its a pesticide or herbicide ha ha ha) .

Motherbear we do have trees (I live in the middle of the woods!) but they aren't pungas, or pohutukawas or macrocarpas and the mud does smell different as does the rain! Our winter mornings are artificially warm and very dry with central heating on, we can't open the windows in the winter and we breathe the same indoor air we live in most of the year (with air con on in the extreme hot humid summers)

The only flowers in winter here are the ones wrapped in cellophane at the grocery. I love to garden, Autumn arrives early and everything dies and then gets covered with four feet of snow for six months. In Hawkes Bay, we had roses and bougainvillea blooming all winter and lavendar hedges up to my knees...sighs sighs sighs

So what is OH ? (old husband? ) I looked over his application last night and one question was are you able to legally work in nz---he wrote 'not yet' --I think that may be the question that lands the whole thing in the waste-basket! Its early days though, and I'll find more. Feeling optimistic! Especially knowing I'm not crazy! ---or at least there is a mad house for me to join if I am!-- ha ha

[MotherBear]

Heidi, OH is short for other half (meaning husband, wife or partner).

I agree that smells can be very evocative no matter where you are in the world. Memories and feelings come flooding back. Unfortunately, I haven't had long enough in NZ at any one time to be able to identify its smells, but I hope to remedy that when we finally get to stay there (fingers crossed).

Similar to you, in the summer time (April-Nov), we can't open our doors or windows because of the stifling heat and humidity and have to rely on a/c for our air quality. I could cry because I love to fling the windows and doors open to let in warm fresh air and summer should be the time to do it. In the spring, autumn and winter we have herds of mosquitoes queued up to come inside in the mornings and evenings and no mossie nets to prevent them, so everything stays shut. However, I would always get my chance to enjoy some fresh air late morning and afternoon, but sadly that has been denied me for the last 6 months because of a new building going up immediately next to us with a load of Indian builders who love to stare embarrasingly at anything that moves on our side of the wall. Now everything stays welded shut all the time and will remain so for another 6 months. I can't wait to get to NZ and have privacy and green paddocks all around me and be able to throw open anything I want, so I can inhale and sniff all that NZ has to offer.

I think we'll have to start a sniffers' society.

[heidi]

a sniffer's society, I love that! We'll get our own terminology like wine tasters have, a fine bouquet this morning: essence of sheep dung and Kowhai with notes of hokey pokey!