Hi all,
its been a while but that's because nothing has happened at all, we have had Stephanie's Teaching Qualifications verified and she has been given her grade and she is registered with the NZ teaching association.
But we have not sent in the expression of interest due to hearing and reading negative stuff online about the realities of living there, in regard to wages, house prices and the possible culture loss that maybe revealed by moving there. We are finding it hard to commit to it all as we are both at present working even in this recession and even increasing our earnings, the house is being done up and life is generally good, but would moving to NZ actually make it better.
Its a weird one really, if we had nothing to lose it would actually make it alot easier, but it seems at present that we do have something to lose....but time is running out, i am 40 and Stephanie is 37...we have to make the decision soon.
Anyway the next thing for us is the trip to NZ for a road trip of 3 weeks, to get a feel for the country ourselves, we know this is in the winter and it may be rainy but we will get to see the ski seasons in action and the Alps will look all the more stunning heh heh.
We will have the opportunity to meet about 9 people who live out there, some expates some old friends and some new happy to help us make the right decision.
Our trip starts on the 03/08/2009 and will last for just over 3 weeks. theyll be alot of driving and it may seem like a whistle stop tour of places but well know if want to live there that's for sure.
on our return will make the decision to send in the EOI form to the immigration - or NOT as the case maybe, at present we have 130 points which is not guaranteed entry but puts you in a good position in the monthly pool.
That's it for now, you wont hear much from me until after the trip ....
Cheers all.
Wednesday 10 June 2009
Tuesday 21 April 2009
Status closed!
WHOOOOOOOHHHH!!!!! My status is now 'closed'. The process details now say END. I have a courier ticket number and courier/end/closed dated as todays date....so the 'result' has been put in the post (and hopefully all my original documents)..... Sooooooo nervous about what the result is - how long will it/they take to get here? We'll see!! :-) :-) Stephanie - excited as always!
Friday 10 April 2009
excited and nervous....
Stephanie here.... well I'm now onto the last but one stage of having my teaching qualifications assessed for working in NZ.. I'm on 'Approval' and the one following is 'Notification' aaaagh so i'm so close to that bit being done!!! I'm excited and nervous all at the same time - i mean what if they don't give me the Level I expect that my qualifications and teaching experience are worth?? Will it give me enough points to get straight through the EOI application or not? Yes, it was worth the little reminder/very polite email i sent my 'nominated assessor' to ask where in the process my application was and was there anything i needed or could do to help, any more information needed... because within 2 weeks of that email i've gone through 3 stages - hmmmm coincidence or not eh? Anyway - we shall see what that assessment amounts to.
In the mean time - we continue to browse the internet looking at all areas of both islands now... North or South I'm still happy with either but being able to get to the coast/sea is now something that i'm wanting more. Not that i'm the greatest sea activities person - but i love just seeing it and feeling it. Ho hum... who knows.
I'll update again when the assessment comes through the post - no idea even what that will be - a letter? certificate? and will all my 'evidence' and 'original documents' that they insist on all be returned safe and sound too? Lets hope so.
In the mean time - we continue to browse the internet looking at all areas of both islands now... North or South I'm still happy with either but being able to get to the coast/sea is now something that i'm wanting more. Not that i'm the greatest sea activities person - but i love just seeing it and feeling it. Ho hum... who knows.
I'll update again when the assessment comes through the post - no idea even what that will be - a letter? certificate? and will all my 'evidence' and 'original documents' that they insist on all be returned safe and sound too? Lets hope so.
Sunday 5 April 2009
Exchange rates........
The currencies have stablised to a point over the last 3 months, but they haven't improved the pound is still taking a battering and if honest it could have been alot worse if there had been a run on the pound but so far thats been stalled.
Even the stock markets have stablised a tad, and some banks look good for investing in, the markets may have hit bottom or at least close, but when and if they recovery quickly is any ones guess, but in regard to the NZ dollar, if we did go it would just be a case of waiting for the best price and get a bloody cheap broker.
£1.00 = $2.55 (05/04/2009)
£1.00 = Euro 1.1009 (05/04/2009)
£1.00 = US $1.48 (05/04/2009)
Cheers
Even the stock markets have stablised a tad, and some banks look good for investing in, the markets may have hit bottom or at least close, but when and if they recovery quickly is any ones guess, but in regard to the NZ dollar, if we did go it would just be a case of waiting for the best price and get a bloody cheap broker.
