Kiwi gonna be

I've given my notice in at work today - how scarey. It took me a few attempts to do it and a few tears too. I've worked for my current employer for 22 years and 7 months - that's longer than I've been married!

So things are moving on I'm definitely going! It's been a week of highs and lows - excitement when New Zealand immigration said yes, but tears when I actually had to commit to a date to leave my family and friends. Tears and laughter when my friend, Helen, in New Zealand rang after she's found out we're definitely going to join her. But its done now notice at work given, flights booked. I leave the UK at 9.00 pm on 21 June 2009.

I think its going to be quite an emotional four weeks. Today I had my haircut for the last time by Julie my hairdresser of 15 plus years. Yesterday I went to my friend Anne-Marie's for tea for probably the last time. It is very sad but it also makes me appreciate things and people more. Sometimes we take for granted the things around us and these last few weeks are making me see things in a different light and value what and who is around me.

People say to me how lucky I am going to be going to live in such a great country with fantastic scenery. And I am lucky! But we have some fantastic scenery here too which I think because it's on our doorstep we don't always fully appreciate. I drive Harry to school sometimes (Colne Valley) and the scenery driving up there is fantastic...i don't think I've really appreciated it before!

Does this sound like I'm getting cold feet?! I'm not, I am really excited about going and we have very special friends in New Zealand but it is going to be a big wrench leaving the things that are familiar to me and the people that mean a lot to me.

Photo: Helen, me and Jodie(my daughter) - our last holiday in NZ

A Roller Coaster Day

It has been a day of ups and downs today. Last night we emailed the visa officer assigned to our case at New Zealand immigration with a gentle prompt to check out how our application was going. We got an out of office reply saying he was on holiday between 1 May and 1 June! Did this mean that our application has just sat waiting and not been dealt with? I think the stress of waiting has got to me... I had a little sulk, a cry and a bit of an outburst. I felt ready to say enough...I'm tired of living life in limbo!

But we've come too far now so we have forwarded our email to the contact person on the out of the office reply to see if we can find out what's happening. The wait goes on!

Then some good news, I found out that Gemma, someone I used to work with had given birth to a healthy baby boy. Very excited about that can't wait to go and visit them.

Not had a great day at work, there's some changes taking place which have made the place feel a bit gloomy, so back on a bit of a downer!

I was just ready to close down the computer at work and go home when my mobile rang and we've had a reply from New Zealand immigration - we're in! I didn't know if to laugh or cry so I did a bit of both.

So thats it a big life change ahead now I really have to face up to the fact that I'm moving to the other side of the world from my lovely daughter, Jodie, (although I'm hoping she won't be far behind us), my mum and dad who I think the world of and some very special friends. But it is a big adventure that I am really looking forward to.

Do we need the sledge?

The wait goes on for immigration to make a decision... although I noticed on the bank statement the cheque for our application has been cashed.

I've been feeling a bit worried because the longer it takes immigration to make the decision the less time we have to prepare for our move - if they say yes!. We have to be in New Zealand in the middle of June to take up the job offer. So it's going to end up being a mad rush!

I thought in preparation we could clear out the garage and get rid of as much clutter as we could. Some of the things in the garage were easy to get rid of - a broken camping table, a blind that doesn't fit any of the windows in the house and a bent parasol! I'm not quite sure why we have kept them so long. Anyway all cleared out now.

But then the decisions got harder...do we need the sledge? We've had the sledge for about 10 years and this winter was the first time its been used. If immigration say yes it might not get used again but I haven't thrown it away just in case!

Last Terriers Game

Andy Booth and Harry

My hubby, son and I are Huddersfield Town football fans. My son has been a season ticket holder since he was three. We decided as it could be our last game, we'd make the trip to London to see the Terriers (Huddersfield Town's nick name for those not in the know!) last game of the season at Leyton Orient.

Huddersfield had very kindly let my son, Harry be their mascot and lead the team out as it was possibly his last game - how exciting is that! I can't praise the footballers enough they were so friendly, signed his shirt and were just lovely. I'm not sure who was more star struck though me or him!

It was a good game the town fans were fantastic singing the whole way through the match. It ended in a 1 - 1 draw, which felt right nothing was riding on the game. It felt rather poignant possibly being our last game as it was also town legend - 'Sir' Andy Booth's last game. I felt a bit tearful really at the end and it started me thinking about the things I'll miss when/if we go to New Zealand!

The other highlight of our weekend in London was a trip to the new Wembley Stadium. What a fantastic Stadium it is and the tour guide, Chris, who took us round made it a great tour. Did you know... there are 2618 toilets in Wembley and the boxes cost £2.4million for 10 years! I can definitely recommend the tour to anyone visiting London.

Other than that London was busy, tiring, expensive but I still love it - but just for a weekend!

A Letter from NZ immigration

A letter from New Zealand immigration arrived today! Is this it - the decision I'm waiting for?! I'm almost too scared to open the letter, I'll just make a cup of tea first.

Opened the letter and... its just confirmation they have received our application. It will take them between 1 month and 3 months to make their decision. The waiting game goes on.

Another step closer to our dream

Its raining and I'm stuck in traffic, another miserable journey to work, I wonder how many more of these journeys I'll be making! After hours checking and double checking the New Zealand residency application form and gathering all the documents we need - its finally gone. Another step closer to our dream!

It seems to have taken forever to get this far. We decided we wanted to make New Zealand our new home in January 2008 so our first step was to put the house up for sale. Unfortunately the credit crunch kicked in and the housing market slumped - I did start to wonder if it was all to stop me achieving my dream!

Then just when we thought we would have to put our dream behind us we found a buyer for our house - dream back on!

Since then there's been form filling, a trip to New Zealand for one (not me!) on a job hunt, medicals, X-rays and police checks. But now we're almost there - I hope. I think I do anyway!