before we move!

Dear Reader,

As our move to New Zealand rapidly (and I mean rapidly) approaches, we’re in the last leg of planning before it all becomes a reality.

There were so many decisions that we have had to make - or at least attempted to make - in the past six months. First, we had to decide when we would make the move. Of course, the seasons in New Zealand are the opposite of what we have both grown up in the UK and the US. Moving in January sounded like a reasonable idea and, coincidentally, that means summertime in NZ, which means we can avoid moving in the bleak and cold winter. We left the rest up to trusty Skyscanner, found the cheapest day to fly, and booked. We leave Dallas on the 21st of January 2025 for our new life on the other side of the world! Now, as I write this, that day is just over a week away. It doesn’t quite feel real for me yet, although I do occasionally get hit with a feeling of sadness when someone around us mentions something we won’t be here for. I think there is so much to be nervous about right now so I keep forgetting to be excited. But it is so unbelievably exciting! This move is something I have dreamt about for years and years. I don’t remember when it started but for so long, I have had such a strong desire to see New Zealand, to see if there is something for me over there. I feel so lucky that I get to live out this dream with Limei, the love of my life, by my side. I could never have even imagined that this could be my reality but here I am, moving to my dream location with the woman I want to spend my life with - I truly cannot wait.

So, after we decided when we wanted to leave, the next decision we had to make was how we were going to split our time between the North and the South Islands. We knew we wanted to travel around both, but how would we get around? Are there reliable trains like in the UK? Is this a year-long road trip situation? Are we staying in one city for a long time? Or are we going to continuously travel? How would we travel if we stayed in one place with jobs? As you can see there are a lot of questions that have been rattling around in our brains for months and months now. And there still are. As the time of our departure gets nearer and nearer I feel comforted in the fact that I have my amazing girlfriend by my side. I like to think that I’m brave but it's easy to feel like a coward when I don't have Niamh physically right next to me. There is still a lot of anxiety about doing such a big move, especially because we don’t know what's coming next. But if we can help answer these unknown questions (to the best of our abilities) and ease some of your minds then we will do our best!

We’ve been doing lots of Googling and researching on various platforms (thank you Reddit and Facebook). I’m not sure if we’ve felt much reassurance from this though, as people seem to love to be negative online. But amongst that negativity, there have been a lot of helpful comments and suggestions. One of the most helpful (but slightly annoying) things that many people said is that the only really reliable ways to travel around the North and South Islands are by car or plane. Unfortunately, train journeys are not as easy and affordable as they are in Europe. There are some bus options such as Intercity which can get you around the country without burning a hole in your pocket, but we knew we would need a little more flexibility than a bus could offer. So, that meant it would make the most sense to either rent or purchase a car! We quickly decided that the ideal car would be one with enough space to camp out of, or at least squeeze a mattress in the back. New Zealand is known for some of the most amazing camping spots in the world and getting the opportunity to wake up right in front of some of those incredible views is a no-brainer, right?!

Facebook marketplace has truly become my best friend throughout this journey and it was the first place I looked for our car-buying options. You definitely have to be careful when using things like this and take everything people say with a pinch of salt! But there have been a huge number of different cars available - 4x4s, campervans, hatchbacks (and so many more!). Because we are very anxious people, we began our car search a little too early. I would say two weeks in advance is probably good, but honestly, even a week would be fine! Most people are pretty quick to respond and you can set up a viewing/test drive almost immediately. Since we are not in New Zealand yet, we are still in the waiting period - we have a car that we like the look of but can’t commit to anything until we have a test drive. We’ll update you on how it goes though!

So, we knew we wanted a car with space for sleeping in. Did that mean we wanted to travel non-stop from place to place for the whole year? Unfortunately, no. We do not have the finances to afford that. Plus, we’re on a working holiday visa! We want to work, gain some experience, and try new things. There are so many ways that you can balance the whole work vs travel thing! Especially across the North and South Islands. Both offer such different job opportunities, so depending on what you’re looking for should determine where and when you decide to spend your time. Ultimately, what we have decided on is six months on each island - summer and autumn on the North Island and winter and spring on the South. Much of this decision came from the fact that I know I want to ski in Queenstown and potentially find us some jobs at a ski resort. With this in mind, the rest kind of all fell into place.

Now, I think one of the more stressful decisions we have faced is finding accommodation. Even with a car we could camp out of, we know ourselves pretty well and know we will quickly need a proper bed, shower, and space to cook. However, if you are someone who can camp for a long time, then no need to stress about this!

To make our lives easier, we have booked a hotel for a week after we arrive in Auckland. We’re assuming there will be some pretty severe jet lag after a 15-hour flight from Dallas (and a 19-hour time zone difference) so we want to make sure we give ourselves time to recover before heading off on any adventures. This is likely where the hotel stays will end though, as ideally we do not want to be spending too much money on accommodation and would rather spend it on experiences. So, that meant we had to find a way of finding cheap (or even free!) places to stay.