£1.00 = $2.55 (05/04/2009)
£1.00 = Euro 1.1009 (05/04/2009)
£1.00 = US $1.48 (05/04/2009)
Cheers
Moving forward slowly....
At present Stephanie is having her qualifications verified in Wellington NZ, this normally takes about 4 months although the website promises sooner, they allow you to watch as the stages of the application are dealt with online, and just recently our status changed and the process is very nearly complete.
The Costs...
The costs for having Qualifications vetted is $450 NZ Dollars more than the EOI. This has been paid at the start and is non refundable.
The cost of sending off the EOI (Expression of Interest) is $400 NZ Dollars, to be paid in due course - It is only one payment per application, not per person.
To be honest though we did have to promt them a bit by sending a couple of e mails, after which things seem to move on a bit, as the documents (All of Steph private and originals) have not been returned which was becoming a concern...I can also confirm they did reply to both e mails and responded within a week or so....
Its been a long while that we have had to wait, and in that time many other considerations have been made about the potential of NZ as new information is obtained, even so we are still very interested in moving there. Seeing the process move forward has secretly excited Stephanie somewhat and the house is now buzzing with the NZ chat it had a few months back, we are also really looking forward to seeing the country in August, which is not too far away at all. !!
Having the the qualifications vetted is required on the EOI form but only at the end, so once we get the final confirmation that that process is complete hopefully in about a week or so, the EOI will be sent off, then the application should speed up considerably. Of course there is an additional cost to apply as well for both os us, money that is non returnable if we are unsuccesfull with the application.
Of course the cost and the huge amount of additional paperwork that comes with it will be interesting when it arrives in the post, but for me the timings good as we may end up using the holiday in August to look for work as well as a general recce, and of course if we work or a potentila offer were in as that would give us the points required for a gaurenteed entry, essentially by the end of the year big changes could be taking place in our lives.
Recently I have found a website of someone who has travelled extensively around the Islands North and South and he has taken the best pictures I have ever seen of NZ and I'd like to share this old boys experiences with you some of these are stunning.
The Photographers name is Tom Dempsey...
Johns stunning pictures
Scroll through all 3 pages, they just get better and better....and these pictures have without doubt relighted my desire to live in such a place even if the housing is a bit dodgy heh heh....
Cheers Gary & Stephanie..
Thanks Mal with Link help....
The Costs...
The costs for having Qualifications vetted is $450 NZ Dollars more than the EOI. This has been paid at the start and is non refundable.
The cost of sending off the EOI (Expression of Interest) is $400 NZ Dollars, to be paid in due course - It is only one payment per application, not per person.
To be honest though we did have to promt them a bit by sending a couple of e mails, after which things seem to move on a bit, as the documents (All of Steph private and originals) have not been returned which was becoming a concern...I can also confirm they did reply to both e mails and responded within a week or so....
Its been a long while that we have had to wait, and in that time many other considerations have been made about the potential of NZ as new information is obtained, even so we are still very interested in moving there. Seeing the process move forward has secretly excited Stephanie somewhat and the house is now buzzing with the NZ chat it had a few months back, we are also really looking forward to seeing the country in August, which is not too far away at all. !!
Having the the qualifications vetted is required on the EOI form but only at the end, so once we get the final confirmation that that process is complete hopefully in about a week or so, the EOI will be sent off, then the application should speed up considerably. Of course there is an additional cost to apply as well for both os us, money that is non returnable if we are unsuccesfull with the application.
Of course the cost and the huge amount of additional paperwork that comes with it will be interesting when it arrives in the post, but for me the timings good as we may end up using the holiday in August to look for work as well as a general recce, and of course if we work or a potentila offer were in as that would give us the points required for a gaurenteed entry, essentially by the end of the year big changes could be taking place in our lives.
Recently I have found a website of someone who has travelled extensively around the Islands North and South and he has taken the best pictures I have ever seen of NZ and I'd like to share this old boys experiences with you some of these are stunning.
The Photographers name is Tom Dempsey...
Johns stunning pictures
Scroll through all 3 pages, they just get better and better....and these pictures have without doubt relighted my desire to live in such a place even if the housing is a bit dodgy heh heh....
Cheers Gary & Stephanie..
Thanks Mal with Link help....
