When is your New Life no longer your “New” life?
I was browsing through some my Blogroll yesterday, and left a comment on the Domestic Executive Blog:
One of the best things about my new life here (which really after 5 and a half years I ought to stop calling my “new” life) is that I am NOT busy all the time. I can say to people – I’m flexible – when’s good for you – when we need to meet up. But I’ve also had to learn to say No when people ask me for favours. Because I found I was spending a lot of time “working” for people for free, and then not having the time to enjoy not working.
As you can see – while I was writing it – I suddenly wondered if I could any longer claim that this was my “New Life”.
At what point are you really no longer a Migrant or an Ex-pat, but someone who lives in New Zealand?
I reckon it might be when you stop complaining about the things that are different here, and start complaining about the things that other Kiwi’s complain about. Which are often the same things as it happens.
Maybe it’s when the novelty wears off. Which in my case it mostly has – but not entirely. I think there will always be moments when I think “Wow! I get to live here??? Really???”.
Either way – it’s not really my own personal “New Life” anymore – it’s just a better version of my old life.
Like what Avalon has to say?
Click Here to buy Avalon's Guide or Click Here to buy the E-Book
Me and the MX5: The Finale
Filed under: Cost of living, General Budgeting, Life in New Zealand
Well, let’s just say at this point that Motors: Mazda: MX5 has been listed as a favorite on my Trade Me account as long as I have had a Trade Me account. This is basically becuase when I first started getting into Property Investing, I happened to pass by the Mazda garage in Wellington (as you do – honestly its on the route to Moore Wilsons). And I thought I would pop in to look at what they had in the showroom – so that I could build a “Vision Board” of where I wanted the investing to take us.
And lo: they had this really swanky new Dark Purple (so dark its almost black), shiny MX5 that was just screaming at me to buy it.
I was in Wuv.
Slight sticking point – it was $50,000.
And it was brand new – which means as soon as you drive it out the dealership its worth a lot less than you paid for it. Not great odds for anyone planning on making squillions in the property game. Besides – didn’t have $50,000 sitting around burning a hole in my pocket. But dammit – thats the car I wanted, so it went on the dream board, and I have been keeping an eye out on Trade me for 2nd hand ones. One came up a while back, but still with a price tag of $35,000 which is still too much for me.
Ho Hum. Of course now that I need to buy a new car, the swanky purple one isn’t available – at any price, but I have been watching and planning. I was hoping to be able to spend about $20,000 but in the end the pennies just weren’t there. So I decided to buy a cheaper version – and I can always spray it when I have some more money.
2nd hand MX5′s can be had for between $3,000 and $45,000 – so I thought I’d better be at the lower end. I test drove a few in the 8-10k range, but in the end decided I wanted an Automatic. Basically because most cars over here are automatics, all ours were, and I’ve just got used to them. Besides – my original 2 MX5′s were as well.
On Friday last week, I called a guy in Levin who was selling an 1999 MX5, automatic, British racing green (no pop up headlights). Asking price $7995. A quick price check said that was very reasonable – I looked at one a year older for $11K, and one a year younger at $14k. We drove over to take it for a spin, and I loved it! It was in good nick (needs a good clean inside), but the roof is sound, it drove well and everything worked. Experience says theres not likely to be a huge amount that needs fixing – they are not cars that are run by complicated computers so they tend not to be expensive to fix. And the big expense which was a new Cam Belt had already been done and there was a service bill to show it.
All it took was a call to the bank manager, who had been warned this might be coming, and she put the payment through straight away. The guy was comfortable enough from talking to me to let me take the car straight away, and within 10 minutes I finally had my long sought after dream: an MX5.
We then drove a little north to Foxton Beach, grabbed fish and chips from Mr Grumpy’s and coffee from the Simply Balmy Cafe and had a late lunch at the beach sitting in my new car with the hood down. I couldn’t stop grinning.
In fact – I still haven’t stopped grinning every time i get in the car.
Like what Avalon has to say?
