WIBU to move to New Zealand?

[herecomesthsun]

It is a beautiful country. It has very low rates of covid. I have a long lost uncle there somewhere. I really like lamb and mint sauce. I loved the Lord of the Rings movies. It is no doubt a great place to bring up kids.

We might just qualify job wise (is there an age limit?)

And they have Jacinda Adern for the foreseeable as opposed to the UK options.

AIBU to be tempted to explore emigration further?

It's a very beautiful place. Depends on the type of lifestyle you want. If you like a quieter life then go for it. It was too quiet for me. Even Auckland is too quiet and because you're so far away escaping to a busier place on holidays etc is a headache/expensive. Also can be very insular in places - as a result of being so isolated I suppose. It's just so far away.

I met some lovely people. The scenery is some of the most beautiful in the world. Queenstown is amazing. The food can be fantastic but I wouldn't live there again. Worth a try if you've nothing to lose OP?

Now dreaming of drinking wine in the vineyards of Waikiki island... sigh

Go if you want. You don’t need random strangers permission. I wouldn’t go because I think it’s racist, misogynistic and backwards but that’s just my opinion.

*Waiheke even

Beautiful country. Fuck all to do on a wet Wednesday (of which there are quite a few). I know a lot of Europeans who have moved out there, and most eventually come home unless their OH is a Kiwi.

Go and have an adventure, but keep a foothold in the UK until you are sure you want to stay.

Yeah it's lovely, but when I lived there I missed Europe so much. Your immediate abroad is Australia which is culturally very similar and, like all small and remote countries, it has a bit of a chip on it's shoulder.

If you love the great outdoors it might be the place for you.

I wouldn't factor covid into your decision, it doesnt take log for the situation to change, anywhere.

If you like a very quiet outdoorsy lifestyle and arent bothered about travel, city life etc it might be worth looking into. I do know a few people who have gone and ended up feeling too bored and isolated so came back so would be worth seeing if you could do a sabbatical or something first

Have you checked the requirements? My understanding is it's very strict and impossible to buy property if you do not have citizenship.

If you are thinking of going, do your research, visit in the depths of winter, and think if you could manage with not being able to come back here to family and friends.

Jacinda Ardern is wonderful, but we will not have the misogynist criminal Boris Johnson in charge for ever. So don't let that be the reason to go.

If you want to go and can go, then sure! But like others have said, do your research.

There was a woman on her some months ago who moved their and massively regretted it. She’s now stuck as her Kiwi DH wants to stay and there are some rules about moving children out of the country (which I don’t remember exactly). Maybe someone will have a link!

Man, there's some real chips on some people's shoulders about a country that is a pimple on the arse-end of the other side of the world!

Newsflash, it ain't Utopia. It has it's own fair share of problems and issues, that it shares with many other countries. It does, however, at least acknowledge and seek to address many of these issues (particularly racism), rather than saying, 'well, it's worse there, pointing wilding at another country'.

I have to say, I did not find it misogynistic. Unlike here, for example, I have never been asked by my bank whether I had my husbands permission to make a change to our joint account. It was of course, the first country in the world to give women the vote. It was one of the earlier countries to make rape within marriage a criminal offence. It was one of the first to legalise same sex marriage. We're on our third female prime minister - who is in the process of liberalising our abortion laws, thank God.

No, far too remote and far from culturally diverse Europe.

Lived there for a year - wouldn’t want to be there permanently

Can be Super boring! Had fun exploring doing heaps of outdoorsy stuff ! But wasn’t for me long term - I like busier places with more going on

It’s also so far away from home and expensive / expensive to travel home for visits - hard to keep in touch with family with tome zones etc

Have you been there before? I’d take a holiday before emigrating

@nosswith

If you are thinking of going, do your research, visit in the depths of winter, and think if you could manage with not being able to come back here to family and friends.

Jacinda Ardern is wonderful, but we will not have the misogynist criminal Boris Johnson in charge for ever. So don't let that be the reason to go.

^This. It's a beautiful country but winter can be very difficult, there were fatal accidents on the roads near our home every winter because they are high up, not straight and have little or no safety barriers. These aren't rural roads leading just to isolated farms but to whole towns. Also if you have children don't expect to be able to go to NZ and then come back with your children as a lone parent if your marriage breaks down.

I lived there for a year and loved it. But it is a lot like England in many ways, the weather and lots of green space.

There is loads to do if you like walking, outdoorsy stuff and sports but even the cities feel very small. It is beautiful.

Interesting.I work in an area which makes moving to another country easier as in short supply, but was really just musing. Thank you very much for the insights!

