Interest Expressed

It's been half term this week and the wife and I have gone New Zealand mad! On Sunday we submitted our Expression of Interest to Immigration New Zealand. We had our fingers crossed on the Wednesday as they were due to dip into the 'pool' and pick out the next 500 people lucky enough to get an Invitation to Apply. Unbelievably, and excitingly we were selected from the pool that day!

Far from being the end of the process, this now means an agonising wait while the Kiwis conduct preliminary checks on the information we provided to see if we are honest and worthy of receiving an Invitation to Apply. This could take a month or more, I'm told!

When/if we do get this ITA, we still have to get medicals (scary), police checks, evidence of our work experience and send it all off with a big, fat, hairy cheque to get our much desired visas. I'll tell you what though, getting selected after submitting the EOI feels like a massive step in the right direction.

Other NZ things we did this week included a great deal of research about life in NZ on the internet (I'm constantly reading other peoples blogs and looking on NZ forums and wotnot). I never tire of reading other peoples emigration stories, and I like to think I learn a bit from each of them too. In terms of research, I've also read many of the New Zealand related books I can find - from Joe Bennets 'Land of Two Halves' to my most recent acqusition, 'Gumboots, Lesson Plans, and Hot Rugby Nights' by J.A. Flynn. The best I've read about New Zealand are probably;

• New Boots in New Zealand by Gillian Orrell
• Slipping into Paradise by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
• A New Life in New Zealand by Paul Goddard (an account of emigrating to NZuseful rather than entertaining)

Actually, I was getting a bit anxious about running out of New Zealand books to read, but this woe was addressed today with a visit to Down Under Live (another NZ related thing we did this week) at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham. To be frank, the show was a bit of a let down as there was a huge emphasis on Australia (boooo! See, I'm already becoming a Kiwi) and very little relevant information about NZ. Be warned!
However, there was a stand there from 'Brits NZ' manned by a guy called Mike Cole. We had a nice chat with him and he made some interesting suggestions and helpful comments. The other thing he did, was sell me a copy of his book about his family's journey to New Zealand and their new life in the Taranaki region - I can't wait to start reading it!
Anyway, it's been a bit of a long one, so I will let you get off :o) Take care!