To leap or not to leap...

[nickih]

Hi there, my husband and I are considering a move to NZ. We have no children yet 

Everything about relocating to New Zealand is extremely overwhelming and I/ we have no idea where to start… I have made some enquiries about seminars to tell us more – hopefully we’ll be going to one of those some time…

A few questions that are simply a REALLY grey area that perhaps you could shed some light in the mean time:

 - One of my BIGGEST concerns; my dogs are my life – how viable an option is it for us to come over with our dogs? We know this will be a MAJOR cost, but it is something we’re willing to/ want to investigate…

 - My husband works in the football/ soccer department of a media company updating their website and writing columns re soccer topics. I am in accounting, have been in property accounting for the past few years. I have my National Diploma Financial Information Systems with current position being “assistant accountant” (a rose by any other name would smell as sweet)…  Oh, my point is – we’ve been on various websites to kind of see what salaries are like – if you could give us perhaps more insight into what a reasonable salary is for us to survive/ live on?

 - We are aware of a maximum amount of money that you can come over with. But is there a minimum… Yes, silly question – but apart from having policies such Unit trusts and Retirement Annuity; we haven’t much else; And would depend very much on the proceeds on the sale of our cars and house.

 - Then how would we know where in New Zealand we’d want to go?

 - Do we start with our EOI and take things from there?


Look forward to hearing from you. And hopefully get some kind of ball rolling, even if it is only a squash ball at this point in time…

[travelite]

Welcome to this site, Nichi.......you're right on target for getting all the information you need right here. Only trouble is, you need to take time out, and read, read and read some more. Most of your questions are answered here, if not all. About your dogs? Extensive debates on that issue right here as well, but many, many folk take their dogs and even their cats. (somebody is trying for a parrot, but I don't know about that one so far). There is very datailed information on that particular topic. But most important - YES, you can take your fluffy 'family'.....
Go to the topic "My Move" listed above, and start looking there.....
  and keep us posted as to how you're doing.

[ANTONK]

Hi Nickih welcome to the family  and 

[Snoozy]

hey! also here, young married with no kids!:-) welcome to the group and   

[Cameleon]

Hi nickih! Welcome  and  with the process!

[rayzaman]

Without sounding insensitive to your dogs, you have to try limit the emotions in this planned move otherwise they will consume you and you will be asking a lot of "what if" type of questions. There are some HUGE sacrifices we have all had to make to conclude the move

Lets say you bring the fluffy ones over- consider these issues:
1-All dogs/animals have to registered and licenced - like a road worthy certificate for dogs if u like 
2-Are you going to be able to afford a home that has a garden big enough for them to operate in? there are limited homes that have gardens like we are used to back in SA. U will pay handsomey for this sized property
3- A close friend has just paid $1800 to board a cat for 7 weeks while she was away on holiday (this is at an average cattery- no frills)

In a country that has so much to offer WRT the outdoors and travel- u ideally want to be able to just get up and go away for the weekend without having to work around pets etc.

My advice is to find a new home for them in sunny SA and review the situation once u get here.
There are some amazing breeds here to consider after you have settled

It will be a better option for them as there are more people for them to bark at in SA anyway 

sorry - i have a strage sense of humour sometimes         

[dance]

Hi and welcome. It is a crazy journey you have started and you will find yourself asking many questions. The best advice I ca ngive isto do thorough research. Spend a lot of time on here as well as any sites that will give you an overall picture of New Zealand. Google Living in New Zealand and a whole stack of things will spring up. 


The dog issue is a thorney one as I have to agree with rayzaman. The thing for me is the long quarentine period they have to go through. Apart from the cost when you do not see your dogs for 6 months you need to ask yourself if it really is the best for THEM. It can be  so traumatic. Sorry that is probably not the answer you were looking for.

To know whare to go? A lot would depend on what you are looking for in terms of lifestyle. First decide on North or South Island and then take it from there. Again do the research. If city living is for you the search is simple check out websites on the various cities. The same would apply to salaries. Depends a lot on how yuo live and what is enough for your personal situation. Having said that an average ask is around $ 900 per week.

EOI? Get it in to get the ball rolling.

Hope this has helped a bit. Ask away if there are any more questions

[Eileen]

  Welcome Nickih.  with the decision making!

[Gerhardvdb1]

Welcome and 

[nickih]

Thank you everyone for your "welcomes" and good luckes wishes...
Well, I'll be reading, reading and reading some more and doing my "homework"...
All the best and good luck to all of you
This is wonderful sight thus far I will keep you all posted on any updates

[kim12345]

Hi Nickih
Just wanted to say welcome and  with everything.  If u have any questions, just ask, someone will definately be able to answer it for u

[minette]

Hi Nicki, welcome and good luck.

If you have made the decision to take your pets with, PM(personal message) me and I'll send you all the info I've gathered so far. We have two Jack Russels and two cats who will be making the move to New Zealand with us. It is a very big expense and you have to be able to support a pet-friendly lifestyle once you are on the other side, so do a lot of research and gather as much information as you can before you make any concrete decisions. Get them vaccinated so long in any case for rabies as they need a month after their rabies vaccination before the rabies blood test can be done and then they can only leave the country 6 months from then..... Even if you decide to leave them with a new home in SA, at least their rabies vaccinations would be up to date. The TOTAL quarantine period is 120 days (4 months) and most of the quarantine facilities are really fabulous and you're welcome to visit your animals, so I have no worries about the quarantine. The flight may be a bit stressful and unfortunately you can't sedate them, so that is really my only big concern, but after lengthy chats with my vet of many years who I trust and whose opinion I highly value, I'm feeling better about even this little upset to their lives.

I'm going to chat to a friend's friend soon who took all is dogs with (I think it was around 5 or 7 animals!) and he's been there for many years now (think 3 or so) and he's still over the moon that he took his animals with and says he had absolutely no pains or issues or problems with the process, the facilities or the animal's behaviour. As soon as I get more on this, I'll post it.

Anyway, as I said, just ask if you need any more info on this.

For the rest of your dreams and plans - enjoy!