Moving to New Zealand

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland » North Shore
June 19th 2011

Published: June 19th 2011

Edit Blog Post

World Walker

Auckland

Skyline

New Zealand Immigration

Moving to a new country with family in tow, might just be the toughest journey you will ever take, and those in the know will rate the stress levels right up there with getting divorced and being fired.

We decided to make the big move in 2005, and soon found ourselves returning to our homeland of South Africa. Not because we didn't like New Zealand, but because we missed our friends, family and way of life too much. Two years later we moved back to New Zealand again for the same reasons and the same old pains. South Africa was just not working for us anymore, and the crime aspect was getting too close for comfort.

Two years down the line, I feel we have broken through, and we can finally say that we are settled. Sure all our life's savings are gone for good, but we are enjoying a new form of wealth, the wealth of being able to go for walks and not having to be overly careful about whether we have locked or not.

My wife still misses her sisters dearly, and I long for those business lunches that spontaneously erupted

Christchurch

Art Gallery

into late night parties. Family wise, I do have some support in the form of my brother and business partner, and this does help to keep that side going. We have made a fair amount of new friends, some Kiwi, and some South African. But nothing that can really compare to what we had in SA. Convincing everyone to make the move to NZ is not a real prospect, everyone has their own lives to live, and no one can prepare you for the difficulties of immigration.

We handled our immigration ourselves, simply packed up, flew to Auckland, looked for work and settled down. Now I'm a member of a golf club, play indoor cricket every week, and business prospects are looking great. In fact, we have just completed a DVD for potential migrants wishing to migrate to New Zealand from South Africa. You can buy it now at www.sashoponline.co.nz, and will soon be on its own dedicated website.

Winter is a time where the homesickness really sets in... We miss the sunshine, the rugby and the braaivleis. But here we do have all of those things; good biltong, boerewors and even melktert and koeksisters. Seeing the Bokke

Akaroa

75km from Christchurch

win, or the Bulls taking the Super 14 is not the same when it happens at 4am, but at least we get to see it.

It might sound bad, but the pros far outweigh the cons. We get to take afternoon walks, enjoy city street life again, enjoy stress free driving, holidays and even late night returns to our home; all things you weren't too sure of in Johannesburg.

New Zealand is an organised country, and most things work well, on time and efficiently. Sure they are an overly PC group and share a unique sense of humour, but they accept us as part of their nation. I’m here to stay and make my mark. I’ll start cheering for the Blues in the new Super 15, root for All Blacks in the Tri-Nations and I’ll even learn the rules of netball.

Additional photos below

Photos: 21, Displayed: 21