Monday 16 February 2009
thinking seriously now....progress
Well, I've been following the progress of my assessment of my teaching qualifications by the NZQA. The little icon had moved on one more space. Curious as to what they must think - i admit to having gone to great lengths to get all the bits and pieces they could possibly require... so now? Is it going to be money well spent? I'm sharing Garys concerns over what is the truth of this place called NZ? Yes, i've looked at the aforementioned website - but i'm ever the optimist and i've always been pragmatic... so there're some bigoted, racist and sexist views/folk over there - but i think i knew that and i've never lived in a country that hasn't had that to some degree (ie the UK) and that is why i'm dead pleased we get the reccie this summer first cos to be fair we've also had folk over there tell us we'd love it! In the past I have lived in a squat with no heating and electricity while at uni and i've worked in a multiracial very aggressive school - but i've not had the pleasure of stunning views, mountains and beaches so accessible...or open roads..... now thats what i'm looking forward to. The money and housing of course need considering seriously I understand. Chamonis sounds lovely but i honestly don't know what job I'd get there with the language difference to consider - Gary would have to take the lead on that one.
Canada haha has always been my second choice though - I looked up the immigration requirements for that one yesterday too - no chance there I'm afraid - teachers aren't on their skilled migrant list so we wouldn't earn enough points and you have to 'prove your economic well being' to survive there, ie take a minimum amount of money over with you - which i doubt that we'd manage. Ho hum. NZ here we come - lets take a look and see for ourselves.
Canada haha has always been my second choice though - I looked up the immigration requirements for that one yesterday too - no chance there I'm afraid - teachers aren't on their skilled migrant list so we wouldn't earn enough points and you have to 'prove your economic well being' to survive there, ie take a minimum amount of money over with you - which i doubt that we'd manage. Ho hum. NZ here we come - lets take a look and see for ourselves.
Interesting websites...
Ya know part of the reason for doing a trip to NZ is to make sure that all the hype your given about the place is justified, I have been on so many websites and pages and none well hardly any say it like it is, well not like this one...this website which I will post a few moments says it like it is, it claims that all the good media hype generated about NZ is part of a huge PR machine which actually earns the country more money from failed or successful applicants than the whole of the tourism industry thus making very important money for the government, its make you wonder what all the promotion is really all about. The website is called -
www.expatexposed.com
Have a look you cant help but kind of be happy that you may have found the holly grail of honesty youve been looking for cos nowwhere is as good as the NZ government promote this place....and every field has weeds in it....!!!
It says it like it is and with no need to lie it makes you wonder, NZ is, based on info from this dark and truthful website - racist to the extreme and talk about being Bigots there the best - Allegedly !!! luckily not to the British but to the Asian populations and make no bones about it neither, there is no employment protection lots of gun crime, gang culture is prevalent and the quality of homes within NZ are beyond a joke when compared to the UK.
Some of the homes are an embarrassment to the assumed value they are being portrade at, and of course as is well known there is no such thing as central heating, all the people on here seem to freeze, and damp is a major issue in the south Island apparently..
You need to read between the lines and you would need to read it yourselves to get your take on what people are saying on here, but from all accounts the bottom line seems to be that the NZ government is selling the dream but the reality soon kicks you back in the teeth once your there and having spent all your hard earned cash getting there. probably making it very hard to get back to the UK, where you'll have nothing when all you have left is converted back to the stronger pound.
I'm not a pessimist per say, but this website has opened my eyes a little, as it is right now, me and my partner have a job, we have a nice house, its warm all year, and we have spare money for fun things, why oh why would we want to change all that for a roof leaking freezing house in the middle of a bigoted racist gang cultured society in one of the most isolated countries in the world...
The NZ imigartion service dont promote it like that as they NEED YOUR MONEY!!!, and remember you pay upfront with no gaurentee of getting in....!!! hence the Hype show and nice pictures, not being funny but Chamonix, which is a short hop away is stunning, why travel... 19,000 miles, I am beginning to doubt this move...if honest.
But I don't know and that's why were going on holiday and checking the place out first with the powerful pound in hand.
Anybody considering moving there must take a read of this stuff as its there to help with the truth of it all, and to be honest no one on that website slags off the countryside and the beauty of it all no it all the other stuff that concerns people.
You have to measure up the arguments, but from this site you soon get to realise that NZ is way behind the times and is well out of date, so much so it compromises the pleasure of living there..
