Moving Family Rhino to New Zealand

“Ok then, do it…look into it, see where it goes.”

After all these years together, Rhino really should have known that these words, uttered one night whilst watching a documentary about Australia, and giving me the green light to fully commit to our NZ move, would only have lit that spark within. Allowed me to fully research the hell out of the move and figure out the ins and outs of every aspect of kiwi life, leaving no stone unturned. And yet, less than six months after saying those words, fully riding the exciting wave of emigration, he turned to me and asked –

“Whose idea was all this? How did we get here?”

Here, is us, right now, on the point of moving our life to New Zealand. Although it has only been five months since making that commitment to ourselves and trying to find that all important job offer, really it has been two and a half years, at least. After years of family travel and exploring the world, it all came to a sudden stop with a global pandemic.

The Summer of 2019 allowed us to spend five weeks travelling in South East Asia together. It really was the most dreamy experience and yet, it left me feeling restless. I just couldn’t shake off that wanderlust when we came back and it filtered into every aspect of my life. I was not the same for months after returning, I just had this yearning to be on the road again exploring with my little gang. And I was delighted when the Christmas holidays took us to the Canaries to get to explore a little more.

But I still needed something else. I just hadn’t figured out what.

And then 2020 happened. March 2020 brought us all to an unexpected point in life. And I know we are not the only ones who made huge evaluations of where we were in life at that point. Or I did at least, Rhino is definitely more easy going than me with this sort of thing. And for me, 2020 gave me the thinking space I needed to consider what I really wanted out of life. It was also where this blogging journey started.

If you’d asked me after that trip in 2019, what I would do with a lottery win, I would have told you I’d take the girls out of school and travel the world for a year, or two. But what then…? I knew I would never be satisfied with a return to our daily life after an experience like that and so I started to think about more long term ways to explore the world together.

Twenty years ago, I moved abroad for one year, to really explore the lands of the languages I was studying at university. I was scared, nervous and excited. I worried about so many things, and there were many highs and lows throughout my wonderful journey… But did I regret it? NEVER. Moving abroad for that year is the one thing I now look back on and say ‘That was the best thing I ever did.’ It changed me forever, in the best possible way.

And then one day, it was as if a lightbulb was suddenly switched on within. That I knew living in a new country and exploring a new culture was the best way to grow, to learn, to explore, and I wanted that for our family. And NZ was calling.

As much as the girls were all up for the move, with Koko checking out the property, school and beach options, and Kitty checking out the awesome NZ parks, Rhino was more hesitant. I have always believed that doing things that push you out of your comfort zone is important for that self growth, but I am also a meticulous planner and so this was both in and out of character for me.

Sometimes all you need is a leap of faith, and I could just feel this one in my bones.

He might have taken a little longer to make that leap of faith, but once he did, the excitement snowballed. So somewhere between joining Expat in NZ groups on Facebook and signing up to job alerts from the Education Gazette, we came across the mind blowing spectacle that is Immigration NZ. We attended a webinar one evening, that was essentially a monotone voice behind a screen with someone reading a script and ruthlessly wanting to take our cash for some kind of recruitment and visa deal…and we started to get cold feet. This didn’t feel right. We had this romantic vision of what NZ offered and felt this was totally at odds with that.

And then, out of nowhere, Cath popped up on one of those Facebook groups. Cath was the complete opposite of this corporate immigration company and really offered us her warm, personal side. We zoomed, felt totally at ease with her, and the contract came through.

“Are we going to do this?”

“Yes.” And I knew I needed to sign that contract as a promise to myself not to back out when it got hard, which it inevitably would do. Cath was the first in a series of steps that have led us to where we are now. And the first of a series of events that made me believe in destiny.

If ever in my life did I need to believe that there was something else out there, then this is it. Cath is not just our immigration adviser, she has become our friend. And we cannot wait to meet her in person. Life is all about the people you meet along the way.

So after making that promise, all we needed was one job offer, and then it was down to INZ. It was all kicking along rather slowly, with us both, open-minded, applying for jobs in different sectors. It really was liberating to suddenly have a blank canvas and look at our skill set and explore the opportunities. And NZ has a bucketload of them.

But after a few months in limbo, I admit, I felt a little down about it all. We’d applied for a few things, but nothing had really come of it. And I was starting to lose hope that we could make this dream a reality.

We bumped into a friend at the beach in Wales one spring evening and I think he could sense my lukewarm sentiment.

“It’s just because the right job hasn’t found you yet”

He was, of course, totally right….the right job had not yet found us. This is the sort of crazy optimism you need to really plough through the obstacles that fall in your path when it comes to emigrating. I woke up one morning and checked the updated job list, and out of the blue, the perfect job was listed on the Ed Gazette. I applied, had an online interview and got the job. And this is the point where not only did it all ramp up, but when the dream started to materialise. This wasn’t just a job, it wasn’t just a way to pay the bills. It was a dream job for me and I am still pinching myself that I am lucky enough to get this opportunity.

As we started being able to visualise the dream, and nail down the details, the excitement spilled out of all of us. This was actually happening. And all the doubts fell away as I remembered my own words from an earlier blog…the only person who really needs to believe in you, is you.

If you plan life too carefully, there is no room for the magic to happen….and this indeed feels like magic.

We have a few crazy months ahead of us as we move our life around the world, but one thing’s for sure…we are all riding that wave together. See you on the other side…

Keep an eye out on Family Rhino Instagram and Facebook Pages for updates and read the next journal post here – Moving to New Zealand:A Rollercoaster Ride of Emotions.

Want to move to New Zealand and not sure where to start? Our Top Tips for moving to NZ in 2023…Coming Soon!