Gayle and Eugene – Settled and Happy in Auckland

Gayle and I often talked about emigrating to New Zealand, but we thought we were too old. On the 5th May 2018, we decided to take the plunge and see if we were eligible to make this move. We contacted Bernard and were delighted when he told us we’d have no problem in finding jobs in New Zealand. Bernard chatted to us, gave us lots of information and answered all our questions. We began the process through IML and just 2 months and 2 weeks later we were living in New Zealand.

We managed to get all our documentation together, apart from the police clearance, within a month. Bernard guided us through every step and we were very happy with the advice he gave us which made the process a lot easier than if we’d decided to do it on our own.

I got a job within two weeks of making the decision. I was lucky to find employment through a friend of a friend. Gayle is still looking for employment but I’m sure she’ll find something soon. The company I work for were fantastic. On our arrival, they picked us up from the airport and lent us a car for a month.

We had a comfortable, if long, journey to New Zealand on Qantas and thankfully had no problems with customs in Sydney or Auckland. As mentioned, my New Zealand employer picked us up from the airport, so that made life easier for us on arrival.

Gayle and I have found that every day living in New Zealand is cheaper than South Africa, but housing is more expensive. However, this is obviously offset by the higher salaries you receive in New Zealand. Most of the affordable housing tends to be of wooden construction and is rather old fashioned and basic compared with South African houses. But you can’t have everything.

Gayle and I have found Kiwis to be helpful and humble and everyone we’ve met has been welcoming. Everything works here. Our only minor complaint is that the internet can sometimes be a little slow.

The obvious and most important advantage of living in New Zealand is security. We no longer have to be obsessive about locking our doors. We can walk around freely, not having to constantly scour the area for possible danger. We don’t have to worry about driving through a city at night and being hijacked at red traffic lights. Until we left South Africa, we didn’t realise how we were constantly on the watch for ‘trouble’.

To celebrate our first Christmas in New Zealand we have adopted a lovely kitten whom we’ve called Kiwi. His Christmas present is a jungle gym which may or may not stop him from climbing the curtain, furniture and everything else he can find. We’re not getting a Christmas tree this year, we’ll do that next year when Kiwi has calmed down a bit. One thing we are adamant about is that we’ll never go back to South Africa. Life in New Zealand is very good.