 |
|
|
We started down this path without much encouragement from people we know. Many of them questioned not only our sanity but our fortitude and this made us all the more determined. Perhaps “determined” is not the right word. Something more like “anxiety-ridden” might be appropriate because we were scared, we still are. But now that we’re here we’re really glad we did what we did…we think. My wife and
I aren’t prone to making rash decisions about anything. Well, I am
more than she (my purchase of a 1972 Ford Pinto is a good example), but
we aren’t known for doing many wild things where we come from. We
are good, stable, church-going kind of people. Our biggest adventures
include travelling to island countries surrounded by bathtub temperature
water, donning wet suits, heavy tanks of air and diving into the warm water
to swim with the odd manta ray and sharks. Come to think of it we
can understand why, to the casual observer, some might think we’re nuts.
But in our little world we feel pretty normal.
She told me this place was beautiful, clean, green and out of all of the places she had visited, one of the few places (other than the U.S.) she could see herself living in one day. Knowing my wife and her level of comfort in foreign countries, that was a pretty big endorsement! The place was called New Zealand. And as a point of reference, when I say New Zealand, I don’t mean Australia (as they are easily confused…the difference between the two countries that is, not the countries themselves.) Today we’re living that dream…living in the Land of the Long White Cloud. As it was shot entirely on location, the success of the movie trilogy “The Lord of the Rings” has brought a new awareness of this tiny country to the rest of the civilised world. However most people still know little about it and neither did we. But we gave up almost everything we knew to become residents in this foreign land, no small step for this man and womankind! We are probably like you in many ways and neither one of us ever imagined that we’d become expatriates until only a few months ago. It was a tough, emotional decision that turned our world literally upside down. It’s been a real rollercoaster ride of agony and ecstasy and it’s not over yet and likely never will be. We know a lot of people that think about leaving the “rat race” and “getting out of this place”. We weren’t really like that, but ended up doing just that and so far we feel like we’ve made the right choice. And if we can do it, you probably can too. We’ve learned a lot, made some mistakes and looking back might have done some things differently. We both owe a debt of gratitude to the many people we met along our journey, both in person and in “cyber space” and feel that it would be good Karma to give back a bit. So as time goes on we plan to write about our experiences, the thrills and spills, in the hope that others that follow in our footsteps won’t find anything unpleasant on their shoes. Our experiences may also cause others to wisely stay safely inside their houses and never venture out again! To be continued... Information On Emigrating To New Zealand http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/
To contact
Rick Click Here
|
