The post has arrived

It is Friday 7th January 2005. We received the news we have been waiting for today. Chris collected a special delivery package from the sorting office at 7 am. It is our passports, complete with Visas...Yipeeeee here we go, here we go, here we go......

Where we are now

The last 14 weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions for the whole family.

In November we went to the New Zealand Expo at Earls Court - it was fantastic, we collected a huge amount of information and made some useful contacts.
Chris has secured a job offer from a large manufacturing company in New Zealand, at the beginning of December he traveled to London to meet with the company director. The meeting went really well, it put Chris' mind at ease about a lot of issues.
The immigration process is well uder way now. Our visas have been approved in principal so we are eagerly waiting for the postman each morning.
Two weeks ago we accepted an offer for the house, this came as a great relief considering the current housing market.

It may sound as if everything has gone really smoothly but believe me when I say it has been really stressful. Both Chris and I have had many sleepless nights and I am sure there are many more to come.

The reaction from friends and family has been mainly positive. Most people are really excited that we are on the way to fulfilling our dream of living in New Zealand.

(We are new to blogging - please feel free to leave your comments. It would be nice to know if anyone has read these posts)

Lifes a beach 

The kiddies

Ethan & Freya

Introduction

It is New Years Day 2005 and my family and I are about to embark upon a life-changing journey.

For those of you who do not know us, let me do the introduction now. I'm Joanne, age 38 full time mum to Ethan (5) and Freya (3) my partner, Chris, is a self-employed welder whose first love is motorbikes. The family dog is Scooter.

So, what is this life changing journey? We are holding our breath and taking a huge step into the unknown, well, not exactly the unknown - New Zealand. We are emigrating to New Zealand.

It all began with a traffic jam. Actually, that is not strictly true. The very beginning was when I left New Zealand over 7 years ago after spending nearly 2 months backpacking through Godzone (kiwi nickname for New Zealand) My diary entry of 15 May 1997 reads...
Last day in New Zealand. I am so sorry to be leaving, New Zealand has far exceeded even my high expectations. There are some places I did not get to see...maybe next time

I always knew I would go back there. Chris joined me on my travels later in Oz, so he has never been to NZ. We looked into the possibility of immigration, but at that time a degree was the only option for us. So I enrolled with the OU to study part time towards a degree, this would take at least 6 years. I am now 18 months into my studies and enjoying it immensely.

The traffic jam sparked of a chain of events that have led us to where we are now.....

In September 04 Chris sent me a text saying that he would be late due to heavy traffic on the motorway. I sent him a text back which read..."no traffic jams in New Zealand"

That same night Chris logged onto the New Zealand Immigration website. He had done so many times in the past just to keep upto date with any changes. A new visa category had been recently created - Skilled Migrant Visa. We were in with a chance!