Once your application has been approved, then the big rush starts. Moving to New Zealand is a colossal undertaking, but we have all you need to get the logistics sorted.

At this stage there are quite a few hard decisions that you will need to make as it is not a small feat packing up your life in one country to move it to another. You will need to make decisions like whether or not to ship all your belongings to New Zealand, which route to take to get to New Zealand and of course where are you going to stay when you arrive. On this page we will look at these issues and see how others have dealt with them.

Some of these decisions we will discuss in more detail on their own pages, so just click the links below to get to those pages.

• Do I take my belongings with or not?
• Shutting down your life in South Africa
• Taking Pets to New Zealand
• Re-starting your life in New Zealand
• Auckland Property Market

 

Staying organised when moving to New Zealand

Once you have decided what you want to take with you and the time has come to make the big move then the best advice we can give is to stay as organised as you possibly can. Use the checklists for moving to New Zealand and the Event Calendar available to you as part of your member only tools to set dates and times for when you need every item on your list done.

Then stick to the schedule like clockwork. Check your to do list every day. If you think of something else that needs to be done then add it to your event calendar immediately, before you forget about it again.

Remember that once you have a departure date the clock is ticking and the plane will not wait for you. You MUST get everything done as far in advance as possible. This will allow you time for those few things that you will invariably remember at the last minute.

If you do however find that you have run out of time and not completed everything that needed to be done, ensure that you have given a close relative, or somebody that you trust with your life, power of attorney to take care of those few things on your behalf.

 

Important
A general power of attorney letter that you draft yourself and have certified at your local police station is sufficient for most situations. It is however not enough for your bank. If you need somebody to administer any of your banking accounts you will need to go to the bank together in order to set that up separately with them!!!

Your Last Day in South Africa

Depending on what time your flight is you may have quite some time on your hands on the last day. You will probably find that you will have a steady stream of visitors wanting to come and say their final goodbyes so make sure you have completed your packing, etc. the day before because today you will not have the time to do any of that.

Your nerves will be pretty shot, but you will also be super excited at the same time. Relax as much as you can and savour the last few hours with your loved ones because it may be a while before you see them again, if ever.

The Flight to New Zealand

Depending on which airline and route you have decided to take, your flight will be anything from 17 hours to 36 hours. Use this time to relax and clear your mind for the tasks ahead. From the moment you land you will have lots to do and for a short while be just as busy as the last few days in South Africa. You will need all your energy to get everything done, because this time you will be doing it in strange surroundings.

Most of all, make a pact with yourself that you will do everything it takes to survive and thrive in New Zealand. Tell yourself that the door to South Africa is closed, for now, so you will HAVE to do everything you can to make things work. Once things are working and your life is back to normal again, then you can open the door to South Africa again and start looking forward to a visit.

When you first land things can be very difficult and overwhelming. If you don’t make this pact with yourself, and your spouse, the temptation to hop on a plane and rush back to the known (South Africa) can be very strong. Especially when the home sickness sets in.

Film Everything

If you don’t have a decent video camera yet, go out today and buy one. The last while in South Africa and the first few months in New Zealand are such a rush and you are so busy that in a year or so, once you are settled into New Zealand, you will probably not remember much of this time. The reason for this is because your brain has no connections the minute you land in New Zealand. Unless you have been to New Zealand several times before every single thing that you see will be new. From the roads you drive to the people you see to the brands you buy in the shop. Your brain is literally overloaded with all this new info so to still expect it to remember everything is asking a bit much. Yet this time is the most exciting of the whole move, because everything is new. Every trip is an adventure, even if it is just to the grocery store. These are the things that the best memories are made of. Having the videos to go back to, to make sense of the blur of that time, will be some of your fondest videos of all time. I promise.