After watching some YouTube videos and doing some research online, we decided to give Trusted Housesitters a go! If you haven’t heard of this website before, it truly is a godsend. All you have to do is sign up, pay the annual membership fee (I think it was around £65 for us), and start applying for jobs! The goal of Trusted Housesitters is for people who are leaving their homes and pets for some time to find a trustworthy person or couple to stay and take care of their animals! It’s free accommodation AND you get to spend time with some cute animals so it really is the best of both worlds! As well as this, you can choose shorter housesits if you want to travel and explore different areas of the country, or there are often some pretty long stays (sometimes a few weeks, sometimes even a few months!) that would give you the chance to really get to know the place! I would really recommend giving it a go if you want to save some money whilst hanging out with some cool pets. It has been SO easy to use and we already have two sits lined up over the next six weeks. So, that’s what Limei and I have decided to do as much as possible over our year in New Zealand. When there aren’t any house-sitting jobs that match what we need, we’ll look at camping or maybe even hostels. There are loads of options for accommodation around the country and I’m looking forward to getting to see some amazing places along the way!

Once these decisions had been made (or at least were on their way to being made), we were able to start thinking about jobs. Since we knew we wanted to be on the North Island over the warmer months, that already narrowed down our search a little, but we were able to narrow it down even further by deciding to focus on the Wellington region in the south of the North Island. We decided on Wellington after hearing quite a few different people say that Auckland was a bit bland and boring. Now, that being said, we are both really excited about our week in Auckland and cannot wait to explore the city, but we knew that we wanted some things going on wherever we decided to stay for a longer period of time. More importantly, we had heard that Wellington has a reputation for being super gay-friendly! As soon as we saw this, the decision had been made. Limei and I met whilst living in Brighton in the UK, and if anyone knows anything about Brighton, it’s that it is the gayest place in the whole country, so hearing that Wellington could provide something a little similar made us SO excited! We’ve just spent the past few months staying in the US state of Oklahoma, which is VERY conservative and not particularly safe to be out as a queer couple, so the thought of heading to a city where I’ll actually be able to safely hold my girlfriend’s hand fills me with so, so, so much joy.

Anyway, back to the job hunt! The New Zealand Backpacker Board website has been our go-to. Seek and TradeMe have also been super helpful to look at but our success has come from the Backpacker Board. After countless (dozens and dozens and dozens) job applications, we have finally found employment in Wellington! We’ll update on that in a few weeks once we’ve had a chance to settle into the new role, but it’s a new opportunity for us both and should be a lot of fun. My simple advice when looking for a job on a working holiday visa would be to just not give up. It’s often a really repetitive process but it will eventually pay off when the right job comes along. If you can, be open to different opportunities. Whilst Limei and I were looking for roles in hospitality, we applied for anything and everything that we saw, such as housekeeping, receptionists, admin, etc. The jobs we have ended up accepting aren’t even in hospitality! If it suits you more, I’ve also heard of people printing out a bunch of their CVs/resumes and walking around whatever area of New Zealand they are interested in to hand them in! Face-to-face works better for some people whilst online applications work better for others, so don’t stress and just do whatever makes you feel more comfortable. As easy as it sounds, just try not to become deflated if you don’t hear back. These companies are receiving so many applications every day so they don’t always have the opportunity to respond to everyone. Just keep on pushing out those applications and it will pay off!

Now that we know we’ll be based in Wellington for at least the next few months, we had to work out how we can still travel whilst working. It’s a pretty simple answer; we’ll just travel whenever we can! With a car, this will be so much easier than if we had to rely on public transport. Any free time we have will be spent travelling around the Wellington region (and further if time allows for it). There’s not much to add about this section but it’s definitely something that we can explore further as our adventure commences and we eventually fall into a rhythm.

One last thing of note to add is travel insurance! It is a necessity for anyone on a working holiday visa. If you’re on any other visa, make sure to do some research and see what the requirements are. Unfortunately, medical emergencies happen and you’ll want to be prepared just in case. As we’re from two different countries, we’re using two different insurance companies: LeisureGuard (UK) and Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection (US). Hopefully, we won’t have to use it, but if we do, it’s nice to know we should be protected! We’ll keep you updated if we have to use it and how it goes (but let’s hope we don’t!).

I hope this has given some insight into some of the decisions we’ve had to make before our move! Of course, we’ll update on these as and when they happen over the next few weeks. We leave in a few days so everything is pretty hectic and stressful right now! There are a lot of nerves and some moments where it feels very surreal that my childhood dream is coming true. It is the most exciting adventure in my life yet and I can’t wait to share every moment along the way with Limei! We hope that you’ll stick by us as we begin this new chapter. I know that there will be so many photos and memories to share during the next year and we can’t wait to share them with you!

Love,

Limei and Niamh