To move or not to move abroad???

[Doc2410]

At the moment I live in South Yorkshire with my Husband & 2 children (4yrs & 10yrs) & we are considering moving abroad. I'd love to live somewhere like New Zealand but would like some advice from anyone & everyone who has done this or is considering doing this.
What other countries would you recommend?
Did it work out or not?
Did you move back to the UK or do you love living as an Expat?
Homesickness?
Schools?
Jobs?
Houses is it best to rent or buy?
Cost of living?
etc etc etc.
I could go on forever so any information/advice would be extremely appreciated. I want my family to have a better standard of living & some sunshine. The UK is getting worse by the day & I want more for my children.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
xxx

[Mamjet]

China?

[chitchat]

We moved to NZ nearly 2 years ago. We love it over here. The people are really nice and friendly. The country is so beautiful, and both my husband and I are working and enjoying our jobs. Kids have settled in well, although my daughter took longer to settle in. We have a lovely house on 1/2 acre of land and rates are much cheaper here too. Its a buyer market at the moment as prices have peaked and some are dropping, so if you have no house to sell you can get a great bargin. Also no snakes or posionous spiders either - that was a big plus for me - I hate them both!

Down side - well we miss family at home, cost of living has risen a lot in the 19 months since we got here. Mortgage rates are around 9-10% and the exchange has gone from $3 to the �1 to $2.50. Can make a big difference when bringing a large amount of money from the UK. But we wouldnt go back home - we can even get our favourite foods shipped over from the UK at an extra cost.

There is a website called www.move2nz.co.nz - have lots of helpful advice.

Hope that helps and good luck with your decision.

[sincnoel]

What Chitchat doesn't say is that NZ really is the end of the world. It's three and a half hours' flying time from civilisation (Australia). As a result, it is a desperately small-minded and parochial place. You can't just pop over to France or Spain or take a shopping weekend in New York. Racial troubles are starting to bubble, too. Many things ARE more expensive than the UK because they all have to be shipped in. My feeling is that you'd be better off somewhere like Western Australia. Many UK people have settled there happily. Great climate, good facilities. Of course, it probably all depends on what you do for a living. Both NZ and Oz have quotas. If what you do for a living isn't what they want, you don't get in. Best of luck. I speak as an ex-New Zealander who has lived in the UK for more than 33 years and has no intention of leaving. For me, the pluses outnumber the minuses. But I don't have schoolage kids.

[Doc2410]

Thanks for the two different opinions. I am very undecided at the minute where I want to move to, I just know I want to leave the UK & have a better life for my children. The UK has nothing to offer us, the cost of living is far outweighing salaries & it's getting worse & worse. Our children love the idea of America. We have a friend who has lived there for 9 Years so considering visiting her to see what it's like to live rather than being on holiday. Australia also sounds great but I couldn't live with the spiders etc etc.
My Husband (51) is a bus driver, (previously served 19 years in the Armed Forces) I thought he could drive the school buses or something, he can retire in 9 years when he's 60 but not sure how that stands in other countries.
I'm a Data Manager so office work mainly, not sure if any of that would help us but i'm only 31 so have plenty of working years ahead of me. We have never claimed any benefits, we own our own home, 2 cars etc etc. These are all questions that I need answering to help me decide.

[Ethel]

You won't get in to New Zealand - they dont need drivers or office workers, they want highly skilled professionals to fill their specialist posts. They also want people with a longer working life than 9 years.

Sorry but it is better to be realistic.

Remember, you are very much aware of all the problems the UK has - you understand the system, read the news and see what is going on.
You are not nearly as aware of everyday problems in other countries - even if you have had long holidays there.
Every country has problems - there is a growing drug problem in NZ and racism is on the up.
America also has many problems.

I suggest you start reading the online newspapers of the countries you are interested in - you may be dismayed.

[sincnoel]

Doc2410, I omitted to say yesterday that, despite being born in NZ, I am an Australian citizen. I have lived and worked in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney. In all my time in Oz, I have seen only one snake (and that was while walking in a fairly remote bushland area. It was more alarmed than I was and shot through in a hurry). As for spiders, I doubt you'd see any more than you do in this part of the world. You stand about as much chance of getting bitten by a snake/spider as you do of getting chomped by a great white shark. None of these need figure in your calculations. If I had my time over, I'd head for Western Australia because I believe it to be the most vibrant part of Oz. It's very different from the eastern states (perhaps because it's 2,400 miles away from them) and it has a more relaxed way of life. Plus a population of only two million despite its huge size. I believe Perth to be THE coming city in Oz. Type Western Australia London into Google and there are a swag of sites that might well interest you. As for America, I don't think I'd want to take kids to a place where weirdos regularly walk into various establishments (including schools) brandishing guns and slaughter innocent people by the dozen. And where drugs are a way of life. To me, the American Dream is starting to look more like a nightmare.

[sincnoel]

One final thing ... a correction to Chitchat's comment that NZ has no snakes or poisonous spiders. Yes to the snakes but the country DOES have one poisonous spider -- the katipo, which I believe is similar to the Australian redback. Neither spider is all that poisonous but their venom can make you feel a bit iffy for a while -- or so I'm told.