A New Chapter In My Life – The Day We Move Out

Today we move out of our home in Coppull Lancashire and I have a mixture of emotions. Although I was born in the UK, I lived most of my teenage and early adult life in New Zealand until I returned to England in 2010. Over the past 11 years life has had it’s fair share of ups and downs and this week we are heading back to New Zealand for good.

Moving TO NEW ZEALAND

Well, It’s been a long work in progress. After I married my husband John in 2013 we discussed the options of moving to New Zealand or trying a new location in the UK. We decided to move to Lancashire. I was not ready to return to NZ. I’d had certain “negative experiences” overseas and Sylvia was still young. I didn’t feel going back to New Zealand was a safe option. I also had been newly diagnosed with Adrenal Insufficiency and was trying to get medical support only available in the UK.

Fast forward 8 years and we are ready. In fact, when we went on Holiday in 2019 to visit my family we knew that moving back for me and migrating for John was the right thing for our family. It would be great for family support, to help me with my health issues and the best option for Sylvia too.

So we began our preparations, which started with saving money and working towards John’s New Zealand residency under the partnership category.

APPLYING FOR NEW ZEALAND RESIDENCY

Preparing to move has not been easy. We set a two year goal and with Covid 19 and many lockdowns our plans really did get put on hold on many occasions. Simple tasks such as booking our dogs in a year before we planned to move for Rabies vaccinations and applying for visa’s and passports became even more difficult.

It took us a long time to get to where we are and took a lot of sacrifice and saving but we did it. We went through the residency application process, including the difficult task of proving our relationship, doing medicals, x-rays and so forth as well as getting passports and police certificates.

Applying For A New Zealand Critical Purpose Visa

We applied for a critical purpose visa to allow us to enter the New Zealand borders which are currently closed to most of the world and we managed to secure places in the MIQ system. This means we got our hotel Isolation and quarantine places which have to be booked months in advance to allow us to enter NZ and fly on the plane.

In fact, it’s currently February and all the M1Q allocations in New Zealand are taken. Many Kiwis are unable to fly home and the next available dates won’t be available to people until June 2021, so we are blessed we were able to get our spots last year when the system came into place.

Preparation Is The Key

Preparing to move to New Zealand was not easy and we had to prepare well. Saving was not easy and we decided early on we wanted to take our Dogs Yoda and Casper to New Zealand with us. Sadly Yoda passed away last July and so we continued the process of preparing Casper on his own.

Getting A Pet Passport For A Dog

Getting a pet passport or preparing your Dog to move overseas is not easy. There are so many steps and costs involved. It has been a very stressful process but we have finally completed each and every step.

Casper has his pet passport. He has a dog permit allowing him to fly via Singapore airlines to New Zealand. Our Dog will then stay at Qualified Pet Services, a dog Quarantine facility in Takanini, Auckland New Zealand.

Casper our Bichon Frise will stay in quarantine for ten days before my mum collects him and helps him settle. He will arrive at my parents home one week before us and then we will all be reunited. I’m nervous and a little worried how Casper will cope for the next 14 days but I am sure he will get through. I’m sitting here next to him knowing I’m going to miss him like crazy but it should all be worth it.

Planning Flights To New Zealand

Planning and booking flights to New Zealand before 2020 was pretty simple, you found the flight you wanted, booked and flew. However since Covid-19 and the New Zealand borders closing flying to NZ has become for many kiwis (trying to get home) a nightmare.

Flights are repeatedly cancelled, airlines shut down, close, get suspended and banned. Our original flights were with Emirates from Manchester to Dubai to Auckland. Our flights were cancelled three times and rebooked. This caused a few wrinkles in our plans but we managed to cope and make the necessary changes.

However, two weeks before our flight to New Zealand, the UK decided to ban flights from and to Dubai. This meant that Emirates flights from the UK were suspended and cancelled. Our flight was cancelled and we had to spend time finding new flights, checking new covid requirements, rebooking PCR Covid tests, changing hotel locations and dates and altering travel arrangements.

It really was a stressful weekend last week finding solutions that would allow us to fly and still arrive on the day New Zealand has agreed to quarantine us. If you don’t arrive on time, the MIQ spots are lost and travelling could be delayed for 4-5 months if not longer.

In the end we managed to book flights to Dublin Ireland and we are flying from Dublin to Dubai as Emirates can fly out of Ireland and onto New Zealand that way. It cost more money but we could not afford to cancel especially as we have sold or shipped everything!

Shipping Cargo To New Zealand

We decided early on we wanted to ship our belongings to New Zealand, the most important items and those which would cost a lot to replace. Therefore I saved like crazy all year to be able to do this. In January our items were all packed and shipped off by Pickfords and they are now in transit by sea on their way to New Zealand.

I’m excited as I managed to pack some nice items, including a new dishwasher for my mum and our best furniture and bedding along with the precious items such as journals, grandpa’s heirlooms and much more. I look forward to opening the boxes on the other side.

Camping Out At Home

We have been camping out at home since mid January. We had just a slow cooker and an air fryer and it has been interesting to say the least. The biggest struggle has been making healthy meals but it was a temporary issue.

We have been sleeping on mattresses on the floor and living with the basics. I actually loved being decluttered and not having tons of things surrounding us. I don’t like clutter but the cooking has been tricky.

Camping at home has been kind of fun though and an experience we can remember in the future.

LEaving Our home

So the Journey begins shortly. I am going to miss my house and the freedom of just being a family of three, but I will enjoy moving into a home of 7 and having greater support. I will miss the memories and am grateful for the 4 years of hard work I did here in this house. The daily grind each day to grow this blog and build a business which we can now transfer to New Zealand and use to help improve our lives.

I won’t miss the bath/shower which I struggled to climb into. I won’t miss the noisy neighbours and the stink of drugs seeping through the walls. I will not miss the stairs which I have fallen down on numerous occasions and I will not miss the cracks and water damage on the walls.

I will miss the memories of Yoda in this home and of Sylvia growing into a young women. I will look back at the good times, move on from the bad and look forward to the future.

Taking Medication To New Zealand

I am taking a lot of medication with me to New Zealand. I have three months supply of everything which will give me time to find a GP in NZ to help me and refer me to the correct specialists.

I don’t have a letter about my condition – as getting support from the NHS and specialist during COVID and lockdown has been a nightmare, but I do have my medical notes and a previous letter about the adrenal pump I’m on. I am hoping to continue to use this medication in New Zealand but there is a chance I might not be able. I will know more by April. It’s scary not knowing but I think I will get good care over there and I am sure I will be able to try and focus on improving my health as I have better family support.

I will be flying with medications on the place to allow me to fly with Adrenal Insufficiency and I have an Ice pack to help keep my medications cold. I will get specialist referrals overseas and hope to finally get some investigations done which have been on hold over 18 months due to NHS delays.

Farewell Coppull Lancashire Hello New Zealand

So I will bid the little village of Coppull farewell. I made a few lovely friends in the area, (just a few – who I will miss). Luckily we can keep in contact via Facebook, however I’ve been quite isolated and stuck for the past 7 years and It is time to move on and say goodbye.

I am excited and nervous, happy and sad, hopeful and scared. In a few hours we take our luggage to the Premier Inn and stay there until our journey to Manchester and then Dublin. Goodbye Coppull, Goodbye Lancashire, Goodbye UK.

…….I’ll be taking a break for a week or so but have some fantastic recipes and crafts prepared for the blog. I’ll update everyone once we arrive in New Zealand!

Angela x