Click Here to buy Avalon's Guide or Click Here to buy the E-Book
Me and the MX5: Part2
Filed under: Cost of living, Getting to New Zealand, Life in New Zealand
So we arrived in New Zealand, and oddly enough, as these things tend to pan out – I did not end up buying a new car straight away. Mostly this was because we started out living in Wellington City, right in the middle of the CBD and could walk almost everywhere. And as we were fainting with shock over the true cost of living, we decided that being sensible {shudder} we would leave the expense till we needed it.
I even on occasion succumbed to using Public Transport {Shudders}.
We made the most of it, there was a good bus service to Eastbourne and Days bay, or we could take the ferry over and get breakfast at the cafe and bum on the beach. But it was awkward for food shopping, because we weren’t as free to shop around. And lets face it – its a right pain in the patootie when you have to lug carrier bags full of food across town!
But then of course we decided to buy a house in the Wairarapa, and couldn’t put off buying a car any longer. Hubby would need it to get to work, even if he was using the train, and where were buying – will – there wasn’t a Tescos within walking distance. Nope – for country living – a car is a necessity.
So – MX5 it was then.
Ah nope!
Dammit but we needed a “sensible car” {Shudders}.
We ended up buying a “Station Wagon” which just sounds so hideous to me. Estate Car is so much more “English”. There were a number of reasons for this. Its was big, comfy, and very very fast. The fact that it was black, had blacked out windows and black lights glinting blackly on a black background also helped.
It was also only $9000, though we did have to spend another few $$$ on it afterwards. This was also at the time that my family were coming over for their first 6 months trip, and we figured it was big enough to fit all 5 of us plus a lot of luggage, which saved us a considerable amount of hassle and expense on getting them from Auckland to their new home, as we were going to take a few days holiday to do the trip and see some sights as well.
So that was that – still no MX5, all the money for a car spent on a fast, black, but decidedly non-convertible “sensible” car.
That was 5 years ago….
Like what Avalon has to say?
Click Here to buy Avalon's Guide or Click Here to buy the E-Book
Me and the MX5: Part1
In a previous life – I went through a divorce. And as many people do, I went out and spoiled myself afterwards with a completely unsensible and frivolous spending spree and bought a convertible. So about 11 years ago I bought my first wonderful British Racing Green MX5 – with pop-up headlights.
I had so much fun.
Then as luck would not have it – a bumble bee spoiled all my fun, by stinging a young lad in the arm while he was hurtling round a corner in the Forest of Dean, and he drove right in to me.
Which hurt. A lot.
So that was a write off, but the insurance paid out, and I went straight back to the dealer I had bought it from, and bought another one. That was my second British Racing Green MX5 – with pop-up headlights.
I had some laughs with that – as it had a disturbing habit of spinning wildly out of control at the most inconvenient moments – like just as I was going round roundabouts, and ending up facing the wrong way. So as this was just as me and new hubby were getting married and buggering off to NZ for 5 weeks on honeymoon, we dropped it back to the specialist dealer, and asked him to try and figure what was wrong.
When we got back – on a stupidly early flight into Heathrow, we detoured to Ilford to pick up the car. Apparently no one could replicate the madcap spinning – but they changed the wheels anyway, twiddled with the suspension, and prayed a bit. Thankfully – that seemed to do the trick, and I didn’t die mangled in a spinning car.
Of course at this point – we decided emigrating to NZ would be laugh.
Well, I wasn’t going to give up my lovely car, so started looking at shipping costs. Most companies were looking at charging about the same, and basically we were looking at hiring a 40ft container instead of a 20ft container, and boxing the car in.
At which point the gits at LTNZ (Land Transport New Zealand) threw a bureaucratic spanner in the wheels: we were not allowed to import the car becuase it didn’t have a Frontal Impact Standard Pass because it was 2 years too old.
But – I thought – the car obviously passed a frontal impact test in as much as a Transit Van driving at speed frontally impacted my last MX5 and I didn’t end up squished on the road. How much more frontal impact can you get than that????
