Two and Half Years in New Zealand

This June our original 30 month Work to Residence application is up.  We arrived in Jan 2008 from Overland Park, KS.  We sold our house, gave away about a third of everything we owned and attempted to sell our 2 cars.  At the time of our decision the exchange rate was in the 80's and even with all things considered it was an income cut to move.  We had 6 weeks of a Serviced Apartment booked in Wellington, our 6 suitcases, and the 3 of us.

We found a home to rent in about 3 weeks.  We had a car leased in 4 weeks.  We used the small bit of cash we had to pay for a few new appliances in our home.  A co-worker generously let us borrow a trailer load of "camping" gear to live with until our container arrived.  The rest of our stuff appeared in record time about 6 weeks after we arrived.  No one I've talked to got their stuff faster.  Our son enrolled in Waterloo Primary School and started in Feb with the rest of the class.  Within about 2 months we were, more or less, fully established in Lower Hutt just on the east side of the Wellington harbour.

The first 6 months was a constant exercise in "What is different?" Everything from ketchup, to banking, to eating out, to politics were all different in small to significant ways.  It took a good year before I stopped noticing the differences in everything.  Change is stressful, even when desired and good.  We all struggled at some point.  We missed family.  We missed Mexican food.  We missed the ease we had from familiarity.  It took a while to get used to.

Financially the story gets alarming.  The costs were higher than we expected and we expected high costs.  But we did adjust.  We've not really suffered, but we certainly have prioritized.  The exchange rate dropped from 80 to 60 to 70 then to 50 before making a slow recovery to 70 again; recently it is dropping again below 70.  Dramatic shifts made paying bills difficult and then impossible.  We had to rework a lot of things and even cashed out retirement funds to make settlement payments to the bank.  The worst part was our 2 cars never sold and all we could do was let the finance companies re-claim them.  After 2 and half years, I think we're mostly stable.  We are not losing money, but we are not saving effectively either.  We still rent the same place.  We ended the lease on the NZ car after about year.  It was cheaper to buy one with cash.  Our biggest bills are US debt, Rent, Gas/Electric, and groceries (in that order).

Our story started with a job offer from Telecom NZ so I had employment immediately.  Amy struggled for over a year to find a job.  It proved difficult to get interviews as an immigrant.  However, once you did get hired, work history helped smooth the way for other employment.  In general, the work here has an easier pace compared to the US.  All the employers I've talked to seem to understand a more natural rhythm to families and work.  Holidays are bunched up at the end of the year being summer school vacation, Christmas, New Year's, and Waitangi Day (sort of the NZ founding day).  This makes the work load from November to February pretty light.

New Zealand today (and historically) seems to be shaped by two major themes; small population and geographic remoteness.  Everything seems like a small town.  Truly remote areas are so sparsely populated you might not see another human for miles.  But even a short 45 minute trip out of Wellington can get you to an empty coast line or scenic rolling hills.  Small populations mean small economies.  Folks don't move to NZ to get rich.  It might be comparable to moving to Montana or South Dakota; mostly rural with only a few focal points of wealth.  Being a remote country and really not even "on the way" to anywhere means that, unless you're really trying to get to New Zealand, you won't end up there.  Without the same profit motivations as say, Australia, growth in NZ is slower.  Markets are mostly saturated and there are not going to be "new" markets.  What you see is what you get in New Zealand.

We have watched the politics of NZ unfold around us and we are certainly affected by the changes, but we haven't really participated much.  The long established Labour party was voted out and replaced by the National party.  I don't know that either of them have great platforms... so about the same as the US.

One big change for me is that I can barely read US news sources any more.  The stories are horrific by comparison.  The details of torture, murder, and gruesome death have become just too shocking to read.  The scandals of top politicians, hate mongering, and religious zealotry are hard for me to acknowledge.  I struggle to comprehend that I am from that place.  NZ has its share of social issues, but seems to completely lack carnage, seedy scandal, or extremism.  Violent crimes occur.  Horrible things still happen in bad circumstances.  But there still is plenty of room for other news.

So what now?  Well, we've applied to become Residents.  We have to make all the same immigration hurdles we made the first time.  This is quite expensive to pay for again (well over $3000 total), but should be the last "serious" round of checks.  My job offer with Telecom is indefinite.  I do good work and while Telecom has plenty of problems, I feel like I can make it better.  I don't know how much longer we'll stay.  Perhaps another couple of years.  I would like to take the stability we've had and turn it back in to a retirements savings and investments.  That could take another 5 years.  If that plan worked out, then I think we would all be just fine with it.  Sometimes I wish New Zealand wasn't quite so far away or quite so under populated... but then I remember that New Zealand would be none of the things I love if it was.