But well find out for ourselves.
Cheers for now.....Canada looks nice .....(Iknow people there too)....mmmm
www.expatexposed.com
Have a look you cant help but kind of be happy that you may have found the holly grail of honesty youve been looking for cos nowwhere is as good as the NZ government promote this place....and every field has weeds in it....!!!
It says it like it is and with no need to lie it makes you wonder, NZ is, based on info from this dark and truthful website - racist to the extreme and talk about being Bigots there the best - Allegedly !!! luckily not to the British but to the Asian populations and make no bones about it neither, there is no employment protection lots of gun crime, gang culture is prevalent and the quality of homes within NZ are beyond a joke when compared to the UK.
Some of the homes are an embarrassment to the assumed value they are being portrade at, and of course as is well known there is no such thing as central heating, all the people on here seem to freeze, and damp is a major issue in the south Island apparently..
You need to read between the lines and you would need to read it yourselves to get your take on what people are saying on here, but from all accounts the bottom line seems to be that the NZ government is selling the dream but the reality soon kicks you back in the teeth once your there and having spent all your hard earned cash getting there. probably making it very hard to get back to the UK, where you'll have nothing when all you have left is converted back to the stronger pound.
I'm not a pessimist per say, but this website has opened my eyes a little, as it is right now, me and my partner have a job, we have a nice house, its warm all year, and we have spare money for fun things, why oh why would we want to change all that for a roof leaking freezing house in the middle of a bigoted racist gang cultured society in one of the most isolated countries in the world...
The NZ imigartion service dont promote it like that as they NEED YOUR MONEY!!!, and remember you pay upfront with no gaurentee of getting in....!!! hence the Hype show and nice pictures, not being funny but Chamonix, which is a short hop away is stunning, why travel... 19,000 miles, I am beginning to doubt this move...if honest.
But I don't know and that's why were going on holiday and checking the place out first with the powerful pound in hand.
Anybody considering moving there must take a read of this stuff as its there to help with the truth of it all, and to be honest no one on that website slags off the countryside and the beauty of it all no it all the other stuff that concerns people.
You have to measure up the arguments, but from this site you soon get to realise that NZ is way behind the times and is well out of date, so much so it compromises the pleasure of living there..
But well find out for ourselves.
Cheers for now.....Canada looks nice .....(Iknow people there too)....mmmm
Thursday 22 January 2009
Were off bye....!!!!
Ha Ha Ha we are nuts sometimes, or maybe its just me and my crazy impulsive nature making Stephanie do on the spure of the moment things.
WE bought flights to go and check the place out .... Nuts.....we fly with Air New Zealand.....
Departing - Mon 04 August 2009
Returning - Fri 28 August 2009
We were sitting around in the study last night and chatting about NZ and I had come across some very convincing reasons not to go to NZ online, people were making some very good points and they were coming from quality newspapers / publishers.
We have so much information swilling around inside our heads about the move and alot of this information is based on opinions of third parties, and they vary in detail and enthusiasm greatly, it confuses and annoys you as you don't know these people and cannot be sure if you would respect there view point if you knew them personally and it seems to be the case that whether or not you like NZ is down to you and you alone no-one else can compensate for what you see and feel yourself, through your own experiences...
So to make sure we don't waste up to £13,000 moving over blind (if we got the chance that is...)we have decided to spend £4000 in going over and seeing it our selves.
So its booked and we cant wait, we've planned it so that we Can save up and pay for the flights before we depart and will plan the trip to meet people we have met online from blogs and to also tour the whole island to get a refined understanding of the places and options we are foolishly trying to get a full understanding of from 12,000 miles away - (never a good option)
I could spend hours trying to defend the fact that we've just spent serious money which we could have saved, but in the long run we think its the best plan.
What it cost us -
We paid £818 per person return full cost no extras.
The taxes etc were - £587 So in total its cost us £2223.20p
Were not sure if this is supper cheap but it was the best deal at the time with a reliable Airline, flying via Hong Kong which is the cheaper option albeit 1 hour longer option.
We will be arriving in the winter but as were considering Christchurch at least I will see how good Mount Hutt is for skiing, which will be a big draw for me as Mount Hutt is only an hour and 30 minutes from the city.....bring on weekend skiing....and the summer biking....sweet....
So although we may get soaked were not bothered.