Well – we reckoned this was those economic scams designed to stop scummy migrants from not spending more of their hard earned cash in New Zealand setting up their new lives.
Bah Humbug!
So I had to sell it.
When the guy came to buy it – I couldn’t watch as he drove it away. It was a few weeks before we were leaving – and I was gutted to be saying goodbye to my car. I swore I would buy another one as soon as we got to New Zealand….
Like what Avalon has to say?
Click Here to buy Avalon's Guide or Click Here to buy the E-Book
Moving to the city: not as easy as it sounds.
So we are becoming “Trendy City Folk” with an apartment in the big city and a county pile to escape to at the weekend.
I’d be turning in my grave if I had one.
On the plus side – we started with the country pile so we don’t have to work up to it, but still!
Now we actually own an apartment in the City, but that is rented out with really good tenants, and would actually cost us a small fortune to live in. So we are continue to keep that rented, and have rented another apartment ourselves in the same block. As much as I am not a city person – I have to say I do love the apartment itself. The building lets it down, and I am going to have to have words with the body corporate about what is going with the on site Gym and pool – I real selling point for me – as its a disgrace.
But – I’ve slept really well the couple of nights we have stayed there so far, we have a proper kitchen (cooker so clean it definitely wasn’t used by the previous tenant – not unusual), and space for a separate office. And our stonkingly large TV and surround sound system.
It could definitely be worse.
Our biggest issue was actually organizing the removal. We used Crown Relocations, who we recommend for the emigration move – they were brilliant. However shifting from the Wairarapa to Wellington with a fraction of the stuff we hauled half way round the world was much more tricky. It took hubby a lot of sorting out, and I believe at the final count he had to confirm our starting address, final address and access no less than 6 times. They have to paid in advance, but didn’t get the invoice to us till midday the day before. I had tp get the bank manager to set up the payment, and then send a confirmtion email, but the lady at Crown had gone home by then. Thankfully there was an out of office email which gave details of someone else to send the confirmation to, and he then called to confirm we were in fact moving.
All to get to wellington!
So we moved in - Crown arrived with our furniture, and i promptly left to have a coffee with a friend of mine, just round the corner from the apartment. City living has its benefits after all – I may as well make the most of them!
We topped off the evening with a couple of friends round and a bottle of wine.
Like what Avalon has to say?
Click Here to buy Avalon's Guide or Click Here to buy the E-Book
An amusing reply
Mum and dad recently sent out a “we have been here a year” email to their friends back in the UK.
This was a reply to that email:
No Clotted Cream
No Scones
No Gold Top
No Frozen Veg
15 miles to the nearest shop
No proper Weetabix
Good bread though for Dad, but he cant eat it.
Prices going up
VAT on food.
Dismal weather
Tragic deaths.
No bloody wonder you enjoyed the English elections????
Like what Avalon has to say?
Click Here to buy Avalon's Guide or Click Here to buy the E-Book
Moving back into Wellington.
Filed under: Cost of living, Jobs & Work, Property & General Investing
The one thing you can pretty much be sure of when you emigrate, is that things don’t always go quite to plan.
Hubby’s redundancy has thrown a bit of a spanner in the works, in that he can’t work at home. The contracts he’s on mean he has to be in the office, so it’s getting difficult to maintain a life in the Wairarapa and keep stress levels down. So we have been renting a Studio apartment in town, which he lives in during the week, sometimes with me there as well.
Unfortunately its too small for both of us, so we were stuck with living apart most of the time, and that’s just not exactly the “lifestyle” we were after when we emigrated.
So we have bitten the bullet and rented a full size two bed apartment in the centre of the city. We actually own an apartment in the same block, but its tenanted – and besides – it would actually cost us a lot more to live in our own apartment.
