This is our story

[BabyPom]

Hello everyone!

I lived as a child in Opua, Bay of Islands, idyllic lifestyle, no pressures, no worries, just loads and loads of FUN between the ages of 6 and 13, sadly we never took out citizenship!

We returned to good old blighty when I was 13 ( I'm led to believe I was a major influence in this whacky decision being as I'm an only child and hankered after family - I now realise they were a fat lot of use as I never see the two cousins I have anyway).

I now find myself at the ripe old age of 41 with two girls of my own (11 and 9) hankering after a better, more beautiful life. My dear OH has never been over to the better land but is willing to go along with my hankerings (although he isn't prepared to go blind like me so will be winging his way South next June/July (2009) for a recky).

We would need to go with his skills as he's a telecoms engineer, time served with BT with an HNC in Telecommunication Engineering (sadly not a high enough qualification to gain bonus points for long term skill shortage but we can live with that). He'll need to find a job offer and he is hoping to go knocking on doors whilst on his recky next year. He is also doing a BT sponsored degree in Computer Science which is done at distance, hoping to graduate in 2010, he could do this from anywhere in the world and fly back to take his finals (means we'd have to pay the last year but well worth it in my opinion for the quest of a better life).

We're looking at being Auckland based, certainly in the first instance and as you've no doubt gathered we're in relatively early stages of the process, not applying for SMC until we have something concrete to go with but in the meantime I'm trawling the net gathering information.

Thanks for "listening".
Jane

[MotherBear]

Jane and a big welcome to you.

Thanks for giving us your story. Sounds like you had a great childhood in NZ - just what a lot of folks are heading that way for, a better way of life for their kids. You're very wise researching all you can on NZ immigration as there are a lot of options but not always ones you can take up. I hope you can find your way through the plethora of information, but if you have any queries feel free to bung them on here and we'll take a look at them for you.

Good luck.

[nickydwuk]

Welcome, Jane. Glad you saw the 'light' at last - even if it was after 30 years Good luck with your plans.

[ebianca]

Welcome from me too.

Let's hope your OH wants to make the big move after your reccee next year (if not have a word with Nicky- she has secret ways of persuading OH's to move to NZ!)

[BabyPom]

Come on then Nicky, spill the beans on your secret persuasive powers? Trouble is my OH likes to come to his own decisions and I guess for him it's a huge ask to go to the other side of the world with no knowledge, he's not a gambler you see...

All tips gratefully received!

Jane x

[Mel John]

Hi there Jane,

My situation was similar.............. but different!!!
My OH is not a gambler either, his parents are in their eighties and he has always been quite a home bird.
After hearing me going on about emigrating for a period of time my OH started to consider it. ...........Then................our best friends took the plunge and moved to OZ!!
Then .........the dynamics changed at work and after 16 years with the same company he began to hate his job, realised our children were growing up too fast and became extremely disallusioned with the UK and decided he wanted out.
Like your OH he wanted to take a reccy................just to make sure!!

It was slightly easier for us as we have family on both sides over there.... so over we went last August to visit, had job interviews whilst we were there and were fortunate enough to be offered jobs!
He fell in love with the place and now can't wait to get over there for good!!!!
All being well our house sale is due to complete at the end of the month and fingers crossed we should be flying out mid-May.
I hope it all works out for you and I am sure he will love the place when he visits............if my stick in the mud did then (almost) anyone will!!!
Mel.

[nickydwuk]

My OH is also not one for taking chances (god knows why he married me ) so when I first mentioned NZ he was a little apprehensive. He is close to his family etc... I never pushed him but just got on with research etc... and told him what I had found without pushing. Occasionally we would discuss it in depth and he would say that some days he wanted to go and other days he didn't. The kids were all ok about it at the time but we had mentioned to his parents that we were thinking about it and that was when the problems began,. They didn't want to even talk about it and then started on the emotional blackmail with the kids. OH was still undecided. Unexpectedly I got a job offer last Sept to start this Sept. I had to step up my campaign a little then just before Xmas he told me he didn't want to go. I was devastated and was trying to get my head round it. I went a little quiet but so did he. After a few days we had another heart to heart and he said his head was just so full with NZ that he just wanted to get away from it. He agreed to consider it still. Xmas was the turning point. He had always looked at Xmas as a family time but this year it was apparent that the family he remembered was not there. Just after Xmas he decided that we would go. And now there is no stopping him.

I suppose the secret is to persevere but not be too pushy. My daughter was a great ally as she is a daddy's girl and was able to talk to him for me at times. At times I despaired but alls well in the end. We fly on 19th Sept and just can't wait.

Hope all goes well.

[BabyPom]

Thanks for your stories guys, it helps to know that other people's OH's can be just as stubborn.

I think a lot of our difficulty (well mine if I'm honest) is that he doesn't communicate - which considering he works in telecommunications is frustrating but I look at his Dad and he talks even less. I am hoping that once he has his next lot of degree exams out of the way - 6-9 May - he may start talking about it then and giving it some time and energy. At least he's not poo-pooed the idea and is willing to give it consideration and money given that he wants to do a reccy.

This forum is great as you can vent frustration somewhere and someone replies with their version and you realise that you're not alone.

Thanks again

Jane