Preparing for a Move to New Zealand

Preparing for a move to New Zealand is daunting.  There was so much that goes into it. 

The House
The most important thing we had to figure out was our house....do we rent?  do we sell?  The idea of getting our house ready for the market was extremely overwhelming......a full house and 3 young kids makes it seem impossible.  We were lucky enough that the market is hot and we live in an incredible location.  To top it off, we knew our neighbor who invests and rents properties would probably be interested.  We had a few realtors come in and give us an idea of what they thought they could sell our house for.  We shared that with our neighbor and he came up with an offer we were happy with. 

It feels weird and sad to sell our house.  We LOVE our house and LOVE the location.  We are so close to the beach and all the wonderful festivities our town has to offer.  Our future in unknown, but we have faith that it will bring something incredible.  No matter where we are, we have to focus on the good and look forward, not backward.  We can't dwell on what our new life does not have.  We need to focus on the incredible things it has to offer!


The Visas
Visas are confusing.  The good news is that New Zealand's immigration office is super helpful.  We made many Skype calls.  There are several different types of Visas available.  We were able to get Work Visas.  Hobie received the Student Visa so he could go to school.  then the 2 little ones received Visitor's Visas because they are not of school age. 


Getting There
New Zealand is probably as far away from Michigan as you can get.  We got creative with our flights.  If you were to search Chicago to New Zealand, the flight is slightly expensive, super long, and inconvenient with awkward layovers.....5 hours here, overnight there.  We soon realized it was better to book the segments separately.  This would also give us the opportunity to explore an area.   The cheapest options we could find were Chicago to LA, LA to Fiji, Fiji to Auckland OR Chicago to Shanghai, Shanghai to Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur to Auckland.

Chris preferred to go to Fiji, but Hobie and I wanted to go to Shanghai Disney.  Chris so graciously accepted going to China.  We don't know any Chinese, nor have we had much time to do research...but should be fun!  Usually you need a Visa to go to China, unless you are like us, you can do a 144 hour free Visa, which gives us 6 days to explore.

Our next stop is Kuala Lumpur.  We were going to spend a couple days there, but opted for a 12 hour layover.  It gives us just enough time to see one or two things....then we can head on to New Zealand.

The flights will be long.  I think our 6 and almost 4 year old boys will do great.  As long as they can watch TV, they will be fine.  Our 17 month....that's another story.  She just likes to move and walk around.  Hopefully the people won't mind too much.  She is a super happy girl and smiles at everyone.  Fingers crossed we will survive!!


Our Stuff 
We are doing a variety of things with our stuff.  The most important thing we did was purge.  I don't think we did enough, but it was a start!  9 years of marriage and 3 kids....and no garage sales during that time.......we have accumulated a TON!

We decided we wanted a shipping container....and a good size one so we could fit our kayak and boards....plus some household items, toys, and furniture.  We wanted to make sure we took plenty of our things because the prices of them in New Zealand are significantly more expensive.  The shipping container will be roughly half the size of a semi.  It should only take about 40 days...so we shouldn't be without our things for too long.

We have some things that don't need to be sent over...silly mementos and items I used when teaching.  We decided to leave those here in a storage unit. 

We are taking a minimum amount of things with us on a plane.  Just a few carry-on backpacks.  It is such a hassle traveling with too much luggage.  We found we are so much happier when we pack light.  We will figure it out when we get to New Zealand.  We will survive with just a few small bags of things....we're going to have to ;)

The Backstory to our New Zealand Move

For the longest time wanted to gain some international work and living experience.  An opportunity came up in New Zealand that Chris was qualified for.  He said he was going to apply.  I said, "Whatever, go for it, but we are NOT moving to New Zealand.

Not long later, he was contacted for an interview.  I told him not to waste his time, but he wanted to do it.  He said it was good practice.  Once again, I said, "Whatever, go for it, but we are NOT moving to New Zealand."

The interview went well and they wanted another interview.  Once again, I wasn't too excited and kept telling my husband, "Whatever, we are NOT moving to New Zealand."

The second interview went great.  At this point, I started to think about life in New Zealand.  We began doing more extensive research on the country.  We watched YouTube videos, read articles, looked up the cost of living and housing.......we started to think....yes, maybe we do want to move to New Zealand.

......then Chris has another Skype conversation with the company....he did not get the job.  They decided to go with someone who already lived in New Zealand and had previously worked for the company.  BUT they said they really liked him and were going to try to find a position for him.  They said they would contact him in 2-3 months.

We were bummed when we found out.  We realized that maybe we really DID want to move to New Zealand.  We got over it and moved on with our lives.  The door for the opportunity was shut.

Less than a week later, Chris receives an email offering him a job!  We were super excited!!  The door opened back up!

We did some more research and the salary just wasn't feasible to move and support a family of 5 in New Zealand.  We formally declined the job offer.  The door for the opportunity was shut again.

We then received an email respecting our decision, but was wondering if there was anything they could do to make him reconsider.  The door opened back up.

We were a little caught off guard and didn't know what to think.  It seemed liked the door kept opening back up for the opportunity and is something that is meant to be.  We did the math to figure out what it would take to be able to support our family.  We gave them the number.  They accepted it, but needed to do another interview because it would bump him up another level.

The interview went wonderful once again and they formally offered him the position with the salary we needed to support our family.  We were excited, nervous, anxious.  Our brains were spinning thinking and wondering if we should move and change our lives so drastically. 

Our life is amazing right now.  We have great jobs, great friends, great community!  We love our house, our location, being so close to the beach.  The schools are excellent.  It is such an incredible place to live.  It is the type of town you settle down in and raise your family.......

......we just aren't ready to settle down yet.

We prayed and did a lot of thinking and decided that we should just go for it!  We only live once and we want to live life to the fullest.  Have no regrets!  We want to learn and grow as people.  We want to show our kids that the world has so much to offer!

 

Always An Adventure With Kids

I feel like life with kids is always an adventure.  Some days and moments are amazing, while others are super stressful.  I try to constantly remind myself of our family moto....through the good, the bad, the crazy, the fun...."Always An Adventure".

I decided to create this blog as a way for me to preserve our memories.  I was not blessed with a great memory so pictures and writing things down helps me relive all the adventures!

I also wanted a way for our families and friends to stay connected with us!