to take my family and leave the country?

[MossyOilTank]

Bit dramatic maybe, but a serious question.

We've just sold our house and are in rented until we find something else, so we have a little bit of cash. My job is good, but potentially insecure, although general job prospects are excellent since there's a huge demand for my profession which will only increase following Brexit. DH's job is ok considering he has no qualifications, and while he enjoys it, it's extremely secure and there's a little scope to progress in the future, it's shifts and I worry about his health. The DC are in the upper years of primary school. We love the outdoors.

WIBU to bin all this and move to NZ? If we do it we need to do it now - I'm currently very employable out there, but in a few years our ages will go against us, and the DC will be reaching exam stages at school. We've been before on holiday and love the lifestyle but I'm not sure whether the soft-focus image we got from a holiday is a realistic basis. We could always go for a year.

Wwyd?

Do it.

We left the UK a decade ago. Our DC have a much better life not in the UK. I personally think the UK is overrated, although they do have Marmite

BIL moved to NZ 7 years ago, now has a family there. He went initially for 1-2 years but he wouldn't leave now, he says life is better there, ut cheese is expensive.

*but

I come from NZ but haven’t lived there in the end. I would recommend doing a lot of research into the expense first. Wages are a lot lower in NZ whilst property, rent and food are very expensive. It’s nice in the cities and large towns if you can afford them, extremely isolated and quiet in the more affordable areas.

Would also think carefully about how it would affect your children. It would be a great experience but quite disruptive socially, especially if you just go and come back within the year.

Nevertheless it is a nice place for people who enjoy outdoor pursuits and less crowding.

It's a very long way and difficult for anyone (family? grandparents?) to visit you often, and vice versa. Do you really want to be on the other side of the world when there is a crisis?

^On the other hand, depending on the family, a long way can be a good thing.
I know living in a different country from the in-laws is a good thing for my family.

I have family out there already. DH hasn't but would love to live out there.

The cheese is terrible!

It is expensive, but we want the rural outdoors lifestyle (swimming, beaches, biking) rather than the cities.

Do you want to do it?
Did you check that positives outweigh negatives?
Are your kids able to deal with that change?
Are you sure you can find solid employment?
Are you prepared for hard times physically and emotionally?

If the answers are yes, GO FOR IT.

From someone who moved countries and could not made better decision 😉

the cheese is terrible??? you cant come

Often I think we're as good as we'll get on those fronts. Just scary - this time last year I was in a forever job and suffering from Stockholm syndrome. Now I've kind of realised that the world is my oyster, but while it's freeing it's scary - DH is really brave and supportive, a "live for today" kind of guy, but that makes me feel very responsible and as though I have to be the sensible voice of reason. I suppose agreeing to just go seems a bit radical!

The cheese is dodgy, I'm sorry but it is. Thankfully the watermelons and corn make up for it

These things are always scary.
Make sure you have:
Money aside in case of emergency or need of relocating back (generally for tickets and couple of hunderd extra)
You get copies your passports visa etc. I have certified copy at home in case I lose original and need to sort it.
You have enough money to last 2- 3 months with no income.

The last one is really important because you are going with your family. Make sure you have money for 2-3 rents, bills, food. Ignore extras.

All this will put your mind at eas because you will know you are fine no matter what happens

I think maybe you got unlucky with the cheese. Dairy in NZ is a multi-billion dollar industry, someone is bound to be making some decent cheese! I had lots of lovely local cheese when I last visited.

You’ve been eating the wrong cheese here then :)

Go for it, especially if you already have family here. We were in a similar situation 9y ago and moved - I miss my family in the UK but our life in NZ is amazing.

What's the worst that ca happen if it fdoesn't work out? Would you bae able to bail out and move back to the UK?

My experience is that the regrets are greater over opportunities not seized compared with opportunities taken that don't quite work out.

Just Do It!

Ok I've emailed two employers about relocation packages

There you go 😉

We left the UK a decade ago. Our DC have a much better life not in the UK. I personally think the UK is overrated, although they do have Marmite grin

Same here. And we get Marmite at our local grocery store so even better

The things we lived about NZ was that people work to live, know how to have fun and not take themselves too seriously, care genuinely about the environment, and common sense prevails over mad arse-covering H&S. While there are clearly a few dinosaurs, women do "men" jobs and aren't so obsessed with appearance and image as they are here, which is important to me with regards to my daughter. And their politicians appear to be considerably more human than ours

No where is perfect. If this is something you are itching to do, I would say go for it, you will regret it if you don't. Even if you find you don't like living there, you can at least say you tried and had fun doing it. It will be a great experience for the kids as well, either way.

And we get Marmite at our local grocery store so even better

I'm jealous!

A couple of years ago the big Carrefours started stocking it, but only in the small jars and €'s so I order big 600g tubs now on amazon and pay the postage. Friends here have been converted so we share the postage cost and order loads.