Two Americans emigrate to New Zealand from Colorado,
USA.
We share our Kiwi immigration story and talk about
our new life in Nelson, New Zealand
We receive many questions asking about our move to New Zealand. The questions range over many issues. We welcome your questions on any topic. If you would like to ask a question, you can ask us via our contact page.
If you like to read our minds a bit more as to where our heads were shortly after we arrived, read what we thought the first time we posted our answers, after only 3 months in the country. Or if you're keen to know what happened after six months, find out after we re-worked our answers at that time.
Anytime I open my mouth to a new bunch of people, no matter how long I've lived here, I'm asked what brought me here. I guess the accent gives it away. And I've learned not to grow tired of getting this question, because I do what the kiwis do and sum it up in one word: lifestyle. That word means a lot here, and it's a good word to use. If you've read our immigration story, you may understand better.
Essentially we wanted to slow down our life, stop working so damn hard all the time (for what?) and live each day fully. You'll see that we've managed to accomplish a lot of that through our blog entries.
Have to start with why we decided to move. After returning from a month long vacation in NZ we were really were amazed at the pace of everything in the US and the focus on working. I know it is a cliché but it really nails it - In the US people live to work, in NZ people work to live. Both of us were happy with our careers to this point but we weren’t too interested in continuing on in the stressful environment. I was prepared to move on to something different anyway - helping companies distribute junk mail wasn’t my idea of a fulfilling occupation, especially when Angela was doing something worthwhile in helping breast cancer patients.
We also wanted to do something different – you only live once and this provided us a good opportunity to trim down our belongings, find different jobs, and live a simpler life. I have always wanted to live overseas and experience a different culture. Europe was an option but throughout our travels no place really hit us as a place we wanted to live. There would be language barriers in most places which would also make a move there difficult. Plus there are just too many people. New Zealand and Nelson in particular, had several of the things we were looking for in a new place to live.
When we were on holiday in 2005, of all the places we visited on the North and South Islands, we knew that Nelson would be the place we could retire at some point. It has beaches, hiking, boating, water all around, mountains nearby, everything you could possibly want to do. It is small enough for us to feel like we would be making a life change, yet not too small that we feel stifled. It is known all around New Zealand for its slower lifestyle and relaxed pace of life. We felt that if we were going to move halfway around the world, that we should make an effort to make a life in the only place we really wanted to be. We didn't want to make do in a city, either Wellington or Christchurch were our options (Auckland was never an option to us). Nelson has the perfect climate and combination of things to do. We decided to give ourselves a couple of years in Nelson to see if we could make our new lives work with decent jobs and settling in comfortably. We chose right!
Don says, "Now that I have been here a couple years, I like it more and more. I have many great cycling routes, the CBD is friendly, the weekly market is great, and they actually have an autumn here (the foliage is great – not like Colorado where you basically only have a couple types of trees that aren’t pine). The list goes on."
After two years, my answer has evolved. I find the health care system very surprising. That I can see a doctor quickly, pay a relatively small amount, and get pretty much whatever care I need for no expense on my part is truly astonishing to someone raised in the United States. I find it surprising that a country (the U.S.) would treat its people the way it does as it regards their healthcare, now that I've been exposed to a different way of living. I am so grateful to have the health care I have access to, and probably will continue to be astonished every time I go to the doctor or hospital! This is how a civilised nation treats its people.
They serve brats and hot dogs on regular bread slices rather than buns. A lot of glass on the roads and the chip seal they use is pretty rough.
I've gotten over having less selection in most things, I'm almost finding it easier to not have so much to choose from. All that selection almost seems like the same thing repeated 50 times--one cheddar cheese is pretty much the same as another cheddar cheese, isn't it? So it doesn't really matter much.
I still miss the Avalanche and hockey. We got to watch the Stanley Cup finals this year, so that's progress! Clearly I've demonstrated my periodic need for Kraft Mac n Cheese, but I've found a solution for that. I suppose what I miss most is access to shopping for clothing. It's just not the same, I've said it over and over about clothes, shoes, accessories, etc.
I’m missing things less and less as time goes on. I still miss good Mexican food and the Chipotle burritos beyond family and friends of course.
No, absolutely not. While it is more and more clear that George Bush is obviously the worst president the US has ever had and a major embarrassment to all of us, it wasn’t the driving factor. The fact that the American public re-elected him (or elected him for the first time depending on your view) did make us sick but we didn’t make our choice based on that. We would never leave our country for that reason. We left to downshift from the high-stress, fast-paced American way of life for something more sane and reasonable. We left to live in a place that gives us all sorts of landscapes and things to do in and about those landscapes. We left to have a new experience, especially Don who lived all but 4 years of his life in Boulder/Denver Colorado. There are a lot of reasons, but never would we let that Texan push us out of our country.
There's no way to be nice about this, it's pretty damn expensive to live here. But then again, costs for everything are rising everywhere in the world right now. So everyone is finding the cost of living painful. The difference is that wages in New Zealand are comparably very low to other western countries. You can read more about this in our immigration guidance section.
Don says, "I think this is a big issue that other immigrants aren’t prepared for. We did know what we were getting in to and even then we were amazed at the high cost of living when we started buying things here. It really comes down to the wages – things really aren’t that expensive relative to the US but when you factor the wages in, they are. I think most immigrants are used to earning high wages and in much of NZ it is very difficult to get the equivalent. Say a mid-manager is getting USD$100k in the States, move here and you might have to take a general office type position earning NZ$40k (about USD$30k). Now imagine covering your monthly budget with that. I think this is something other immigrants just aren’t prepared for. Angela and I estimated that we would get a minimum wage job and budgeted accordingly. Doing that sets expectations low so very difficult to get disappointed."
People in New Zealand do not have central heating. Well, most people. Although I cannot say I've met anyone who does, so for all I know no one has central heating. They have moved from using woodburning fireplaces toward more energy efficient heat sources like heat pumps, which attach to the upper walls and blow warm air (and cold air in summer). But central heating seems to remain a no-go. Even in new houses built in Nelson, you won't find it. At least there's a move toward insulation.
Why? That's a tough one. Don says people have told him that there is no infrastructure for gas lines, so no setup for it. Also, it's a temperate climate (tell that to Southlanders!). And it will just cost way too much to build the infrastructure. It's been the traditional way to build a fire ... so it's just the way it's always been. That's what we've been told. If you think about it, it's probably not much different to rural areas in the States!
No. I have to remind myself every now and then that I actually live here, that I live near the beach and that I can walk home from work, and that I can buy the most delicious fruit from my very own neighbours at a wonderful market in town weekly. This is such a new experience to me, but it certainly isn't a vacation. We live here, we work five days a week, we've made a life. But it's a very different life, relaxed in so many ways. The excitement of planning the move and then making the move was awesome and sometimes I wish I could live in that excitement all the time ... but it's really about making a new, better life for the long term. Financially and practically, I couldn't afford to move back to the States and let the corrupt health care system bankrupt me as I get older!
Not at all, I would do it again in an instant and recommend it to others if they were interested.