Laterz
I love life at present ha ha - shit I need some overtime....
WE bought flights to go and check the place out .... Nuts.....we fly with Air New Zealand.....
Departing - Mon 04 August 2009
Returning - Fri 28 August 2009
We were sitting around in the study last night and chatting about NZ and I had come across some very convincing reasons not to go to NZ online, people were making some very good points and they were coming from quality newspapers / publishers.
We have so much information swilling around inside our heads about the move and alot of this information is based on opinions of third parties, and they vary in detail and enthusiasm greatly, it confuses and annoys you as you don't know these people and cannot be sure if you would respect there view point if you knew them personally and it seems to be the case that whether or not you like NZ is down to you and you alone no-one else can compensate for what you see and feel yourself, through your own experiences...
So to make sure we don't waste up to £13,000 moving over blind (if we got the chance that is...)we have decided to spend £4000 in going over and seeing it our selves.
So its booked and we cant wait, we've planned it so that we Can save up and pay for the flights before we depart and will plan the trip to meet people we have met online from blogs and to also tour the whole island to get a refined understanding of the places and options we are foolishly trying to get a full understanding of from 12,000 miles away - (never a good option)
I could spend hours trying to defend the fact that we've just spent serious money which we could have saved, but in the long run we think its the best plan.
What it cost us -
We paid £818 per person return full cost no extras.
The taxes etc were - £587 So in total its cost us £2223.20p
Were not sure if this is supper cheap but it was the best deal at the time with a reliable Airline, flying via Hong Kong which is the cheaper option albeit 1 hour longer option.
We will be arriving in the winter but as were considering Christchurch at least I will see how good Mount Hutt is for skiing, which will be a big draw for me as Mount Hutt is only an hour and 30 minutes from the city.....bring on weekend skiing....and the summer biking....sweet....
So although we may get soaked were not bothered.
Laterz
I love life at present ha ha - shit I need some overtime....
Friday 16 January 2009
Waiting waiting.....yawn...
Waiting and some more waiting...mind you we could be expecting to much to soon...some facts about exchange rates and money for today's date -
£1.00 = $2.72 (16/1/2009)
£1.00 = Euro 1.12 (16/1/2009)
£1.00 = US $1.49 (16/1/2009)
£130,000 Highest House value - $353,805.00
£110,000 lowest house value - $299,495.00
Now this is important stuff as it will determine if we sell or not, if it takes along time to sell that may not be the worst problem as long as we get a fair price when it does sell.
We haven't worked out what we owe on the house yet but being realistic we would probably end up with about £70,000 in our hand after all bills paid. This is $190,500 at today's rates. Meaning that we would get a small mortgage between us in NZ for approximately $100,000 split between two of us which equals £36,800 divided by two £18,000 each....over however long.
Allowing us to buy a $300,000....well that's the plan anyway which I'm sure will backfires at some point. Thing is were not looking to equal what we have here really, were going for the rustic-ness of it all, we don't want all the trimmings and flash kitchen, we want to get into growing our own food and being more at one with the imediate world around us..and so the exact quality of the house we end up in will be in relation to those ideals, it wont in my view have to be stunning or spic and span but authentic to our needs...our new needs.
That's all for now.
£1.00 = $2.72 (16/1/2009)
£1.00 = Euro 1.12 (16/1/2009)
£1.00 = US $1.49 (16/1/2009)
£130,000 Highest House value - $353,805.00
£110,000 lowest house value - $299,495.00
Now this is important stuff as it will determine if we sell or not, if it takes along time to sell that may not be the worst problem as long as we get a fair price when it does sell.
We haven't worked out what we owe on the house yet but being realistic we would probably end up with about £70,000 in our hand after all bills paid. This is $190,500 at today's rates. Meaning that we would get a small mortgage between us in NZ for approximately $100,000 split between two of us which equals £36,800 divided by two £18,000 each....over however long.
Allowing us to buy a $300,000....well that's the plan anyway which I'm sure will backfires at some point. Thing is were not looking to equal what we have here really, were going for the rustic-ness of it all, we don't want all the trimmings and flash kitchen, we want to get into growing our own food and being more at one with the imediate world around us..and so the exact quality of the house we end up in will be in relation to those ideals, it wont in my view have to be stunning or spic and span but authentic to our needs...our new needs.
That's all for now.
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