Is NZ for us?

[dave]

Hi - My family and i have been living in New Zealand for nearly 3 years now - we started out renting and then bought a place (North Shore, Auckland). At first we rented our old house out in England and then sold it to finance our purchase here. A couple of points i'd like to point out are :-

1, Be careful finding a rental - many are very poorly maintaned and very cold and damp in the winter (when it does get cold - nothing like the UK - but many of the houses are not well insulated and double glazing is not at all common).

2, Think very very carefully before selling your UK property - we did and now regret - we have made the decision to move back and it would be so much easier if we still had our original home.

3, Cost of living is expensive here - food is on a par with UK, power is expensive as is council rates.

4, On a positive note - NZ is a beautiful place, loads of nice beaches close by on the North Shore and bush walking in the Waitakeres (30mins away) is great. Summers are warm and long and people generally friendly.

We have made the decision to move back mainly due to missing friends and family, flights to UK are very long and expensive so regular visits by them or us are difficult. Really is incredibly remote here.

Hope this is useful - sorry to point out the negatives - but is easy to get carried away when making the decision to emigrate.

Good Luck with whatever you decide to do