Introductions

In early 2006 some friends of ours took a 3 week vacation to New Zealand. It was a place that they had always wanted to see. At the end of their stay, they didn't want to come home. So they applied for work permits, sold their practice (they were Doctorate-level psychologists), sold their house and opened a new chapter in their lives. We're not talking about 20-something, pin-in-the-nose, purple hairs. He was in his 50s and she her late forties.

I found such radical change to be inspirational, and a good motivator to look into a place that I had always wanted to see. My wife and I are both professionals in the aerospace industry. Because of this, employment opportunities in NZ would be limited to the only game in town; Air New Zealand. On a whim, I sent an unsolicited email to a few people at ANZ whose email addresses I could dig up, describing our backgrounds and asking if there might be any opportunities for us there. I didn't expect to hear back, but within a few days we received an enthusiastic response.

After an initial positive meeting with ANZ in Seattle, we decided that we would go down and have a look at the place. In the middle of (their) winter we made a 3 week whirlwind tour, starting in Christchurch and ending in Auckland and culminated in a 5 hour interview with ANZ. Our plan was to take a one-year contract to see how we liked things, and make a decision at the end of that time. We enjoyed our trip.

Returning home I made a few financial calculations. It seemed we would have to take about a 57% salary reduction and I'd have to work a 40 hour week!! The low wages in NZ are made up for by a high cost of living and an oppressive tax structure. Bottom line is you don't go to NZ for the money. So after teetering on the fence for a few months, a "no conflict of interest" finding from Cynthia's employer, and a promise of a 12 month leave of absence, we made the decision to go. Unfortunately, things went south when we began serious discussions with ANZ. When all the dust settled, the group that Cynthia would be working for wanted more than 12 months. Not possible. End of adventure. We'll just stay home and make tons of money instead.

Unfortunately, a nagging, gnawing New Zealand tumor started growing in the back of my mind, buzzing "what if?”. Well, we decided that we needed to put the question to bed once and for all. Our three week trip was not enough time to properly evaluate life in NZ, especially since it felt like we spent all of our time either in the car or the motel. We decided that we needed immersion therapy, so here we are heading down for three months!

Sorry for the boring diatribe, and I promise not to waste so many electrons in the future.

Total trip cost to date: $0.00 USD