Moving To New Zealand: Adventure or earthquake disaster?

Why move a young family to the other side of the world? It’s a question we often get asked and we’ve asked ourselves (several times on this journey!) So we thought we’d share our personal journey and how we came to be offering friendly financial advice in the beautiful city of Christchurch – Otautahi.

We (Nigel – Dad, Kelly – Mum, Christopher – Son, Charlotte – daughter) had just finished building our dream home in the UK in July 2006 and decided to go on a long overdue family holiday to New Zealand. We took 6 weeks to travel from the far north of the north island to the tip of the south island Bluff.

As you do when you travel, we all chatted about where would we want to live if we moved to NZ.  Gisbon had been on the radar but we had all fallen in love with the small quaint town of Kaikoura.  So much so we decided to drive 8 hours back to Kaikoura to enjoy our last 5 days.

We were all sad when we headed to the airport. That long flight back gave us time to reflect on what we really wanted out of life over and above the long hours we worked.  Nigel was a successful Independent Financial adviser and Kelly was a Manager for an Mortgage underwriting firm.

When we landed back in the UK we had to stay on the plane for an extra two hours.  When we were finally able to leave the plane we were escorted by armed police to the immigration area, to discover all major UK airports were facing bomb threats. Back to UK reality!

At home we talked a lot about NZ and a week later we knew we were going to move. With the enthusiastic blessing of Nigel’s Dad, we finished the house and put it on the market to sell. A lot of our friends and family thought we were mad and would not go through with it. A year to the day of landing back in the UK we headed to NZ to start our new adventure.

With 2 children aged 8 & 3 and four suit cases we knew this was the right thing for us.

The locals in Kaikoura were great. They knew we were the new people in town before we did!  Lifelong friends made from day one. We found a rental on day three and made plans for our furniture to arrive.

Nigel secured a Dive Instructor job at the local Dive shop and Kelly found part time work at a local B&B. Opportunities fell into place really well. Nigel’s Dad spent the first NZ Christmas with them all. He just loved it.

Once the summer season was over for the dive shop we thought we would take trip North to enjoy some diving.  When we were away we heard the owners were closing the Dive shop back in Kaikoura – tough when Nigel’s visa depended on him having work. A quick call to the owners and we ended up owning a Dive Shop. In May 2008 we officially opened Dive Kaikoura.

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It was hard but also fun as we were all in this together as a family, running a successful local business.  The dive gear keeps you alive so it was fundamentally important to us to only offer quality servicing and kit. We would never let anyone take any gear home that we would not be comfortable diving in ourselves.

During this time NZ had a drop in the economy and then the Earthquake hit Christchurch.  The Earthquake effected Kaikoura for some years but by 2015 things seemed to be looking up again…. then the 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake hit.  Nigel was at home with the children when the 7.2 earthquake hit. We knew it was bad as it knocked Nigel off his feet, he knew he had to get them all to higher ground.  A quick check on the dive shop sadly showed it was a complete mess.

Kelly had left for Christchurch 6 hours before the Earthquake hit. Luckily she was not on the road when it happened.  Nigel, Christopher and Charlotte stayed in the truck all night.  We were separated as a family for 3 weeks. Charlotte suffered quite a lot and started having anxiety issues so we knew we needed to get her to her Mum. Eventually we managed to evacuate Charlotte on a small plane and she was with her Mum in no time.

We stayed in Kaikoura until the end of March to help with the clean-up and to make sure our friends were OK.  We had come to a decision as a family that now was the time to make a move. Charlotte was about to start high school and Christopher needed to train daily, with his aim to represent NZ in the 2020 Olympics in swimming. Kelly had a permanent job so it made sense to make the move after the earthquake. It was important for us all to be together.

Moving to Kaikoura was the right thing for us to do as a family. Although we worked hard at our business and it was a big step away from financial advice, it gave us the freedom to go to school activities and spend more quantity time as a family. It was a valuable part of our journey that we wouldn’t have swapped the experiences for anything.

Nigel has come full circle, utilising his 12 years experience in the UK, to offer impartial, independent financial advice in Christchurch, where the whole family now live. Even the business name, Friendly finance, has gone full-circle as Nigel couldn’t think of anything better to reflect the same high values and friendly service he knows his clients deserve.

Making the decision to move to NZ was one of the easiest ones we have ever made. The lifestyle, freedom and the easy laid back attitude was what we wanted. We simply love it and are very appreciative of the opportunities, friendships and lifestyle we have here.