I say full size because New Zealand cities (Particularly Auckland and now Wellington is following) are notorious for “shoe box” apartments. That’s fine if you are renting studios or 1 beds for just a single person, but I saw some brand new 2 bed apartments the other week that were about half the size of ours (and only a bit less in price). It pays to be aware of this if you are renting – don’t rent anything without seeing it first – you will probably get a shock.
So we are going to actually become the kind of “trendy wellingtonians” who live in the city during the week, and descend en masse to the Wairarapa at the weekends. Because I know full well that I cant live in town full time – its too crowded and noisy for me. I intend to make the most of city living – it will be nice to get back to going to the movies regularly for example, but I know I need to be able to get away from it as well.
And to be honest we live in such a stunning place – I just don’t really think giving up the big house in the country with the pool is an option.
So – I may be writing some slightly different blog posts – more stuff about Wellington and less about living in the back of beyond.
Like what Avalon has to say?
Click Here to buy Avalon's Guide or Click Here to buy the E-Book
When are you too old to emigrate?
Filed under: Getting to New Zealand, Hubby's Views, Life in New Zealand
I’ve had a number of conversations with people over the last few months about whether they are too old to emigrate to NZ.
For those after the executive summary;
The answer is never
- What are you waiting for?
- Do you have your passport handy?
- Mines an Earl Gray tea, decaf Americano for Avalon – thank you
- The projected 3rd quarter benefit of taking on this challenge more than outweighs the possible opportunity cost, or indeed the potential to maximise productivity enhancements with your current strategy.
- There are tax advantages
- You can use a cool AirNZ iPhone application
While of course there are age limits if you want to come in on the skilled migrant stream (56 at the moment), you can still apply under the ‘investor’ category if you’ve got enough cash, or an adult child living in NZ.
So how old is too old?
There was quite a bit of coverage the other year when Eric King-Turner (102 at the time), emigrated from the UK to NZ, with his Kiwi wife (87). His rationale is quoted as being;
“What’s important is that, when I’m 105, I don’t want to be thinking `I wish I had moved to the other side of the world when I was 102’”
Of course in this case he had the advantage of a Kiwi wife, and I’ve no doubt the very bad publicity NZ & INZ would have got if they refused him. So on the face of it, you’re only as old as the man (or woman) you feel.
For us, that sentiment of regret was something we had heard from a number of people while we were still in the UK looking at our options. It served as a good motivator. Of course, you can always look back and regret not visiting NZ five years before, or regret not just jacking everything in and taking a risk. Any course of action that you didn’t take when you had the opportunity can be a source of regret. I believe it’s better to look at the time since then as a source of learning.
For some people they may not be at a stage in their own lives to emigrate. At least investigating it and considering the options is taking action and getting yourself on the way to moving. Or not, as the case may be. There are certainly a few people we know of who came to NZ, only to really dislike it, head back to the UK and find that they loved it again.
Moving away to find that you were really at home where you were may seem like an expensive circular journey. Or possibly a triathlon – going round in a very big circle, being exhausted and 20 pounds lighter at the end of it. It’s much better than living with the possible regret if you’d not taken that circular journey though. (For the record those people, sometimes known as ‘ping pong poms’ are in the minority.) Most people we know who have moved out of the UK and then returned for a holiday/business trip have hated the UK to varying degrees, and been really grateful to return to their new home.
Personally I found that was simply perspective. I’m used to less traffic, less people, empty beaches, friendly people and so on. The prospect of spending the day at a 500+ shop indoor shopping mega complex with 50,000 other people just turns my brain to jelly now.
From the backlog of parent applications with INZ, again there’s plenty of people mid-life who are looking to up sticks and move to NZ. It’ll take time with the expected two year wait, again that time can be used productively. So you feel at least two years younger when you then get on the first stage of the Immigration hoop jumping exercise. (Did I say triathlon? it’s more like a decathlon with mandatory gymnastics disciplines too)
So as with Eric, I think it’s better to get organised and take action than worry about what you might have done previously. Or indeed how old you may be today. Emigrating is more about open minds than any perceived ability to do a triathlon.