There’s a reason why it had liwcrstes of COVID, because it’s so remote. Antarctica has low rates of COVID too. Depends on if you want to live so far away from the rest of global world.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/relationships/3877702-Just-need-to-share-no-solution

@TheDuchessofMalfy I think you mean this thread - there was a follow up too. It's certainly worth reading as a very negative experience of moving to NZ.

@herecomesthsun

Interesting.I work in an area which makes moving to another country easier as in short supply, but was really just musing. Thank you very much for the insights!

I absolutely love it as a place to go on holidays and do go as often as I can. Would I live there? No, not really. I do love it and miss it but I like to travel when possible and it's just so far to get anywhere, I wouldn't have travelled to the places I have if I hadn't come to live here as it would have been unaffordable in terms of time and money. When you start with a 37 hour journey to Europe you can't go there for a week. To go to the Pacific Islands is 3-6 hours flight depending where in NZ you are flying from and if you have to go via Auckland, 3 hours to Australia when you are able to actually fly there (flights are just about restarting) but that's fine if you want to go to the same country each time you go on holiday. Even if you fly to Australia it's so big you've got a massive journey when you get there; you can't just hop over there for a weekend or a day trip like you can from here to some parts of Europe.

It's incredibly isolated. Apart from Australia, there's nothing nearby.

I have family there - unless you're very outdoorsy and enjoy things like snorkelling, climbing, hiking and fishing, there really isn't very much to do. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful and the scenery is incredible but I wouldn't want to live there.

I would move to Australia, though. A lot busier and you have the option of busy city as well as rural countryside.

Yes that’s the thread I meant!

No judgment from me against NZ (not been there) but it was a very sad thread. I didn’t read the follow up though.

Name change for this. We moved on a skilled migrant visa 5 years ago. Central London to Auckland. And @Onxob we live on Waiheke! We get our citizenship in a year. There's some fairly silly assumptions about NZ on this thread from people who've holidayed here.

I could not think of a better place to live. No Auckland isn't a big exciting city but it has great restaurants, great bars and lovely open spaces and promenades to walk. An hour in the car gets you to deserted beaches or stunning forests. Here on Waiheke (35 minutes on the ferry from Auckland) we have 10 stunning world class beaches, 25 vineyards and a range of great eateries. The climate is perfect 15c in winter, a steady 24c in summer. We live on rain water so rain is welcomed with open arms but it didn't rain for almost 5 months last spring/summer. The children are literally free range. Barefoot most of the time. Sports is big but kindness and acceptance are the key thing that's taught. The children can speak almost fluent Maori.

Racism and misogyny I have not experienced. Ever. Yes there's an old school contingent (embarrassingly enough the boomers who moved here from the UK and Scotland 30/40 years ago are the worst for it) and domestic abuse in Pacifica relationships is unfortunately too common but racism compared to any other country is very mild. We have had two female prime ministers. The leaders of the two main parties at this election yesterday are female. The PM is is an incredible woman.

There's a delightful sense of 'she'll be right' meaning 'it'll all be okay, nothings a big deal'. We swim after work, 8 months a year we socialise on the beach with friends. We kayak with dolphins and orcas.

We have had no community cases of Covid for 3 weeks. Life is normal.

Negatives? We miss our friends terribly. The house prices are astronomical (but we swapped a 2 bed flat in London for a 3 bed detached on 2000 sq m of land with a Seaview). And yes I miss European countries but unless you were hopping to Spain every couple of weeks I can live with it compared to the vast positive increase in lifestyle we get every single day.

So no it's not 'boring'. No the rain isn't persistent. It's much less racist or misogynist than any other country I've lived in. If you spend two weekends a year in Europe then you may miss it granted. NZ's remoteness is is a major boon for us. Quiet, peaceful, the worlds political and social horrors don't really touch us.

@OP look at the skilled migrant visa on the NZ immigration site and go from there. They are closed for the time being but if you are under 55 with experience in a skilled job for 8 years plus and can get a job offer in NZ you are in a good place.

It is a fantastic country, I moved here in 2003 and we were back in the UK 2014-17. We live in an area of NZ which has an excellent climate - winter is very short here. It is very, very remote though and visits home are very tedious, doing huge long haul flights(pre Covid) three times a year is tough.

We have been lucky with Covid, but have no idea how long we are not going to be able to travel overseas freely. I am finding this very difficult as my Mum is still in the UK. But if you did not want to travel overseas then life is pretty unchanged due to Covid.

Jacinda Ardern was voted in again yesterday and that could be a good or bad thing, dependent upon your political views. Food is quite expensive here as is housing and we do have problems with drugs, gangs etc. NZ is like everywhere, it has its good points and its bad points, but it is my home and I love it, we have been made so welcome here.

Apparently once you get past the beautiful scenery it's quite boring and backward

@GoldfishParade

Apparently once you get past the beautiful scenery it's quite boring and backward

Have you spent much time in NZ?