The Power of Networking; Social & Drinking
It took coming to NZ five years ago before I really started doing the coffee (well, tea – Earl Grey) socialising thing.
Just over 18 months ago I joined Facebook, about a year ago I joined LinkedIn. I’d sort of avoided the whole internet social networking thing up until that point – being paid to think about risks of identity theft meant I’d kept a low profile. But Avalon was on there, and kinda cajoled me into it. You try arguing with her is all I can say!
In the last couple of weeks I’ve come to benefit from all the networking.
- You’re very welcome – Avalon
As soon as I came out of the first ‘your role is possibly redundant’ meeting, having been ambushed with the news that I had 3 days to consider my options – I was not crying in my tea – I was on the phone setting up coffee meetings for the next morning with other people who do similar jobs in different companies. We all know each other, regularly meet up and we all keep an eye on what’s happening with different companies.
So in less than 24 hours, I’m finding out what options are available, and getting new names to contact about possible jobs. (And somehow I still managed to find the time to fix yet another management screw-up and get an important piece of work done to meet a deadline while 5 managers who were not losing their jobs were nowhere to be found. Some things never change.)
The day I had my official ‘your role is definitely redundant’ meeting, there was an article about redundancy rumours in the paper. This meant Avalon could officially blog about it, without revealing anything that wasn’t public knowledge.
So that evening two things happened, Avalon’s blog post was published, it automatically fed through to LinkedIn and Facebook page via a nifty widget, plus lots of other sites like Technorati. I also updated my LinkedIn status with just five words.
Within an hour I’d had contact from someone about contracting work.
Another contact having read the blog put me in touch with their companies recruitment specialist.
By the morning three emails arrived to meet up for coffee. Two more emails followed that afternoon.
I had a call from someone pointing me to three different jobs he knew were going in the field, and checking whether I knew the people who were recruiting. (The next day he rang back about a role at his current organisation too).
That evening a former manager, currently travelling in Europe, had made contact. He’d find something.
The coffee chats resulted in two further options for contracting work.
Emails were asking if I wanted a job in Sydney, or Melbourne.
My as yet not updated CV was heading off to a variety of contacts in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Christchurch, Auckland, Singapore and of course Wellington – all of whom know someone who is interested in my skills & experience. This included a couple of people who are moving on to new jobs of their own choice, and are putting me in touch with their soon to be former employers. That’s quite a recommendation, “I’m leaving, but here’s someone good enough to replace me”.
And this is before I actually update my CV and proactively send it out to recruitment agencies, or respond to job adverts that I actually see on TradeMe or Seek.
All within two days of formally being told my services are no longer required by my current employer.
Who funnily enough, is competing in the market place for exactly the same custom from the same clients that most of the opportunities I’ve been told about are also looking to win.
Then one of Avalon’s contacts also wants to hear from me – he can put me in contact with a lot of his fellow business owners.
It’s now taken me two weeks to get my CV updated properly. I firmly believe it’s worth getting feedback from others on your CV, and taking the time to look at it with a fresh mind and different perspective. It may seem a little superfluous, since I’ve already had all these meetings and I’m likely to find out from people I know that roles are available.
You never know though, a friend of a friend who has just been passed your CV could be that fantastic new opportunity you didn’t realise you were looking for.
The life and times of a Swimming Pool
Pools- lovely to look, but you have to clean them if you want to use them. Not that we have used ours this year yet – because the summer has been a very long way away.
This is how it starts off at the end of winter. The water is slightly green, murky and full of leaves (even with a pool cover you can’t quite stop all the leaves getting in).
So the first step is to dump some Chlorine in to get rid of the green murk.
But this still has crud in the bottom – so a bot of hoovering, filtering and backwashing is in order:
And then you end up with a clean sparkly pool all ready to play in:
With water the most stunning colour in the sunlight:
Like what Avalon has to say?
Click Here to buy Avalon's Guide or Click Here to buy the E-Book
Buy Avalon’s Guide
-
